Players you loved to watch...

Iused2likebusts

Robert prosinecki and jay jay okocha. Both were pure entertainers. Prosinecki was so unlucky with injuries he could have been one of the greats. He still played with both real and barca.

thebaz

for raw talent - Maradonna

for pure passion - Roy Keane

Alfred Borden

Zidane, Pirlo, Alonso, Bergkamp and Pires for me.

Alexander Hleb was also a sensational dribbler to watch

Corholio

Paul McGrath. There's only a certain amount of defenders who could really appear in threads like these but God is certainly one of them. I honestly think a lot of people still underrate just how good he was or only take into account that he had his best years at Villa, a relatively mid table team around then. He made a lot of elements of defending look easier than they ever were, against any level of player. He was an absolutely phenomenal defender and one of the easiest on the eye central defenders playing wise I have ever watched.

One_Of_Shanks

Steve Mcmanaman, just for the way he could have 3 or 4 defenders in front of him when he was dribbling with the ball and you're thinking nah he's snookered this time but he always somehow came out with the ball on his toe. Never seen anyone so good at it, he was practically taking the piss.
Not so much end product, but he was a lot of fun to watch.

Gary Lineker would be another. I could never really understand how he did it but he just always instinctively knew where the ball would land in the box.
He just had an amazing knack for being in the right place EVERY time. All the time. Very shrewd striker. Just someone who was naturally gifted in knowing what would happen next before anyone else could see it coming.

Hierro_4

Thread lacks Iniesta

sReq | uTeK

For me it would be Scholes.

Other players I loved to watch in the premier league:

Keane, Bergkamp, Henry, Shearer, Owen (young owen) Beckham and Veron (sadly he was just ahead of English football at the time, today he would be a god)

Shoutout to Georgi Kinkladze, man that boy could twist.

uch

Tadhg Purcell

Paulo Maldini

Pirlo, naturally

Baggio, Ponytail

Thuram

Gullit

Gheorghe Hagi

Andersonisgod

The carefree joy of Ronaldinho. The pure beauty of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. My pick is Messi. He does everything, and he does it all at an elite level.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Andersonisgod wrote: »

The carefree joy of Ronaldinho. The pure beauty of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. My pick is Messi. He does everything, and he does it all at an elite level.

What a shock that you only put Barcelona players on your list.:eek:

Surely you have a broader view of the game than that?

Libadour

Stephen McPhail was a joy to watch. My favourite player to watch in fact. It's rare that we produce a player so comfortable on the ball. Richie Ryan when he played for Sligo and briefly at Rovers. The Twigg/Baker partnership. Neale Fenn was excellent as well, so cultured.

The holy trinity of Xavi, Iniesta and Busi.

irishman86

Dont know if they have been mentioned but I have a few Id turn on the tv to watch:
David Ginola, at Newcaste and Spurs was just a joy to watch
Jay Jay, when he moved to Bolton you could feel the fans stand up when he got the ball
Ashley Young, not United one but Villas one. I thought he was the best winger in the league at the time, never took off at United
Andy Carroll when hes on form is a force of nature
Jimmy Roye plays for Chamois Niort and before that at Paris FC. Obviously lower leagues but shocked he hasnt made it to the top division even now when I watch him he looks class
Thauvin, wasnt shocked he failed at Newcastle but he will end up at one of the top clubs someday similar to Ben Arfa
Robbie Keane, in Ireland people really underrate him
Totti no explanation needed
Krasic & Love when they played for CSKA
Balotelli, maybe the most talented player in the world, alas that attitude
Giroud, right now one of my current favorites, unappreciated in England people forget he starts over Laca for France
Zlatan

Im sure theres more but my list would get out of control. Everyone loves Cristiano, Messi, Pogba, Neymar, Ronaldinho etc
I have Zlatan and Totti because I really enjoy them

The Golden Miller

Ortega, Aimar and Riquelme. Something mercurial about the individual players Argentina constantly produce

Andersonisgod

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

What a shock that you only put Barcelona players on your list.:eek:

Surely you have a broader view of the game than that?

The question is literally to list the players each poster enjoys watching the most. I enjoy watching Barcelona players the most. Outside of those perhaps I'd say Hazard, Ozil, Weigl and Dahoud are probably 4 of my favourites to watch currently.

theteal

There have been enough mentions of Bergkamp so I'll proffer my second choice who I'm surprised has yet to appear. Henrik Larsson.

Not the quickest, not the biggest, not the strongest. Just class. Did the simple things right. Made it look easy. Scored goals everywhere he went. Nearly made Henry cry when he came on and won Barca a champs league final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmGEPLqd4Yg

grumpymunster

Was lucky enough to see Best and Zola in the flesh many times and they would rarely disappoint fantastic players both.

Maradona was exceptional not many players basically won a world cup on their own he was out on his own for me.

Defenders would be Maldini, Cannavaro and McGrath

Goalkeeper I would say Gordon Banks played for an unfashionable team in Stoke but a worthy world cup winner with some agility.

