Ballon d'Or (12 Viewers)

[Lion]

consider this. most attackers benefited from bad referring and offsides and handballs in past, specifically 90s, 80s,70s and before. even bribery was very common.

nowadays even before VAR, ref standard is muchhigher. it is harder to get away with offsides and handballs. before in the 90s and before era it was pretty much common to see tons of offside, or foul, or handballs in games resulting in goals. so no those attackers aren't better at all

 

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[Bianconero81]

Shut up Pussycat. You didn't have cable back in Ottawa in the 80s and 90s. You were too busy being bullied by Terry and Rakeem in elementary school to actually watch games.

 

[Lion]

buddy maradona is celebrated despite him winning a world cup using his hand. this isnt' acceptable in today's higher standards.

also players like maradona, baggio, puskas, platini would never survive today's professional requirements and drug testing. these guys would get crucified by professional training standards, VAR not letting them dive, and social media exposing their every action on and off field

 

[Strickland]

I think an easy argument to demonstrate nostalgia glasses is to ask yourselves - do you rate the active players with 100+ Serie A goals? Do you appreciate Quagliarella, Immobile, Ibra, Higuaín, Mertens, Pandev, Zapata? Or are they chumps compared to the champions of the past who scored a similar amount in a similar amount of games?

 

[Bianconero81]

Yes, the current generation of Twitter Fags, Social Media Whores and Fortnite Gamers is definitely up there with the Maradonas, Baggios, Platinins, Batistutas, Nestas and Cruyffs of the world.

Italian football in the late 80s to the late 90s and even early 00s was the best football I have ever witnessed. The league was flooded with talent. I don't need stats to tell me who's better. It's like the Lebron vs Jordan argument. Longevity is only one factor. Numbers can indicate how incredibly consistent a performer is, but I believe my eyes and what I see.

No one will ever convince me that Messi or Ronaldo, the two preeminent performers of the past 15 years, are better than the original Ronaldo, more electrifying than Ronaldinho, or more mesmerizing than Baggio. Zidane may not have scored as many goals, but he left an indelible mark on the game, something only 2-3 players in this entire generation might be capable of.

 

[Lapa]

Yes, the current generation of Twitter Fags, Social Media Whores and Fortnite Gamers is definitely up there with the Maradonas, Baggios, Platinins, Batistutas, Nestas and Cruyffs of the world.

Italian football in the late 80s to the late 90s and even early 00s was the best football I have ever witnessed. The league was flooded with talent. I don't need stats to tell me who's better. It's like the Lebron vs Jordan argument. Longevity is only one factor. Numbers can indicate how incredibly consistent a performer is, but I believe my eyes and what I see.

No one will ever convince me that Messi or Ronaldo, the two preeminent performers of the past 15 years, are better than the original Ronaldo, more electrifying than Ronaldinho, or more mesmerizing than Baggio. Zidane may not have scored as many goals, but he left an indelible mark on the game, something only 2-3 players in this entire generation might be capable of.

I love you, I truly do, but fuck that Algerian manwhore!

 

[JuveJay]

I think an easy argument to demonstrate nostalgia glasses is to ask yourselves - do you rate the active players with 100+ Serie A goals? Do you appreciate Quagliarella, Immobile, Ibra, Higuaín, Mertens, Pandev, Zapata? Or are they chumps compared to the champions of the past who scored a similar amount in a similar amount of games?

They play in a far weaker and more attacking Serie A.

 

[Lapa]

They play in a far weaker and more attacking Serie A.

Gilardino was out of this world btw!

 

[Bianconero81]

Gilardino was a Jabroni.

 

[kao_ray]

Gilardino was out of this world btw!

