Could one player carry a club?

I think it would depend on the position. I'd say a top striker could carry a team; might even give others a better margin for error, which might make them better as well.
 
Could Ronaldo carry a team? I mean he joined a team that finished 2nd and they finished the next season in 6th, so if he's carrying them it's in the wrong direction.
 
Only for a short while before the shite drags them down.

Better players will always play better when playing with and against players of the same level.
 
Ronaldo could turn up at motherwell or any other team but if the players around him sre disinterested just like at utd it's never happening. 1 player can lift a whole team though. Cantona springs to mind
 
Some can carry a lot more than one club:

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Pirlo said:
No one player can truly carry a team I suppose, but I felt like Laudrup was close to that at one point. Closest I’ve seen overall was probably Messi 2018/19 season, felt like every big goal his team scored if it wasn’t scored by him it’s because it was created by him.
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Closest I’ve seen was Maradona at Napoli
 
Gareth bale does it with Wales, has a few decent players around him but always seems to find another level on international and seems to score or be heavily involved in most of there goals .
 
amabluestar said:
Perhaps not so much in the 60s, but John Greig carried our club on plenty of occasions early 70s.
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Wasn’t around then mate I take it was in terms of leadership in the pitch?

Tav goals certainly carried us in the Europa last year his performances were out of this world
 
John A said:
Gareth bale does it with Wales, has a few decent players around him but always seems to find another level on international and seems to score or be heavily involved in most of there goals .
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When did Wales become a club
 
daven37 said:
I think there is a case for saying mark hateley, can't recall exactly what season it was.
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93/94 but no, I wouldn’t say he carried us. Same with Barry, they were stand-out players but I don’t think they “carried” us the way OP means.

I’ll throw Kenny Miller out there during the Championship season. Surrounded by shite and people who couldn’t give a %^*&, it felt at times as if he was the only one who actually cared on the pitch. I remember watching him chase a lost cause into the corner, keep it out for a throw-in and then screaming at Black who couldn’t have looked less disinterested as he turned away.
 
If that individual is a team player and grafter then they can give a team an uplift e.g. Messi or Figo. If they are self focused then they have little impact e.g. Neymer or last season Ronaldo.
 
RAFBob said:
Completely get the OP point, however, look at what he did with Utd - how much difference was he able to make there?

One player can't do it all alone.
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Maradona pretty much won the 1986 World Cup for Argentina.
That level of performance has never been repeated at that level
 
CalebBrodie said:
Not sure about carry a club but there's guys who u know are leaders and everyone around them in the club knows these guys won't settle for anything less than 100% Maldini , Buffon , Gerrard , Puyol, Totti. If you played in any of their team I think you'd be feeling calmer going into big games. Think everyone raises there game when u have people like that in your team.
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Glad someone has mentioned Francesco Totti.
The guy had Roma in his blood; and the documentary on him (which had a thread of it`s own in here) was fantastic viewing.
Definitely worth a place among the names listed above.
 
ibrox1975 said:
Maradona pretty much won the 1986 World Cup for Argentina.
That level of performance has never been repeated at that level
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They had a decent team, Valdano grabbed a fair share of their goals in that tournament, Maradona was undeniably the best player in the team and at that tournament though.
 
RAFBob said:
Completely get the OP point, however, look at what he did with Utd - how much difference was he able to make there?

One player can't do it all alone.
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Yeah but that's the EPL, so many tough opposition teams

At a team like motherwell most of his games would be against fodder, and if he helps them win 90% of those games then they could be title contenders.

But that's the question, would they win 90% of those games or would his team mates be too weak to play to his strengths
 
MrBearightside said:
Yeah but that's the EPL, so many tough opposition teams

At a team like motherwell most of his games would be against fodder, and if he helps them win 90% of those games then they could be title contenders.

But that's the question, would they win 90% of those games or would his team mates be too weak to play to his strengths
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No I get that, however, I don't think even Ronaldo could carry the shite at Motherwell.
 
