Footballer who carried the whole team

I don't think Ronaldo carried us.... He had an in form, prime Rooney and tevez to work with plus we had one of our best defences led by Rio and vidic..... Our midfield wasnt bad either. We were buying young stars like ando and Nani for fun.... Then the glazers acquired mufc and suddenly we stopped buying at the rate we used to.

:wenger:
 
The only person who carried us while Sir Alex was here was Sir Alex himself. If Ronaldo carried us in any way, why did we reach a champions league final and win 2 league titles and were 1 point off winning another 2 titles, along with another cup win?

De Gea has more or less carried us as much as a goalkeeper can carry a team since Fergie retired though. Suarez at Liverpool and Bale at Spurs the obvious recent mentions.
 
Those saying Tevez at West Ham should remember Macherano was there as well, and was just as important in a different way.

Mascherano played 5 league games before leaving for Liverpool in January - and they lost every single one of them. They got their shit together in March and won 7 of their last 9 games to save themselves from relegation.
 
(Not a player) I say Simeone, as a manager for Atletico. Even after losing important player season after seaosn he keep them highly competitive. I don't think any other person (Mou/Pep included) would be able to make Atletico play this well and challege the biggest teams of the world. You can bet anytime that they will never give you a easy game, and yet their budget is less than average EPL teams. No single player in the world has the same impact what he has for them.
 
Very few players can single footedly carry a team into glory. Do you know anyone who carried the whole team to glory?

Maradona / napoli
Olaf Marshall / kaiserlautern
Ronaldo / united 2008 (to a lesser extent)
Robson / united (nothing won though)
Zidane / france
Ronaldo / brazil
Laudrup / Denmark

A lot of people say this, but it isn't true. Gazzeta (which back then was highly rated and respected), gave to Maradona only the fourth highest grade for the entire season.

Gazzetta2.jpg


Zidane certainly didn't carry France in '98 and 2000, though he did an excellent job in leading them in 2006 (until his madness moment).
 
A lot of people say this, but it isn't true. Gazzeta (which back then was highly rated and respected), gave to Maradona only the fourth highest grade for the entire season.

Gazzetta2.jpg


Zidane certainly didn't carry France in '98 and 2000, though he did an excellent job in leading them in 2006 (until his madness moment).
Napoli had one of the finest defense in Europe led by the legend Ciro Ferrara who won 8 Serie-A titles with Napoli and Juventus. Add to that players like Bagni, De napoli, Giordano, Carnevale and Careca who were all experienced international players for Brazil and Italy.
 
Ibra / Sweden
Bale / Spurs/ Wales
Tevez / West Ham
Riquelme / Villareal / Boca Juniors
Messi / Barcelona 2012-13
Aguero / Atletico Madrid
Batistuta / Fiorentina
I like the Riquelme shout. At Villarreal they had a very decent team, but they all marched to the beat of Riquelme's drum. And really that was the only way to get the best out of the man.

Not as convinced about Aguero there, although he had many fine moments. Forlan would be my Atletico shout, certainly the season he notched 32 goals in 33 league games.
 
Maradona - Argentina WC '90 got to them to the Final with help from Caniggia - rest of team were pretty ordinary really.
 
Off course no one man can literally carry a bunch of championship player to win a world cup, have to take the statement with some consideration. In a game of 8 matches, bailing the team on 2-3 games is enough to be called carrying the team, not literally perhaps, but in spirit.

If you're referring to 1998, Zidane was suspended for 2 of the 7 games, having been sent off in another. He was not France's best player that tournament, but did memorably score twice in the final. That seems to be the abiding memory.
 
You don't want to debate an opinion on a forum? Replying 'whatever' makes you sound far younger than you are

No, it merely indicates I have better things to do than to argue the toss over whether Cantona carried the team over the line for our first Championship for 25 years or not. I bet you wish we had someone like him now, or Roy Keane, for example.
 
No, it merely indicates I have better things to do than to argue the toss over whether Cantona carried the team over the line for our first Championship for 25 years or not. I bet you wish we had someone like him now, or Roy Keane, for example.

Even if I did, what does that prove? You seem rather uptight :lol: I will let you get on
 
Ariel Ortega WC 98.

Ballack WC 2002.

Currently I think Cabaye is leading Crystal Palace in a very good way. I think he should be moved to a bigger club than that. I don't understand why we're not looking at him.
 
Owen - Liverpool, winning the famous Treble.

Effenberg - Bayern.

Totti - Roma

Zidane - France
 
I like the Riquelme shout. At Villarreal they had a very decent team, but they all marched to the beat of Riquelme's drum. And really that was the only way to get the best out of the man.

Not as convinced about Aguero there, although he had many fine moments. Forlan would be my Atletico shout, certainly the season he notched 32 goals in 33 league games.


Forlan was great but Aguero at times was the best player in a league which had Messi and CR7. Always stepped up against the best teams. And by the time Forlan and Simao were just really bad, Aguero carried the team. He was starting to be considered the best player in Atletico's history.
 
Ariel Ortega WC 98.

I feel you may be overlooking Veron & Battistuta a tiny bit.

Also AO less than helpfully nutted van der Sar in the QF (was it?)
 
In recent years Suarez probably has to top the list. David Villa is a good shout for Spain in the World Cup as well.
 
But that's not the title of the thread. The title is "Players who carried the whole team". To me, that suggests that anyone could've been in there and Tevez would have kept them up. I disagree - if Macherano hadn't, they would have gone down.
Mascherano barely featured for West Ham and they lost almost all the games he did play. Then he left for Liverpool after half a season.

Edit: Skills got there before me.
 
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I think it's evident that Messi's carrying Barca for years by now. The one time he wasn't around, Bayern ripped them to shreds. The next time, when he was fit, it looked quite differently.