Platini or Zidane

who do the French consider the better player?

Zidane

Zidane all the way..

Platini was hugely overated IMO.

ZZ. God over there.

Originally Posted by Fountz

Zidane all the way..

Platini was hugely overated IMO.

platini was brilliant, fountz, but zedington zed all the way

incidentally, platini nowadays reminds me of the napoleon caricature in Bill and Teds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAxRE7PJ14

but Platini for me - Bestesque balance and finishing for a start off


edit: sorry I meant I can't speak for the whole of France, you know that, but...

Originally Posted by Fountz

Platini was hugely overated IMO.

even though its your opinion, its absolute £#%&!ing shite of an opinion.

u must be 10 or something.


and on topic Zizou is better, special lad that. great great player. a great person as well.

platini was a great player, but zz is up there with the greats of all time. zz all the way.

THANKS FRANCE FOR:
[SIZE="7"]
ERIC CANTONA!

Always thought Zidane should have got a lot more goals for a player with his ability, think he average about 1 goals in every 5 games in his club career.

Originally Posted by Sloppy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAxRE7PJ14

zidane had better picture quality

was that boniek getting on the end of some of those long passes? always liked him

TT, his balance was superb. particularly like the goal earlyish in that comp when the ball breaks on the edge of the box and he feints to hit it but instead lobs the ball over the out rushing defence, collects it on the other side and passes it into the corner

still Zebeddee for me though

It's the grace and beauty of Platini's football that sets him above Zidane for me. Nice to have a touch of this though:

http://zizizdane.ytmnd.com/

Originally Posted by Fountz

Zidane all the way..

Platini was hugely overated IMO.

First part fair enough.

Second part, oh my gawd.

Platini if you're a middle-aged vaguely racist French farmer.

Zidane if you live on a scummy Paris housing estate.

Originally Posted by Zorg

Platini if you're a middle-aged vaguely racist French farmer.

Zidane if you live on a scummy Paris housing estate.

Don't mention Algeria!

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

It's the grace and beauty of Platini's football that sets him above Zidane for me. Nice to have a touch of this though:

http://zizizdane.ytmnd.com/

I will admit to having seen little of platini outside of Youtube compliations and reviews of Euro Championships and World Cups, but having watched a great deal of Zidane I find that statement hard to believe.

Zidane's game was all about Grace and Elegance on the ball, for the size of the man he he was incredibly balanced, had an astonishing ability to protect the ball under pressure, and always seemed to choose the right option.

For me Zidane is the best player of the last 20 years, just dominated games, having had this discussion before on the forum I remember Serenity putting a high value on Rivaldo and his levels of production, great player yes, but for all his talent he rarely took the breath like Zidane constantly did.

Zidane was a fantastic player to watch, an old school technician playing in an era of hard running atheltes, and if you start watching match with Zidane involved it's almost impossible to get sucked in by his sheer elegance. Because of his style of play, Platini didn't have this same magnetism; however, I still think he was was the superior player.

Platini dictated matches in a way that Zidane never did; his vision, tactical intelligence and range of passing were superior; he was a leader in his teams in a way that Zidane never was (for me, Zidane throughout his career - perhaps with the exception of his performance for France at Euro 2000 - was generally more the icing on the cake than the fundamental component of his teams); he was perhaps the deadliest free-kick taker in European football history; he played significantly more decisive passes than Zidane at both club and international level; and scored far more goals than Zidane ever did in a league which was tougher than any that Zidane played in (capocannoniere for three years in a row, if you didn't know).

I would also say that Platini was far more dominant at major international tournaments than Zidane ever was. He was the leader and creative fulcrum of one of the most technically gifted and brilliant midfields in World Cup history in 1982, and dominated Euro '84 from start to finish as much as perhaps any player has ever done in that competition, scoring nine of France's fourteen goals in the tournament, whilst still maintaining his function as the orchestrator in chief. Even Zidane's greatest performance at a major tournament - Euro 2000, of course - doesn't remotely compare with this.

Also, if we're talking about the best player of the past 20 years, then I think that's Paolo Maldini. For me, probably the only outfield player to have plied his trade during this period to have a very strong shout as the greatest ever in his position.

Regarding the last 20-odd years, how do you rate Cafu?