Your favourite player ever...

kfallon

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Also had a soft spot as a youngster for a lad called Djalminha who played for Deportivo.

Great footballer, every time his name is mentioned I think of that game v Real
and 'THAT' pass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNvfGOqAkAo

dinorebel

Henri for me he was a joy to watch.


Lampard should also get a mention got the absolute most out of his career with arguably less ability than some of his peers.

sonic85

Can't just pick one to be honest. There's loads.

Henry Bergkamp Viera Pires Gilberto Adams Keown Fabregas just from Arsenal

Keane Pirlo Makelele Batistuta Rui Costa Nakata Okocha etc

Love all of those for different reasons but when I was younger I really loved Gaizka Mendieta. Great player

kfallon

dinorebel wrote: »

Henri for me he was a joy to watch.

Leconte???

Tennis forum that way sir

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artanevilla

Kevin Hunt's a legend,
He wears the number 4,
He plays for the Bohemians,
And he gives us so much more,
He tackles with his left foot,
He tackles with his right,
He hates the fúcking Rovers,
And we think he's dynamite!

Bounty Hunter

keeponhurling wrote: »

(ooh aah) Paul McGrath

about damn time!

couldn't believe we got to page 3 of this thread (on an Irish forum no less) without his name being mentioned.

The man Villa fans refer to as God! and I believe he was decent for Ireland too :pac:

I'd actually have Roy Keane second. I admired that guy so much and he would always make a best in the world team for me. Outside him and McGrath I don't think any Irish player could make that claim. Maybe Brady

my 3rd choice was Steve Staunton. He was not at the standard of the other 2 but he was a damn fine player and I hope people can remember him for that and not for his managerial embarrassment.

chopperbyrne

Gary Twigg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s2bUe9VF8Y

SuperTortoise

I can't narrow it down to one so the two that gave me most joy was Ronaldo(BR) and Zidane.
Two players that changed the way i watched football.

Ronaldo was a breath of fresh air to watch, he had everything, the complete forward. I was absolutely gutted when he moved from Inter to Real Madrid because channel 4 used to have live games and highlights of Italian football every Sunday back then and it meant i could'nt watch him as much! Injuries in his prime robbed us of his talent for a couple of years and if it wasn't for that i think he would be regarded as the best of all time.

Zidane was a player i did'nt appreciate until later on in his career, he was majestic, i've to this day never seen another footballer that had so much control over a football, loved watching him play.

keeponhurling

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

about damn time!

couldn't believe we got to page 3 of this thread (on an Irish forum no less) without his name being mentioned.

The man Villa fans refer to as God! and I believe he was decent for Ireland too :pac:
.

Maybe posters on here are just too young !

but for me McGrath is the best I've ever seen.
Defender and midfielder, no problem to him, on the ground in the air - he had everything, apart from maybe better knees

LowOdour

As my footballing hero, Paul McGrath is my favourite player of all time. I became a lifeling villa fan the day he moved to them.

2 players would most like to have been would have been Matt le Tissier (for the goals) and Georgi Kinkladze for the dribbling!

AgileMyth

Joseph Ndo. Greatest player in the history of football.

Red Kev

Favourite player ever is/was Yves Eigenrauch of Schalke. Not the best, but a kind of cult hero anti footballer.

Favourite to watch were the Rush-Dalglish partnership of the mid 80's. For a couple of glorious years your heart rate would increase noticeably when they got the ball.

I lived in France in the early 90's and saw Zidane play several times. Always a class act and always gave his all.

K-9

Platini, Maradonna, Barnes, Aldridge, McGrath, Molby, Waddle & Hoddle.

These days, players like Pirlo, Coutinho, Mata.

keeponhurling

Benimar

For Ireland: Paul McGrath
For Liverpool: Dalglish/Barnes..tough to pick one
With no connection to any of 'my' teams: Maradona

Yes, I'm old.

Dirty Dingus McGee

I always loved Michael Ballack.

His performances in the 2001-2002 season for Bayer Leverkusen is the greatest season I've seen from a midfield player, he dragged them to the brink of winning a treble and a mediocre Germany team to a world cup final.

