This thread could very easily make us seem a very arrogant set of fans, but I actually pose the question seriously.

In my opinion, right now only Real Madrid could be seen as better, but their lack of a defense puts that into doubt.

Pound for pound I'd say we were actually the best team in the world and certainly the 'deepest' team.

What does everyone else think!?

Nope, it has to be Barcelona for me. We are a strong team and we had to defend against Barcelona at Camp Nou and we still had to defend against them at the bridge but counter attack was the way to beat them.

The way they keep the ball is fantastic and the way they put pressure on a team is again fantastic when they dont have the ball.

At the end of the day it boils down to results, however with Real Madrid's new signings im still going to say Barcelona are the best team in the world. We need to refresh our ranks and see what we are like under Ancelotti, also a capture of the EPL/CL trophy.

That is my view football wise.

As a fan, of course we are the best team in the world

I wouldn't be so quick to write off Man Utd. They got shown up in the Champions League final, but Ferguson always has something up his sleeve.

I think Barcelona are better as well. Even though they've got that poncy w**ker Ibrahimovic on board, they're still going to whip everyone's arses. I know we should have beaten them in the Champions League semi, but I tend to think of that as a Hiddink tactical masterclass more than anything else. We'll have to wait and see what we end up like under Ancelotti against real opposition rather than a half-arsed Inter team and some past-it internationals (applies to AC and Seattle Sounders ).

I think we have a case for it, but we're going to have to prove it.

Now that Tevez and Ronaldo have left United, i think, in terms of squad depth and quality, we have the best.

Having said that, Barca are far and away the best team with their way of playing.

They are on a completely different level to everyone else.

no.

not the best team, not the best squad, but probably in the top 3.

but we're better than real madrid.

No, Barcelona are by a distance. We have a very strong squad and I think on paper we're the strongest in England provided everybody's fit, but we actually have to prove that on the pitch and given we've not won the league for 3 years now we're simply not doing that.

Real Madrid aren't better than Barcelona.

--------Toure-----------

-----Xavi-----Iniesta---

-Messi--Zlatan---Henry-

versus something like

-------Diarra*----------

----Sneijder--Kaka----

-Ronaldo-Benzema-Robben-

*possibly Alonso

They're fairly well balanced on paper, and Barcelona tip it due to playing so well together. There's barely even a point comparing defences as Barcelona's is so much better.

Edited July 28, 200915 yr by Captain Haribo

Technically we're not even the best team in England. In fact it could be argued we're not even second best. I have no idea where that would put us in world terms. I'd rather have the same question asked at the end of the season where the proof of how good or not we are will be what's in the trophy cabinet.

Edited July 28, 200915 yr by geezer

We finished third in the prem, we were 3rd or 4th in the CL. Manu won double and Barca triple. How could you even suggest we would be the best...We are an aging squad and we should quickly do something about it. However I think we are stronger this year on every front. Manu swapped Ronnie for Owen and we seem to have a sane coach, I hope we still can make that marquee signing..

I would say that Barcelona is a little better, not by a mile as some would say though. Other than them, I cannot think of anyone else. That being said, I really think we can take the EPL this year with Tevez and Ronaldo out of United. I doubt Liverscum will be able to challenge and last.

Technically we're not even the best team in England. In fact it could be argued we're not even second best. I have no idea where that would put us in world terms. I'd rather have the same question asked at the end of the season where the proof of how good or not we are will be what's in the trophy cabinet.

Fully agree. Even wining the title and CL double once would not, for me, make us top dogs. To be considered the best team in the world I feel you have to have success and have it season after season. this doesn't mean you have to win the title every single year but you do need to win it the majority of times. When we have won the title four or 5 times in 6 or 7 seasons and we have won a couple of CLs then we can start talking about being the best team in the world. Before then all talk is nothing other than 'on paper'.

There have been times over the years when the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Man Utd and Liverpool could have a valid claim to being the best in the world - we have never been anywhere near that yet.

