Best player of my lifetime

Dues Bellator

bamboozling wrote: »

Are really saying Eric Cantona is better than Messi? You are funny! Messi has won more at the age of 23 than Cantona ever won in his career. Messi has won 2 Champions Leagues, Messi has won 4 leagues in the best league in Europe, Cantona won 5 league in what was at the time a second rate league. Messi has won ballon D'or, FIFA World player of the year, I shouldn't even need to go on. Cantona was a goof player who acted the brat and will always be remembered for that incident at Wimbledon. Messi will be remembered as one of if no the greatest player to have played the game by the time he's thity. Those red tinted spectacles need to come off my dear.

if i was wearing red tinted specs i would have said giggs, i guess you will say he won fck all either. oh and "my dear" get a grip will ya

bamboozling

Lionel Messi

almanu wrote: »

i understand your point in regards to silverware , he just hold a special place in my heart .

Jerzy Dudek holds a special place in my heart after Istanbul. Yet you don't see me proclaiming him to be the best player you've ever seen. Do you now understand why Eric Cantona seems like such a strange choice?

davyjose

Marco Van Basten

The fact that Maradona is not getting most of the votes is making me feel old.

He was the best player ever to play the game, and by a large margin margin. Anyone who watched him play would know this.

davyjose

Marco Van Basten

bamboozling wrote: »

Jerzy Dudek holds a special place in my heart after Istanbul. Yet you don't see me proclaiming him to be the best player you've ever seen. Do you now understand why Eric Cantona seems like such a strange choice?

It's always the same on these threads, though. People can mention Zola and Bergkamp and get the thumbs up, but one mention of Cantona and everyone goes on the attack.

He's not the best player ever, but no Man Utd fan will ever forget his brilliance the way others might.

Leiva

Marco Van Basten

#1 Maradona ... Simply unstoppable .

#2 Zidane ....... Sheer class and style.

#3 Messi.......... Getting close to been like #1

rossie1977

Marco Van Basten

maradona and its not even close, he was far ahead of anyone at that time and anyone who has come since

bamboozling

Lionel Messi

davyjose wrote: »

It's always the same on these threads, though. People can mention Zola and Bergkamp and get the thumbs up, but one mention of Cantona and everyone goes on the attack.

He's not the best player ever, but no Man Utd fan will ever forget his brilliance the way others might.

Why I consider Cantona such a poor shout is because I would hold Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Peter Schmeichel all ahead of Eric Cantona in a list of United's best players. That's why I consider Cantona to be such a daft choice.

Especially when the poster then lists Messi's age, he's not my cup of tea and they don't like Zinedine Zidane when questioned on the matter of why not other players. Hardly a compelling case put forward now was it?

Reganio 2

Xavi

almanu wrote: »

Eric Cantona for me , i know a lot of you might disagree but i was on the edge of my seat any time he was playing , pure presence and class on the pitch.

Djimi Traore had me on the edge of my seat every time he played, don't mean he should be the best player of the last 30 years.

You are confusing Entertainment with Ability.

"Zidane wasn't my cup of tea" suggests you know absoloutly nothing about football unless the chap is scoring goals.

ironbluedun

Marco Van Basten

i saw all of those players and without any doubt Maradonna was the best without question. Actually the best ever with Pele a close second.

to even mention Ronaldo or Zidane in the same sentance is juvenille and a display of ignorance in the extreeme.

keane2097

Zinedine Zidane

People just don't make the distinction between "the best player" and "my favourite player", that's all.

