The Greatest Ever Centre-back

[comme]

This is for players who play a more conventional central defensive role than for the sweepers poll.

Who is the best?

[silver bullet]

I probably would have put Baresi and Koeman in with the sweepers, but since you give me that choice, Baresi it is.

[Spartak]

Baresi is the epitome of a sweeper. I think this is comme's way of getting Baresi onto the first XI since he knows Beckenbauer is a shoe in for the sweeper's poll ;)

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Campbell? Is this a joke? :eek:

[dor02]

I voted for Baresi because he's there but I like Spartak pointed out, Baresi is a sweeper. Both Baresi, Koeman and Bergomi are in the wrong poll. Bergomi should be in this one.

Out of those who are legitimate centre backs, I'll go for Nesta with Varela not being for behind but I'll still believe that Nesta is capable of more. It's not the end of the line for him yet.

[Bertje]

If Rijkaard would have been in the poll it would have been him.

[Roffadam]

Campbell? Is this a joke? :eek:

is he the only option? twat

[Teso Dos Bichos]

My point-------->>> .

































































You

[johno]

I sympathize w/ Tesos... I mean.. Campbell, even Tony Adams would have been a much better choice, or any number of CB's. However, I'm not being overly critical of comme... this is a hard thing to constuct and at a certain stage you always run out of names... picking out players who we think should not be there is much easier than compiling a full list of players who should be there... if there's only 2 names in each list that dont belong in the end comme would have done a great job.

[Roffadam]

Btw Fyi Gfy

[comme]

Spartak- ;) I couldn't help it.

As for Campbell, he fully merits his place in the poll. He has been in the squad of the tournament at 3 of the 4 major championships he has been at, and is a peerless stopper. What he does is limited, but he does it extremely well.

[lanman]

Varela edges out Baresi in a very close contest, with Billy Wright sneaking into third place.

[argentine soccer fan]

It is hard to divide central defenders by role, because each system and each player is different. I might have picked Varela, but if we're trying to get the best pairing based on both central defensive polls, I'd say the Baresi-Beckembauer combination should trump all others, better than the Varela-Beckembauer combination IMHO. So I voted for Baresi on this one.

.........................Yashin
D.Santos....Baresi........Beckembauer.....Maldini

Doesn't look all that bad.

[Dark Savante]

It is hard to divide central defenders by role, because each system and each player is different. I might have picked Varela, but if we're trying to get the best pairing based on both central defensive polls, I'd say the Baresi-Beckembauer combination should trump all others, better than the Varela-Beckembauer combination IMHO. So I voted for Baresi on this one.

.........................Yashin
D.Santos....Baresi........Beckembauer.....Maldini

Doesn't look all that bad.
See, I would put Beckenbauer in midifled and play Rijkaard next to Baresi. That's just me *shrugs

[argentine soccer fan]

See, I would put Beckenbauer in midifled and play Rijkaard next to Baresi. That's just me *shrugs

Or you could have Rijkaard as DM and Beckembauer in the back. Really, their positions could be interchangeable throughout the match, and they are both versatile and smart enough to be able to spell and compliment each other.

[Dark Savante]

Or you could have Rijkaard as DM and Beckembauer in the back. Really, their positions could be interchangeable throughout the match, and they are both versatile and smart enough to be able to spell and compliment each other.
I had an arguement about the merits of elegant backlines as a pairing with a few people ( i Think lanman also, not too sure) where basically I said that a pairing of Beckenbauer and Baresi would get murdered by an oaf like Duncan Ferguson. For all their sublime strengths on a pitch, dealing with bumbling, giant oafs is not one of them and essentially I believe that would make it a flawed pairing if it is so vulnerable in the air. Rijkaard negates this and as Beckenbauer can attack way better than Rijkaard it just makes sense to me to have the latter as the CB..less weaknesses and a further strength in that Beckenbauer can express himself more thoroughly. That was always my reasoning.

[johno]

I agree w/ DS, of course that would mean no Rijkaard tearing up the pitch or imposing himself in midfield and taking a playmaker completely out of the game, but in the end, the sacrifice, if u could call it that, of playing Rijkaard at CB is less than the reward, both in the balance department and in organization (having Beckembauer in a position to organize the midfield [defensively]) and distribute the ball is too much to ignore.

[guri]

Are you talking about Obdulio Varela?
Obdulio was a centre-half, number 5, defensive midfielder, not a back.

The best back was Baresi.
Another great one was Nassazi, the great uruguayan captain of the 20's and 30's, but none of us has seen him play.

I just remember another great one, Elias Figueroa, the chilean who played for Penarol and Internacional of Porto Alegre.

[Gregoriak]

Not all forwards are Duncan Ferguson-like, so Beckenbauer could still play CB and switch with Rijkaard depending on the type of forward they have to face. Or one could pair Beckenbauer and Rijkaard as centrebacks (leaving out Baresi) - Beckenbauer did pretty well against giant forwards when he had the adequate stopper at his side (e.g. Schwarzenbeck).

One centreback that is often overlooked is Luis Perreira, arguably the best Brazilian centreback in the modern era.

[King Rooney]

why is campbell on there and you didn't even give bobby moore a mention