I first made the thread outlining my thoughts and then it got deleted accidently...couldn't be bothered to rewrite it all, but yeah...

Obviously 'best team in the world' is a vague term, in fact it wasn't really what I was thinking, 'best squad in the world' would be more fitting to what I had in mind. Barcelona are clearly a better team than us, while not beating us, they certainly controlled much of the 2 legs that we played. I think hands down Barcelona are the best team in the world (although the change in their front 3 might cause a real disequilibrium!). Real Madrid are obviously an exciting prospect and will surely be challenging for the 'best in the world' crown next season, but the reason I put them into my example was in regards to their squad.

In terms of best squad in the world, I think we are definitely in the top 2 or 3. Barcelona while a tremendous team, don't have a lot of substance when you get past Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. They have good players, but the depth of their squad isn't so great. Even the likes of Abidal, Keita and Pique who are supposedly in the first team aren't really all that good (or at least I don't rate them).

Real Madrid on the other hand, (while I'm sure some of these players will leave) have the likes of Benzema, Ronaldo, Sneijder, Kaka, VDV, RVN, Pepe, Albiol, after that you still have Raul, Guti, Gago, both Diarras, Robben, Negredo, Higuain etc etc. The squad's lack of a defense makes me think ours is better.

When we have a defence of Bosingwa, Cole, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Mancienne, Ferreira, I think anyone would be hard pushed to argue that we didn't have the best defense in the world!

A midfield consisting of Deco, Lampard, Ballack, Mikel, Essien, Joe Cole, Malouda, Zhirkov and Belletti couldn't possibly be topped could it?

While possibly not the best strike force, Drogba and Anelka are world-class players who WILL score! With Shevchenko, Pizzaro, Sturridge, Kalou and Franco as backup, we don't have a bad bunch of strikers!

Obviously this is all subject to form, injuries etc but on paper I don't think I'd be labelled an idiot for claiming that we have the world's best squad!?

I first made the thread outlining my thoughts and then it got deleted accidently...couldn't be bothered to rewrite it all, but yeah...

Obviously 'best team in the world' is a vague term, in fact it wasn't really what I was thinking, 'best squad in the world' would be more fitting to what I had in mind. Barcelona are clearly a better team than us, while not beating us, they certainly controlled much of the 2 legs that we played. I think hands down Barcelona are the best team in the world (although the change in their front 3 might cause a real disequilibrium!). Real Madrid are obviously an exciting prospect and will surely be challenging for the 'best in the world' crown next season, but the reason I put them into my example was in regards to their squad.

In terms of best squad in the world, I think we are definitely in the top 2 or 3. Barcelona while a tremendous team, don't have a lot of substance when you get past Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. They have good players, but the depth of their squad isn't so great. Even the likes of Abidal, Keita and Pique who are supposedly in the first team aren't really all that good (or at least I don't rate them).

Real Madrid on the other hand, (while I'm sure some of these players will leave) have the likes of Benzema, Ronaldo, Sneijder, Kaka, VDV, RVN, Pepe, Albiol, after that you still have Raul, Guti, Gago, both Diarras, Robben, Negredo, Higuain etc etc. The squad's lack of a defense makes me think ours is better.

When we have a defence of Bosingwa, Cole, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Mancienne, Ferreira, I think anyone would be hard pushed to argue that we didn't have the best defense in the world!

A midfield consisting of Deco, Lampard, Ballack, Mikel, Essien, Joe Cole, Malouda, Zhirkov and Belletti couldn't possibly be topped could it?

While possibly not the best strike force, Drogba and Anelka are world-class players who WILL score! With Shevchenko, Pizzaro, Sturridge, Kalou and Franco as backup, we don't have a bad bunch of strikers!

Obviously this is all subject to form, injuries etc but on paper I don't think I'd be labelled an idiot for claiming that we have the world's best squad!?

