Champions League Last 16 : (13th Feb - 14th Mar)

[Woland]

I remember listening to a radio discussion on BBC Radio 5 Live in 2005. They had a bunch of football journalists in the studio and were discussing prospects in the CL for the English clubs who had reached the knockout stage. The London-based journos banged on about the chances of Chelsea and Arsenal. "What about Liverpool" said the presenter towards the end of the discussion.

"Oh, they are only there to make up the numbers," said one of the experts.

In the 2007 game away at Barca I had to pick up tix from the team hotel on the afternoon of the match, when I went to the bar all the journos you'd recognise from the papers were having a drink, and I was stood next to Oliver Holt, and when I ordered he heard my accent and asked how he thought we'd get on. I suggested we'd win or draw, and he laughed his head off, told all the other cunts, Henry Winter etc, and they all joined in laughing, but we had a bit of chat before they had to get to the ground to set up or whatever. When they left, me and the missus and kids stayed and had a few more cocktails etc, the waitress added all of our drinks to his bill once I'd told her we were his guests.

 

[Kay Age El]

I haven't followed this, because I'm not sufficiently interested, but if the question is "who would you prefer in Liverpool's team RIGHT NOW?", then I'd say only a moron wouldn't choose Eriksen.

I think we'll just have to accept that there are seemingly morons on both sides of this argument then..

 

[Fabio]

Depends on the question. Based on now, or based on peak (or possible peak)

Eriksen if it's now (although modric is very, very close, iniesta is slowly waning)

If its peak, eriksen isn't in the question

 

[Kay Age El]

Depends on the question. Based on now, or based on peak (or possible peak)

Eriksen if it's now (although modric is very, very close, iniesta is slowly waning)

If its peak, eriksen isn't in the question

If it were based on peak, which I don't think it was at all but maybe @Ryan can enlighten us, I'd have Iniesta of the three as of now.

But Eriksen and Modric would be a close call already based on the type of team I were to build. For a Klopp team I think Eriksen would be tailor made whereas Modric really thrives in the more defensive role at Real where he can control the pace of the game. He'd also be awesome for Klopp but slightly less so, perhaps, than Eriksen.

I do believe that in time Eriksen could end up at Iniesta's level or even surpass that as he brings goals to the table as well as most of the key attributes of Iniesta, bar the dribbling skills. Eriksen is NOT a good dribbler.

 

[Fabio]

As good as eriksen is, and he is good.....I can never see him making that next step.

He'll consistently be a dangerous midfielder, but he's never troubling the player of the year charts. Domestic or European.

I think now is his peak and he'll maintain it for another year or 2, then decline

 

[Kay Age El]

As good as eriksen is, and he is good.....I can never see him making that next step.

He'll consistently be a dangerous midfielder, but he's never troubling the player of the year charts. Domestic or European.

I think now is his peak and he'll maintain it for another year or 2, then decline

Time will tell, unlike you I think he could go on for years and years as he's not reliant on his pace or physical strength. Stamina, yeah, and vision, control etc. but that's areas of slower decline at least.

And should the unthinkable happen, and Spurs were to go all the way in the ChL he'd at the very least be a contender for some sort of accolade I guess seeing as he is instrumental to their success. I just don't think it's as unthinkable is all. Apart from Kevin de Bruyne I don't think there's a finer attacking midfielder in the Premiership and only few outside of it too.

Fun fact; Eriksen has said on several occasions that the player he admire the most is actually Andres Iniesta. Shall the apprentice outdo the master.. to be continued.

 

[Fabio]

Shall the apprentice outdo the master.. to be continued.

There is not a chance in hell he will be anywhere near as successful or talented as iniesta.

That's a player who defined a role, and you could argue perfected in in the process

He is a once in a generation mercurial talent.

This isn't an insult to eriksen btw, who could have a solid career. Just it's outlandish to think he could even come CLOSE to iniesta

 

[Insignificance]

There is not a chance in hell he will be anywhere near as successful or talented as iniesta.

That's a player who defined a role, and you could argue perfected in in the process

He is a once in a generation mercurial talent.

This isn't an insult to eriksen btw, who could have a solid career. Just it's outlandish to think he could even come CLOSE to iniesta

But there is no certainty that he would have made it outside Spain and that Barcelona team. A beautiful player with a team made for him. No doubt. But could he walked into Juve and mastered them as I.e. Zidane did? Or Man U which could have been a natural stop in UK? Not sure about Juve, but probably better chance there than in England. Silva has done exceptionally well to take a masters role in the midfield of an English team. I am impressed. Never saw that coming..... and I am not convinced it's for everyone to do just that.

 

[Halmeister]

Iniesta is one of the greatest players ever. Eriksen would have to transform into a complete monster to even come close, nevermind surpassing him.

 

[Halmeister]

I think KHL's patriotism for lack of a better term is clouding his judgement here.

