This takes me back. I was 17 when I watched this game with my Dad. You didn't need a ticket then, you just turned up on Saturday, paid a pound and you were in. There was something wonderful about football then that we've lost; it wasn't about money and finishing in the top four (who cares whether you're fourth apart from the accountants?) it was about something else, that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it was about being 17, and being with my Dad and drinking Bovril at half time (there was no such thing as a prawn sandwich then). I'm 65 now, and football... well it's a middle class game now, a game I can't afford to watch, played on immaculate pitches with beach balls and plastic boots. Oh for a muddy pitch, a leather ball and the magic of Best, Charlton and Law!
Stoke played Man U 7 times that season, and I saw 6 of the games, 3 league cup, 2 FA cup and 2 league games. As a Stoke fan I have to say the George Best was simply the greatest footballer I ever saw play. It is difficult to describe just how good he was, you can’t really compare different eras, you can only compare against the players at the time, and just like Bradman there was Best and then everyone else.
Absolute ..absolute respect ..(. from a true scouser) ... One of the best players that Ive ever seen in my life and I,m now 60 years ..Definately the most entertaining ..So bad that he didnt compete at a higher level after 27 years ...should have stayed at Man U .. Victim of the times then I think .
Enjoyed that 71/72 season, some really good games, new kit, Law, Best and Charlton all playing well. Great atmosphere, players played the game honestly. Players took time after matches to sign autographs. Sad it has changed so much, not for the better. Used to enjoy the game when it was played by men.
marccas10 better in terms of physical ability and team play and having better pitches. Worse it terms of how soft the game is with all the diving and also the dishonestly of a lot of players and the best players in the world are doing it and the fans defend it
The fact that small teams like huddersfield get nearly £100,000,000 for getting relegated but big clubs like celtic,rangers etc are lucky to get 2 million for winning a league...
George best ? What a great player 🙂 one of the best at his dribbling skills he often left opponent defenders for dead .one of the best players of all time. So exciting to watch.
@martin corderoy we all know this video looks like 5 year old kids with no brain playing football..and you think messi falls down against this team..lol
Imagine these defender with today's tactics and proper training;) Messi would have been a "Best" or a "Pele" from that time but he wouldn't have reach the level he has rn.
I was at this game last one of 1972 of a season that promised so much, 5 pts clear at the top at xmas. 7 defeats in a row in January saw the season peeter out as did sadly, Best's Glittering career .
@@GreenMorningDragonProductions I think your stab at irony went completely unappreciated by a certain kwong robert, but in a strange way, that makes it even funnier.
What was so great about Best was his almost wisp like floating balance and the ease of his brilliant close control on a paddy field of a pitch , not like the beautifully manicured carpet pitches of today. A very special player with a very special talent George Best (Rip).
I had the privilege of watching George Best many times when Man. Utd. played Coventry City. What a player, especially at a time when footballers weren't so protected from hard tackles as they are today.
@@charliewale4611tyke Having had the luck to see George best in his heyday is one of those things that happen and later we sit down and think....."hey several times I saw George Best live in his great days" It simply cannot get better for a football fan.
@@tigerarmyrule Never saw Best play. Saw Charlton and Law plenty of times. Law maybe the best striker of a ball going behind him (turning and shooting) I ever saw. Even when physically shot could hit the target from anywhere. Charlton a mood player - would have doubled his season's tally if he had been prepared to go for more scruffy goals. Took his modesty on to a football field.
Best player ever, I saw him regular, and even Pele agreed, despite Best boozing and womanising, and despite the much heavier balls, atrocious pitches, lack of today's conditioning and nutrition, and permission for full backs and wing halves to try and chop him in two, as it was a full body contact sport then, hence why there weren't many whippets-they would have been kicked off the field. And that is one of main reasons Best was so good, as he had strength to ride some diabolically crude and heavy tackles, and not only stay on his feet, but continue to go past more players, including the goalie, and then score. It was said that he could have played all the positions extremely well, which was attributable to his all round athleticism that was remarkable for the day, his speed, strength, agility, endurance, jump heights, timing, tackling, power, 2 footed ability, co-ordination, but above all his balance and grace. The latter are what really makes a player stand out like a jewel in a crown when playing in even a really good team and in any sport, with speed of mind and body following closely, just look at Pele, Maradona, and Cruyff, and Cantona for that matter. In the 60's and 70's the players were actually a lot more natural in their style of play and movement, as many had practised from childhood against the walls of backstreets in mill and mining towns, like Bobby Charlton who could really hit those old casies, when none of the current players would be able to do that, they'd break their foot. Yes, they study videos of various moves now, and receive copious amounts of training from early ages, but it's not always naturally ingrained, unless your proprioception levels are sky high, enter Ronaldo (Cristiano), who is has freakishly fast feet and great brain to foot neuromuscular connections, permitting him to perform his many skilled feats, which he nevertheless wouldn't have done with the old casey and without video recordings to watch. So never easy to compare players, which is why I go on wow factor mostly at any given time, and Best was literally magical and left you breathless during his peak years, which were of a shorter duration than now due to various factors and conditions, including the rife drinking culture, and in his case lots and lots of women, which is why he would oft go missing for a few weeks at a time. Shame really, but the most expressive players oft come with emotional baggage and addictive, self-destructive personalities, but they oft leave a legacy too that is like the most moorish of foods, as you never seem to have had enough of them. And in his case the situation is worsened by the fact that the best of his football was not recorded for future generations to adore, as there was little TV then too. If in doubt watch his first game away in Europe, or in final vs Benfica, as he was unplayable, so they simply crocked him. And think how rapid he would have been, and the number of goals he would have scored with today's pitches, rules, and featherweight balls, along with the coaching and health advancements. He was simply the Best of all time!
