Greatest player of all time?

Predhead

Predhead wrote: »

No chance. I think some people just want a different opinion.

Why? Cos u say so? :rolleyes:

rossie1977

when you start talking about number of honours won and goals scored as reasons why someone is the best player where do you stop; nobody would consider ruud van nistelrooy to be the best player of the modern era but he has scored 305 goals in 460 club games

imo none of the modern day footballers ie zidane, ronaldo, rivaldo etc would even get in the top 5 of all time, messi is a fine footballer but he will never have the influence that maradona had, not even close.

Dolph Starbeam

Zidane for me, Ronaldo does come close, his finishing is next to none, anyone remmber the hatrick against Utd in Old Trafford? That was with Real after all the injuries he suffered with Inter, also after playing one season with Inter i remember he played like 15 games, had 9 goals all at the very end of the season and then went on for a golden boot in the world cup that summer.:eek:

But as i said Zidane for me, genius with the ball, more balance, skill and brain than anyone ele ever... Excluding the Materazzi incedent obviously:o

_blank_

None of the likes of Pele or Cruyff etc etc would be able to compete in todays game either.

If a player is great in his own era, he can be considered a great of all time.

shotamoose

Looking at that old footage of Puskas and Pele the game just looks more difficult. Can you imagine the goals they would have scored with lighter balls, better boots, better pitches, better fitness levels and defenders who were actually punished for some of the GBH they handed out?

rossie1977

shotamoose wrote: »

Looking at that old footage of Puskas and Pele the game just looks more difficult. Can you imagine the goals they would have scored with lighter balls, better boots, better pitches, better fitness levels and defenders who were actually punished for some of the GBH they handed out?

exactly, its total bs to say pele etc would not have been able to play in the modern era. FFS it was over 100 degrees in the final mexico in 1970 and pele played one of his greatest ever games. defenders are not allowed to tackle these days, can you imagine a defender trying to mark puskas or cruff today without slide tackles or elbows, it would be hilarious

patmac

Problem with this is that Ronaldo, Zidane etc are all from the TV era where nearly every game they ever played can be seen so every bit of skill is picked up on. The true test of someone's greatness is the World Cup footage where the best teams in the world are playing and Ronaldo is definitely up there but look at Pele hat-trick at 17 in a World Cup Final, amazing skilll levels in the 1970 World Cup add in the 1000 goals he scored and it's hard to look beyond him, but Maradona destroying all before him in the 1986 World Cup makes it hard to chose between these 2 stand with Ronaldo, Zidane, Cruyff close behind. The World Cup and Euro's are the stages where the great players perform, which is why Cantona and the new Ronaldo are not great players although the latter has time to prove himself yet, of course they need to have a great team around them which is why Best cannot be judged on this, but his career was cut too short anyway.

patmac

Des wrote: »

None of the likes of Pele or Cruyff etc etc would be able to compete in todays game either.

If a player is great in his own era, he can be considered a great of all time.

Why do you say that, there fitness levels would improve (Cruyff was a smoker), pitches would be better, they would have more protection from the referee (Pele was literally kicked out of the 1966 World Cup), therefore they would still stand out, because form is temporary, class is permanent.

Johnny Utah

rossie1977 wrote: »

there are only two contenders in truth pele and maradona

i wasn't old enough to see pele play but i don't think it would have mattered because for me between 1985 and 1989 there was no-one who could touch maradona, he single handed won the world cup for a very average argentina team and single handed won the uefa and italian league for a very average napoli team. pele, cruyff, beckenbauer etc had great players around them and they thrived on this at both club and country; maradona had a bunch of journeymen and still ruled the world, the true sign of greatness imo

+1

Maradona is the greatest of all time. It'd be amazing to see him play today where he'd have better protection from referees, better boots, lighter footballs etc.

Savman

This is by far the nicest ever argument one can have in footballing terms. Even if someone is wrong, there's still some absolutely sublime stuff on display.


For me, Rivaldo is definitely up there, words cannot describe that man's ability. Zidane too, absolute majestic with the ball at his feet.

Admittedly I'm not old enough to have seen Maradonna in his prime but one must give respect to the fat one.

Juan Pablo

Romario, with Maradona a close second and Péle a distant third.

