ZZ was a brilliant player but he is more rated for his tricks and flips than his real contribution, IMO someone like Davids contributed much more than ZZ in our team,(not to speak about Neddy)
ZZ was an excellent unit but he wasnt always used in a proper efficient way, at least with us , esp the last years, i partially blame our coaches for this, also i blame him for the lack of persistance to our cause, after he gained the world class status and was using his suit more often that his training uniform,
the fact that he left us and the fact that he scored the most important goals and did his most important games for his NT prooves that,
I ve seen some of Platini, i ve seen a lot of Baggio+Matthaeus but ZZ never gained that status in my eyes, he was never the aspirant leader they were,
football has changed and probably will never let any new caracters to develop like them and make the difference the way they did, IMO ZZ alone wasnt able to do the difference in most of the cases and turn the match all alone, the others did, esp MVB, and did that much more than the rest,
thats what i rate, today football is all about spectacle, Ronaldinho is the epitom of it,
but in my eyes, based on my exp and from what i ve seen those years,
the Dihnos arent that brilliant and that effective as the Van Basten were,
if the Dihnos+ZZs werent that impressive to watch, doing things the average spectator would never dream of, then they would just be in the list of the Kaka's and not in the list of VBs
I think i made my point clear now, just MO...
everybody has his own way to rate players and all are respected!
On the other hand, i know, the football and the players have evolved, as athlets, in a point that doesnt allow such great differences as they used to be, thats why i dont think that i will never see a new Pele,Maradona or even VB until the end of my times...
its not the modern players fault,
history proved that today heroes cant be born,
Iverson cant be Jordan, Schumi cant be Senna,
whatever they do, or win, whatever record they brake,
the magic player cannot be explained in numbers and today its the "numbers" time
no private "Ryan" can gain the fame of "Achilles"...