Nerdlingr

Zvonimir Boban, Pavel Nedved, Javier Zanetti...and has been mentioned before Fernando Redondo.
Just oozed class the lot of them.

Robson99

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Zvonimir Boban, Pavel Nedved, Javier Zanetti...and has been mentioned before Fernando Redondo.
Just oozed class the lot of them.

Boban was a class act. Another I haven't seen mentioned was Platini

NIMAN

Haven't see Butragueno mentioned yet, supreme finisher in the old style.

Or Michel either, the link up play between him and Butragueno was a joy to watch.

Staying with Real Madrid, why hasn't Hugo Sanchez been mentioned. Flair personified.

Loved watching Romario. Could be lazy but when he got a whiff of a goal....

Clarence Seedorf.

Van Basten.

Guillit.

Hierro.

Edit: how could I forget the old master Baresi. Made defending an art form.
And whilst on the subject of 80s/90s Serie A, what memories of watching Samp with Vialli, Lombardo and Mancini.

SlickRic

Roberto Baggio was my first love.

Suarez the best player I've seen live.

Also adding Ruud Van Nistleroy

Arguably the one of the best finishers the game has ever seen

His positioning and first touch was sublime

Sometimes I get the feeling he's somewhat underrated

mirwillbeback

I may have missed him being mentioned, but I cannot believe that Paul Gascoigne is not up there

Pure genius.

Dirty Dingus McGee

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Also adding Ruud Van Nistleroy

Arguably the one of the best finishers the game has ever seen

His positioning and first touch was sublime

Sometimes I get the feeling he's somewhat underrated

He was pure class , the best number 9 of Ferguson's era, but his time at Man Utd coincided with Man Utd having a poor period by their standards so he seems to be somewhat forgotten.His record in the champions league is unbelievably good.

DeanAustin

Careca.

I was growing up when he was at his peak. I remember watching the 86 World Cup with my dad and my uncles and they regaled me with the tales of the great Brazilian sides of the past and how it was an event to watch them.

Then watching these fellas who seemed to come from outer space with names like Socrates, Edinho, Josimar, Zico, Junior etc. stroking the ball around was mind boggling for a 6 year old who'd only seen English football which had sold its soul to the Charles Hughes ideology.

Amongst these bronzed magicians in yellow, Careca stood out. Elegant, powerful and lethal he was everything a striker should be. The goal against France and his goals four years later against Sweden were things of beauty. The movement, the anticipation, the finishes. Sublime. He was great with either foot and it was a pleasure to watch him more regularly when he moved to Napoli and Italian football hit RTE.

It was a shame for him that internationally he fell between two stools. He arrived as the 82 team was declining and too early for the 94 team. One of the all time greats.

Cantona's Collars

Apart from the United bias of Cantona,Keane,Schools,Ruud.

Paulo Maldini,Franco Baresi,Gabriel Batistuta,Diego Maradonna,Gullitt,Van Basten.....too many more.

You can tell what I used to watch a lot of back in the day.

Shanotheslayer

zerks wrote: »

Paulo Maldini,Franco Baresi,Gabriel Batistuta,Diego Maradonna,Gullitt,Van Basten.....too many more.

You can tell what I used to watch a lot of back in the day.

Football?

Paleblood

The likes of Steve Bruce, Peter Beardsley, Iain Dowie, Matt Le Tissier, etc. The list goes on. Ugly bastards of varying degrees of skill. Men's men that looked like they were dug out of the ground 10 minutes before every game. I miss players like that.

tombliboo83

Loved Asprilla,Romario, Baggio, Crespo and Veron for his time at sampdoria (what a passer of the ball). My favourite to watch was bergkamp (that goal against Leicester at filbert street, just magic)

eh i dunno

Any one mention luis Figo yet? What a player. Imagine what he'd be worth today.

blueser

Paleblood wrote: »

The likes of Steve Bruce, Peter Beardsley, Iain Dowie, Matt Le Tissier, etc. The list goes on. Ugly bastards of varying degrees of skill. Men's men that looked like they were dug out of the ground 10 minutes before every game. I miss players like that.

You're just taking the pi, er mick out of "aesthetically challenged" players, aren't you?

Zola and Bergkamp for me. They made skillful football look easy. Which it was to them, I suppose.

Gbear

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The Real Ronaldo he may have had one of the worst haircuts in football history but he was a joy to watch.

He didn't have the longevity to really put himself right at the top of the pantheon of great footballers but I think there's a fair case to say he's the best player to ever play the game.

There's a mechanistic way Messi demolishes teams.
He mostly does fairly basic things but incredibly quicly and with utterly immaculate technique.

It leads to incredible feats and between that and his numbers the only thing even leaving a question over him being the greatest of all time is the lack of trophies for relatively good Argentina teams.

However, when you look at some of the stuff Ronaldo did, he had the ability to turn and burn away from people and perform feats of footwork and dribbling you could scarcely believe but while being half a foot taller and 3 stone heavier than Messi.

