Your favourite player ever...

A_Sober_Paddy

Ronaldo the Brazilian

Craig Curran when he was playing for Limerick, ran his socks off, scored some lovely goals. Was a joy to watch

Liam O

Ronaldinho. Even made a simple 5 yard pass entertaining.

Roy Keane was my hero but Ronaldinho was the footballer that you'd want to replicate.

MisterAnarchy

I have a soft spot for Romario.

Probably the best natural finisher I have ever seen , completely one footed but lethal .

corny

Gianluigi Lentini was brilliant to watch as a young lad. Bad car crash messed him up.

Didn't even like Milan in the nineties but another one was 'Il Genio' himself Dejan Savicevic. Kind of like a taller Messi! Questionable head though and apparently never applied himself. Scary thought.

Something to be said for good defenders too. Liked watching Nesta because he was so graceful but still a brilliant defender. Jaap Stam wasn't bad either. Always got the impression lots of forwards were afraid of him. One of the most imposing defenders i've seen.

inforfun

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Ronaldo the Brazilian

corny wrote: »

Liked watching Nesta because he was so graceful but still a brilliant defender.

Look what i found...

https://vine.co/v/eXnBK9umv9A

upandcumming

David Silva. Just a brilliant, brilliant player. I cannot get enough of him.
I liked Craig Bellamy for some reason.
Cristiano - I love his dedication and desire. And this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ZliIalBqM

The Town have had some greats over the years: Alan Kirby, Sean Prunty, John Martin, and Eric Lavine; Longford Town's baby making machine!

bullvine

Skylinehead wrote: »

I think Iniesta has that one sewn up.

I disagree, Drogba has scored 10 goals in 10 finals, thats some record, I am not event a chelsea fan.

Skylinehead

bullvine wrote: »

I disagree, Drogba has scored 10 goals in 10 finals, thats some record, I am not event a chelsea fan.

I'm not disputing that Drogba isn't a big game player, far from it. But Iniesta....man of the match in World Cup finals (won the trophy for Spain), Euro finals, Champions League finals...can't think of anyone else to do that. Zidane would be close.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Roberto Carlos. All-action, did everything with absolute aplomb, and scored one of the best free kicks I have ever seen.

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

stooge

Van Basten mentioned earlier was amazing, Savecevic also for AC Milan was one of the most skilful players of his time. Roy Keane was my fav player growing up though.

Honorable mention to Hugo Sanchez... the king of the scissor kick!

Rikand

Morten gamst pedersen - came to Rovers and made such an impact. I always loved him for his football and for how much he loved the club

Gennaro Gattuso - the hardest of hard bastards in that Milan midfield. Loved what he did on but mostly off the ball

the untitled user

Bergkamp for me. Never mind the technique and the finishing (Argentina 1998 stands out among most), it was his intelligence and influence on others around me that most stood out. Still remember the way he was able to turn games coming on as a substitute in his final season. It rankles me too the way Thierry gets most mentions from Arsenal fans, I like to remind them that Titi never looked the same after Bergkamp retired. Very few players ever exerted as much influence on their club and team mates as Bergkamp did.

Equally fond of Paul McGrath mind, but I find it hard to rank him objectively given my earliest memory of football is watching Paul McGrath in a green shirt on the tellybox.

Special mention to Cesc Fabregas in his early years (before he got pushed up into the playmaker role). Very few players had his vision but being pushed higher up the football pitch meant he kind of lost that ability as his emphasis shifted to the final ball.

Burial.

Messi will always be the number 1 for me. Some of the stuff only he can do would nearly bring you to tears. But I always had a soft spot for Juan Roman Riquelme. He does get his props but he's still incredibly underrated in the grand scheme of things. Genius.

8-10

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luis Suarez of players still active. Both completely compelling to watch.

bullvine

Skylinehead wrote: »

I'm not disputing that Drogba isn't a big game player, far from it. But Iniesta....man of the match in World Cup finals (won the trophy for Spain), Euro finals, Champions League finals...can't think of anyone else to do that. Zidane would be close.

He played well in the wins against United CL but Messi was the real difference in both of those games

Skylinehead

bullvine wrote: »

He played well in the wins against United CL but Messi was the real difference in both of those games

Yeah I agree with that. I think Iniesta was the best player against Juventus in 2015 though.

Korat

Diego Maradona is the greatest player to ever play the game of football.