@@morristonian I recall heading a really wet one when I was about 10 years old, what a headache it gave me, I recall the agonising pain now, 50years on. I thought then that it would cause brain damage, and I was proved right, just look at Jeff Astle, one of best headers of ball back then in 60's, but it did for him in the end. I do think they're perhaps just a little too light now though.
@@nialloneill5097 The games evolved since Best glory days, 50 years ago. Better defensive shapes, with a tight knit, flat back four pressing high & dropping off in unison. The gegenpress, where the midfielder's & strikers again press high as a unit & dropp off as a unit. The faster pace of the game. Faster more athletic players & quick first time, one touch passes to keep possession. This accords less space & time on the ball & less gaps in the modern game midfield & defence than in Best era, where one can clearly see oceans of midfield spaces & uneven defensive backlines with gaps which a snappy dexterous player like a Best or a Pelé exploited quickly, which they wouldn't get in the modern game. Messi as to not only beat the gegenpress, but also dribble laterally at times, across the tightly knitted, flat back four, in literally no spaces at all. It's a far demanding task than in Best & Pelé time. Even more amazingly that he's been at it at a supreme level, for over twelve years
@@johnpacino007 Best's athleticism at the time was unique, and I am certain he would have relished going past the so called high press, which would have suited his game and style, as his ability to slalom at speed was better than Messi's, and was his basic strength to hold off tackles (back then there were defensive midfielders who were great and strong tacklers, not like today's woosies). His ability to beat men and shooting were better than Messi's too, all due to the inner strength of the many minor muscles we are made up of, that contributes to the balance of a person. Yes, Messi and Maradona come close, as did Pele, but Best was and is simply the Best, and he would do it in any era. Sadly, he wasn't the same (like in game above) after he boozed so long and heavily, but if he stayed off it, he would have outshone all these modern wussies, whatever the weather, the era, the tactics. And the mdoern tica taca would have suited him, for he would slipped between and around those lines with consummate ease, in fact, the modern game would have made look even better, as it allows this type of player to shine. Think of the Chelsea winger who signed for Real, and that is sure proof that I am right, and he couldn't lace Best's boots. What a player!!!
No sponsor advertising on the shirts, no Premiere league, no stupid wages, no saturation of foreign players and managers, and football thrived just fine in this country.
Maybe it's the pitch but these players look like 13 year olds trying to play a sport they don't know what decision to make when the ball is ahead of them there's no mind blowing passes, shots or saves and the dribbling looks basic as it gets
Yes kiddo, back in the day there wasn't any internet to help you do football analysis, football practices looked like bunch of dudes in the army but with a ball and all those people on the pitch had to have a real job to be able to sustain their lives, with that said half of them very alcoholics. Yes, football evolved, but so did everything. PS this was recorded in black and white
Yeah I agree, the skill gap wasn’t super high but it wasn’t like everyone was at professional level anyway. Nowadays, you have to be special in order to become a pro. The game is always evolving.
You need to appreciate that this was a different era, the pitches were farmers fields in comparison to today and the ball was much heavier. Best was ahead of his time, but burdened by addiction. A fascinating footballer.
JO EL The sudamerican teams has more stetic dribblings at that time, and also there are some players from that time that were very ahead of his time like Paco Gento
Yes, this was really the goalkeepers display that really caught the attention. Nevertheless, how good to be reminded of great players like Law, Best, Charlton, etc. Football then, and the pitch was really from a different era, wasn’t it?!😀
Henry Root right? It's like they're trying to start an orgy every time someone scores. The professionalism of a handshake and headnod is something people should do more often.
Looking back i definitely believe we had the Best league over the longest period of any nation in Europe, unlike most other European nations who only had few top teams able to win their domestic championship
George Best You are a Fantastic Football player You are the Best George Best Good bye the Belfast boy World legend Maradona Cruyff Pele George Best is the Best Danny van Strien Holland Europe
Watch the 1960s and 1970's even the 1980s matches and see how much time is lost for "injuries" if any at all. Virtually none. Now watch a modern game live and see how many players get "injured" especially players of the winning side who get "injured" all the time....LOL. Yet if you saw a South American (Not Brazil) or Spanish or especially Italian team they used to get "injured" all the time back then. Virtually np injuries here then yet we had Harris, Hunter,J Charlton, Stiles, Tommy Smith, Mackay and Peter Storey all playing. The hardest batch I have ever seen.