Johnny Utah

Johnny Utah wrote: »

+1

Maradona is the greatest of all time. It'd be amazing to see him play today where he'd have better protection from referees, better boots, lighter footballs etc.

Who or what would have protected him from himself?

tdv

Hagi could be included in that list. One the greatest playmakers of all time. At his peak he was on par with Zidane.

gosplan

Bah, you're all wrong - Paul McGrath!!!!

gosplan

What are the criteria though?

It seems unfair to include international tournaments as players like Giggs - who'd I'd say has more medals than Maradonna - had the shocking misfortune to be born in Wales.

But on the other hand, you can't deny Pele's impact on the World Cups he played in.

Scoring records? - Gerd Muller probably beats everyone apart from that Saudi guy, so that messes everything up.

I guess the only fair things are sheer natural ability and longevity - Maradonna and Maldini then??

Pure Cork

Maradona and Pele were before my time, so I couldn't pick either of them. I have to choose Zidane, because he was the best player I've seen at a game I attended.

Johnny Utah

Deleted User wrote: »

Who or what would have protected him from himself?

Well, firstly, maradona nowadays would be protected from the likes of these career-threatening tackles......

http://youtube.com/watch?v=08SI2DWnfL4&feature=related





Secondly, I believe that there's much better man management in recent years. If maradona was playing today, he'd probably be playing for one of the biggest European clubs, and would have a constant team of advisors/assistants around him to make sure that he didn't get up to any trouble when he wasn't on the pitch.

callaway92

Best player ever to watch = De Stefano

hotspur

There's an interesting quote from Platini about the Zidane Maradona debate:
"Zidane does some extraordinary things, it's true. But you have to put everything in context. What Zidane does with a ball, Maradona could do with an orange."

Maradona is the most impressive player I've seen. I would love to watch full versions of some of Brazil's old matches and see how good Pele really was as I doubt many of us have ever seen him play much.

Like other I don't think that it really makes sense to talk about a best player as how can you compare, say, how good a striker Van Basten was with how good a defender Maldini was. The same applies with Zidane and Maradona as they were very different types of player. But I preferred Maradona because he did what he did at pace attacking the opposition, there's a fair amount of truth in what Ferguson said about Zidane. Also when Real Madrid were at their best I think it was Ronaldo and not Zidane who hurt the opposition the most. Ronaldo's charges at goal were amazing.

Mr Alan

thats a great quote from Platini. (still hate him though)

stick-dan

torres ftw...

hotspur

hotspur wrote: »

There's an interesting quote from Platini about the Zidane Maradona debate:
"Zidane does some extraordinary things, it's true. But you have to put everything in context. What Zidane does with a ball, Maradona could do with an orange."

Maradona is the most impressive player I've seen. I would love to watch full versions of some of Brazil's old matches and see how good Pele really was as I doubt many of us have ever seen him play much.

Like other I don't think that it really makes sense to talk about a best player as how can you compare, say, how good a striker Van Basten was with how good a defender Maldini was. The same applies with Zidane and Maradona as they were very different types of player. But I preferred Maradona because he did what he did at pace attacking the opposition, there's a fair amount of truth in what Ferguson said about Zidane. Also when Real Madrid were at their best I think it was Ronaldo and not Zidane who hurt the opposition the most. Ronaldo's charges at goal were amazing.

Agree about Maradona, Ive seen him doing tip ups with a golf ball, incredible. I picked Zidane as I saw more of him.

Ronaldo never won the CL with Real whereas Zidane did and was their key man and scored a wonder goal in the Final. The arse fell outta the Madrid bus when Ronaldo joined.

Also how about the 98 world cup or better the 06 WC when Zidane dragged the team (particularly in 06) to the Final whilst surrounded by strikers who couldnt score (Guivarch scored zero goals in 98)

eZe^

Deleted User wrote: »

The arse fell outta the Madrid bus when Ronaldo joined.

Definitely don't agree with that, it had nothing to do with Ronaldo, the 'arse fell outta the Madrid bus' when Makelele left.. Just look at the trophies they won with him, and missed out on without him... Says it all really...


I thought Ronaldinho in his prime was more dangerous than Zidane in his prime, but the fact that Ronaldinho became a greedy lazy sh*t means that Zidane is clearly the winner there... And seeing as Im only 19, I missed out on the Maradonna era...