Kaka, Ronaldo, Van-Nistleroy, Schneider, Raul, Robben, Huntlier, Benzema, Drenth?

or - Sturridge, Kalou, Malouda, Drogba, Zhirkov, Anelka, Lampard, Ballsack?

Do leave off?!?

Saying that,- 11 individuals don't make a team, a manager does!

Interesting topic and if were to go on last seasons silverware , the evidence points to Barcelona . Now, if we take into account the game at the Bridge you MUST question the luck factor , because they never threatened us , ok loads of posession but only one decent shot on goal . I still to this day believe we matched them over the 2 legs , they had chances at the Nou camp, but we had the 2 best chances of the game . Man Yoo didnt know how to play against them in the final , they fell apart even with Barbera Windsor playing . Man Yoo didnt know how to play against them , we did . We lost the premiership against Fulham away because we fell asleep , Newcastle at home we did everything and didnt get the result we deserved , Spurs away we didnt have the luck Man yoo had against Villa . Were may not the best team in the world but were just as good as barca or man yoo , although that probably dosent answer the question.

Interesting topic and if were to go on last seasons silverware , the evidence points to Barcelona . Now, if we take into account the game at the Bridge you MUST question the luck factor , because they never threatened us , ok loads of posession but only one decent shot on goal . I still to this day believe we matched them over the 2 legs , they had chances at the Nou camp, but we had the 2 best chances of the game . Man Yoo didnt know how to play against them in the final , they fell apart even with Barbera Windsor playing . Man Yoo didnt know how to play against them , we did . We lost the premiership against Fulham away because we fell asleep , Newcastle at home we did everything and didnt get the result we deserved , Spurs away we didnt have the luck Man yoo had against Villa . Were may not the best team in the world but were just as good as barca or man yoo , although that probably dosent answer the question.

What about our results against Manu, Liverpool and Barca over the course of the season?

They were the better sides (excusing the Liverpool CL 2 legged game)?

Portsmouth and Spurs have won as much as Chelsea have in the past 2 years and one of them beat us in a final!

We've won 1 trophy (The FA cup-subject to the draw and a reply against Southend) in the last 3 years, we are not the best team in the world!

Manu result-wise, statistically - on paper, are the best team in the world, we have finished runner-up to them for a long time, but while they walk away celebrating, we haven't won anything.

Hard luck and runner-up don't really count in the world standings - results do!

Had Utd not been as arrogant as they were with team selection last season in the game against Everton they would have met us in the FA cup final, meaning they were winners of either 3/4 competitions and runner-up in either 1/2.

We are the worlds unluckiest, mistreated, hated, unfortunate, ill-done-by, club or supporters ever......either by the media, the FA, UEFA, chairman (electric fences), ex-managers (Docherty sending half his squad home when we could/should have won the league - my dad's memory not mine:- Avrams LC formation and team talk) always have been, always will be, at any club the supporter's will all probably say the same, but best team in the world.......not just yet!

Edited July 29, 200915 yr by BLUENUT

To be fair to us, under Hiddink our record in England was second to none and came a lot closer to beating Barca than United did.

Barca have a lot more strength in depth than they're sometimes given credit for, and it's easy to forget they have players like Hleb and Keita on the bench, as well as a seemingly endless string of talented youngsters. What makes them so great is that they can stick any of those players in the side and because they've been playing Barca's style exceptional style of football so long they gel in very quickly.

Does Real Madrid have a lot of fancy names? Yes, they have.

Does Barcelona play fancy football if allowed? Yes, they do.

Does that mean that either of them are better than us? F*ck no!

Okay, let's start with the so-called "Galacticos". They have bought some big names this summer (and also previous summers). Yes, I admit that seeing names like Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema etc. in one and the same team is somewhat amazing. A bit scary even.

But does signing big names automaticaly mean success? No, it doesn't.

Real have bought big names before and still failed to win the league. They are too greedy. If the best manager in the world said to them that they need a machine in midfield - someone who'll do the dirty work for them and who is about as skillfull with the ball as a broken chair - they will probably not buy him. They will instead go for that big name with the fancy skills who will sell lots of shirts, but not exactly make the team better.

