The most dominant players in the history of club football

 

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By Benjamin Conkey, 26 Feb 2009 Benjamin Conkey is a Roar Pro

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 David Beckham, LA Galaxy, Steven Gerrard

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There’s no ‘I’ in team. At least that’s what coaches say, and most of the time they are correct. But on rare occasions in the world game a sensational talent comes along who single-handedly scores victories for his side.

This to me is what makes a one-man team, not a player who has a high profile, like David Beckham with the L.A. Galaxy. He’s a great player, but how many matches did he win for them before heading to Milan on loan?

Maybe it’s a little harsh as he’s a midfielder and is used mainly to set up goals. But historically the players who score are the most celebrated.

Perhaps the first clubs to be considered one-man teams were any of the nine Arthur Friedenreich played for in Brazil from 1909 to 1935.

Who is he? Well if you believe the unofficial stats, he was better than Pele.

He helped introduce Joga Bonito, or the art of ‘playing beautifully.’ His family members kept all his stats, but the figures strangely vanished after they passed away.

So we are left with ambiguous numbers with some suggesting he scored 1239 goals in 1329 career matches, while others claim it’s the opposite – 1329 goals in 1239 matches.

Whatever the real number, historians agree he had little trouble finding the back of the net.

Goal scorers make it easier to identify one-man teams.

This is because it’s harder to place a precise value on a defender closing down an attacker or a goal-keeper making a tremendous save to keep his side in the lead.

The trick to identifying one-man teams is asking the question, “iif you took that player out of the side, would it make the difference between winning and either losing or drawing?”

I’d say Liverpool is a one-man team.

I know they have Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt. But how many goals would Torres have scored if it wasn’t for Steven Gerrard setting them up? Where would Liverpool be on the English Premier League table if Gerrard hadn’t played at all this season?

After all, he is their leading goal scorer.

Put simply when I think Liverpool, I think Gerrard. One only has to watch the 2005 Champions League final to appreciate how much value he adds.

One way to measure a player’s dominance in a team environment is the amount of goals scored compared with matches played.

If we use this formula, then Portuguese club Sporting had the most obvious one-man team of all time. Remarkably from 1937 to 1949, Fernando Peyroteo scored 331 goals in just 187 appearances. This is the highest percentage of goals per match of all-time, beating Pele who scored 470 goals in 412 appearances for club side Santos.

Is this a fair representation of what constitutes dominance in football? Who would you consider to be the most obvious one-man club sides?