Everton - 3 Era's - 3 Teams. Who gets your vote ?

[RFUS]

Obviously, being 21, my knowledge is limited but I'm a firm believer in two things: 1) Knowing your history and 2) Footballers these days being far superior athletes. The tennis players of today are a lot, lot better than those in the past; the sprinters, the gymnasts etc. I do not think players from 30 years ago would be quite as good in the modern game.

Anyway...

N. Southall
S.Coleman
K.Ratcliffe
B.Labone
L.Baines
T.Steven
C.Harvey
H.Kendall
A.Ball
A.Gray
G.Sharpe

I'd have Coleman and Baines as fullbacks these days are a different beast, and you'd be hard pressed to find any team in the world with two attacking fullbacks as good as ours. Otherwise, though I think modern footballers are superior athletes, the ability some of our past players had puts present ones to shame.

 

[Jeff Jones]

I reckon this current team would wipe the floor with the 1970 one and beat the 85 one, but that's just because of technology, diet, new tactics etc.

Having said that, you've got to go by how good they were at the time compared to everyone else. Dixie Dean probably wouldn't get a game for Tranmere now.[/QUOTE]

Blasphemy, that.

 

[riddick]

Totally misread the title as 3 Evra's.

 

[Khalekan]

Agreed on both parts. The current team would annihilate the team from the 60's and probably beat the team from the 80's quite comfortably. The pace the game is played at now is so completely different, and the levels of fitness SO much higher... the previous generations would be blowing out their a*ses after 30mins.

HOWEVER, you're also right in saying you can only measure a team against those around it, and obviously both our 60's and 80's sides were amazing and accomplished far more than our current side has.

Our current team would hammer 50s era Real Madrid and the 1970 Brazilians for the reasons you point out.

In much the same way Tyson Fury would beat Muhammed Ali (what's that fella with the white coat doing in my house )

So we can only borrow the old boxing expression and say that "pound for pound", the current team is light years away from our three great post war Title winning teams.

 

[Khalekan]

I reckon this current team would wipe the floor with the 1970 one and beat the 85 one, but that's just because of technology, diet, new tactics etc.

Having said that, you've got to go by how good they were at the time compared to everyone else. Dixie Dean probably wouldn't get a game for Tranmere now.

This is true.

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

Our current team would hammer 50s era Real Madrid and the 1970 Brazilians for the reasons you point out.

In much the same way Tyson Fury would beat Muhammed Ali (what's that fella with the white coat doing in my house )

So we can only borrow the old boxing expression and say that "pound for pound", the current team is light years away from our three great post war Title winning teams.

Not sure about the Ali reference - I don't really know enough about boxing to judge tbh, but it seems (from a VERY unknowledgeable position) that boxing maybe hasn't had the HUGE leap forward that football as taken in the last 20 or so years. More than willing to accept i may be wrong on that though.

To be honest I think comparing teams from different eras is pretty meaningless for the reasons we've gone over... but if you're GOING to do it, then yes, the only way to do so is to say "where are team A and team B compared to their contemporary peers"... and on that ranking, of course our current team isn't as good as those teams which were the best around at their times.

I'm not sure "light years away" is quite accurate, but a fair distance, to be sure.

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

Blasphemy, that

Blasphemy indeed, but sadly in all likelihood quite true. No one is questioning the man's brilliance, btw... Had Dixie had the benefits of modern day diet, nutrition, fitness and training, then obviously the result would be different... But if you just took 1920's-30's Dixie and lobbed him into today's game - he'd probably have to go a LOT lower than Tranmere to get a game.

 

[peteblue]

Erm......so who lost our World Cup winning full back, Ray Wilson, from the above teams.......ffs

 

[peteblue]

G. West or N. Southall or T. Howard
T.Wright or G.Stevens or S.Coleman
J.Hurst or K.Ratcliffe or P.Jagielka
B.Labone or D.Mountfield or S.Distin
K.Newton or P.Van Den Hauwe or L.Baines
J.Husband or T.Steven or S.Pienaar
C.Harvey or P.Reid or J.McCarthy
H.Kendall or P.Bracewell or G.Barry
A.Ball or K.Sheedy or K.Mirallas
A.Whittle or A.Gray or R.Barkley
J.Royle or G.Sharpe or R.Lukaku

The choice is difficult. Maybe a best combined team is easier?

Southall
Wright
Ratcliffe
Labone
WILSON
Steven
Reid
Kendall
Ball
YOUNG
Sharpe

......missing players in CAPS.......

 

[Jeff Jones]

Blasphemy indeed, but sadly in all likelihood quite true. No one is questioning the man's brilliance, btw... Had Dixie had the benefits of modern day diet, nutrition, fitness and training, then obviously the result would be different... But if you just took 1920's-30's Dixie and lobbed him into today's game - he'd probably have to go a LOT lower than Tranmere to get a game.

And that's my point. He achieved what he did often on muddy grounds with waterlogged, heavy, leather footballs.

 

[peteblue]

Southall
Wright
Ratcliffe
Labone
WILSON
Steven
Reid
Kendall
Ball
YOUNG
Sharpe

......missing players in CAPS.......

Thinking about it, that team would thrash any other team on the planet........

 

[Eggs]

...Colin Harvey probably said it all in a conversation with Howard Kendall regarding comparisons between the 1970 and 1985 teams. Harvey said the class of '85 wouldn't even get close to the '70 side. I don't suppose anybody could argue with somebody as close to both squads as him.

 

[Khalekan]

Erm......so who lost our World Cup winning full back, Ray Wilson, from the above teams.......ffs

He didn't play in any of them.

He came after 1963 and was gone before 1970.

Played in the 1966 Cup Final team, though.

 

[peteblue]

He didn't play in any of them.

He came after 1963 and was gone before 1970.

Played in the 1966 Cup Final team, though.

He is the greatest left back the club has ever had. Ffs Newton played a couple of games in 1970 and gets a mention and our World Cup winning FB doesn't..........New rules required here......

 

[Khalekan]

Not sure about the Ali reference - I don't really know enough about boxing to judge tbh, but it seems (from a VERY unknowledgeable position) that boxing maybe hasn't had the HUGE leap forward that football as taken in the last 20 or so years. More than willing to accept i may be wrong on that though.

Boxing training methods, like all sports, have undergone a revoloution in recent decades, not to mention the dietary differences which make modern day athletes so much fitter.

But the real reason I make the tongue in cheek comparison between Tyson and Muhammad is the sheer size of the former compared to the latter.

Ali's fighting weight was circa 210 pounds.

Fury hovers around 270. He would dwarf Ali.

In fact, if Ali was around now and he was of the same physical stature, he would have to trim down a bit and become a Cruiserweight, the bridge between Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight they had to invent because of the increasing size of the Heavyweight boxers.

And previous greats such as Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano would have been a good stone or more lighter than Ali.

That's why one always hears boxing commentators use the term "pound for pound" when comparing fighters of different eras.

And I think we need to factor in many things when comparing our players from different decades.