Moments In Time

[Finnegan]

This is my @David Guiza inspired hipster nostalgia thread.

 

It's a thread for those moments in time where a number of stars all aligned for a short spell in one location. Players famous for playing elsewhere, usually at bigger clubs, all converging somewhere on their way up. 

 

Two of my favourites:

 

Valencia, circa 2009.

 

 

An absolutely ridiculous attacking lineup of Davids Villa and Silva backed up by a young upstart named Juan Mata. Villa has just starred in Euro 2008 and is a year away from his big move to Barcelona where legend status awaits. The same season will see Silva depart but he's still on the fringes of the national team and, a slight late bloomer, it'll be a good few years before he's recognised as one of the greats of the Premier League. 

 

Juan Mata is the breakthrough star and Valencia's reigning young player of the season and is on course for 13 La Liga assists, second only to Xavi. 

 

The supporting cast includes legends Fernando Morientes, David Albelda, Vicente, Joaquin and future Leeds United cult hero Pablo Hernandez. But the real magic belongs with the three mercurial attackers destined for fame elsewhere. 

 

 

Pescara, circa 2011

 

 

Zdenek Zeman, a nomadic Czech coach has just shown up at Pescara. They're getting ready for their second season back in Serie B and he's got a love of attacking football and a talented if combustible kid called Marco Verratti kicking about the club. 

 

The kid is a midfielder with terrific vision but he's got fvck all to aim at. Money is tight and the club managed a forgettable, lower mid table performance last season so it's off to the loan market we go to see what we can find. 

 

What they find is two kids from Naples with more hair gel between them than a 90s boy band. The little and large act of Lorenzo Insigne from Napoli and Ciro Immobile from Juventus. 

 

The end result is remarkable. In their one season at the club, Insigne bags 18 and Immobile 28 as they blast the club in to Serie A on goal difference. The team have a defensive record barely good enough for survival but score thirty odd goals more than Torino behind them. 

 

And then it ends. Both go back to their respective clubs and begin their careers in earnest, while Verratti catches the eye of newly wealthy PSG and is spirited away. Even Zeman is poached (by Roma) and Pescara crash out of Serie A in last place at the first attempt. 

 

Almost a decade later the trio are united in celebration as they start - and win - together in the Euro 2020 final. 

 

 

History has to be full of this. Any others that spring to mind for anyone (besides Sky Sports fawning over a picture of Kane and Vardy sat on our bench)? Anyone have a favourite team from the last couple of decades that just neve really stayed together as long as it deserved (Monaco spring to mind)?

 

Edited 19 October 2021 by Finnegan

[ealingfox]

2 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Valencia, circa 2009.

 

 

An absolutely ridiculous attacking lineup of Davids Villa and Silva backed up by a young upstart named Juan Mata. Villa has just starred in Euro 2008 and is a year away from his big move to Barcelona where legend status awaits

 

Silva, Villa, Mata, and they had Al Pacino playing for them as well?

[The People's Hero]

I like the Shalke team around 2010 when the mix was of superb established players and a mix of young players who were a bit of an unknown quantity to an extent. Some went on to be brilliant; some more a story of what if? I sort of followed them a bit as I kept an eye on what Raul was doing. The mix of really young and the other end of the spectrum was striking in some games. 

 

Manuel Neuer at 24 years old and basically one of the best/ the best (?) gks in the world.  

 

Benedikt Howedes at 22 year old. Mature player even then and I think he's been absolutely superb through his career. Played 44 times for Germany. If he was a teenager now and English he'd probably get 140 caps.

 

Joel Matip 18/19 years old! Played quite a few games. Seem to remember him playing in midfield but I likely have that wrong. 

 

Christoph Metzelder - Probably didn't have the career he could have done; would have expected to finish more strongly after leaving Real Madrid at 30 with plenty of football left in him.  Sadly that's not the worst thing as he got embroiled in allegations of child pornography etc and there would seem to have been lots of truth in it. Had returned to Schalke here having been there as a kid and probably expected to play more than 50 games in 3 years after spells with Dortmund and Real Madrid. Managed 47 German caps. Good player. Probably not someone to have a beer with (or a whatsapp conversation)

 

Papadopoulos - Mentioned here to evidence that mix of steady, slightly more experienced and young and exciting breakthrough players. Apparently made debit for Olympiacos at 15, which is mental. Senior debut for Greece at 19. Yet still wouldn't be considered 'young' in this Schalke team really compared to some. Was unlucky with injuries but still a really important player for several teams in Bundesliga and for his country.

