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Originally Posted by ISiddiqui
A. As stated above, it is difficult to really compare players through eras, so like baseball, the best measure is to compare to comtemporaries.
B. I'd say he is pretty otherworldly in vision and creativity among the all time greats, that's why I have him so high. BETTER than the other attacking MF in the current discussion. That's right, better vision and creativity than Platini or Charlton or Guillet.
And in a Chelsea system, I think they can definately find a place for a Zidane who doesn't score goals, but brilliantly sets them up for others. He can make a Drogba better as to offset his lack of scoring, as well as Joe Cole, Arjen Robben, etc., just with pin point passing into areas defenders are not expecting.
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A. Granted. But brilliant as his vision was, he had one year where he was clearly the best player on the planet (2003), one year where he was almost certainly the best player on the planet (2000), and then a lot of seasons where he was one of the top five or so players in the world but not *the* best. Platini, for comparison, has three European Footballer of the Year awards in a row (1983, 4, and 5). Two of those years he pulled off the clean sweep of winning both the European and the FIFA award. He was Serie A's leading scorer in '83 and '84 from midfield, then had probably the best individual Euro ever. For three years Platini was plainly the best footballer on the planet, and he lost the title not because he got significantly worse but because of Maradona. Zidane didn't dominate his contemporaries quite the same way. Charlton and Gullit, looked at this way, come a little behind Zidane; I still think they're better for certain formations, but if you're starting a team from scratch you'd take Zidane.
B: But Platini is arguably the best passer and the best set piece taker ever. He was more able to capitalize on his vision than Zidane was on his. Who creates more goals, an AM with historic vision and superb set piece/passing skills or an AM with superb vision and historic set piece/passing skills? You'll say Zidane, and I'm inclined to agree, but do you really think the difference is twelve goals a season? Because that's how many more Zidane has to create to make up for Platini's goalscoring.
Oh, we could find a place for Zidane in our system. But we could also find a place for Charlton, and without having to tweak the system nearly as much. Can you imagine how good Charlton would be in the Lampard role?