After him, Zico, Platini, Hagi, R. Baggio, M. Laudrup, Prosinecki, Rivaldo and Roy Keane.

The Golden Miller

Korat wrote: »

Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff are the greatest players to ever play the game of football.

Fixed that line for you

Dirty Dingus McGee

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Fixed that line for you

You need to add Pele to it as well.

Ragnar Lothbrok

My favourite ever player is Danny McGrain. Loved Kenny Dalglish too (until he went to Liverpool ). In more recent times it would have to be Henrik Larsson.

Favourite non-Celtic players would be Maradona and Messi. Couldn't say which one of them is the better footballer.

Looking through this thread, it reminds me also of how much I liked Le Tissier. Unbelievable goals, loyalty to his club, and always seems like he'd be a great bloke to go for a pint with.

I'm surprised not to see anyone mention Pele, although most of us are probably a bit too young to remember anything but his later stages, if that.

The Golden Miller

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

You need to add Pele to it as well.

Nah. Not even the best striker ever, let alone best player ever

Dirty Dingus McGee

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Nah. Not even the best striker ever, let alone best player ever

OK.

Irish_rat

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

OK.

Did you watch him live?

Dirty Dingus McGee

Irish_rat wrote: »

Did you watch him live?

Yes.

monkeysnapper

Mine is mark Hughes .

Granted being welsh helps but he was my boy hood hero , that last min goal against Oldham in 1994 semi final of fa cup I went nuts .

He also once played for wales in Prague and then got on a plane and came on for Bayern , he played two games in one day ... What a true hero .

wadacrack

the Brazilian Ronaldo, never have a seen suck an aura around a player.

The Golden Miller

monkeysnapper wrote: »

Mine is mark Hughes .

Granted being welsh helps but he was my boy hood hero , that last min goal against Oldham in 1994 semi final of fa cup I went nuts .

He also once played for wales in Prague and then got on a plane and came on for Bayern , he played two games in one day ... What a true hero .

He had a good career alright. Too bad he tried his utmost best to stifle and ruin Elano's career during his time as manager at Man City

Lovely Bloke

MvB was the first player I truly loved.

I really loved his intensity and passion, and of course as a yunfleh the fact that he scored amazing goals would be the main thing, you don't really notice tactical awareness or anything like that at 9 years of age.

jem

Jany too many to mention:( no double ups)
on the international stage non current :maradonna, Socrates zico, falco( in fact the 1982 Brazilian team).van bastan, ronaldinho,baresi,rivaldo, romario, maldini, cruyff.ronaldo (original) (too young for pele etc)

On the international stage current - messi, Luis Suarez, robbin, Iniesta, modric,aguero.

Liverpool players all time: king kenny,barnes,rush , hansen and laurenson, souness molby, stevie G

Ireland . roy keane, davie langan, jim beglin, steve staunton, heighway, brady, mcgrath, aldridge, whelan,duff.

IMHO maradonna the best ever to play the game in my lifetime.

inforfun

Slowly but certainly this thread has evolved into a "who do you think is the best player" thread, i think.

POKERKING

The Golden Miller wrote: »

He had a good career alright. Too bad he tried his utmost best to stifle and ruin Elano's career during his time as manager at Man City

What a really strange thing to say!

gimli2112

Probably Paul McGrath even though he never played for a club I supported. It's years since I read his autobiography but remember being very impressed by it.

Football Friend

Arjen Robben for me. Loved watching him play for the sheer fact you knew he was going to do something every time he got the ball. Also the fact that he was so exclusively one footed and everyone knew this but he still managed to get his shots away. Just a really exciting player. I know this isn't the 'best' player thread but I genuinely believe there was a stage around 2 seasons ago before the emergence of Neymar and Suarez as real forces that he was just behind Messi and Ronaldo in the best player stakes.

Honourable mentions to Duff, Mata, Ronaldinho, Henry, Suarez, Buffon, Lahm, Verratti, Drogba, Torres, Hazard.

Arghus

I used to have a soft spot for Inzaghi, who could spend 85 minutes of a game doing nothing much more than getting caught offside multiple times, but who would invariably turn up with a goal in the end and then run off celebrating like he'd single handedly saved the world from destruction.

The man loved scoring goals.