The lyrical chemistry of the colors of love, and the playful physics of the mathematics of love, is the harmonious combination of Tendencies and styles of the nuances and landscapes of the soul! It is visibly verified through the poetic omnippresence of the prism of the eyes of the feelings of the hearts! It is painted, by attitudes, true of heart watercolor! The saga of the Seguoia tree, poetic giant, red-skinned, belligerent of love, celebrity of the time, erudite, and professor of history; contemporary of the past and present, vertically imperial, lover of verses, sonnet needle threads, stars and celestial bodies, and castle of the monarchy of animals and birds of the triumphal ode! The Stagnation, and poetic inertia is a soulish prison! The battle and war of ideas within the castle of words inspires and evokes the permanent revolution, the changes of poetry! The surrealist poncho-pala is the cover of the lyrical and idyllic verses of the black sorrel of poetry! The frame of picture of parallels, dreamlike rectangles, of regular epagon, of lines and stanzas, performance, the polygon, illuminates and arouses playfulludic love from the stars and the moon! The Marriage, idyllic mating of colors, is the poetry of the transcendental imagination of the painter! The square of the poetic, [miosótis], forget-me-not, is the pupil of the poet @@@ ZZZ
Yup, I agree completely. When he was on the run, he was unstoppable. It would have been great to see United with Moore and Best together for a few years. Ah well...not to be.
Moore was an exceptional player, Best didn't rate him, he sniggered on an interview when he spoke about great players being available and he said with a laugh, they signe Ian Storey Moore. He was also jealous of Gerd Muller in the states
And here's the adhd kids, commenter liking his own comment and the other adhd kid adding the second like, nice. I'm sure if balon dor winner and greatest player of all time contender George Best was alive, he'd be rly bothered that some YT Ls thinks he sucked. XD
Watched italia 90 with george in chelsea during that ireland game if we won the owner was going to give me the restaurant, he went for a long walk at half time.
Say what you like about Best's drinking but in those days only two men could empty the streets when they were on TV, including having all the women watching and it was George Best and Mohammed Ali. NO ONE can do it these days.
Yes, it's much better now. more expensive for true fans, bang average players "earning" money out of all relation to their ability, agents constantly forcing transfers and wage demands, the EPL pandering to TV and playing games at stupid times, more bloody foreign players than home grown talent, new kits every three days, the World cup being used as a political gambit, etc, etc. it's still a great game but that is despite the idiots who run it, not because of them.
Oscar you haven't got a clue. What you currently call ' football' is a sanitised emasculated version of the game. The only contact allowed is when they celebrate scoring by shagging each other.
To see George at his peak watch footage of him pre-1970, before his personal/lifestyle issues gradually took the edge off his game. The best video that I have seen of his early years is 'George Best - El Beatle'. If there are others of that period I would like to know about them..
The Stars parade exuberantly on the radiant night catwalk, displaying the magnitude and carat of their brilliance and splendor! Why do stars confide in their loving feelings for poets? Why do poets open their hearts and show their lyrical feelings to the moon? The Summer Poetry is disguised as an astral moon, and the astral moon is disguised as a magically enigmatic muse! And Voila, the Man of poetry, kisses the moon, in the dawn of the sonnet's verses, in the madrigal idyll of literature! Only a poet can decipher the hermeneutics of the dream mathematics of the verses written on the moon of his soul! Our eyes are intertwined in the electronic waves of love of the pleiades and the stars! Reciprocity is the complicity of two hearts that love and love each other! The Woman, simply woman is the idyllic heaven of the poet! The deepest of the soft is the fragrance of the color of the petal, of the skin of the female anatomy! The Beauty, is a crstal diamond, avid for eternity! The landscapes of nature are painted by the speed of eternal thought! The eagle travels a vertical equation for understanding renewal! The rainy firmament is a sad, melancholy lark, weeping tears of tears over the lost loves, and the answers, from the misfortune of life! The Man of Words, has a heart, a seaman's port, in the latitude coordinates of solitude! @@@ ZZZ
Mark O'Rourke, if your comment is a criticism - I do not know what age you are, but having grown up watching the game in the early '70s, I can tell you that the modern professional game is relatively so anodyne as a spectacle.
1 thing thats noticeable in this game footage was the domestic league back then was dominated by domestic players, hence the national team being at its strongest during this period.
