Hello Guys What do You think about best players last 20 years ? Since Baggio, Romario, Matthaeus and co became worse and Ronaldo's and Zidane's generation arrived who is Top 10 players each position in this period ? ten positions so top 100 players goalkeepers right defenders central defenders left defenders defensive midfielders central midfielders offensive midfielders wingers forwards strikers goalkeepers: 1. buffon 2. schmeichel 3. casillas 4. kahn 5. vdsar 6. cech 7. neuer 8. toldo 9. canizares 10. peruzzi right defenders: 1. cafu 2. zanetti 3. thuram 4. lahm 5. alves 6. maicon 7. panucci 8. salgado 9. sagnol 10. ivanovic left defenders: 1. maldini 2. r.carlos 3. lizarazu 4. zambrotta 5. a.cole 6. evra 7. abidal 8. marcelo 9. alba 10. candela central defenders: 1. nesta 2. cannavaro 3. desailly 4. puyol 5. terry 6. hierro 7. stam 8. ferdinand 9. ramos 10. vidic defensive midfielders: 1. redondo 2. vieira 3. keane 4. davids 5. alonso 6. guardiola 7. makelele 8. busguets 9. gattuso 10. mascherano central midfielders: 1. xavi 2. pirlo 3. gerrard 4. lampard 5. ballack 6. seedorf 7. scholes 8. schweinsteiger 9. modric 10. fabregas offensive midfielders: 1. zidane 2. kaka 3. iniesta 4. r.costa 5. riquelme 6. veron 7. deco 8. ozil 10. snejder 10. juninho wingers: 1. c.ronaldo 2. ronaldinho 3. figo 4. giggs 5. nedved 6. robben 7. beckham 8. ribery 9. overmars 10. pires forwards: 1. messi 2. rivaldo 3. bergkamp 4. raul 5. totti 6. del piero 7. r.baggio 8. rooney 9. tevez 10. mueller strikers: 1. ronaldo 2. henry 3. batistuta 4. szewczenko 5. ibrahimovic 6. eto'o 7. shearer 8. van nistelrooy 9. drogba 10.suarez and what is Your choice ? I want to seperate right and left wingers but can't find valuable candidates, any idea ? You can also use other positions, more or less
goalkeepers: 1. Schmeichel 2. Buffon 3. Cech 4. Kahn 5. Neuer 6. Dida 7. Van Der Saar 8. Casillas 9. Canizares 10. Valdes right defenders: 1. Cafu 2. Zanetti 3. Thuram 4. Lahm 5. Maicon 6. Sagnol 7. Alves 8. Zambrotta 9. Ramos 10. Ivanovic left defenders: 1. Maldini 2. Carlos 3. Lizarazu 4. Abidal 5. Cole 6. Evra 7. Chielini 8. Sergi 9. Van Bronkhorst 10. Marcelo central defenders: 1. Terry 2. Hierro 3. T.Adams 4. Hyypia 5. Cannavaro 6. Puyol 7. Campbell 8. Vidic 9. Samuel 10. Nesta defensive midfielders: 1. Redondo 2. Vieira 3. Keane 4. Davids 5. Makelele 6. Guardiola 7. Alonso 8. Senna 9. Baraja 10. Mascherano central midfielders: 1. Pirlo 2. Xavi 3. Scholes 4. Lampard 5. Gerrard 6. Ballack 7. Effenberg 8. Seedorf 9. Mendieta 10. Schweinsteiger offensive midfielders: 1. Zidane 2. Riquelme 3. Kaka 4. Deco 5. R.Costa 6. Iniesta 7. Veron 8. Snejder 10. Juninho 10. Ozil wingers: 1. C.Ronaldo 2. Ronaldinho 3. Robben 4. Figo 5. Giggs 6. Nedved 7. Ribery 8. Overmars 9. Pires 10. Schneider forwards: 1. Messi 2. Bergkamp 3. Rivaldo 4. Totti 5. del Piero 6. Raul 7. T. Mueller 8. Signori 9. Rooney 10. Camoranesi strikers: 1. Ronaldo 2. Henry 3. Batistuta 4. Suarez 5. Shevchenko 6. Ibrahimovic 7. Shearer 8. Eto'o 9. van Nistelrooy 10. Crespo
