It is commonly accepted that the old playmaker is dead. The last of the classic playmakers was former Villarreal star Juan Roman Riquelme, now pulling the strings at Boca Juniors. There are no more Riquelmes or Gheorge Hagis. Ditto the born predator. Spanish football has been graced by some great predators in recent years. Hugo Sanchez, La Liga’s top scorer in 1985, ’86, ’87, ’88 and ’90 was in a class of his own.
The 90’s enjoyed poachers like Romario (who was evidently more than a poacher at Barcelona), Christian Vieri (Atletico Madrid) and Raul Gonzalez (Real Madrid).
Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona), Raul again, Roy Makaay (Deportivo Coruna) and Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) have shone in the penalty box as classic finishers this decade but there is a persistent belief in the game that there are no more no.9s coming through. There are no more Gary Linekers and Filippo Inzaghis being churned out of conveyor belts world over.
Real Madrid’s January signing Klaas Jan Huntelaar belongs to that category of goal scorers. He is the last of a dying breed of players who were born to score goals. Players like him are content with their performance when their name joins the scoresheet.
Without goals, they rate their contribution poor. Not so many players can be compared with Ruud Van Nistelrooy, a legend in the art of putting away chances of all kinds. But Huntelaar’s similarities with Van Nistelrooy are such that comparisons are unavoidable.
Huntelaar is lethal with the head and feet, has great positional sense and is adept at beating the offside trap. His goals against Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Almeria are reminiscent of a young Van Nistelrooy. When the latter returns from injury next season, Juande Ramos will be faced with a selection dilemma of strikers.
Huntelaar represents Real Madrid’s future and may have to wait on the substitutes bench for an opportunity. But with Raul and Van Nistelrooy on the wane because of age and injury, Huntelaar’s wait on the sidelines won’t be long. Sadly there is no indication more of his kind will develop.
4 comments:
You started the blog with the playmakers and did not mention Zizou,Rivaldo and in this generation Kaka,Arshavin,Ballack,van der vaart,totti are great playmakers and then u ended up with a very dutch side of footy including the box finishers and i am not very happy to see this blog which makes no sense to me.I mean what do you want to say in this one??
hmmmmm i thought i was writing this post for huntelaar,because there are not many striker playing at the moment who can be considered as ultimate poachers u know.....those who are playing are at the end of there carears...Trezeguet, Ruud and Inzaghi who else falls in that category only Huntelaar i guess....can u name anyone else???..than there are other powerfull CF's like Drogba and Toni but i dont considered them poachers they offer more than just putting the ball in the back of the net.....so frankly read the post again....
Here ya dafty I am quoting your own shit"It is commonly accepted that the old PLAYMAKER is dead. The last of the classic playmakers was former Villarreal star Juan Roman Riquelme, now pulling the strings at Boca Juniors.
There are no more Riquelmes or Gheorge Hagis."
U started it with playmakers and ended up with tht dutch guy so U FUKIN READ YOUR POST AGAIN!!!!
u idiot, with absolutely no sence about football, i used the refernce of old playmakers because i believe those too are dying breed, so i wanted to say that just like old school playmakers, ultimate poachers are vanishing......
and u dont know what old school playmakers are ????? players like Roman Riquelme, veron, Pirlo, and maybe Xavi and Xabi alonso.....they sit deep in midfield and dictate play u know......u cant compare them with modern day playmaker(Zidane, Kaka, Ronaldinho,VDV etc......
Post a Comment