Football was so much more exciting in those days, no pass pass pass players never thought about passing back, it was attack all the time, Best was a great player certainly the best the UK has produced, as good as Maradona in my opinion.
this is not George Best at his Best, at this time in 1972 he was depressed and drank every day the last season he played for United. his best years was 68, 69 , 70 and 71. then he collapsed and his body changed completely., also his play , speed.and motivation. he gave up football only weeks after this game against stoke. you must jugde him by his best years and cannot use this stoke game as excample. by his prime he is one of the best players ever but of course it finished all too early.
Como ainda dizem que o futebol de antigamente, era melhor que o de hj em dia? Meu Deus do Céu. Nem se compara, com times e campeonatos de ponta atualmente. Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Era cuando los jugadores del united estaban implicados con el club no como los actuales que solo miran que club les ofrece mas la próxima temporada hasta la propuesta se mira más dinámica alegre y propositiva a la ofensiva no es sólo ganar si no agradar esta clase de equipos si te vuelven entusiasmado del fútbol
This takes me back. I was 17 when I watched this game with my Dad. You didn't need a ticket then, you just turned up on Saturday, paid a pound and you were in. There was something wonderful about football then that we've lost; it wasn't about money and finishing in the top four (who cares whether you're fourth apart from the accountants?) it was about something else, that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it was about being 17, and being with my Dad and drinking Bovril at half time (there was no such thing as a prawn sandwich then). I'm 65 now, and football... well it's a middle class game now, a game I can't afford to watch, played on immaculate pitches with beach balls and plastic boots. Oh for a muddy pitch, a leather ball and the magic of Best, Charlton and Law!
Very true words indeed.
Dear Tony O 2750: Classic comment, commendable, calligraphed in clay.
Stoke played Man U 7 times that season, and I saw 6 of the games, 3 league cup, 2 FA cup and 2 league games. As a Stoke fan I have to say the George Best was simply the greatest footballer I ever saw play. It is difficult to describe just how good he was, you can’t really compare different eras, you can only compare against the players at the time, and just like Bradman there was Best and then everyone else.
If it wasn't for Football, George Best would have had an unbelievable drinking career.
Haha good one, as Mrs Merton pointed out if he hadn't done all that running around perhaps he wouldn't have been so thirsty all the time
He had a drink problem after he played football not during it. Read his books before making comments about his alcoholism.
Didn't he say to the effect that he spent all his money on women, drink and cars; the rest he wasted?! LOL
@@Dbusdriver71 he sure did .
Well said... too many people judging him after football..When he played, you couldn't fault him..
Absolute ..absolute respect ..(. from a true scouser) ... One of the best players that Ive ever seen in my life and I,m now 60 years ..Definately the most entertaining ..So bad that he didnt compete at a higher level after 27 years ...should have stayed at Man U .. Victim of the times then I think .
Enjoyed that 71/72 season, some really good games, new kit, Law, Best and Charlton all playing well. Great atmosphere, players played the game honestly. Players took time after matches to sign autographs. Sad it has changed so much, not for the better. Used to enjoy the game when it was played by men.
George was my boyhood footballing hero..even though I was / am a West Ham supporter. RIP George.
As a Spurs fan saw George Best play once at Old Trafford he is the best player l've ever seen.
X Leeds ulra agree, I seen Cruyff, Eusebio, Muller....he scored regular others did not....
Football is a great example of how something can be now better but worse at the same time.
marccas10 better in terms of physical ability and team play and having better pitches. Worse it terms of how soft the game is with all the diving and also the dishonestly of a lot of players and the best players in the world are doing it and the fans defend it
@@sk-sn4vh it's those d¥kes Drogsh¡t and Dolphinaldo that brought crying to the prem, now we're plagued with the likes of Salah and Sterling.
@@sk-sn4vh accurate
Facts.its better cuz no one would want to watch this type of football ever😂😂
The fact that small teams like huddersfield get nearly £100,000,000 for getting relegated but big clubs like celtic,rangers etc are lucky to get 2 million for winning a league...
George best ? What a great player 🙂 one of the best at his dribbling skills he often left opponent defenders for dead .one of the best players of all time. So exciting to watch.
0:10 even then young played for united
Gaming Compilation he was already a veteran player.
And they wonder why he’s captain
And he was a LB 😏
imagine transporting Best & co from the mud heaps of the 70's, to the perfect billiard table modern grounds of today? the mind boggles...
I loved the way he always looked like a Rock Star too.Same as Stan Bowles.
Lingard would find a way into this man utd Squad somehow
How would he play, from inside his dads balls?
@@timoericvanb9820 just shut up
Arjun Singh triggered curry alert
@@timoericvanb9820 triggered racist alert
Lingard, Lingard who the feck is Lingard?
(With apologies to Roy Cubby Brown) 🤣🤣
Three European footballers of the year in the same team, tells you how good that team was in their pomp.
Could you imagine Messi playing against these guys 😂
20 goals every match
They would probably brake his ankles right away
@martin corderoy we all know this video looks like 5 year old kids with no brain playing football..and you think messi falls down against this team..lol
Imagine these defender with today's tactics and proper training;)
Messi would have been a "Best" or a "Pele" from that time but he wouldn't have reach the level he has rn.
