Diego

Jesus Christ, didn't take long for this thread to turn into a slanging match.
The shameful thing is, I was expecting it as soon as I saw the thread title.
Great great player, legend of the game. I couldn't care less what he did off the pitch, the guy is right up there as one of, if not the best to ever grace a football pitch.
 
The first goal against England in 1986 overshadowed the second which was astonishing in its own right, but given the abysmal state of the pitch was perhaps the best goal ever seen at a World Cup.

A deeply troubled man, extremely difficult to like, but an absolute genius.
 
Genius tends to be flawed and that is definitely the case with Maradona.
It may very well be the case that it's really only British (mainly English) fans that remember his for the hand ball. To be fair, no one else cares.

But like George Best, his genius on the pitch was matched by his bad behaviour off it.

A great of the game for sure.
 
Jesus Christ, didn't take long for this thread to turn into a slanging match.
The shameful thing is, I was expecting it as soon as I saw the thread title.
Great great player, legend of the game. I couldn't care less what he did off the pitch, the guy is right up there as one of, if not the best to ever grace a football pitch.

isn’t it how most topics end up though, a slanging match. ☹️
 
Jesus Christ, didn't take long for this thread to turn into a slanging match.
The shameful thing is, I was expecting it as soon as I saw the thread title.
Great great player, legend of the game. I couldn't care less what he did off the pitch, the guy is right up there as one of, if not the best to ever grace a football pitch.
isn’t it how most topics end up though, a slanging match. ☹️

Have read through the thread a few times now and have some posts been removed because I can’t see any “slanging matches” ?!
 
The guy played in an era when pitches were like ploughed fields, and defenders wouldn't even get a yellow card for GBH.

In the opening game of the 1990 World Cup, he had more fouls against him than Messi did for the entirety of the 2018 World Cup.

It cannot be overstated the impact he had on Naples. The North/South divide in Italy makes the one in England look like a joke. They were like 2 different countries back then. No team south of Rome had won a Scudetto until he arrived in Italy, and he managed 2 with Napoli. It would be like either Messi or Ronaldo turning up at Everton and turning them into a title winning team.

And he had a similar impact with Argentina. Everyone knows about 1986, but carrying them to the final of Italia 90, with a little bit of help from Caniggia, was just as impressive - they were a very poor side.

RIP
 
Shilton was an excellent keeper but Clem wouldn't have been beaten to that ball. 100%.
I just checked, and Chris Woods and Gary Bailey (I thought he was South African?!) went to the 86 World Cup as the back up keepers.

I know Shilton gets a lot of stick these days, but when did we last have a keeper as good as the likes of him and Seaman? James was called Calamity for a reason, Robinson looked promising then faded badly, Hart was really good for a few years and then went off a cliff, and it seems now that Pickford could also be heading down a familiar path.

Keepers like Chris Woods, Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn, etc would walk into the no.1 spot these days, and back then they were nearly always 2nd choice. John Lukic didn't even get an England cap!

Massively going off topic here :D
 
Just watched it again, I think in fairness Shilton had timed his punch knowing that Maradona couldn't actually reach it with his head. If Maradona doesn't handle it, Shilton gets it.

And @howbow88 is right, there has been a massive dearth of decent English keepers since Seaman. Robinson and Hart had good runs but not the long term consistency, and the others have all been pure trash.
 
There are a plenty of 'greats' who were not particularly nice people or who had a problematic side to their nature - often 'reasonable' in a historic context. They remain great, but in eulogising about them we should understand where they might have been misguided and recognise their failings.

Maradona? A tingle goes down my spine at the mention of his name - the thrill of his football...and when I recall how I stood on the dry and filthy terracing of Hampden on a glorious Glasgow sunny day (yes it was) looking out at the team of Passarella, Ardiles, Tarantini, Kempes et al, knowing that there was an 18yr old lad in their midst who they reckoned was miles better than any of them...the excitement of what I felt and saw that day has stayed with me.
 
AVB wants the number 10 shirt to be retired by every team in the world. I guess he says it knowing it won’t happen but still...
 
I just checked, and Chris Woods and Gary Bailey (I thought he was South African?!) went to the 86 World Cup as the back up keepers.

I know Shilton gets a lot of stick these days, but when did we last have a keeper as good as the likes of him and Seaman? James was called Calamity for a reason, Robinson looked promising then faded badly, Hart was really good for a few years and then went off a cliff, and it seems now that Pickford could also be heading down a familiar path.

Keepers like Chris Woods, Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn, etc would walk into the no.1 spot these days, and back then they were nearly always 2nd choice. John Lukic didn't even get an England cap!

Massively going off topic here :D

I remember having a chat with some mates in Spain about goalkeepers. They considered England as being famous for having terrible goalkeepers... it surprised me but when I tried to argue I realised they were right. Especially when they reeled off the quality Spanish keepers.

Shilton may have been decent in the 80s, but he was still England keeper in 1990 when he was way over the hill - who was challenging him? We then had David James, Woods, Martyn, etc who were all average. Seaman came in but he was solid rather than outstanding (remember Ronaldinho's lob?). Since then we've had a series of keepers who look good but then turn out to be liabilities. England hasn't had a world class keeper for over 30 years.
 
Ah yes, the infamous England handball cheat.

I assume you are all referring to Paul Scholes, who punched the ball into the net against Poland? I remember how the commentators said nothing at all because it was an England player, shameful.

And just to prove it wasn't a one off aberration he did it again for Man U, but the ref spotted it and he was sent off.

Funny how nobody mentions these incidents when they are more recent than Maradona's :unsure:

Sadly, football is full of cheating and it's only outrageous when your team is the victim.

Zenit, Paul scholes handball volleyballshot - YouTube

Paul Scholes' England hat-trick | From The Archive - YouTube


what about Peter Crouch pulling the defender's dreadlocks to get above him and score in the WC? I wonder what the reaction will be in Trinidad and Tobago when he dies ...

 
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