I'll start with goalkeepers. 1. Buffon 2. Casillas 3. Kahn 4. Schmeichel 5. van der Sar 6. Neuer 7. Chilavert 8. Cech 9. Seaman 10. Barthez
Fullbacks. 1. Maldini 2. Cafu 3. Thuram 4. Roberto Carlos 5. Lahm 6. Zambrotta 7. Lizarazu 8. Zanetti 9. A. Cole 10. G. Neville
Center backs. 1. Cannavaro 2. Nesta 3. Desailly 4. Puyol 5. Hierro 6. Terry 7. Blanc 8. Stam 9. Vidic 10. Costacurta
If allowing a short amount of best form being in and/or shortly after 1995 itself, I'll vote this way (left C.Ronaldo as a winger for consistency and we wouldn't have enough wing forwards to make that a category): Goalkeepers: 1. Schmeichel 2. Buffon 3. Kahn 4. Neuer 5. Seaman 6. Cech 7. Van der Sar 8. Toldo 9. De Gea 10. Courtois Right defenders: 1. Cafu 2. Zanetti 3. Thuram 4. Jorginho (could have left out, but would have a couple of places higher if going a year earlier I guess) 5. Petrescu 6. Maicon 7. Alves 8. Babbel 9. Sagnol 10. Panucci Left defenders: 1. Maldini 2. Lizarazu 3. Roberto Carlos 4. Zambrotta 5. Lahm 6. Jarni 7. Candela 8. Alba 9. Sorin 10. Chivu Central defenders: 1. Sammer 2. Nesta 3. Hierro 4. Cannavaro 5. Desailly 6. Blanc 7. Aldair 8. Carvalho 9. Pique 10. Campbell Anchor midfielders: 1. Redondo 2. Vieira 3. Keane 4. Davids 5. Alonso 6. Guardiola 7. Deschamps 8. Makelele 9. Hamann 10. Busquets Central midfielders: 1. Xavi 2. Gerrard 3. Veron 4. Boban 5. Pirlo 6. Seedorf 7. Fabregas 8. Lampard 9. Modric 10. Ballack Attacking midfielders: 1. Zidane 2. Kaka 3. Hagi 4. Nedved 5. Rui Costa 6. Iniesta 7. M.Laudrup 8. Gullit 9. Stojkovic 10. Sneijder Wingers: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Figo 3. C.Ronaldo 4. Pires 5. Beckham 6. Giggs 7. Ginola 8. Overmars 9. Kanchelskis 10. Robben Forwards: 1. Messi 2. Savicevic 3. Bergkamp 4. Totti 5. Raul 6. Rivaldo 7. B.Laudrup (winger/AM?) 8. Zola 9. R.Baggio 10. Del Piero Strikers: 1. Ronaldo 2. Henry 3. Weah 4. Shevchenko 5. Klinsmann 6. Romario 7. Batistuta 8. Suker 9. Van Nistelrooy 10. Eto'o Hopefully I didn't leave people out I wouldn't intend to have!
Maybe Hagi could be lower actually (95 onwards of course), but not sure how much. I was thinking of prime form in the period. Actually longevity wise funnily enough he does ok for this period maybe, given his success in Turkey. Robben could have climbed a few places or be on his way to doing so, but again he's more of a wing-forward than traditional winger too. I think Neymar should really be a forward , but as a winger I'd say similar for him as Robben.