David Lara tactics? Look at 2:26. That’s highschool level defending.
This footage was captivating for one reason.....George Best.
At 1:45 I think Suarez took some notes on how to stop a ball with his hand
I legit thought it was the goalie 🤣
Best football player ever RIP George Irish legend 🇮🇪💚
New era of football is damn hard you see
I was at this game last one of 1972 of a season that promised so much, 5 pts clear at the top at xmas. 7 defeats in a row in January saw the season peeter out as did sadly, Best's Glittering career .
Best's Glittering career didn't peter out. It was pissed up many a pub toilet wall!
At 1:41 minutes: *WHAT A SAVE!* This is the *best* save I've ever seen.
Look at how they celebrate the penalty. They shake hands and get on with it. Very unlike now, no grandstanding or prima Donna antics. Great days
How time makes you forget..the greatest players ever.yes that's George best
How lucky to have dennis law and george best on the same team
Yeah, and the balding deep lying centre forward looked pretty decent too. I didn't catch his name.
@@GreenMorningDragonProductions Sir Bobby Charlton
@@GreenMorningDragonProductions I think your stab at irony went completely unappreciated by a certain kwong robert, but in a strange way, that makes it even funnier.
One of the best and one of a kind, and unfortunately a very short career. Compared to now
Best so comfy on the ball, great upload.
Such elegant ease on the ball even on the muddy frankly crappy pitch which Old Trafford so often was.
What was so great about Best was his almost wisp like floating balance and the ease of his brilliant close control on a paddy field of a pitch , not like the beautifully manicured carpet pitches of today. A very special player with a very special talent George Best (Rip).
SO TRUE that description is spot on RIP George Simply The Best
Totally true Chris. The way he used to glide across the pitch with the menace and grace of a cheetah.......unique. The Beautiful Game in person.
I had the privilege of watching George Best many times when Man. Utd. played Coventry City. What a player, especially at a time when footballers weren't so protected from hard tackles as they are today.
@@charliewale4611tyke Having had the luck to see George best in his heyday is one of those things that happen and later we sit down and think....."hey several times I saw George Best live in his great days" It simply cannot get better for a football fan.
@@tigerarmyrule Never saw Best play. Saw Charlton and Law plenty of times. Law maybe the best striker of a ball going behind him (turning and shooting) I ever saw. Even when physically shot could hit the target from anywhere. Charlton a mood player - would have doubled his season's tally if he had been prepared to go for more scruffy goals. Took his modesty on to a football field.
All want remember him as a brilliant player I ever seen.
The players in this generation are much better than back then tbh
Superb... love watching Best... thanks for the upload !
Always great to see him on the ball.
You'll never see goals as good as the first two
Best player ever, I saw him regular, and even Pele agreed, despite Best boozing and womanising, and despite the much heavier balls, atrocious pitches, lack of today's conditioning and nutrition, and permission for full backs and wing halves to try and chop him in two, as it was a full body contact sport then, hence why there weren't many whippets-they would have been kicked off the field. And that is one of main reasons Best was so good, as he had strength to ride some diabolically crude and heavy tackles, and not only stay on his feet, but continue to go past more players, including the goalie, and then score.
It was said that he could have played all the positions extremely well, which was attributable to his all round athleticism that was remarkable for the day, his speed, strength, agility, endurance, jump heights, timing, tackling, power, 2 footed ability, co-ordination, but above all his balance and grace. The latter are what really makes a player stand out like a jewel in a crown when playing in even a really good team and in any sport, with speed of mind and body following closely, just look at Pele, Maradona, and Cruyff, and Cantona for that matter. In the 60's and 70's the players were actually a lot more natural in their style of play and movement, as many had practised from childhood against the walls of backstreets in mill and mining towns, like Bobby Charlton who could really hit those old casies, when none of the current players would be able to do that, they'd break their foot.
Yes, they study videos of various moves now, and receive copious amounts of training from early ages, but it's not always naturally ingrained, unless your proprioception levels are sky high, enter Ronaldo (Cristiano), who is has freakishly fast feet and great brain to foot neuromuscular connections, permitting him to perform his many skilled feats, which he nevertheless wouldn't have done with the old casey and without video recordings to watch.
So never easy to compare players, which is why I go on wow factor mostly at any given time, and Best was literally magical and left you breathless during his peak years, which were of a shorter duration than now due to various factors and conditions, including the rife drinking culture, and in his case lots and lots of women, which is why he would oft go missing for a few weeks at a time. Shame really, but the most expressive players oft come with emotional baggage and addictive, self-destructive personalities, but they oft leave a legacy too that is like the most moorish of foods, as you never seem to have had enough of them. And in his case the situation is worsened by the fact that the best of his football was not recorded for future generations to adore, as there was little TV then too.