Just look at Makelele. He wasn't "fancy" enough for Real Madrid and they loved that they got some money for him from those crazy guys at Chelsea. Well without boring Makelele Real Madrid fell apart and instead Makelele came and helped us become a strong force in todays world of football.

And they you have the case with Capello. Great manager who actually won them the league after several years without a trophy. What did Real Madrid do? They told him he didn't make the team play beautiful enough and then sacked him.

Real Madrid is in the hands of idiots who only look to get all the big names in football together in one team.

Then we have Barcelona. I'll have to give them some credit because they atleast seem to have some brains.

I've actually only got one negative thing to say and that is that they only have a Plan A. I haven't seen every game they've played but I've seen some and so far I have only seen them play in one way, no matter if it works or not.

Just look at when they played us. They came out playing Plan A and it didn't work. But instead of changing things up and try a different approach, they kept playing the same way all the time, even though it wasn't working.

They were just extremely lucky to actually kick us out of the Champions League.

Chelsea might not have the biggest names (though I would argue that Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Essien, Anelka etc. are fairly famous), but we can still beat every team in the world. Wasn't Barcelona considered the best team in the history of football last season? Well, we made them seem pretty average if you ask me.

We also have a lot of heart within the team. Players like Terry breathe Chelsea all day and all night. He would give an arm and a leg to rescue a point for us (which he has proven on several occasions).

Finally I have to say that we have to give a lot of credit to the managers. Every team can become good if they only have the right manager.

If Scolari would have still been in charge when we played Barcelona last season things might have turned out differently. We might have been completely thrashed.

Who knows, if you put Hiddink in charge of Real Madrid they might become the best team the worlds have ever seen - or maybe not.

The team is never better than the manager.

Does Real Madrid have a lot of fancy names? Yes, they have.

Does Barcelona play fancy football if allowed? Yes, they do.

Does that mean that either of them are better than us? F*ck no!

Okay, let's start with the so-called "Galacticos". They have bought some big names this summer (and also previous summers). Yes, I admit that seeing names like Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema etc. in one and the same team is somewhat amazing. A bit scary even.

But does signing big names automaticaly mean success? No, it doesn't.

Real have bought big names before and still failed to win the league. They are too greedy. If the best manager in the world said to them that they need a machine in midfield - someone who'll do the dirty work for them and who is about as skillfull with the ball as a broken chair - they will probably not buy him. They will instead go for that big name with the fancy skills who will sell lots of shirts, but not exactly make the team better.

Just look at Makelele. He wasn't "fancy" enough for Real Madrid and they loved that they got some money for him from those crazy guys at Chelsea. Well without boring Makelele Real Madrid fell apart and instead Makelele came and helped us become a strong force in todays world of football.

And they you have the case with Capello. Great manager who actually won them the league after several years without a trophy. What did Real Madrid do? They told him he didn't make the team play beautiful enough and then sacked him.

Real Madrid is in the hands of idiots who only look to get all the big names in football together in one team.

Then we have Barcelona. I'll have to give them some credit because they atleast seem to have some brains.

I've actually only got one negative thing to say and that is that they only have a Plan A. I haven't seen every game they've played but I've seen some and so far I have only seen them play in one way, no matter if it works or not.

Just look at when they played us. They came out playing Plan A and it didn't work. But instead of changing things up and try a different approach, they kept playing the same way all the time, even though it wasn't working.

They were just extremely lucky to actually kick us out of the Champions League.

Chelsea might not have the biggest names (though I would argue that Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Essien, Anelka etc. are fairly famous), but we can still beat every team in the world. Wasn't Barcelona considered the best team in the history of football last season? Well, we made them seem pretty average if you ask me.

We also have a lot of heart within the team. Players like Terry breathe Chelsea all day and all night. He would give an arm and a leg to rescue a point for us (which he has proven on several occasions).