Now I think about it, if considering at least all of 1995 (as I did for others) then Shearer probably takes my number 9 spot for strikers appropriately and Eto'o or conceivably Van Nistelrooy drops out. Shearer is another who's longevity of at least very good form continued for a while, but thinking of prime form I think he was generally in it in 1995 (that's the calendar year he scored the most goals actually of course). Maybe I am stretching things with some mentions but felt if they were generally in equivalent of prime form during 1995 that was enough. Possibly (although it doesn't fit 20 years) I'd say one era could end in the middle of 1997, and the other one begin then rather than in 1995 but since we went with 1995 then some are included when they belong more to the previous era. Also some like M.Laudrup, Gullit, R.Baggio are there but not at career best level (despite R.Baggio's DBS Calcio ratings - he could also be there for middle 1997 onwards I'm sure actually too).
Maybe hard to distinguish CM and AM (also CM and DM - Vieira is really a CM but kept him as an anchor/box to box midfielder) but Yaya Toure could get within my top 10 for CM's I think at some place (Ballack would follow Scholes out of my list - Scholes went out before I finalised it and posted it!). I put those who were mainly playmakers with DM's behind as AM's but Yaya had a mixed/varied role at Man City and also played as CM before going to Barcelona. If not Neymar, maybe Pogba is most likely to make my lists next (as CM - but if he has to overtake Modric that's not easy and atm I might still have him behind Schweinsteiger and Kroos for examples).
PDG 1978 what do You think about separate right and left wingers ? what is Your opinion about positions like stoppers, b2b, trequartistas and finishers ? are they worthy to include or it will be to much positions ? f.e. maybe is better to separate B2B from CM and strikers from finishers or put them in one list ?
I think maybe your categories are about right if people are naming 10 players for each, but of course it is up to yourself and what you prefer too. Most of the 'forwards' might be trequaristas I guess anyway? Especially if keeping C.Ronaldo and Robben etc out of that category and as 'wingers'.
Latest standings for goalkeepers (stopping at position 10 as a consensus list after just 4 votes): 1 Buffon 38 2 Schmeichel 36 3 Kahn 30 4 Neuer 22 5 Cech 21 6= Casillas 20 6= Van der Sar 20 8 Seaman 8 9 Toldo 6 10 Dida 5
I'll copy and paste mine to make those corrections I talked about: Goalkeepers: 1. Schmeichel 2. Buffon 3. Kahn 4. Neuer 5. Seaman 6. Cech 7. Van der Sar 8. Toldo 9. De Gea 10. Courtois Right defenders: 1. Cafu 2. Zanetti 3. Thuram 4. Jorginho (could have left out, but would have a couple of places higher if going a year earlier I guess) 5. Petrescu 6. Maicon 7. Alves 8. Babbel 9. Sagnol 10. Panucci Left defenders: 1. Maldini 2. Lizarazu 3. Roberto Carlos 4. Zambrotta 5. Lahm 6. Jarni 7. Candela 8. Alba 9. Sorin 10. Chivu Central