25 goals that season playing as an orthodox midfield player is some going and his timing of runs into the box was exceptional he seem to constantly score form balls pulled back to the edge of the box.

i always loved Cafu aswell, he spent more time in the oppositions half tan his own and yet was never caught out defensively.

Super-Rush

Peter Beardsley.

Ugly as sin but he was a genius. Probably the most underrated English player ever.

lassykk

Grew up in the 90s and Cantona was the first player that caught my eye. The amount of times I tried to emulate his chip against Sunderland beggars belief. To a 8 year old kid there was no one capable of emulating him. I'm pretty sure I shed tears when he was suspended for kicking the fan and also when he retired. Looking back it seems so ridiculous to cry over a team that you have no direct involvement with or even a link to the city itself!

After Cantona retired the next player I warmed most to was Bergkamp. His goal against Argentina in the world cup and his goal against Newcastle in the league are still two of the best I've ever seen. I could also try forever and never replicate the goal against Newcastle.

The Golden Miller

No mention of the great Pablo Aimar yet? Beautiful player to watch. The mercurial Juan Roman Riquelme was always another favorite. The Argies' always seem to produce the most talented players. Van der Vaart and Totti also deserve a mention. Probably the most elegant player on form was Kaka. Always loved watching him grace the pitch for Milan

Subcomandante Marcos

LeeJM wrote: »

Peter Schmeichel. Best keeper of the 90s with only Oliver Kahn and Edwin Van Der Sar being near his level.

Subcomandante Marcos

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

There was this guy once, ye young folk probably don't remember him.

His name was Diego Armando Maradonna.

Different class, different class !

Also my favourite player. Absolutely peerless.

Pighead

Another vote for Roy Keane here. Always loved watching the great man play. Always pushed himself to the absolute limit and was way more than just a tough tackling enforcer in the middle of the park.

These days I would have to say Daryl Horgan is probably my favourite. Everytime he gets the ball you just feel something special is about to happen and it nearly always does. An absolute joy to watch.

JoeA3

Another vote for Cantona here. The one player that captured my imagination and got me interested in following English football in the first place.

Numerous memories, but particularly that goal against Sunderland and the "celebration" afterwards... just standing there, chest puffed out, collar up... look at me, cool as fcuk, like he owned the place! He had that unreal belief and arrogance that's been lacking in United players for the last several seasons.

ArielAtom

Cruyff of the Johan variety. That turn!!!!

rob316

Zidane.

Just an amazing footballer, he just glided across the pitch. His touch, his vision, he had it all.

keano_afc

I have 2.

Christian Vieri. Loved watching him play. Saw him play at Lansdowne Road and he was brilliant.

Lubo Moravcik. A genius, pure and simple.

eigrod

Ray Kennedy

LeeJM

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

LeeJM wrote: »

Peter Schmeichel. Best keeper of the 90s with only Oliver Kahn and Edwin Van Der Sar being near his level.

Forgot about Buffon. Correctly or incorrectly I think of him and Casillas as the GKs of 00s with VDS

thebaz

Best - Maradonna
Favourite - Paul McGrath & Roy Keane - (Paul wins at a push

osarusan

For Limerick: Peter Mumby, during his one season with us.

Otherwise, I was a big Stoichkov fan for a long time.

Speak Now

Kenny Dalglish with Paul McGrath a close second.

lawred2

Any concept of a favourite player is from my childhood when the romance of football took hold. Everton being kings and the Republic of Ireland going to the euros and world cup for the first time. Sticker books and subbuteo.

I'd love to feel that romance again but it's hard to like anything about football these days.

So for me, favorite ever player would be between Kevin Sheedy and Marco Van Basten. Had a thing for Milan around that time too.

Schwiiing

Mike Duff
Mark Kerr
To Madiera
Maksim Tsigalko

Chancer3001

Shearer. For being an absolute machine without any ibvious attributes. Amazing.

Lampard. Under rated in his own time. I mean top scorer of all time for chelsea from centre mid. His goalscoring from mudfield at such a high level for so long was a revelation.