Chocolateleftfoot said:
Could Ronaldo carry a team? I mean he joined a team that finished 2nd and they finished the next season in 6th, so if he's carrying them it's in the wrong direction.
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Fernandes, Cavani and Rashford scored 39 goals combined without Ronaldo. With Ronaldo and their combined total of 16 this season they've finished with 5 less than the season before without him.

Ronaldo's goal record is impressive but it comes at the expense of the rest of their attacking players, exact same thing happened at Juve.
 
You always need a main man but this is a team game & the only way it works if everyone plays their part so no
 
I'd say no single player could 'carry' a club - but in the late 60s and early 70s it certainly felt like John Greig was doing just that with Rangers. He wasn't, of course, but it just felt that way to most who were watching. Special moment when the players lifted him high on their shoulders after the tile win at Easter Road. He'd been carrying some of them for years it seemed like.
 
Bit of a cop out, but for me this answer is both yes and no depending on the club and quality around.

Man Utd at moment are a mess, and Ronaldo couldn't carry them.
Gerrard - for me - carried Liverpool in early Benitez days with lesser quality around him. But, also a far more hard working team who'd bought into the managers philosophy.

So:
- Yes; if players pull their weight too,
- No; if rest of club sits back and tries to only watch one player carry them.
 
Bruno Fernandes carried Utd for 6-12 months when he arrived.

Seemed like he transformed them overnight and dropped off when Ronaldo joined.
 
Bobby Russell said:
Was about to post this.
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I always wonder how much people actually saw much of Serie A in the 80’s though, it’s not as though they were broadcasting all the games live.

Not saying it’s wrong mind you because Maradona was obviously a phenomenon, it’s just I’m curious to see how many people are basing it on watching Napoli’s season and how many are basing it on myth, of which there’s a lot surrounding Diego. Napoli spent some serious money on top players to partner him.
 
Not seen Jamie Vardy mentioned, maybe carried is a bit strong but he certainly seemed talismanic to Leicester’s title win.
 
Suarez for Liverpool was a great example. He took them to within a slip of winning the league title then the drop off the season after he left was huge and effectively got Rodgers the sack.

He did replace him with Ballotelli & Rickie Lambert mind you :))
 
bluebeak said:
John Greig was the epitome of it. He maybe didn’t carry the team in the 60s & 70s but he certainly could lift them.
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I would say Greig was the driving force of the team from 67 to 72. Ironically missed our first silverware in 4 years when he missed the 70 LCF.
 
I know folk will likely jump down my throat for it, but Barry Ferguson carried many Rangers teams in his time with us. Obviously I'm talking the odd game here and there not the entire season.
 
Hately's Barnet said:
Suarez for Liverpool was a great example. He took them to within a slip of winning the league title then the drop off the season after he left was huge and effectively got Rodgers the sack.

He did replace him with Ballotelli & Rickie Lambert mind you :))
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The slip didn't cost Liverpool, losing Henderson for the run in did, when he came out the team it was so noticeable
 
JW1988 said:
The slip didn't cost Liverpool, losing Henderson for the run in did, when he came out the team it was so noticeable
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Fair enough. There was a few contributing factors - conceding 50+ goals and throwing away a 3-0 lead to Palace aswell but the slip is the most famous incident.
 
I think a small group of 3-5 can drag a side to a title, never found this idea of needing 15 players of absolute quality to be entirely true

In 04/05 it was a very small clutch of players who were actually good, with Prso and Ricksen in particular being outstanding that won that title.

I thought that in 2010/11 as well, we were dragged over the line by what was actually a very small group putting others on their back
 
daven37 said:
I think there is a case for saying mark hateley, can't recall exactly what season it was.
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1993/94.

The rest of the squad seemed to have some kind of hangover from the treble winning / CL run the season before, but Hateley just came into his own.

Signing Durie shortly before Christmas helped share the workload, but Hateley was still the top kiddie by a long way.
 
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