 

[Judge Jules]

Up to a point, yes. I'd qualify that by saying that Eriksen is a very good player indeed and could get better still. However, Iniesta at his best was one of *the* best I've ever seen, whereas Eriksen doesn't even get close to a description like that.

 

[Insignificance]

Iniesta is one of the greatest players ever. Eriksen would have to transform into a complete monster to even come close, nevermind surpassing him.

So were do you rank him on greatest ever list? Top 10? Top 50? Top 100?

The beauty with some of the greatest teams ever is that they have plenty unsong heroes that hand in hand with great players make them great teams. Some players can leave those teams and repeat the success elsewhere, while others can only be a peg in that machinery. Iniesta is one of Barcas greatest, but not necessarily among the best players to have played for Barca. So while he probably is top 10 in Barcas hierarchy (maybe even top 5) he is not among the 10 best players to play for Barca.

Anyway, Erichsen is not top 3 Danish player yet so the comparison between them is stupid anyway.

 

[Halmeister]

So were do you rank him on greatest ever list? Top 10? Top 50? Top 100?

The beauty with some of the greatest teams ever is that they have plenty unsong heroes that hand in hand with great players make them great teams. Some players can leave those teams and repeat the success elsewhere, while others can only be a peg in that machinery. Iniesta is one of Barcas greatest, but not necessarily among the best players to have played for Barca. So while he probably is top 10 in Barcas hierarchy (maybe even top 5) he is not among the 10 best players to play for Barca.

Anyway, Erichsen is not top 3 Danish player yet so the comparison between them is stupid anyway.

Hmm I'm not sure. He's certainly one of the best players I've seen in my lifetime, probably top ten. It's hard, though, because there's so many different positions. As a central midfield playmaker, though, I can't think of many better off the top of my head. If any.

 

[Fabio]

He's top 10 for me, but I can't include Pele, maradona (at peak)etc because I'm too young

Some of the older posters would justifiably have him lower I'd imagine.

 

[Fabio]

And as tempted as I am to do that thread....it's been done to death

 

[Insignificance]

Hmm I'm not sure. He's certainly one of the best players I've seen in my lifetime, probably top ten. It's hard, though, because there's so many different positions. As a central midfield playmaker, though, I can't think of many better off the top of my head. If any.

Yeah it is hard. As their attacking playmaker he was brilliant. But got a lot of help in Xavi and his vision to find space everywhere on a footiepitch. But that machinery had worked and worked and worked for years. It was really special. It will take time for Barca to come up with something even remotely equal. Which is probably why Luis Enrique changed the style a bit from front 5 (6 if you count in Busquets as well) to have all their attacking game through front 3 (MSN). I know some people say that he was lucky to have those and any manager could win with them. But it also take courage to accept that the Iniesta/Xavi magic can't be reproduced by other players, and focusing solely on those three was the best chance of success.

 

[Halmeister]

Yeah, I'm 30 so I'm only comparing him to players from the 90s onwards.

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous KhL's claims seem to be. He could equal Zidane (did he really say that?), he could surpass Iniesta? Nah, no chance.

 

[Judge Jules]

He's top 10 for me, but I can't include Pele, maradona (at peak)etc because I'm too young

Some of the older posters would justifiably have him lower I'd imagine.

Not much, if at all. I go all the way back to George Best who, Manc though he may be, is still the greatest footballer I've ever seen, and if I were picking an All-Time XI Iniesta would defo be in the squad. If the main criterion were making the game look easy, he would probably get in the side.

 

[manwithnoname]

Not much, if at all. I go all the way back to George Best who, Manc though he may be, is still the greatest footballer I've ever seen, and if I were picking an All-Time XI Iniesta would defo be in the squad. If the main criterion were making the game look easy, he would probably get in the side.

If you're talking about making the game look easy, what about Lucas? Every time I saw him play I thought "it can't be that fucking hard if this cunt can play over 300 games for Liverpool"

 

[Fabio]

Not much, if at all. I go all the way back to George Best who, Manc though he may be, is still the greatest footballer I've ever seen, and if I were picking an All-Time XI Iniesta would defo be in the squad. If the main criterion were making the game look easy, he would probably get in the side.

Fair enough.

I think because he's not a flashy player, just quietly excellent in every aspect, he often gets left out the discussion

He genuinely is one of the midfield greats

 

[Insignificance]

Not much, if at all. I go all the way back to George Best who, Manc though he may be, is still the greatest footballer I've ever seen, and if I were picking an All-Time XI Iniesta would defo be in the squad. If the main criterion were making the game look easy, he would probably get in the side.

Interesting enough a all time Barca XI would probably include some from (for me) Ronaldo, Iniesta, Cruyff, Messi, Romario, Laudrup, Stoichkov, Figo or pep for the front 6 leaving out quite a number of stars like Xavi neymar, Ronadlinho, Suarez and Maradona(!). They have a pool of players to take from.