If in doubt watch his first game away in Europe, or in final vs Benfica, as he was unplayable, so they simply crocked him. And think how rapid he would have been, and the number of goals he would have scored with today's pitches, rules, and featherweight balls, along with the coaching and health advancements. He was simply the Best of all time!
I have to agree and those case balls....I headed plenty but redirected most of them when wet otherwise you'd have a rotten headache.
@@morristonian I recall heading a really wet one when I was about 10 years old, what a headache it gave me, I recall the agonising pain now, 50years on. I thought then that it would cause brain damage, and I was proved right, just look at Jeff Astle, one of best headers of ball back then in 60's, but it did for him in the end. I do think they're perhaps just a little too light now though.
@@nialloneill5097 come on bro, messi
@@nialloneill5097 The games evolved since Best glory days, 50 years ago. Better defensive shapes, with a tight knit, flat back four pressing high & dropping off in unison. The gegenpress, where the midfielder's & strikers again press high as a unit & dropp off as a unit. The faster pace of the game. Faster more athletic players & quick first time, one touch passes to keep possession.
This accords less space & time on the ball & less gaps in the modern game midfield & defence than in Best era, where one can clearly see oceans of midfield spaces & uneven defensive backlines with gaps which a snappy dexterous player like a Best or a Pelé exploited quickly, which they wouldn't get in the modern game.
Messi as to not only beat the gegenpress, but also dribble laterally at times, across the tightly knitted, flat back four, in literally no spaces at all. It's a far demanding task than in Best & Pelé time. Even more amazingly that he's been at it at a supreme level, for over twelve years
@@johnpacino007 Best's athleticism at the time was unique, and I am certain he would have relished going past the so called high press, which would have suited his game and style, as his ability to slalom at speed was better than Messi's, and was his basic strength to hold off tackles (back then there were defensive midfielders who were great and strong tacklers, not like today's woosies). His ability to beat men and shooting were better than Messi's too, all due to the inner strength of the many minor muscles we are made up of, that contributes to the balance of a person. Yes, Messi and Maradona come close, as did Pele, but Best was and is simply the Best, and he would do it in any era. Sadly, he wasn't the same (like in game above) after he boozed so long and heavily, but if he stayed off it, he would have outshone all these modern wussies, whatever the weather, the era, the tactics. And the mdoern tica taca would have suited him, for he would slipped between and around those lines with consummate ease, in fact, the modern game would have made look even better, as it allows this type of player to shine. Think of the Chelsea winger who signed for Real, and that is sure proof that I am right, and he couldn't lace Best's boots. What a player!!!
It’s amazing to see how much better the skills are today vs then. Not even close. Amazing progress.
It’s amazing how far the game has come. These two would get battered by a reserve team
@Anant Raman and actually being tackled.
The greatest player ever to grace a football pitch pure genius even said by Pele
No sponsor advertising on the shirts, no Premiere league, no stupid wages, no saturation of foreign players and managers, and football thrived just fine in this country.
Maybe it's the pitch but these players look like 13 year olds trying to play a sport they don't know what decision to make when the ball is ahead of them there's no mind blowing passes, shots or saves and the dribbling looks basic as it gets
Yes kiddo, back in the day there wasn't any internet to help you do football analysis, football practices looked like bunch of dudes in the army but with a ball and all those people on the pitch had to have a real job to be able to sustain their lives, with that said half of them very alcoholics. Yes, football evolved, but so did everything.
PS this was recorded in black and white
Yeah I agree, the skill gap wasn’t super high but it wasn’t like everyone was at professional level anyway. Nowadays, you have to be special in order to become a pro. The game is always evolving.
You need to appreciate that this was a different era, the pitches were farmers fields in comparison to today and the ball was much heavier. Best was ahead of his time, but burdened by addiction. A fascinating footballer.
you know nothing. zero. learn.
JO EL The sudamerican teams has more stetic dribblings at that time, and also there are some players from that time that were very ahead of his time like Paco Gento
Shaking the hands of your teammates after scoring is very English😂
@AJGaming yeah that's English if you didn't know
@@Ri9e9e9 no it's not
Magd Nusair “thats English” wtf😂
It's was pretty common for this era. But sure I guess.
@@jackharkin5387 I meant UK what are you mad for
26 goals by April! And he wasn't an out and out striker.
Yes, this was really the goalkeepers display that really caught the attention. Nevertheless, how good to be reminded of great players like Law, Best, Charlton, etc. Football then, and the pitch was really from a different era, wasn’t it?!😀
Great stuff indeed. I liked the goal celebration...a brisk handshake. Nowadays if you score you get covered in love bites.
Henry Root right? It's like they're trying to start an orgy every time someone scores. The professionalism of a handshake and headnod is something people should do more often.
Thanks Rigsby.
Rigsby's Line i n rising damp.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The way best turns directions and skill moves is a great thing to watch
Looking back i definitely believe we had the Best league over the longest period of any nation in Europe, unlike most other European nations who only had few top teams able to win their domestic championship
I love how they just give handshakes when they score
yes. goal celebrations now just try to justify the obscene amount of money they get - and also to justify the gayness of their celebrations.