The players I remember growing up with that were amazingly skilled were;

Romario
Ronaldo
Zidane
Figo
Stoichkov
Rivaldo
Ronaldinho
Maldini


The only ones there that I'd consider in a top 10 of all time would be Romario, Maldini, Ronaldo and Rivaldo...

eZe^

eZe^ wrote: »

Definitely don't agree with that, it had nothing to do with Ronaldo, the 'arse fell outta the Madrid bus' when Makelele left.. Just look at the trophies they won with him, and missed out on without him... Says it all really...


I thought Ronaldinho in his prime was more dangerous than Zidane in his prime, but the fact that Ronaldinho became a greedy lazy sh*t means that Zidane is clearly the winner there... And seeing as Im only 19, I missed out on the Maradonna era...

The players I remember growing up with that were amazingly skilled were;

Romario
Ronaldo
Zidane
Figo
Stoichkov
Rivaldo
Ronaldinho
Maldini


The only ones there that I'd consider in a top 10 of all time would be Romario, Maldini, Ronaldo and Rivaldo...

I absolutely agree about Makelele and I wasnt blaming Madrids decline on Ronaldo, but Ronaldo wasnt in the team when they were the most feared team in Europe (he was obviously the season they beat United 4-3 and were still feared but they didnt win the CL that year or again since) so my point was that to say Zidane was only good for Real cos of Ronaldo is moot.


as for your list, I agree BUT Rivaldo NEVER > Zidane. No way. Every Final Zidane played in he pretty much made his mark. Zidane single handedly dragged an average French team to a World Cup Final, Rivaldo single handedly dragged an average Barca team to 4th in the League and being part of a great Brazil team that won a poor World Cup.....don't get me wrong, great player, Barca legend, but NEVER greater than Zidane.


Add to your list:

Hagi
Baggio
Mattheus
Schmeichel - greatest GK ever IMO
Michael Laudrup
Cannavaro
Cafu

event

how has no one mentioned Gerd muller for a striker?

he may not have been the most skillful, but for putting the ball in the back of the net, he was near unstoppable

his record at bayern: 453 games and 398 goals
he was german top scorer 7 times and european cup top scorer once
He scored 78 goals in 62 German Cup games
His 66 goals in his 74 appearances at European cups are still a record

he also played 62 times for germany, yet scored 68 goals. very few players have more goals than caps, and especially when you have over 50 caps.
he has played in 2 world cups with germany, and he held the record for most goals in world cup tournaments with 14 goals. Ronaldo has broken it and hold the record wiht 15 goals, which took him 4 world cups. Muller scored 14 goals in two world cups. he won it in 74, top scorer with 4 goals and was top scorer in 1970 with 10
he was also top scorer in the 1972 european championships, which germany won.

A goal machine,
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dny5H3XNcfI

For me though its Zidane, he was simply amazing and bossed games from start to finish.

MisterAnarchy

Juan Pablo wrote: »

Romario, with Maradona a close second and Péle a distant third.

Romario is one of my favourites.
He is the most natural goalscorer I have ever seen ,the man was clinical.
He made it look so so easy.
When he was one on one with the goalie he was phenomenal ,hardly ever failed to score and often made a monkey of the keeper in doing so.

aidan24326

Greatest player of all time?

Has to be Maradona.

x in the city

Maradona is the greatest every footballer, lets leave the drugs out IMO the drugs were just used as an excuse to take away from his superlative skills and ability.

Look at the 'great' players now, ronaldo and ronaldinho for instance... at their age maradona was winning cups on his own, for club and country, with far inferior supporting cast it could be said.


I watched Maradona in the 80s (RTE showed the Italian footie back then!), and it was a joy, his audacity was incredible, lobbing a football over a static defender and casually collecting it as it sailed over his head, 'that' peno vs zenga in his sao paulo stadium, endless moments that are never likely to be seen again.

RTE did a great tribute to Diego with footage after the USA tournament.

Maradona is a legend and players like ronaldo are not fit to wear his puma boots, there is only one 'king'

thebaz

aidan24326 wrote: »

Greatest player of all time?

Has to be Maradona.

agree , he practicaly won the World cup on his own , and two Seria a with Napoli -- even Pele couldn't match that .