 

[rurikbird]

That would truly baffle me if correct.

Don't get me wrong Modric and Iniesta are some of the most elegant and intelligent players out there, but I believe Eriksen is up there too. But he's also different in a very important aspect of the game, he's got a poachers instinct almost and is a veritable chance-creating machine.

Whereas in particularly Iniesta has had players around me to score the goals Eriksen is also delivering the goods himself. Continuously.

Modric is used more defensively these days but even back in his days with Spurs he wasn't exactly a household name on the score-sheet. He is a true magician when on song little Luka and I don't think there's many - if any - players out there with his vision and game-intelligence. He just never loses possession for instance. But he needs players around him to close the deal. Same goes with Iniesta, who's an even less frequent visitor on the score-sheet but perhaps and even sweeter player to watch. He's truly ingenious and perhaps the fastest thinking player of all.

I get it, as such you shouldn't use goals/assists as a pointer to judge players with so much grace and flair like Modric and Iniesta, but if we are talking about them in the same breath as Eriksen you should at least also consider that the latter is far more dangerous in front of goal whereas he also manages to knit Spurs together. He is alongside Kane their most important player.

This season alone the Dane has bagged 8 goals and created 6 assists compared to Iniesta's 1 goal and two assists and Luka's 2 goals and 2 assists. I haven't checked past seasons but I am sure you'll find the same pattern.

Add to this that Eriksen is a marathon man on the pitch, he simply never stops running and is constantly in the Top 10 runners in the Premiership. His assist and chances created stats are top notch too so I am almost as certain as one can be, that there'd also be a few non-Dane's that pick the Spurs magician ahead of the Barca or Real ones despite how amazing they are.

And Eriksen would certainly be the player that would suit Klopp's style the most out of the three don't you think?

Fact is if he continues down the path he is on now he could end up being looked back upon PERHAPS in the same light as Zinedine Zidane. Without the head-butts and the most spectacular of Zidane's goals too mind, but still, in the same bracket and with the same hairline. Zidane is still one of my all-time favourite footballers, so I don't say that without utmost respect, but that's how good I believe Eriksen is/will be.

OK, as much as I like him, I'm afraid you're on your own in the Zidane comparison 🙂

 

[rurikbird]

Not sure at what stage of the match you posted this but it ended with 67% possession and 12 (6) shots vs. 9 (5 - which includes the two penalties) shots so it wasn't exactly even though both teams should have scored more (Alli and Kane's headers for Spurs).

Spurs had more shots, but I think they created roughly equal number of truly dangerous chances, if you include the missed penalty. Juve were very sharp and incisive on the counter and pretty sharp on defense too, so for all the Spurs' territorial advantage there was no decisive edge in chances created for either team.

 

[Kay Age El]

OK, as much as I like him, I'm afraid you're on your own in the Zidane comparison 🙂

But there are similarities and in my blueprint for Eriksen’s career it states clearly he should end up at Zidane’s level. Can’t deviate from that.

 

[Insignificance]

But there are similarities and in my blueprint for Eriksen’s career it states clearly he should end up at Zidane’s level. Can’t deviate from that.

Getting sacked in the morning?

 

[Judge Jules]

Kris, I've no doubt that if you go back far enough you of all people can find some Danish ancestry in Zizou's family tree. 😉

 

[Fabio]

Spurs had more shots, but I think they created roughly equal number of truly dangerous chances, if you include the missed penalty. Juve were very sharp and incisive on the counter and pretty sharp on defense too, so for all the Spurs' territorial advantage there was no decisive edge in chances created for either team.

I thought spurs were mostly shite at creating good chances .

So were juve mind, but I don't think either team could be happy with the attacking exploits

 

[Kay Age El]

Kris, I've no doubt that if you go back far enough you of all people can find some Danish ancestry in Zizou's family tree. 😉

Ha ha.. There are so many stupid Danes though.. i just dont plaster these boards with them. I love all people if they are nice. Especially woman.

 

[Mystic]

For those of you who ever struggle to understand why so many of us London based posters loathe Spurs so much, the way KHL is speaking about Eriksen is exactly how Spurs fans talk about him, but they don't have the excuse of endearing kinship to make it bearable. They also talk about Alli, Song, Trippier, Winks, the Stewards, the benches, and the blades of fucking grass the same way, everything to do with the club is the best in Europe to them and everyone else must be told about it, cunts.

 

[Fabio]

For those of you who ever struggle to understand why so many of us London based posters loathe Spurs so much, the way KHL is speaking about Eriksen is exactly how Spurs fans talk about him, but they don't have the excuse of endearing kinship to make it bearable. They also talk about Alli, Song, Trippier, Winks, the Stewards, the benches, and the blades of fucking grass the same way, everything to do with the club is the best in Europe to them, cunts.

I have the option of logging off and walking away. I'm so sorry for you