It’s pathetic these days. Everyone getting a finger bum wank because a goal was scored
George Best without doubt the greatest British player ever
Me and my mate watched United in the sixties and seventies home and away BEST was the best i ever saw
In this era number one player in Leyton Orient
Yeh but can he do that on cold rainy night in stoke...?
Honestly for 1972 those ad boards look proper fresh fam
George Best
You are a Fantastic Football player
You are the Best
George Best
Good bye the Belfast boy
World legend
Maradona Cruyff Pele
George Best is the Best
Danny van Strien Holland Europe
Watch the 1960s and 1970's even the 1980s matches and see how much time is lost for "injuries" if any at all. Virtually none. Now watch a modern game live and see how many players get "injured" especially players of the winning side who get "injured" all the time....LOL. Yet if you saw a South American (Not Brazil) or Spanish or especially Italian team they used to get "injured" all the time back then. Virtually np injuries here then yet we had Harris, Hunter,J Charlton, Stiles, Tommy Smith, Mackay and Peter Storey all playing. The hardest batch I have ever seen.
The lyrical chemistry of the colors of love, and the playful physics of the mathematics of love, is the harmonious combination of Tendencies and styles of the nuances and landscapes of the soul! It is visibly verified through the poetic omnippresence of the prism of the eyes of the feelings of the hearts! It is painted, by attitudes, true of heart watercolor! The saga of the Seguoia tree, poetic giant, red-skinned, belligerent of love, celebrity of the time, erudite, and professor of history; contemporary of the past and present, vertically imperial, lover of verses, sonnet needle threads, stars and celestial bodies, and castle of the monarchy of animals and birds of the triumphal ode! The Stagnation, and poetic inertia is a soulish prison! The battle and war of ideas within the castle of words inspires and evokes the permanent revolution, the changes of poetry! The surrealist poncho-pala is the cover of the lyrical and idyllic verses of the black sorrel of poetry! The frame of picture of parallels, dreamlike rectangles, of regular epagon, of lines and stanzas, performance, the polygon, illuminates and arouses playfulludic love from the stars and the moon! The Marriage, idyllic mating of colors, is the poetry of the transcendental imagination of the painter! The square of the poetic, [miosótis], forget-me-not, is the pupil of the poet @@@ ZZZ
I was at this game and most of his games back then
What was he like as a player and do you think he would be suited to the modern game if you don’t mind me asking
You saw more goals than we did.
Aha, for the old days with rugby shirts and definitely no sponsors, player names, squad numbers or even badges...
@ед no they are not.
You clearly don't understand what squad numbers are.
@ед
No squad numbers were not introduced in England for another twenty years after this game
@ед They had squads but NOT squad numbers. The first team was numbered one to eleven, there was ONE sub allowed and he wore number twelve.
@ед Oh, fuck off.
@ед
Qed
You don't know what you are talking about.
amazing footage
was there with dad and cousin and uncle roy.. what a genius
Ian Storey-Moore had such great potential, such a shame his career was ruined by injury.
Yup, I agree completely. When he was on the run, he was unstoppable. It would have been great to see United with Moore and Best together for a few years. Ah well...not to be.
I also have great potential but my chilling with netflix habits makes it impossible to succeed
Moore was an exceptional player, Best didn't rate him, he sniggered on an interview when he spoke about great players being available and he said with a laugh, they signe Ian Storey Moore. He was also jealous of Gerd Muller in the states
He was more Elvis than the beatles. Had the style, looks, charisma and flamboyance of the King.
1970s: "Young sprinting through"
Now: "Young crosses... and it's ended up outside the stadium"
Stoke players are so scared when George gets the ball.
He sucks
@@sabus1265 he does actually
And here's the adhd kids, commenter liking his own comment and the other adhd kid adding the second like, nice. I'm sure if balon dor winner and greatest player of all time contender George Best was alive, he'd be rly bothered that some YT Ls thinks he sucked. XD
What we have lost - all round.
Watched italia 90 with george in chelsea during that ireland game if we won the owner was going to give me the restaurant, he went for a long walk at half time.
When celebration are shaking hand and raising hand
Say what you like about Best's drinking but in those days only two men could empty the streets when they were on TV, including having all the women watching and it was George Best and Mohammed Ali.
NO ONE can do it these days.
Be hard to these days as there are even more people and people have other things to do
Every time has fantastic players. GB was one of them. And don't forget - football is teamwork.
I guess there are 4 George bests
I can only imagine what it was like watching this team
Thanks to these old clips, we can see how truly shit football used to be. Dire.
Yes, it's much better now. more expensive for true fans, bang average players "earning" money out of all relation to their ability, agents constantly forcing transfers and wage demands, the EPL pandering to TV and playing games at stupid times, more bloody foreign players than home grown talent, new kits every three days, the World cup being used as a political gambit, etc, etc. it's still a great game but that is despite the idiots who run it, not because of them.