Finally I have to say that we have to give a lot of credit to the managers. Every team can become good if they only have the right manager.

If Scolari would have still been in charge when we played Barcelona last season things might have turned out differently. We might have been completely thrashed.

Who knows, if you put Hiddink in charge of Real Madrid they might become the best team the worlds have ever seen - or maybe not.

The team is never better than the manager.

Manu have reached the champions final 2 years running, they managed to win one of them. They have finished 1st in the same division as us for the past 3 years running - above us!! We couldn't beat them last season and finished 3rd. - We are 3rd best in our own country!

They won 2 domestic trophies last season, the title, the league cup with their reserves, managed an FA cup semi-final and they won the Super cup and managed a champions league final - we didn't! (for what ever reason).

Unfortunately we are playing 2nd fiddle to Utd in our own country - like it or not.

I wouldn't be so quick to write off Man Utd. They got shown up in the Champions League final, but Ferguson always has something up his sleeve.

I think Barcelona are better as well. Even though they've got that poncy w**ker Ibrahimovic on board, they're still going to whip everyone's arses. I know we should have beaten them in the Champions League semi, but I tend to think of that as a Hiddink tactical masterclass more than anything else. We'll have to wait and see what we end up like under Ancelotti against real opposition rather than a half-arsed Inter team and some past-it internationals (applies to AC and Seattle Sounders ).

I think we have a case for it, but we're going to have to prove it.

Have to agree there, for pure talent it has to be barca.

If we went toe to toe with barca they would rip us apart, as what happened to man u, but we have the players to nullify them.

The best team in the world wins the champions league!

Have to agree there, for pure talent it has to be barca.

If we went toe to toe with barca they would rip us apart, as what happened to man u, but we have the players to nullify them.

The best team in the world wins the champions league!

No - they win their own domestic title first!

No - they win their own domestic title first!

il go along with that, if you win your domestic title and champions league your automatically the best team in the world.

Lets bury the hatchet next season so!

We played great against Barca over two legs and showed what we could do at our best. But over the whole season their record was way better than ours.

We were the 3rd best team in the UK last year and if we are better this year it will likely because the others are worse rather than us better. Hopefully a long term coach, some of the younger players and at least one new star would see us edge the others.

In my opinion, the central spine of our team IS undeniably the best in the world.

Cech - Terry/Carvalho - Lampard/Essien - Drogba

When fully fit, there is not a single player in the world I would swap for any of these guys.

Personally, I think that puts us in the position to have the best team in the world. A lot better position than Madrid, who are setting themselves up with exceptional "fringe" players, and a poor "spine"

What lets us down is:

1. Lack of a truely creative player

2. Lack of quality wingers

3. Lack of squad depth (isn't as big a problem now as it has been for the past three seasons)

The lack of squad depth really is what has hurt us over the past 2 seasons. You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of matches that we have had our entire "spine" together on the pitch at top fitness in the past two years. All of them (bar Lampard) have struggled with long term injuries.

I don't see any reason why, with the right transfer policy, we can't work towards fixing those three issues and becoming the best team in the world.

No it has to be Citeh without a doubt, reckon they'll have the PL sown up by Christmas

stay with me here cause i'm not sure where i'm going with this...

an interesting way to look at it would be to consider how many players you would take from other teams. for me there are only 3 teams even to consider: utd, barca and madrid

if we were to combine our squad with utd, the best 11 imo would be:

cech

bosingwa

cole

terry

vidic

joey cole (better than valencia)

malouda (better than giggs/nani)

essien

lampard

drogba

rooney

with barcelona:

cech

dani alves

cole

terry

carvalho

iniesta (takin him out wide)

messi (takin him out wide)

essien

lampard

drogba

ibrahimovic

with madrid:

cech

ramos

cole

terry

carvalho

ronaldo

robben

essien

kaka

drogba

benzema

so...

chelsea v utd i would take 2

chelsea v barca i would take 4

chelsea v madrid i would take 5

guess that makes us the best

in your opinion