Best defender ever?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 45378
  • Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Hardyman's Yugo said:
Phil Neal couldn’t tackle, completely exposed at times playing for England. At Liverpool he had Jimmy Case then Sammy Lee in front of him as protection and the team were dominant anyhow.
He was dangerous going forwards though.
Click to expand...
Just about the most decorated English player of all time.
Sounds as though he was shite.
 


Therokerroar said:
Who in your opinion is the best defender ever to have played the game?

My vote goes to Paolo Maldini
Click to expand...
Back 4 of

Lahm Beckenbauer Baresi Maldini
Sharpshooter said:
A lot of people under 35, if reddit is anything to go by, think its Sergio Ramos...
Click to expand...
nothing makes me more depressed than the football opinions of children that play Fifa ultimate team. The sort that think David Luís is good and Ibrahimović is the ‘best of all time Lol Beast bantz legend’. Those people hurt my soul.
 
Last edited:
Arkle said:
Beckenbauer or Baresi for me, Maldini close behind.

Not suggesting that they're at the same level but I've just noticed that in the 1991/2 La Liga season, Fernando Hierro scored 21 goals and Ronald Koeman got 16,Hi making them 2nd and 4th top scorers in the whole league. Daniel Passarella was another defender who scored a lot of goals, although some of that is down to River Plate in the 70s/early 80s playing something akin to total football in the Argentinian league.
Click to expand...
I sometimes write for a football magazine and I pitched an article about this generations lack of a goal scoring iconic libreo. The world had the Kaiser, Passarella, Sammer, Koeman, Hierro for nearly half a century. And then the millennium came and the role died in professional football. There is an argument for saying that Blanc was that type of player, and I accept that, but he was tactically shackled and it clearly wasn’t the same. The idea that defenders must be able to play out from the back universally (which is good imo, reminiscent of Crujff’s Netherlands teams) Has kind of absorbed the practical side of the libiero and stripped back all of the boyish excitement and uniqueness that the aforementioned players brought. It’s a shame because it may be my favourite roll on the field and we haven’t seen it for 2 decades. The article didn’t get picked up, the reason being that some of the younger audience may not know what it is (which ironically was the point of the article in the first place)
 
RedFlag1308 said:
I sometimes write for a football magazine and I pitched an article about this generations lack of a goal scoring iconic libreo. The world had the Kaiser, Passarella, Sammer, Koeman, Hierro for nearly half a century. And then the millennium came and the role died in professional football. There is an argument for saying that Blanc was that type of player, and I accept that, but he was tactically shackled and it clearly wasn’t the same. The idea that defenders must be able to play out from the back universally (which is good imo, reminiscent of Crujff’s Netherlands teams) Has kind of absorbed the practical side of the libiero and stripped back all of the boyish excitement and uniqueness that the aforementioned players brought. It’s a shame because it may be my favourite roll on the field and we haven’t seen it for 2 decades. The article didn’t get picked up, the reason being that some of the younger audience may not know what it is (which ironically was the point of the article in the first place)
Click to expand...
I used to love seeing CBs make a break and get forward. The amount of times it resulted in goals and dangerous attacks shows it was very hard to defend against. Maybe post your article on here, I'd be interested in reading it
 
1more said:
I used to love seeing CBs make a break and get forward. The amount of times it resulted in goals and dangerous attacks shows it was very hard to defend against. Maybe post your article on here, I'd be interested in reading it
Click to expand...
I didn’t actually write it only pitched it and since it’s just a bit of fun outside of work I only got about halfway through the research stage when it was rejected, which at this point was a lot of boring formation and passing stats from pre 1960s Italian and Soviet football. I was really excited about it though so may see it through and start a blog for my more less marketable ideas.
 
Moneyball said:
Fabio Cannavaro was great defender but Baresi is the best. He glided through games and his positioning and reading of the game makes him the best for me.
Click to expand...
Then hacked anyone down who came near him.
Maldini, Moore and Beckenbaur could do everything Baresi did plus they’d win the ball without resorting to hacking players down. Baresi is the emperors new clothes for football hipsters of a certain vintage. He’s undoubtedly a very good player but not great.
Metro Man said:
Jonathan Woodgate, best I've seen at Newcastle.
Click to expand...
If him and King hadn’t been permanently injured Terry would’ve been Upson.

I wouldn’t like to pick between Watson, Todd, Hurley or Bould for us.
 
Last edited:
riffraff said:
Then hacked anyone down who came near him.
Maldini, Moore and Beckenbaur could do everything Baresi did plus they’d win the ball without resorting to hacking players down. Baresi is the emperors new clothes for football hipsters of a certain vintage. He’s undoubtedly a very good player but not great.

If him and King hadn’t been permanently injured Terry would’ve been Upson.

I wouldn’t like to pick between Watson, Todd, Hurley or Bould for us.
Click to expand...

Quite a foursome there. Todd for me, I think.
 
Those Italian boys love to defend. All the names mentioned previous were exceptional. Baresi was before my time but is always mentioned in these questions. Loved Nesta and Cannavaro, but Maldini is the best I’ve seen.

Zanetti was a great player for Inter and the Argies too.
 
Maldini for me but honourable mentions for Sammer, Kohler, Baresi, Mcgrath. These just players I’ve watched mind!
 
toomdog said:
Maldini for me but honourable mentions for Sammer, Kohler, Baresi, Mcgrath. These just players I’ve watched mind!
Click to expand...
Agree with all of these though always thought Sammer was more of defensive midfielder. Best individual performance I saw of these was McGrath for Ireland v Italy in USA 94, unbelievable that day
 
toomdog said:
McGrath was unbelievable, his knees were shot and he still looked a class apart!
Click to expand...
I was at the game, was a pleasure to watch an absolute masterclass, it was scorchio as well so not sure where his fitness came from as training for him was reduced to a couple of hours cycling per week due to his knees
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top