 

Ivan Rakitic - Bit of an old man of the midfield here at 22 years old! Absolute class. Picked up for very little outlay and just shows how good Schalke's scouting/acquisitions were in this period (less so now!). 

 

Julian Draxler - Currently a bit underwhelming at times at PSG but looked an absolutely brilliant player when younger. Only born in 93; so 17/18 at this time (4th youngest Bundesliger player ever apparently; and youngest in Schalke history). I genuinely thought he'd be an absolute superstar. He's obviously done well and got loads of money and 50+ caps and plenty of trophies; but I think he could have been one level better.

 

Jurado - yeah, the one from Watford. Real Madrid, then Atletico, then Schalke 04. Played just about every game that season, then moved on on loan and never really got going anywhere. Did look good for Shcalke; I was surpised when I just looked up his career. Played at every Spain junior level but never the full team. Probably says it all.

 

Christoph Moritz - Never actually went on to be brilliant, but really did threaten to kick on and then never did. Was 20 at this time and breaking through.

 

Raul (the Raul) - The reason I thought of this team as Raul is one of my favourite ever players. He doesn't really need me to write about him here; but still a superstar at this time, although discarded by Real Madrid.. and the first name in a quite formidable front three... (god knows if they played as a front three together ever?) - somehow managed to play loads and loads of games as well. 

 

K-J Juntelaar - what needs to be said. Would have been in his pomp here and in a spell during which he scored 1 in 2 for Schalke whilst the league was strong. His goalscoring record for the national side is obscene by the way. He never really looks that good; but the stats don't lie. Wikipedia tells me 279 in 497 in club football and 42 in 76 for the full national side. 

 

Jefferson Farfan (hero) would have been 26/27. Peru's best footballing export that springs readily to mind (sorry Nobby). There need to be more footballers called Jefferson and we need to sign one.

 

Just a really eclectic mix of players I already knew I liked and ones who've gone on to be excellent - Draxler, Howedes, Neuer, Rakitic, Matip (possibly),

 

[Finnegan]

Schalke is an absolutely cracking shout. There's also perhaps a side note possibility of "what could have been" with Mesut Ozil leaving that team like a year before some of those really stand out names arrive. 

[The People's Hero]

3 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

Schalke is an absolutely cracking shout. There's also perhaps a side note possibility of "what could have been" with Mesut Ozil leaving that team like a year before some of those really stand out names arrive. 

Draxler at 18 years old mate. 

 

I think it was a story of excellent acquisition but a coach who just gave young players a chance and put superb players around them.

 

"I think you're good enough. I think you can play for a European great within a few years and I want you to go out and play with Raul this season".

 

Yeah ok.

 

 

[deejdeej]

Love this kind of thread, I'll throw West Ham in there of around 2002.

Youth products like Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Defoe and Glen Johnson. Rio Ferdinand had left a few years before but was also promoted from the youth team.

 

Along with players like Kanoute, Trevor Sinclair (England starter in the 2002 world cup) David James in goal and a brilliant Di Canio. How the hell did this team get relegated...

[The People's Hero]

Watching that Schalke side was like this sort of nonsense fairly regularly.

 

Draxler taking the p*ss to give Raul an easy goal....

 

 

Edited 19 October 2021 by The People's Hero

[AKCJ]

You mentioned Monaco right at the end there.

 

Their team that hit the UCL semi finals is a bit of a joke to be honest.

 

 

Midfield 4 of Bernardo Silva, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho and Thomas Lemar. Benjamin Mendy at left back. Kylian Mbappe up top with Danijel Subasic in goal. Not shown in the picture because I think he was injured at the time but Radamel Falcao was their top scorer. 

 

Superb team and they had no right having that much talent at the same time.

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

You mentioned Monaco right at the end there.

 

Their team that hit the UCL semi finals is a bit of a joke to be honest.

 

 

Midfield 4 of Bernardo Silva, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho and Thomas Lemar. Benjamin Mendy at left back. Kylian Mbappe up top with Danijel Subasic in goal. Not shown in the picture because I think he was injured at the time but Radamel Falcao was their top scorer. 