I can't think of a player who was so skillful, so quick, so strong, had such balance all blended together. He was the perfect striker.

The game has become far more system-focused since his heyday and it seems like we'll never see the likes of that Harlem Globetrotter-esque Brazil side who barely seemed to have a plan except just have a team of players that are on a different planet in terms of skill.
Himself and Ronaldinho probably best exemplified that piss-taking joi-de-vivre and while I've still enjoyed recent tournaments, there's a Brazil-shaped hole in international football in my eyes.

Maybe if he'd had the work-ethic and professionalism of Cristiano Ronaldo he could've held himself together, but I don't know if you can be a functional footballer and do the things he did without your body just collapsing on itself.

It seemed like his body couldn't keep up with him.

Whatsisname

https://twitter.com/Zvbas/status/574720664009048064

Dimitar Berbatov, what a silky bastard.

Blazer

For Newcastle it would have been Peter Beardsley...such a fantastic player.

garra

Would be Steve McManaman and Luis Suarez. Luis in particular was just a delightful bastard to watch, whether he was balling out team mates to up their game, megging the opposition or scoring worldies, he was pure theatre.

Morzadec

As a Liverpool fan for 20+ years, for me it would have to be Suarez. The intensity and competitiveness he played with combined with the skill and the odd moment of spectacular genius made him someone who was just so much fun to watch. For me the best player I've seen in a Liverpool shirt (I know Gerrard did so much more for the club over the years, but Suarez in 13/14 was on as good as we've seen from anyone in the League).

A player who I wish I had been able to watch but would only have seen once or twice as a kid was Michael Laudrup. I'm not sure if we've seen a better creative passer, the guy was one of the very best of his generation and so so good to watch:

Watching the Gazza documentary the other day, he seemed like a great player to watch, both for his style and his personality.

Ronaldinho would have to be up there as a serious entertainer of the highest quality. Did outlandish things with the ball, wish I had watched him more but was hard to access the Spanish League back then unless you had Sky.

Alf Veedersane

Marco van Basten - every other week we'D be knocking the ball about trying to replicate another van Basten goal. Not necessarily spectacular but he could finish anything in the air or on either side, it seemed.

Franco Baresi - what a player. Never ruffled. The coolest player on the pitch. Master of the dark arts as well.

Cantona - strutted onto the Old Trafford turf like he owned the gaff and mostly backed it up. In the PL anyway. Loved the ego.

MagicIRL

Morzadec

World Cup 94 was when I fell in love with football, and there were some great footballers and characters that added to the spectacle.

I think everyone will remember Alexi Lalas as some who fell into the 2nd category. Obviously not an amazing footballer but such an iconic figure.



He recently did an interview about that time which I found to be a great listen. Fascinating to hear about what it was like to be a "soccer" player in the USA at the time: https://soundcloud.com/west-twelve-media/when-ash-met-alexi

I think anyone who grew up loving football in the 90s and who remembers that tournament will find it a good listen

asteroids over berlin

Ac milan with rejkaard, gullit & van basten, baresi.

Brehme, nedved, hagi, stoichkov, hoddle, waddle, limpar, larsson, maradonna, messi,socrates, rivalino,platini, zidane, rivaldo,guerincga, hansen,lawrensen,dalglish,rush,barnes,mcgrath,staunton,roy keane,wright, mcmahon, whelan, steve nicol, houghton, lothar matheus, schmeichal, scholes, letissier, tilson, jameson, fenlon, best, hoolahan, valderamma, asprilla,suarez,romario

Liverpool & bohs fan

To name a few....few spelling mistakes there

grohlisagod

Paddy McCourt. Fabulous dribbler. Even now when he barely moves at Harps, there's always a couple of touches of sheer class.

shamrock55

for me this fella was a pure joy to watch
https://youtu.be/cWqcNQSw5GQ

beertons

Costacurta.

smileyj1987

Surprised to see micheal owen hasnt got a mention (i hate the man) but he was an unreal finisher before injuries ruined him

Arghus

shamrock55 wrote: »

for me this fella was a pure joy to watch
https://youtu.be/cWqcNQSw5GQ

He really was sublime.

shamrock55

Arghus wrote: »

He really was sublime.

Wasn't he just, the way he played the game just put a smile on the face and still does just thinking about it,actually sublime is the perfect way to describe him

shamrock55

maybe an unusual one but this guy was my fav player growing up,for me he Was The complete player he had everything well I thought he did anyway plus his aggression and desire was infectious to me as a young lad. (Steve McMahon)

https://youtu.be/y7ini1-LqUU

Johner

Zola.

rob316

Zidane. A genius, the complete midfield player. there's a documentary of him been followed around the pitch in a match I could just watch it over and over. The first touch, the vision just glorious.

Luis Suarez is without doubt the best player I've seen in person though. Strong, clinical, deceptively quick, a nightmare for any defender. A pure street footballer. A born winner will go to any lengths to not lose.
Definitely the most complete striker since the great Brazilian Ronaldo imo.

special mention to Fowler, Torres, Zola, Le Tissier.