John terry - captain of captains.

Alan kirby - scored the winning goal for longford town when i beat valencia in championship manager. High point

Kerrydude1981

Marco Van Basten,I think he was all round striker and could score any type of goal,just a pity that the injuries finished his career

8-10

Jari Litmanen. Sublime footballer

justshane

keano_afc wrote: »

I have 2.

Christian Vieri. Loved watching him play. Saw him play at Lansdowne Road and he was brilliant.

Lubo Moravcik. A genius, pure and simple.

Vieri was as clinical as you could find back in the day. My vote goes to another Italian, Zola. Loved when he got the ball, really really excited me. Honourable mention to his partner in crime at the time Tore Andre Flo.

Arne_Saknussem

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Marco Van Basten,

That Gothenburg match was his last match at the top of his game. Remember Jim Rosenthal saying on the ITV highlights that night that he would be out for a few months.

He came back at the end of the season and actually played in the final but was never the same again, and after about another season and a half trying to regain fitness he called it a day.

Best all round no. 9 of all time, only bettered by Ronaldo with knees, who was a freak.

Arne_Saknussem

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Shearer. For being an absolute machine without any ibvious attributes. Amazing.

Lampard. Under rated in his own time. I mean top scorer of all time for chelsea from centre mid. His goalscoring from mudfield at such a high level for so long was a revelation.

John terry - captain of captains.

Alan kirby - scored the winning goal for longford town when i beat valencia in championship manager. High point

Apart from pace to burn, the strength of an ox, being excellent with his back to goal, a clinical finisher, a canon of a right foot and brilliant in the air.

DJIMI TRARORE

Going back a bit,davy langan,tearing up the wing from RB for the Rep of Ire. A unique style, socks round ankles, Jersey hanging loose. Mentions for dicanio and asprilla,I like mad bastards,it wud be dull without them

Iused2likebusts

Robert prosinecki was a great player to watch. Hard to believe he ended up playing for Portsmouth in the championship.
Ronaldinho put on the best performance of anybody I saw playing live.

Jimbob1977

Marco van Basten

Zinidine Zidane

Brazilian Ronaldo

Gabriel Batistuta

Dennis Bergkamp

ElChe32

Henrik Larsson for me. Saw him live many times with Celtic. Twice with United and was lucky to see him play a few games with Helsingborg in his last few months as a pro. Managed to meet him at Helsingborg and he is a genuinely friendly, down to earth guy.

garra

From my youth it would be John Barnes. He seemed to effortlessly glide past players and never seemed ruffled by the abuse of opposition fans - just got on with the job of being the best footballer in England for years.

Latterly it would be Suarez. He always had me in fits of laughter with a brilliant nutmeg, scoring ridiculous goals or bawling out his own team mates, or biting someone. Mucho warrior genes and pure entertainment.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

I've always had great love for Juan Roman Riquelme. An absolute mentaller, but he had the touch and technical abilities of a God!

Totti and Del Piero are also up there!

eagle eye

Taking out players from clubs I like a lot who would be Damien Duff, Hilary Carlyle and Joseba Etxeberria.

Maradona is the best I've ever seen. Van Basten was just sublime at his bet. All the really great ones were great to watch, kudos to whoever put up the great Bulgarian Hristov Stoichkov and John Barnes was something to behold too.

Luis Figo was another fantastic player to watch.

I'm just thinking back for the players that I most wanted to see playing at the time and the ones that come to mind are what follow. This is like a list of, he is playing so I gotta see that game.

From a similar time frame I'd have two picks and that is mid-80s to early 90's and those players were Bryan Robson and Michael Laudrup.

In the late 90s and early 00s I think it would have to be Alessandro Del Piero and Thierry Henry.

Xavi Hernandez and David Silva would be my two favourites to watch over the last ten years or so.

charolais0153

Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres were my favourites

justshane

Also forgot mention Nedved, legend.

L'prof

Ray Parlour. Never the most skillfull man on the field but he never left anything behind. Legend!

Bobby Baccala

Forgot to mention Juninho in my first post, I could watch that lad scoring free kicks all day