 

Superb team and they had no right having that much talent at the same time.

 

Yeah the only reason I didn't add them in more detail as my third pick is sort of like reverse recency bias almost really. It seems a bit too soon! A couple of them like Lemar and Bakayoko almost feel like they've stalled a little and their careers just need a bit of a nudge on again. 

 

You're absolutely right though it's an utterly unbelievable squad. 

[The People's Hero]

That Monaco side was superb. Perhaps eyed with a bit of suspicion as the French league just always has been; but I think the questions have now largely been answered by most of the players who've gone elsewhere.

 

Always thought Bakayoko might struggle a little bit but no idea what's happened to Lemar. Probably needs a move to LCFC.

[AKCJ]

Here's one.

 

PSV 95/96. Had young Jaap Stam and Phillipe Cocu as well as 18 year old Bolo Zenden, 16 year old Eidur Gudjohnssen and this man right here;

 

 

 

 

 

[filbertway]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015–16_Rayo_Vallecano_season

 

This team were really fun to watch.

 

It was probably the game theyt lost 10-2 that made me fall in love with them. Went 2-1 up and had a man sent off, then another. They still had plenty of attacks and kept trying to score goals, sending 3 or 4 players forwards every time they won the ball back.

 

Such a fun team to watch and really summed up for me that I'd happily watch season after season of attacking football and winning nothing rather than watching a boring well drilled team try to kill games and eek out 1-0 wins.

 

Shout out to Benevento 17-18 who played with similar gusto

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–18_Benevento_Calcio_season

[Jaspa]

 

Ajax 1994/95 - Champions League winners

Back: Edwin van der Sar, Clarence Seedorf, Frank Rijkaard, Finidi George, Frank de Boer, Danny Blind. Front: Jari Litmanen, Michael Reiziger, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars, Ronald de Boer

 

Manager: Louis van Gaal

[David Guiza]

Great thread!

 

As a massive fan of Championship Manager 01-02 I'd throw the Bayer Leverkusen side of that season into the mix.

 

Some real iconic names in there:-

 

Michael Ballack

Oliver Neuville

A young Dimi Berbatov

Soon to be World Cup Winner - Lucio

Bernd Schneider

Ze Roberto

 

Didn't quite make the grade, coming 2nd in the Bundesliga and runners up in the Champions League too. 

Ballack then left, along with most of the others and they've never really had a side like that since (possible exception of 2010/11)

 

 

In reference to the initial post, Valencia also had a memorable side in that same season and I loved their kits at the time too! 

Bleached blonde Canizares in the sticks, Roberto Ayala at the back, the incredible Pablo Aimar in midfield and big bad John Carew up top. (Palop, Baraja, Vicente, Adrian Illie, Kily Gonzales also in their ranks)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SpacedX]

Not a popular call by any means, but you have to say - Clough's double European Cup era of Forest 

 

From 13th in the old Div.2, winning promotion next May, then becoming champions of England at the first attempt, followed by back-to-back Champions League equivalents, a couple of EFL Cups and creating a record for going unbeaten in the top division, 42 matches that would last a quarter of a century. Anderson, O’Neill, Bowyer, Woodcock and John Robbo were all existing players and part of what became a stellar alignment

 

The club were so skint when Clough arrived they held a cheese and wine event to raise a few quid in his first summer.

 

 

Edited 19 October 2021 by Line-X

[Corky]

The Middlesbrough team of 1995-97 was something remarkable. Combining the brilliance of Juninho, Ravanelli, Emerson, Branco, Festa with good old English pros like Neil Cox, Robbie Mustoe, Steve Vickers- of course captained by Big Nige.

 

Two cup finals and a relegation.

[The People's Hero]

Just because I liked a few of the players at the time (Sinisa Mihajlovic take a bow) what about Seria A runners up 98-99 Lazio. Spine of Italian curmudgenous folk who could kill any game dead, Mihajlovic who could hit a ball (or man) harder than anyone since, and then some excellent overseas flair/goals.

 

Marchegiani, Pancaro, Negro, Alessandro Nesta, Mihaijlovic, Fernando Couto, Gottardi, Atilio Lombardo, Conceicao, de la Pena, Stankovic, Nedved, Almeyda and then the front 4.... get these 4.... Mancini, Vieri, Salas and Boksic. WOW. Forward options to die for; especially considering they let SIgnori and Casiraghi go that year; along with Diego Fuser!

