[comme]

As I have outlined in the first post of

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showt...4#post19314154

over the coming months I am going to be revealing my lists of the 100 greatest players in the world by position.

This is the thread for you all to discuss these in.

Please do participate. If you have anything to say, be it criticism, praise or questions then feel free to do it here. Hopefully it will be constructive, but do take the time to take part.

Don't feel as well that you have to wait until the list is complete to comment. I'm more than happy for speculation of all sorts in this thread.

Also don't be afraid of not knowing who someone is or of being shot down. This is an open forum for friendly debate. If you think I'm missing someone out then let me know and I'll give you my thoughts.

Edit:

Goalkeepers

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showt...4#post19314154

Right-backs

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showt...5#post19541245

Left-backs

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1293864

[el-choul]

On goalies, Antonio "Cinco Copas" Carbajal should make your top 100, if nothing more for participating in a record 5 World Cups. Granted, he played for Mexico, so he also owns the record for most goals against in WC history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Carbajal

Good work Comme. I'm looking forward to reading your lists over the coming weeks/months.

[Dark Savante]

Well, you and Greg' always get my utmost respect for making the effort to put things like this out there for the masses.

So I'll say again, hats off to you, sir.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Originally Posted by comme

Let me start by outlining some of the criteria that I have applied:

1. Peak performance. How good were they at their very best.
2. Longevity and consistency. How long did they perform well for.
3. Achievements. Where did they get to in the game, how much did they win and what style did they do it in.

Did you weight the criteria from the start or was it player dependent?

Will you be providing justification, notably as we near the end of each lists, or will you leave it to concentrate on responding to any points raised in the discussion?

[Perú FC]

Just I've to say that I thought in carrying out similar lists, I believe it's possible, but only to think about the time I'd delay in clarifyng so many positions about so many players seems me too complex.

I'll wait to see how do you go carrying out your ranking but I should congratulate you in advance by the great effort and the know-how that you should have to be able to do this comme .

A question, I've a small blog where I put some football information in general, would you leave me to publish your rankings there?, evidently I'd indicate you're the author.

[comme]

Originally Posted by Teso Dos Bichos

Did you weight the criteria from the start or was it player dependent?

Will you be providing justification, notably as we near the end of each lists, or will you leave it to concentrate on responding to any points raised in the discussion?

I was intending only to answer questions or discussion points. I will be going into a lot of detail to justify all the points, but will be happy to calrify where anybody requires it.

I don't quite get your question on the criteria. Could you explain?

[comme]

Originally Posted by Perú FC

Just I've to say that I thought in carrying out similar lists, I believe it's possible, but only to think about the time I'd delay in clarifyng so many positions about so many players seems me too complex.

I'll wait to see how do you go carrying out your ranking but I should congratulate you in advance by the great effort and the know-how that you should have to be able to do this comme .

A question, I've a small blog where I put some football information in general, would you leave me to publish your rankings there?, evidently I'd indicate you're the author.

Of course you can publish them there. If you link across to here as well, hopefully it might bring some more traffic as well.

[dor02]

Why have you rated Barbosa better than Turek or Olivieri?

I thought Carbajal should have been in the Top 20 or Top 30, although that would mostly be based on his World Cup experience. It seems that his club record counts against him in this list.

[comme]

Originally Posted by dor02

Why have you rated Barbosa better than Turek or Olivieri?

Good question. It's very hard to rate these guys. To my knowledge there is basically zero footage of Olivieri, same of Barbosa and minimal of Turek.

Makes it hard to compare such players.

But everything I had read about Barbosa suggested that he was a superb keeper, unfairly maligned for a nation's misfortune.

Olivieiri is a difficult one as well. He appeared twice in major selections, playing for Western Europe and also the Rest of the World. He was though overshadowed by 3 contemporary keepers who I felt edged him out. That may be why he falls down the list a bit. He was also very unlucky in that the war came along at just the time when he would probably have been peaking. Real shame that.

Originally Posted by dor02

I thought Carbajal should have been in the Top 20 or Top 30, although that would mostly be based on his World Cup experience. It seems that his club record counts against him in this list.

My understanding was that he had great longevity, but perhaps not as much quality as some of the other greats.

[Gregoriak]

A player that probably won't be featured is the Yugoslavian Petar "Radi" Radenkovic.

He played for Red Star and OFK Belgrade between 1951 and 1960, then for Wormatia Worms. In 1962 he became the goalkeeper of TSV 1860 Munich, with whom he won the German Cup in 1964, reached the Cup Winners Cup final in 1965 and won the Bundesliga championship in 1966.

While he was a superb keeper, what really made him famous in Germany and what set him apart from probably all other contemporary keepers, was his habit for deep forays out of the penalty box, which was a trademark feature of him. Radenkovic was arguably the most famous goalkeeper in Germany in the 1960s, having a hit record in 1965 titled "Bin I Radi Bin I König" (Am I Radi, Am I King). Sepp Maier, keeper of Bayern Munich, and Radenkovic's big rival, answered that song with his own one: "Bin I Radi, Bin I Depp, König is der Maier Sepp" (Am I Radi, Am I Twat, King is da Maier Sepp).

The following is a highlights clip of Radenkovic's performance in the 1965 Cup Winners Cup final held at Wembley against West Ham United. Note how unfamiliar the English commentator is with Radenkovic's readiness to come out of the penalty box for interceptions halfway to the midline (at 0:58).

Radi Radenkovic Wembley '65

Radi Radenkovic Wembley '65