Now, I know this is verging on heresy, but who is your favourite non-Saint?
Personally, I have also loved Zlatan an unhealthy amount. I have always enjoyed the arrogance, and the fact that so many British fans really didn’t see how good he was. And now, even at the age of 35, he is one of the fittest and best footballers in the world. Here’s some interesting stats from the beginning of Jan, and the second best goals video ever (behind Le Tiss, it’s):
'Ibrahimovic has scored or assisted 16 goals in 19 Premier League games, and yet that’s still not the most impressive statistic.
'Ibrahimovic has scored 35 league goals in 35 league games, and yet that’s still not the most impressive statistic.
'Ibrahimovic scored more goals than any other player in all competitions in 2016 bar Lionel Messi, and yet that’s still not the most impressive statistic.
‘Ibrahimovic is 35 years old, and played 61 matches in 2016. No Manchester United player has played more minutes this season, including all 270 over the Christmas period. So has Ibrahimovic tired in the latter stages of games? Oh no – four of his last six goals have come in the last 15 minutes of matches. That is the most impressive statistic. The man is a machine.’
George Best in his heyday was peerless. At a time when “knuckle-head” defenders took no prisoners and got away with it he would ride tackle after tackle to slide the ball past the goalie. Today he wouldn’t have scored half the goals he did, that sort of tenacity would have been trained out of him…“gnat’s breath on the back of your neck…go down lad”
Modern footballers have no idea what it was like to play with very little protection from referees.
Watch it all…you’ll have no doubt Best was the best.
The best of the lot, according to many good judges, was a guy called Robin Friday, who had a short 4 year career in the mid 1970s, playing for Reading and Cardiff City. A true maverick and naughty boy, loved a drink, weed, you name it he did it. Still revered at Reading and Cardiff. Died tragically young from a heroin overdose. Hugh Mcilvanney, the doyen of sports journalists rated him as the best ever, even in front of George Best. Lots of stuff about him on youtube and google worth checking out. He clearly was something very special indeed.