Oscar you haven't got a clue. What you currently call ' football' is a sanitised emasculated version of the game. The only contact allowed is when they celebrate scoring by shagging each other.
David Read Cool story bro😭
@@oscardoodles 😀
There was basically no marking in those days. You’re watching a bunch of alcoholics running around near a ball. That’s it.
I'd like to see Messi and Ronaldo playing on a pitch like that and riding knee high tackles !
Is that Eric's Idle voice in comment.
fantastic!
To see George at his peak watch footage of him pre-1970, before his personal/lifestyle issues gradually took the edge off his game. The best video that I have seen of his early years is 'George Best - El Beatle'. If there are others of that period I would like to know about them..
a genius at work...
Still only 25 here, he should have been coming into his prime. But this was basically his last full season.
Wish we had half of this fella now
The Stars parade exuberantly on the radiant night catwalk, displaying the magnitude and carat of their brilliance and splendor! Why do stars confide in their loving feelings for poets? Why do poets open their hearts and show their lyrical feelings to the moon? The Summer Poetry is disguised as an astral moon, and the astral moon is disguised as a magically enigmatic muse! And Voila, the Man of poetry, kisses the moon, in the dawn of the sonnet's verses, in the madrigal idyll of literature! Only a poet can decipher the hermeneutics of the dream mathematics of the verses written on the moon of his soul! Our eyes are intertwined in the electronic waves of love of the pleiades and the stars! Reciprocity is the complicity of two hearts that love and love each other! The Woman, simply woman is the idyllic heaven of the poet! The deepest of the soft is the fragrance of the color of the petal, of the skin of the female anatomy! The Beauty, is a crstal diamond, avid for eternity! The landscapes of nature are painted by the speed of eternal thought! The eagle travels a vertical equation for understanding renewal! The rainy firmament is a sad, melancholy lark, weeping tears of tears over the lost loves, and the answers, from the misfortune of life! The Man of Words, has a heart, a seaman's port, in the latitude coordinates of solitude! @@@ ZZZ
I often wondered what the groundsmen did in those days.😉
They sprinkled sand on the mud.
Mark O'Rourke, if your comment is a criticism - I do not know what age you are, but having grown up watching the game in the early '70s, I can tell you that the modern professional game is relatively so anodyne as a spectacle.
@@flippingo my comment was meant as a joke, what the players did on these pitches was and is astonishing😍
Bless you for this reply.
@@Shitsthebed
Grew roses in the penalty area.
The pitches have improved so much.
George Best is too good for Stoke City players!!
Office workers out there playing on a lunch break)) i am happy billions being spent on footie nowadays.
"Simply The Best.
Better Than All The Rest" (Tina Turner )
Not a Manchester United Fan either.
1 thing thats noticeable in this game footage was the domestic league back then was dominated by domestic players, hence the national team being at its strongest during this period.
Football was so much more exciting in those days, no pass pass pass players never thought about passing back, it was attack all the time, Best was a great player certainly the best the UK has produced, as good as Maradona in my opinion.
love Best's sidies !!
the guy who edited this knows his stuff
I can’t believe they played on pitches like that
this is not George Best at his Best, at this time in 1972 he was depressed and drank every day the last season he played for United. his best years was 68, 69 , 70 and 71. then he collapsed and his body changed completely., also his play , speed.and motivation. he gave up football only weeks after this game against stoke. you must jugde him by his best years and cannot use this stoke game as excample. by his prime he is one of the best players ever but of course it finished all too early.
A fucking joy to watch !
Saw this great man once, wanted to talk to him, but ther was a man with him saying I'm going to biy you a drink George and thay want 🍻
A player having a good game against Stoke City...that's me convinced he was as good as Pele, Maradona, Cruyff etc. *eye roll*.
Er I don’t think this is the highlight of his career. He was mustard make no mistake. Prob let himself down later on
U imagine messi playing on this pitch,players moan bout the pitches these days
Better than the histrionics that today’s played do when scoring
The Best, adoro fazer essa piadinha 🤣
Proper football unlike the boring back passing, non attacking rubbish we get today.
Como ainda dizem que o futebol de antigamente, era melhor que o de hj em dia? Meu Deus do Céu. Nem se compara, com times e campeonatos de ponta atualmente. Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
brought back memories this. thanks
Pelé falou um dia que George best era o melhor atacante do futebol europeu.
He never reached his pinnacle
Where was Banks? This was April 72 and he didn't have his car accident until October 72.
Era cuando los jugadores del united estaban implicados con el club no como los actuales que solo miran que club les ofrece mas la próxima temporada hasta la propuesta se mira más dinámica alegre y propositiva a la ofensiva no es sólo ganar si no agradar esta clase de equipos si te vuelven entusiasmado del fútbol