New Players Replacing Legends.

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Tactician
12 December 2002
Little Mancunia
I've been thinkin about this for a couple of days.Could be a good,real discussion.New players replacing great players playing for their country or club respectively.Some are yet to find the replacements while others have new and better players,surpassing the greats.Let me give yall two examples.

Simple example,Zinedine Zidane,for Les Bleus.So far there is no one in his mould to replace him.France look lost without him and now he's back,they look great again.Players like Johan Micoud or Robert Pires could never lift the french team like Zizou.No replacement yet.

Second Example,Wayne Rooney for England and Manchester Utd.England had that extra edge and creativity when Paul Gascoigne was playing for them.They kinda lost it when he retired,now enter Wayne Rooney,this lad has surpassed Gazza in all areas and at 20,hes already looking irreplaceable.Eric Cantona was the king at United but Prince Rooney is now the first name on the team sheet most of the time.Rooney and Cantona aint so far apart in terms of ability,even if there is Cantona is far superior in his technique and composure but at 20,Rooney has all the time in the world to catch up.

I could go on but I'll let others join in this discussion.Cheers.
 
Once Maldini goes, not easy to fill in that gap. Thank god his son Christian joined the Milan youth academy, at 9 years old. Hes the 3rd Maldini to be a part of Milan.
 
hmmm...legends like those are hard to find. I think it also depends on how you define what makes a legend. To me, its measured by the sheer impact they may have on their team and their consistency in doing so.

France and England are just a different team when they play without Zidane and Rooney respectively. But I will say that its perhaps a bit too early to call Rooney a legend - but if things continue like they do, theres no doubt he will.

Arguably France and Real Madrid would not have got this far (in recent years) without Zidane.

Same perhaps goes for Henry and Arsenal - the guy completely changes the way the team plays. But I guess it can be argued that thats mainly due to the fact that the team is built around him - this is proven by his inability to reproduce when playing in a different system for France.

Ronaldinho comes close but the thing with him is that he plays in two good teams - and even without him, they have the class to still play well. But then again, its occasionally been his moments of sheer brilliance that has changed the outcome of a game.

Cantona almost single handedly catalysed Man Utd's transition to s dominant force in the 90s. But as he hasn't been allowed to prove his skills in the international game, it'll be difficult to class him as a true legend universally.
 
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I would defintiely put Henry on the list of almost legends for his club form, but he's pretty poor for France, don't know why. He does sometimes seem to stop caring, not at the moment, but a few times in the last few years he had performances where he looked like he'd just as soon not be there.

I think Ronaldo (brazilian) should be a new legend. For years he was unstoppable for both club and country. He's fading now, perhaps Adriano is stepping up to take over that role!

I'm trying to think of keepers, it's tough! I can't even name who I think is the best in the world at the moment.
 
Good idea for a thread. Although it seems like a cheap covered attempt to praise Rooney.

Anyway, as a Juve supporter I don't think anyone will be a succecsor to Del Piero soon. At least in terms of how the fans have/had closed him in their hearts for so many years. You could argue that Baggio was there before him and had the same effect, but he didn't win as much affection from the juventus faithfull as Del Piero has. To many DP is bigger than Juventus even. Ibrahimovic? Or Cassano in the future maybe? I don't they'll ever be as much loved.
 
beachryan said:
I would defintiely put Henry on the list of almost legends for his club form, but he's pretty poor for France, don't know why. He does sometimes seem to stop caring, not at the moment, but a few times in the last few years he had performances where he looked like he'd just as soon not be there.

I think Ronaldo (brazilian) should be a new legend. For years he was unstoppable for both club and country. He's fading now, perhaps Adriano is stepping up to take over that role!

I'm trying to think of keepers, it's tough! I can't even name who I think is the best in the world at the moment.
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Henry has scored over 28 goals for country and he seems to have found his scoring boots again.

As for Ronaldo he is the most naturally gifted professional ever and is the best Pro ever. He has something like 57 goals in 86 apps, and scored 10 goals (i think) in the WCQ.


 
Domenico, tell me, if given the choice to have Rooney play for Juve, will you take it?

Believe me, him being an Evertonian playing for Man U, I really do not want to compliment him but the lad is class! To be able to score that goal that he did against Newc needs some natural talent...doesn't it?
 
I've yet to see someone come close to being "the New Batistuta". Remember that guy Keegan was calling the next Batigol? :lol:
 
I think Leo Messi from Barcelona can be the nearest thing to Maradona, he even plays in the National Team now with 18 years old. He's been progressing at lightspeed for the last months. Yesterday he showed he's going to be a legend doing things only Ronaldinho have done in the pitch for barcelona in the last years.

After Aimar, Riquelme and the likes of them that promised a lot but showed less than expected, finally Messi is going to reshape Argentina and make Barcelona even a more dangerous team. He's that good.

About best goalkeeper, I have no doubt that Casillas is the best keeper in the world. That guy is the main reason Madrid has won some titles in the last 5 years. I think he is more important to Madrid than Beckham Zidane or Raul.
 
rockykabir said:
Domenico, tell me, if given the choice to have Rooney play for Juve, will you take it?
?
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Absolutely not. Why take the risk, with already 5 worldclass forwards on juve's book?

rockykabir said:
Believe me, him being an Evertonian playing for Man U, I really do not want to compliment him but the lad is class! To be able to score that goal that he did against Newc needs some natural talent...doesn't it?
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Sure, it was a great volley.
 
Goalkeepers are the hardest to replace in a team.Especially one like Peter Schmeichel.His irreplaceable.A true legend of this game.They have Mark Sorensen replacing him now in the NT,haha,that guy is mediocre at best.Man United have gone thru A LOT of goalkeepers just to maintain Schmikes's standard.Buffon is another one that is going to be irreplaceable for Italy.
 
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