 

I liked them as they really could defend and there were some genuinely good technical players. Some of the goals they scored that year were beautiful and Salas was unreal.

 

They actually won Serie A the next year (and that year probably qualifies for me too) but it just wasn't so new and exciting... but while we are talking strikeforce; take the above and remove Vieri, but add in Simone Inzaghi, Ravanelli and Kennett Anderson as well as strengthening elsewhere with JS Veron, Nestor Sensini (what a player he was) and Diego Simeone (di ck but a great) (and yeah, it all went very Argentinian for a bit - by the next year Claudio Lopez, Lucas Castroman and Hernan Crespo had joined)

 

Basically Lazio's model was to maintain an Italian defence and then mix it all up elsewhere. Its very different today of course; but that's what nostalgia is for.

 

[The People's Hero]

12 minutes ago, Line-X said:

Not a popular call by any means, but you have to say - Clough's double European Cup era of Forest 

 

From 13th in the old Div.2, winning promotion next May, then becoming champions of England at the first attempt, followed by back-to-back Champions Leagues, a couple of EFL Cups and creating a record for going unbeaten in the top division, 42 matches that would last a quarter of a century. Anderson, O’Neill, Bowyer, Woodcock and John Robbo were all existing players and part of what became a stellar alignment

 

The club were so skint when Clough arrived they held a cheese and wine event to raise a few quid in his first summer.

 

 

Duly reported!!!

[AKCJ]

17 minutes ago, Line-X said:

Not a popular call by any means, but you have to say - Clough's double European Cup era of Forest 

 

From 13th in the old Div.2, winning promotion next May, then becoming champions of England at the first attempt, followed by back-to-back Champions Leagues, a couple of EFL Cups and creating a record for going unbeaten in the top division, 42 matches that would last a quarter of a century. Anderson, O’Neill, Bowyer, Woodcock and John Robbo were all existing players and part of what became a stellar alignment

 

The club were so skint when Clough arrived they held a cheese and wine event to raise a few quid in his first summer.

 

 

Have a word @the mods.

[David Guiza]

Managed to forget one of my all-time favourites:-

 

The Roma team from 2000/2001 (last time they won the league) had some icons in it. Totti (obviously) and Montella are probably the only two that are best remembered for their time there, as opposed to elsewhere though. Unless you're counting Delvechio and Tommasi (played 7 times for QPR in 2008?!) 

 

Batistuta (think most would associate him with Fiorentina and the Nintendo shirt/smashing the OT to pieces)

Nakata (Perugia or Parma)

Cafu (probably better remembered for his time at Milan)

Zanetti (Inter)

Walter Samuel (Inter)

 

 

An obvious shout for Parma from the mid to late 90s too.

 

 

 

[Stuntman_Mike]

**wrong thread

Edited 19 October 2021 by Stuntman_Mike

[Blue ROI]

Bit early for nostalgia perhaps but Ajax 2018-19.

 

Not had the individual success stories of Monaco 2016-17 but the journey to the semi finals was thrilling.

[kushiro]

Good thread - and time to boot it in a totally new direction like Peter Kaye in that keepy-ups commercial.

 

I totally fell in love with Cambridge United when they were in Division Four in 1990 and I saw them win at Exeter. Yes, it was THAT Cambridge team - John Beck's. But they could be wonderfully exciting to watch - especially when they had John Taylor operating (before he got too pissed off with Beck's direct methods and left). What a collection of players in Division Four - as well as Taylor there was Dion Dublin, Steve Claridge, Lee Philpott, Liam Daish and Alan Kimble - they all went on to play in the Premier League.  Not with Cambridge, though. But they so nearly made it - they so nearly became the first team ever to get three successive promotions, but the dream died at another of my favourite matches - they lost 5-0 at Filbert Street in the play-off semi-final in May 1992.

 

'Ave it! 

Edited 20 October 2021 by kushiro

[Vacamion]

 

Surprised this wasn't already in here:

 

 

[Finnegan]

59 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

Surprised this wasn't already in here:

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Finnegan said:

History has to be full of this. Any others that spring to mind for anyone (besides Sky Sports fawning over a picture of Kane and Vardy sat on our bench)?