defenders: 1. Sammer 2. Nesta 3. Hierro 4. Cannavaro 5. Desailly 6. Blanc 7. Aldair 8. Carvalho 9. Pique 10. Campbell Anchor midfielders: 1. Redondo 2. Vieira 3. Keane 4. Davids 5. Alonso 6. Guardiola 7. Deschamps 8. Makelele 9. Hamann 10. Busquets Central midfielders: 1. Xavi 2. Gerrard 3. Veron 4. Boban 5. Pirlo 6. Yaya Toure 7. Seedorf 8. Fabregas 9. Lampard 10. Modric Attacking midfielders: 1. Zidane 2. Kaka 3. Nedved 4. Rui Costa 5. Hagi 6. Iniesta 7. M.Laudrup 8. Gullit 9. Stojkovic 10. Sneijder Wingers: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Figo 3. C.Ronaldo 4. Pires 5. Beckham 6. Giggs 7. Ginola 8. Overmars 9. Kanchelskis 10. Robben Forwards: 1. Messi 2. Savicevic 3. Bergkamp 4. Totti 5. Raul 6. Rivaldo 7. B.Laudrup (winger/AM?) 8. Zola 9. R.Baggio 10. Del Piero Strikers: 1. Ronaldo 2. Henry 3. Weah 4. Shevchenko 5. Klinsmann 6. Romario 7. Batistuta 8. Suker 9. Shearer 10. Eto'o
My votes for magnificent seven at each position (95 -15): Goalkeeper Schmeichel Buffon Chilavert Casillas Bravo Cech Right Back Cafu Thuram Zanetti Dani Alves Lahm Ramos Perea Center Back/Sweeper Nesta Desailly Puyol Ayala Terry Aldair Pique Cannavaro Marquez Carvalho Samuel Sammer Medel Lugano Left Back Roberto Carlos Maldini Lizarazu Salcido Candela Sorin Sylvinho Defensive Mid Redondo Keane Davids Toure Alonso Mauro Silva Effenberg Central Mid Xavi Pirlo Viera Veron Vidal Modric Gerrard Attacking Mid Ronaldinho Rivaldo Riquelme Stojkovic Hagi Rui Costa Boban Winger Luis Figo Robben Giggs Nedved Iniesta Ribery Solano Forwards Messi C Ronaldo Bergkamp Baggio Ibrahimovic Totti Raul Strikers Ronaldo Romario Suarez Stoichkov Henry Eto'o Drogba
It is hard to distinguish Roni-Zizou's generation and previous' it, but I try it oh, I think NT performance is very important, so I prefer WC&EC star like Villa, Klose, etc. goalkeepers 1. Buffon 2. Casillas 3. Schmeichel 4. Kahn 5. Neuer 6. van der Sar 7. Cech 8. Dida 9. Barthez 10. Toldo right defenders 1. Cafu 2. Thuram 3. Lahm 4. Zambrotta 5. D. Alves 6. Ramos 7. Maicon 8. Zanetti 9. G. Neville 10. Sagnol central defenders 1. F. Cannavaro 2. Sammer 3. Nesta 4. Puyol 5. Desailly 6. Blanc 7. Aldair 8. Ayala 9. Terry 10. Ferdinand left defenders 1. Maldini 2. R. Carlos 3. Lizarazu 4. Evra 5. Abidal 6. Gio 7. Alba 8. A. Cole 9. Sorin 10. Marcelo defensive midfielders 1. Deschamps 2. M. Silva 3. Redondo 4. Alonso 5. Makelele 6. Davids 7. Keane 8. M. Senna 9. Busquets 10. G. Silva central midfielders 1. Xavi 2. Pirlo 3. Vieira 4. Schweinsteiger 5. Ballack 6. Gerrard 7. Lampard 8. Mendieta 9. Scholes 10. Y. Toure offensive midfielders 1. Zidane 2. Ronaldinho 3. Kaka 4. Iniesta 5. Riquelme 6. Deco 7. Veron 8. R. Costa 9. Hagi 10. Sneijder wingers 1. C. Ronaldo 2. Figo 3. Robben 4. Ribery 5. Nedved 6. Beckham 7. Giggs 8. T. Mueller 9. Pires 10. Camoranesi forwards 1. Messi 2. Baggio 3. Rivaldo 4. Bergkamp 5. Raul 6. Totti 7. Weah 8. Ibrahimovic 8. del Piero 9. L. Suarez 10. Neymar strikers 1. Ronaldo 2. Henry 3. Villa 4. Batistuta 5. Suker 6. Sevchenko 7. Eto'o 8. Klose 9. Shearer 10. Vieri
