Exactly. I don't know how a team with 3 attacking midfielders and Fabregas in lone DMF position will actually succeed since its midfield will lose the battles to even many avg teams' midfields as long as they have 2 or more combative/hardworking/high energy and stamina midfielders like Robbie Savage.
Fabregas has demonstrated that he can play well when he plays in his "CM" role
where he has a pure DMF beside him like Gilberto Silva like many other great CM's but never has suggested that he can do a great job as a "DMF" on his own (which is probably one of the hardest jobs/positions to play in and to perfect).
And also still as brilliant as he and Messi and other youngsters are, they're nowhere near as
complete as somebody world-class but in his peak and much more experienced than them, so I'd never actually pick him. In anycase I usually never even view threads like these, kinda dislike them actually but this time I did and I don't regret it. Not only have I read but I'm actually gonna post my opinion too having read others and agreeing with many on some choices.
It seems to me a few of these all-star teams posted here though aren't much of a world-beater actually cuz they are inbalanced in one way or more and will therefore be punished for this when facing
an even avg but smart and capable team.
For example, many teams have the problem that they haven't thought of having
even one good CF and one good Midfielder who is good in the air and can head the ball well which will therefore eliminate and make those beautiful high crosses you teams can deliver pretty useless, seriously limiting your attacking firepower and increasing other team's chance of closing you down well now that they know you'll mostly play the short-passing game. The key to success not just in this sport but any even boxing is using variety of attacks and having an arsenal of weapons to use for different situations.
So I don't in particular think some combinations of attack and midfield mentioned here like (Messi - Henry partnership suggested for example) will work too well cuz it'll be quite obvious for other team you'll try to play mostly on ground so high crosses is one less thing they have to focus/worry about therefore being more ready for your other types of attacks instead of being worried about all like a good balanced team would make them).
Also apart from the DMF position of Fabregas on our friend Glavisted's choice and GK and few other things, I actually really like his selection and is exactly my choice for the back line and forwards.
So what I'm about to post isn't an all-star team filled with 11 great individual names cuz I just can't do that. But if my aim was to WIN and win as many matches and titles as possible, my choice for the world's strongest team right now would be the following eleven.
So to have a great but balanced team and truly strong and capable of being and beating the best. In my opinion:
---------------------------------
Buffon----------------------------
-
J. Zanetti --------
Puyol -----------
Terry ----------
Zambrotta
----------------------------
M. Diarra -------------------------
----------------
Gerrard --------------
Juninho-------------------
----------------------------
Ronaldinho ---------------------------
----------------------
Sheva -------------
Henry -----------------
Important points about this formation/Lineup needed to know before judging:
I would actually like Kaka in Juninho's spot since I think he's just as brilliant passing/vision wise but due to youth and more athleticism is blessed with much much higher pace/acceleration and therefore ability to take on players and keep going giving him the edge when attacking.
BUT due to Juninho's impressive and superior "Tackling and defensive abilities for an AMF/CM" as well as his obvious qualities like vision/shooting/FK's , I will have to take him to make team even more balanced and not vulnerable when
not in possesion of ball! (Which is probably just as important as when attacking yet some forget about so easily and therefore have left their all-star team quite weak and vulnerable or mediocre when defending and in no-way "All-star" when not in possession of ball which can be anywhere from 40 - 60% of match on standard!)
- 2 best fullbacks definitely Zambrotta and Zanetti for me as two are not only awesome going forward but unlike brazilian counter-parts and many other ones good going forward, also solid at defending which is why they've been my top choice for these 2 positions for few years now especially Zanetti whom I consider one of the best RB's in history of the beautiful game and certainly best one I ever saw in my lifetime so far and I don't think I will see anyone top that!
- Buffon for me clearly #1 keeper of world for few years. Totally deserving of his huge transfer fee to Juve and actually one of the best GK's again I ever saw!
- M. Diarra will play role of pure DMF in my formation who can do job of a top DMF like Makelele/Emerson brilliantly with great aggression/tackling/sense of positioning and everything needed to succeed in this role as well as GOOD IN THE AIR (cuz you have to think about this aspects also to make your team dangerous in CK's/FK situations where you want to cross ball to box)
plus add something extra to it by being more two-footed than those and capable of giving nice throughballs and passes more often.
Then you have Juninho and Gerrard two of the world's best players and CM's who have more tendancy to attack
BUT are well capable of getting back to help team out defensively and putting in tackles to win balls.
So this team unlike few other choices here won't be overwhelmed defensively and therefore lose the midfield battle and probably the game.
In fact being solid defensively will be its backbone and with this setup of one pure DMF plus 2 CM's who can defend well plus 2 fullbacks who wont run forward
all the time and can often get back in time not to expose team and in danger when having lost it like Cicinho and many others and can get back and defend with such impressive skills at times reminding you of world-class central defenders. So it'll be one tough team to break down having not even talked about the immense partnership of Puyol and Terry in middle of defence and Buffon behind them!!!! :shock:
So it'll be more than sound and safe defensively but will also have more than enough firepower going forward (attacking) and creating chances and goals with these players each offering different types of attacking menace and probably capable of working together. (I didn't put Lampard and Gerrard in same team or some other obvious choices where I didn't think it'd work as well as it could like two pure CF's for example "Crespo and Toni")
p.s. There's many close choices from
Bundesliga for me in answer to Kel's post but at end of the day because we're only picking 11 (top player in each position if we had to, to make a team) and not more, I couldn't pick a single one otherwise there is many top class players there that I'd have in my 2-5th choice for each of these positions like Ballack, Borowski, Sagnol and more.
p.p.s. Some may say ok I agree but why not Lampard instead of Gerrard? I think both are absolutely awesome but the reason I chose Gerrard with this formation is although it's a diamond midfield at times I do want my right CM (Gerrard) to drift wider to where a RM would be in a normal situation and at doing that Gerrard I think is much better on the sides than Lampard who is much more of a "Central player". Also Gerrard in my opinion has better defending/tackling skills than Lampard so that's another reason at the end of the day I chose him for
this lineup in this formation. . In another formation, this could very well be different with # of other changes as well.
Edit: had made some small spelling erros like compative instead of combative :p