He was a special man

 

[Lion]

They play in a far weaker and more attacking Serie A.

on the other hand they can't score as much offside, handballl or foul goals because of var. those things were very common every match in the old days.

therefore i would say they have it harder nowdays

 

[JuveJay]

on the other hand they can't score as much offside, handballl or foul goals because of var. those things were very common every match in the old days.

therefore i would say they have it harder nowdays

 

[Strickland]

They play in a far weaker and more attacking Serie A.

https://www.worldfootball.net/stats/ita-serie-a/1/ - not sure I'd agree that Serie A was noticeably less attacking in the past, the goals per game stats look similar throughout different seasons.

as for far weaker - as in less WC players play in Serie A nowadays compared to throughout it's history? with the same argument you could say that someone like Harry Kane or Romelu Lukaku are better that f.e. Thierry Henry, as they play in the financially strongest league in Europe and score at a similar rate Henry did who played at a far less star studded and financially capable EPL. and actually I don't think they're better, I think they're pretty similar and I'd even give a slight edge to Henry for the actual trophies won, regardless of whether PL is number 1 or number 3 on the continent at the time.

 

[JuveJay]

https://www.worldfootball.net/stats/ita-serie-a/1/ - not sure I'd agree that Serie A was noticeably less attacking in the past, the goals per game stats look similar throughout different seasons.

as for far weaker - as in less WC players play in Serie A nowadays compared to throughout it's history? with the same argument you could say that someone like Harry Kane or Romelu Lukaku are better that f.e. Thierry Henry, as they play in the financially strongest league in Europe and score at a similar rate Henry did who played at a far less star studded and financially capable EPL. and actually I don't think they're better, I think they're pretty similar and I'd even give a slight edge to Henry for the actual trophies won, regardless of whether PL is number 1 or number 3 on the continent at the time.

Stats only tell part of the story. And the stats you provided show that the 70s and 80s in particular were considerably more conservative. There were two points for a win until 1994, so it's not surprising. Besides, this is not just my opinion or having a look at stats, this is the consensus from Italian football history. But feel free to disagree.

There were 3 goals per game last season lol. Creeping into the 90s and then 00s more and more goals were scored, despite the quality of players at both ends decreasing since 2006.

The Premier League has so much money I don't really understand the comparison, Henry is just one player, the league was not full of them. If anything I'd say the standard of defending in the Premier League was worse then that it is now. Actually I'd say peak defending in the PL was around 2005-1015. I've watched English football close hand since the early 90s and up until coaches like Mourinho came in and shifted the tactical mindset the teams were just about scoring as many goals as possible. Some of the defending in 90s English football was absolutely amateurish, but it gradually improved once teams set themselves up better and the standard of players they could buy increased. Now it's generally fallen by the wayside with zonal marking, most defenders defend the same way and pretend to be midfielders, but the better ones mostly end up in the Premier League because that's where the money is.

 

[Strickland]

Stats only tell part of the story. And the stats you provided show that the 70s and 80s in particular were considerably more conservative. There were two points for a win until 1994, so it's not surprising. Besides, this is not just my opinion or having a look at stats, this is the consensus from Italian football history. But feel free to disagree.

There were 3 goals per game last season lol. Creeping into the 90s and then 00s more and more goals were scored, despite the quality of players at both ends decreasing since 2006.

The Premier League has so much money I don't really understand the comparison, Henry is just one player, the league was not full of them. If anything I'd say the standard of defending in the Premier League was worse then that it is now. Actually I'd say peak defending in the PL was around 2005-1015. I've watched English football close hand since the early 90s and up until coaches like Mourinho came in and shifted the tactical mindset the teams were just about scoring as many goals as possible. Some of the defending in 90s English football was absolutely amateurish, but it gradually improved once teams set themselves up better and the standard of players they could buy increased. Now it's generally fallen by the wayside with zonal marking, most defenders defend the same way and pretend to be midfielders, but the better ones mostly end up in the Premier League because that's where the money is.

I put it in a lazy graph. so the 60ties-80ties indeed were more defensive, but I dont see much of a difference between the 90ties, 2000s and 2010s. the past 2 seasons have been noticeable though, but I wonder how much it has to do with penalties increasing.

 

[JuveJay]

More stupid pens but also less goals because of VAR overrules.

 

[Jethro]

 

[JuveJay]

Damn, didn't even know that Luis Suarez was still alive!

The Ballon d'Or looked a bit different in those days.

Our own Omar Sivori with it the year after:

Close up of George Best's:

 

[zizinho]

Volleyball player of the year, George Best

 

[BayernFan]

Messi has been named as the winner it seems.