Damn , even when he was fat and on drugs in USA '94 he was amazing

x in the city

Yeah, but Diego was fit as a fiddle for usa 94, he trained his balls off.


Could watch his goal vs greece again and again....

Reganio 2

Maradonna will always be tarnished in my eyes as to how many of his performances were as a result of the drugs.

Zidane on the other hand, Ithink he is the greatesst player of all time. Truely class.

Mr Alan

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Maradonna will always be tarnished in my eyes as to how many of his performances were as a result of the drugs.

was he not on recreational drugs as opposed to performance enhancing drugs?

i would have thought, if anything, the drugs he was on would have hindered his performances.

x in the city

was he not on recreational drugs as opposed to performance enhancing drugs?

i would have thought, if anything, the drugs he was on would have hindered his performances.

Alan is right here, the drugs he took would have been useless to enhance his performance on the pitch. his skills were from god...like his hand lol

I mean lets face it, give drugs to half the players in the top flight and you think they would put in maradonaesque performances for the 2008/2009 season...?

hardly

brennaldo

maradona..... good
pele ........better
george ......best

great player

adox

rossie1977 wrote: »

there are only two contenders in truth pele and maradona

i wasn't old enough to see pele play but i don't think it would have mattered because for me between 1985 and 1989 there was no-one who could touch maradona, he single handed won the world cup for a very average argentina team and single handed won the uefa and italian league for a very average napoli team. pele, cruyff, beckenbauer etc had great players around them and they thrived on this at both club and country; maradona had a bunch of journeymen and still ruled the world, the true sign of greatness imo

That sums it up for me too.

I had never seen, and have never seen since such a gifted footballer.

Jazzy

is there anything to be said about Djimi Traore ?

Reganio 2

Yeah he is ****. Also I would make a case for Zizou IMO the greatest player of all time.

leninbenjamin

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Also I would make a case for Zizou IMO the greatest player of all time.

I dunno, insanely talented player and all he was, but he was too often a passenger for me. guess that was his style which some may appreciate more than others but i'd favour those who are less technically gifted but more consistent myself.

still, this thread 2020 we'll all be saying Cesc. i'm 100% sure of it

brennaldo

Jazzy wrote: »

is there anything to be said about Djimi Traore ?

tell me that was a joke

Dues Bellator

iloveireland wrote: »

I can only comment From the late 80s onwards but I still think Ronaldo at his best was better than Pele and Maradona. I think Ronaldo was World Player of the year at the ages of 19 and 20. If he wasnt so unlucky with his injuries I have no dout he would have been the best player to have ever played the game by quite a distance. Zidane and Ronaldinho were the most Skillful of my generation but this guy at his best was simply unstoppable. When he played for Barcelona he was the best player I had ever seen. Pity he is spending most of his time now, eating Big Macs and Riding females with big cocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAPBnbpArF4&eurl=http://www.letsbet.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=3605 - RONALDO

Who would you pick as the greatest player of all time?

I would like to know the view of someone who has been around since Pele and Maradonas generation!


Here are videos for most of the contenders!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QEmnP48PEc - PELE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYUtKKbBTkw - ZIDANE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBpu-M6kXCk - MARADONA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_CtDbZJHpo - ROMARIO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3bHpUMdXlo&feature=related - RIVALDO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAaNUVKWBmM&feature=related - GEORGE BEST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE6fIA8BMa0 - EUSEBIO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOQvuUNaauI&feature=related - FIGO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAPBnbpArF4&eurl=http://www.letsbet.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=3605 - RONALDO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKSjZEp02Q4 - HENRY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVjWAyFdpbM - RONALDINHO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAxRE7PJ14 - PLATINI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvPgUkuzjPA - BECKENBAUER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_V6y5P050M - GARRINCHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1VWSntqRg - CRUYFF

Am I leaving out anyone?

Apart from this guy but I dont know his name http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X68cGIol04U

to say ronaldo is the greatest player of all time is crazy, first of all he,s just won a domestic league trophy and a cl medal, he hasnt won a european cup never mind a world cup, im a utd fan and dont think he was or is the best utd player, let me explain scholes, rooney , giggs and ferdinand mmm also vidic are far more integral to uniteds squad, secondly cantona ,best and charlton were far more better players than ronaldo will ever be for there commitment to the game club and fans.i hope you wont argu this with me its just my opinion.

ditpoker

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