A reasonable bump but I thought this thread was very interesting, because it focuses mainly on the era of football that I have witnessed live. Goalkeepers 1. Buffon 2. Schmeichel 3. Neuer 4. Kahn 5. Casillas Right Back 1. Thuram 2. Cafu 3. Lahm 4. Zanetti 5. Alves Center Back 1. Nesta 2. Desailly 3. Cannavaro 4. Puyol 5. Terry Left Back 1. Maldini 2. Roberto Carlos 3. Lizarazu 4. Evra 5. Ashley Cole Defensive Midfielder 1. Redondo 2. Keane 3. Vieira 4. Alonso 5. Busquets Central Midfielder 1. Xavi 2. Pirlo 3. Seedorf 4. Ballack 5. Gerrard Attacking Midfielder 1. Iniesta 2. Kaka 3. Zidane 4. Hagi 5. Riquelme Wingers 1. C. Ronaldo 2. Ronaldinho 3. Figo 4. Nedved 5. Giggs Forwards 1. Messi 2. Rivaldo 3. Baggio 4. Bergkamp 5. Totti Strikers 1. Ronaldo 2. Weah 3. Henry 4. Shevchenko 5. Suarez
I'll pick 5 players in each position : Goalkeepers 1. Buffon 2. Casillas 3. Schmeichel 4. Neuer 5. Kahn Right backs 1. Cafu 2. Thuram 3. Lahm 4. Dani Alves 5. Zanetti Center backs 1. Nesta 2. Puyol 3. Desailly 4. Terry 5. Pique Left Backs 1. Maldini 2. R.Carlos 3. Lizarazu 4. Ashley Cole 5. Zambrotta Defensive Midfielders 1. Redondo 2. Vieira 3. Keane 4. Makelele 5. Davids Central Midfielders 1. Xavi 2. Pirlo 3. Schweinsteiger 4. Lampard 5. Ballack Offensive Midfielders 1. Zidane 2. Kaka 3. Iniesta 4. Riquelme 5. Sneijder Wingers 1. C.Ronaldo 2. Ronaldinho 3. Figo 4. Ribery 5. Nedved Fowards 1. Messi 2. Baggio 3. Rivaldo 4. Totti 5. Bergkamp Strikers 1. Ronaldo 2. Henry 3. Weah 4. Shevchenko 5. Villa
Goalkeepers 1. Buffon 2. Schmeichel 3. Kahn 4. Casillas 5. Cech Right Back 1. Cafu 2. Lahm 3. Zanetti 4. Ramos 5. Alves Center Back 1. Nesta 2. Cannavaro 3. Desailly 4. Thuram 5. Puyol Left Back 1. Maldini 2. Roberto Carlos 3. Lizarazu 4. Ashley Cole 5. David Alaba Defensive Midfielder 1. Redondo 2. Vieira 3. Davids 4. Alonso 5. Makelele Central Midfielder 1. Pirlo 2. Xavi 3. Seedorf 4. Ballack 5. Schweinsteiger Attacking Midfielder 1. Zidane 2. Ronaldinho 3. Iniesta 4. Kaka 5. Riquelme Wingers 1. Figo 2. Giggs 3. Robben 4. Ribery 5. Nedved Forwards 1. Messi 2. C Ronaldo 3. Baggio 4. Bergkamp 5. Totti Strikers 1. Ronaldo 2. Henry 3. Shevchenko 4. Van Nisterooy 5. Drogba
GKs: 1: Buffon 2. Kahn 3. Cech and Chilavert (or Chilavert and Cech) (Neuer it's too early too rank him, a bit too early) RBs : 1: Thuram and Cafu LBs : 1: Maldini 2. R. Carlos CBs : 1. Desailly 2. Maldini MFs : they're all equal AMs : 1. Zidane 2. Iniesta 3. Riquelme in between the two categories : Kaka STs : 1. Messi 2. Ronaldo Joy of the people: Ronaldinho XI : Buffon Thuram/ Cafu - Maldini - Desailly - R. Carlos Kaka Zidane Iniesta Messi Ronaldo Ronaldinho If Ronaldinho is ill or something : C. Ronaldo. One favourite amongst the strikers : Shevchenko. 1995-2015 PS: Del Piero was something too, especially in the beginning. I'd probably rank Rivaldo higher than Kaka, due to the achievments with the NT...and probably higher than Riquelme too. And maybe than Iniesta.