Dempsey

Lionel Messi

'The' Ronaldo

If I was old enough to appreciate Maradona in his prime, he'd get the vote.

eZe^

Would have loved to have seen Maradona properly in my lifetime.

ironbluedun

Marco Van Basten

Dempsey wrote: »

'The' Ronaldo

yes the original ron was a very good player he could get the ball and make his own chances......... but maradonna......could do it all.

ironbluedun

Marco Van Basten

eZe^ wrote: »

Would have loved to have seen Maradona properly in my lifetime.

the 1986 world cup stands out, since then no player has affected the world cup like he did that year. a mark of a truly GREAT player to take a tournament and make it his own......how did messi do in the last world cup???

keane2097

Zinedine Zidane

ironbluedun wrote: »

the 1986 world cup stands out, since then no player has affected the world cup like he did that year. a mark of a truly GREAT player to take a tournament and make it his own......how did messi do in the last world cup???

Terribly Andy, he didn't even score :rolleyes:

Dempsey

Lionel Messi

ironbluedun wrote: »

yes the original ron was a very good player he could get the ball and make his own chances......... but maradonna......could do it all.

I was only 3 when Maradona was cementing himself as arguably the greatest footballer of all time (Mexico 86). He was a shadow of himself by the time I had a grasp of football.

I'm well aware now of what Maradona did BEFORE my lifetime :rolleyes:

AgileMyth

Zinedine Zidane

Poll fail. Wheres the Djimi Traore option?

KeithAFC

Best player ever is George Best

My favourite player ever is Robert Pires.

darragh16

I wasn't around for Maradona's glory days, so I can't really say him.

Best player(s) are probably Zidane and Messi.

From a biased point of view Roy Keane was one of the best players in my lifetime, so i'd consider him a great.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Zinedine Zidane

ironbluedun wrote: »

the 1986 world cup stands out, since then no player has affected the world cup like he did that year. a mark of a truly GREAT player to take a tournament and make it his own......how did messi do in the last world cup???

What exactly is your point? Its already been said that most of us havnt seen him play, hence his low share of the vote. I dont see what you're trying to achieve by knocking Messi, sure wasnt Maradona 4 years older than Messi was when he had that WC??

DH2K9

Zinedine Zidane

I voted for Messi because he is the best player ever but I have to say that Thierry Henry deserves to be up there for his years at arsenal.

Bodhisopha

Zinedine Zidane

ironbluedun wrote: »

the 1986 world cup stands out, since then no player has affected the world cup like he did that year. a mark of a truly GREAT player to take a tournament and make it his own......how did messi do in the last world cup???

What had Maradona done by the age of 23, the age Messi is now? How did he do in the 1982 world cup?

OPENROAD

Thierry Henry for me.

The Muppet

A.N other , George Best.

Bodhisopha

Zinedine Zidane

Argentina v England in the 86 world cup is starting in a few mins on ESPN classic if anyone wants to get a look at Maradona over the full 90 mins.

Wolfe Tone

Im gonna say Messi cause he has the highest rating on fifa

Yakult

Zinedine Zidane

Brazilian Ronaldo along with Messi and then Maldini.

Diabhal Beag

Lothar Mattaus

Maldini. The most solid defender of all-time and the most admirable person on the list to me personally. Also don't see how Kaka is on the list but not Ronaldinho.

Jesus Wept

Phil Andrew Babb, saw him at Landsdown Road in a Liverpool XI vs Ireland, or maybe he was playing for Ireland.
Had a great game and threw his shirt into the crowd at the end.

x in the city

Marco Van Basten

bamboozling wrote: »

Following on from Gimmick's excellent team of your lifetime thread it's now time for the best player of your lifetime thread.

I'm following football since about 1999 and the best player I've ever seen was Ronaldo. I think he was the most natural striker the game ever saw. He had power, pace and pure ability that would frighten any defence in the world. I think his performance in 2003 against Man United was the best display I've seen from a striker on the big stage. His performance throughout the 2002 World Cup was a joy to behold and he got redemption for 1998, not that he had anything to prove, the man did have convulsive fit after all.

When I see people making a mockery of him, calling him fat Ronaldo and disgusts me. He was such a great player and so many people fail to realise how good he was. I'd guarantee if he had spent 2 or 3 seasons in the premiership he'd have been hailed as the all time best ever yet to a lot of followers of the English game he means relatively little, a footnote even.