Skylinehead

Arghus wrote: »

I used to have a soft spot for Inzaghi, who could spend 85 minutes of a game doing nothing much more than getting caught offside multiple times, but who would invariably turn up with a goal in the end and then run off celebrating like he'd single handedly saved the world from destruction.

The man loved scoring goals.

Probably offside for the winning goal as well!

pappyodaniel

Georgi Kinkladze

he was a magician.

inforfun

Football Friend wrote: »

Arjen Robben for me. Loved watching him play for the sheer fact you knew he was going to do something every time he got the ball. Also the fact that he was so exclusively one footed and everyone knew this but he still managed to get his shots away. Just a really exciting player. I know this isn't the 'best' player thread but I genuinely believe there was a stage around 2 seasons ago before the emergence of Neymar and Suarez as real forces that he was just behind Messi and Ronaldo in the best player stakes.

Honourable mentions to Duff, Mata, Ronaldinho, Henry, Suarez, Buffon, Lahm, Verratti, Drogba, Torres, Hazard.

Robben not getting the player of the year award in 2014 was farcical.

The Golden Miller

POKERKING wrote: »

What a really strange thing to say!

How? It certainly seemed that way

Potential Underachiever

Another of mine was Steve McManaman, loved how seemingly every time he got the ball he'd try and make something happen, was a hell of a mazy dribbler, could have scored more maybe but still a class act.

The Golden Miller

Arghus wrote: »

I used to have a soft spot for Inzaghi, who could spend 85 minutes of a game doing nothing much more than getting caught offside multiple times, but who would invariably turn up with a goal in the end and then run off celebrating like he'd single handedly saved the world from destruction.

The man loved scoring goals.

Not to mention, the bigger the occasion and the more important the match, the more likely it was that Inzaghi would score. The 07 Champions League final summed him up. Hero

Bridge93

From when I was young I had an unexplainable love for Andriy Shevchenko. The reason AC Milan will always be my Italian team.
From a pure amazement point of view Ronaldinho, Kaka and Messi and 2002 Ronaldo
Ireland I can't go beyond Duff, Given and Robbie
Newcastle would be Given again Nobby Solano, an absolute hero up there, and Laurent Robert for those free kicks

LuckyLloyd

Roy Keane. Ferocious.

Iang87

From a Liverpool point of view It would be Torres for me. Then he broke my heart. I'll never forgive him

For Limerick I used to love watching Gaffney for the half season we had him under Martin Russell

For Ireland ..... probably Keane but purely because of his will to win regardless of opposition. Thats why I find the current incarnation of Keane tough to swallow at times. Talks about winning all the time and the irish team seem to get sent out not to lose. (off topic, I apologise)

Having said all that. I would wait 3 hours just to watch Messi warm up. He's like nothing I've seen. Not old enough for Maradona, I never appreciated Zidane enough early on (I was like 12-16 when he was king of the world) and Ronaldinho ran Messi close for me in terms of favourite players.

MayoSalmon

Ronaldinho..pure football joy

DJIMI TRARORE

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Georgi Kinkladze

he was a magician.

theres a player i had forgotten about,a joy with the ball at his feet, a pure footballer

Saint_Mel

Rod de Khors ... Athlone Town legend
"Who Needs Cantona, We've Got Rod de Khors"

A_Sober_Paddy

Iang87 wrote: »

From a Liverpool point of view It would be Torres for me. Then he broke my heart. I'll never forgive him

For Limerick I used to love watching Gaffney for the half season we had him under Martin Russell

For Ireland ..... probably Keane but purely because of his will to win regardless of opposition. Thats why I find the current incarnation of Keane tough to swallow at times. Talks about winning all the time and the irish team seem to get sent out not to lose. (off topic, I apologise)

Having said all that. I would wait 3 hours just to watch Messi warm up. He's like nothing I've seen. Not old enough for Maradona, I never appreciated Zidane enough early on (I was like 12-16 when he was king of the world) and Ronaldinho ran Messi close for me in terms of favourite players.

Gaffney was very good under Taylor and scully too

superfurry1

Manchester United Ryan giggs pure joy in full flight.
Ireland Richard dunne the Russia game summed up the man never saw a better performance nothing short of miraculous.

St Patrick's Athlethic Eddie Gormley always a cut above the level.

8-10

superfurry1 wrote: »

Ireland Richard dunne the Russia game summed up the man never saw a better performance nothing short of miraculous.

Paul McGrath v Italy surely?

uch

Frank Stapleton