Lets not forget that this man came back from knee reconstructions three times and is still playing. That's an achievement in itself. If he didn't have the injury problems and if he'd looked after himself better he'd be hailed as one of the all time greats. He really was that good.

The other contenders were Zinedine Zidane and Leo Messi but I think Zizou was too inconsistent and Messi needs another 2 or 3 great years and to win something internationally to be beat Ronaldo in my opinion.

Poll is up, vote for who you like I'm going to extend it back until about 1980 because of the different ages of forum members and tell us why you think yoour choice is the greatest player of you lifetime.

Maradona for me by a mile....anyone who seen him whip in free kicks with his training jacket in the world cup this year while every single player in the tournament barely whipped in a cross nailed it for me

best player...

ever!



messi is quality, but he has a long way to go to reach the heights of diego, he is supported by an all star cast at barca.

maradona had some good players at napoil like gaudino and careca but by and large he won them the title and for mexico 86 he was unstoppable, he also took an awful argentina in 1990 to the wc finals practically all by himself.

carlop

Paolo Maldini

rossie1977 wrote: »

maradona and its not even close, he was far ahead of anyone at that time and anyone who has come since

As a Napoli fan I'd love to be able to vote Maradona, but I never really got a chance to see him in his prime as I'm too young, so it would be disingenuous.

rednik

Best player I ever saw playing was Zico.

Best player ever was George Best.

tdv123

Marco Van Basten

It's between Zidane,Maldini & Ronaldo.

Hard to pick one out seeing as how there such different players. But they were all equally brilliant at what they did.

x in the city

Marco Van Basten

carlop wrote: »

As a Napoli fan I'd love to be able to vote Maradona, but I never really got a chance to see him in his prime as I'm too young, so it would be disingenuous.

I have seen him play, I used rush home from footie training and watch highlights with martin tyler. i remember the tune still to this day....

maradona was awesome...

The Floyd p

Xavi

ironbluedun wrote: »

i saw all of those players and without any doubt Maradonna was the best without question. Actually the best ever with Pele a close second.

to even mention Ronaldo or Zidane in the same sentance is juvenille and a display of ignorance in the extreeme.

Come on now Ted, Zidane can be mentioned alongside any of those

MuPpItJoCkEy

Xavi

How Luis Figo is not on that list is beyond me.

Zidane probably the best player I really got to see from start to finish and Ronaldo was just the business to watch because you knew with him on the pitch, the chances of seeing a goal in that match were as high as possible.

curry-muff

Xavi

MuPpItJoCkEy wrote: »

How Luis Figo is not on that list is beyond me.

Zidane probably the best player I really got to see from start to finish and Ronaldo was just the business to watch because you knew with him on the pitch, the chances of seeing a goal in that match were as high as possible.

Same with Keane tbh

tdv123

Marco Van Basten

The Floyd p wrote: »

Come on now Ted, Zidane can be mentioned alongside any of those

Very much so. Zidane did just as much for France as Pele did for Brazil.

Theres alot of great Brazilian players who havent been mentioned who I think should be thrown out there who were as good of not better than some mentioned so far who usually seemed to get snubbed alot of the time in these type of debates.

Gerson,Tostao,Rivellino,Jarzinho,Socratese,Zico & Junior.

x in the city

Marco Van Basten

tdv123 wrote: »

Very much so. Zidane did just as much for France as Pele did for Brazil.

Theres alot of great Brazilian players who havent been mentioned who I think should be thrown out there who were as good of not better than some mentioned so far who usually seemed to get snubbed alot of the time in these type of debates.

Gerson,Tostao,Rivellino,Jarzinho,Socratese,Zico & Junior.

people here barely remember maradona in the 80s let alone them players in fairness...

tdv123

Marco Van Basten

Yeah good point.

Question about Platini. The RTE lads (Giles in particular) never really seemed to him like or regard him as a world class player. What was it they had against him exactly? I remember them saying Fabregas was a better player than him one night. But most other ex-players,managers,fans etc... speak off him as one of the all time greats.

Boskowski

Marco Van Basten

I was watching some Espn classic stuff and when you look at the matches from the 70s...

Just as an example, a player makes a nice one-touch flick (then) past another player and the ball goes 10 yards past and the commentator goes 'awesome'. Today they would say his first touch let him down cos no way would the ball be still his. They had acres of space of and all the time in the world. An international match then looked like an over 50s five a side in the park now. The pace and athleticism has changed so much.

Therefore even if you were old enough to have witnessed say Pele, I'd find it difficult to make a call on him. Pace of the game and skill shown are directly related to each other. In a leisurely 5 a side even Titus Bramble would look like a Brazilian genius. What a lot of people don't realize is that seemingly average pros are awesome footballers when compared to their own junior league teams midfield genius.

My point is that the one guy I remember from my kiddo days and whose environment is still somewhat comparable to nowadays footie is Maradona. He is unbelievable. It's like the ball was a part of his body. He had as much control over it as others have control over their right hand.

Every now and then a player pops up who is in the same category. Today that player is Messi and in the years between Maradona and Messi the latter is probably the one who comes the closest to the former. Maradona actually says that himself about Messi.

There is other great players with other great qualities like attitude and ability to read the game and whatnot and they make it into all time greats lists. For example - understandably - Roy Keane pops up a lot here. But to be honest that's laughable.

Every decade seems to produce one or two geniuses. I witnessed 3 decades myself and even taking my point from the beginning of the post into account the little guy stands above the rest by quite a distance. Messi is second. Nuff said.

bobbysands81

curry-muff wrote: »

Roy Keane tbh, probably the player I watched in most depth, but I thought he was a different class altogether, made Zidane look like nothing when we played Juve.

That being said Zidane is my second choice :pac:

Roy Keane without question... then Paddy McCourt.

Lu Tze

Lothar Mattaus

In fairness, to anybody suggesting Roy Keane in a non facetious way, he isnt even the best irish player in the time period we are talking about.

I voted maldini, though hesitated with ronaldo. Too young for maradonna - vague memories from 1990, with Canigia (Spelling?) for argentina, but didnt see enough of him to judge.

bobbysands81

Lu Tze wrote: »

In fairness, to anybody suggesting Roy Keane in a non facetious way, he isnt even the best irish player in the time period we are talking about.

I voted maldini, though hesitated with ronaldo. Too young for maradonna - vague memories from 1990, with Canigia (Spelling?) for argentina, but didnt see enough of him to judge.

Without doubt Roy Keane is the most influential player I've ever seen play the game. I#m not saying he was as good a player as Paul McGrath but if I had a choice between the two then without hesitation I'd pick Keane.

pickarooney

A.N Other (please state)

I think most people focus on one or two aspects of the game. Can a goalkeeper or a centre-half not qualify as the best player or all time because he didn't score goals?

Maradona had no right foot :pac:

A Dub in Glasgo

I have gone for a player that I have seen for 7 years in the flesh rather than any of the others who I have only seen snippets of on the TV

My choice: Henrik Larsson

Boskowski

Marco Van Basten

pickarooney wrote: »

Maradona had no right foot :pac:

He made up for it with his left hand tho...:D

Mister men

Marco Van Basten

Maradona
Zidane
Dalglish

No Dalglish in the poll?

I'm sure a few older boardsies may remember a certain George Best too.

Bergkamp another amazing player.

For me though Maradonna >>> everyone( in my lifetime) The man was a genius.

Some posters rating Roy Keane over Zidane

(There's a whole world outside the EPL.)

Bounty Hunter

Lothar Mattaus

In a few years I honestly think Messi will walk this with C.Ronaldo getting similar votes as Ronaldo classic.