Hi all. Many good players throught the history of EPL. I think the best one was Eric Cantona, he had class that no one has up to date. He also fitted Man United like a glove, he put them on a different level. And behind all, he has a personality that will always be remembered.
I'm sorry but as good as Cantona was there are far more deserving players in that United team more worthy of the title. Ryan Giggs would be my personal choice of the greatest player in the PL's history. No player has or ever will win more trophies than him in the Premier League. Too have played over 800 games at the highest standard is unbelievable, but whats been even more impressive is that for the majority of 19 seasons Giggs has been a regular he's been one of the top 5 United players per season. Honourable mentions go to Keane, Shearer, Henry, Scholes, Le Tissier, Viera, Gerrard, Given and Bramble.
Not a fashionable name to include on the goalies list ,but i challenge anyone to show me footage of Banks or any of the others making saves comparable to what David James or brad Freidel have done with and that's with the new ball technology. All this talk of these old guys is purely sentimental romanticism and nothing more. I grew up with Clemence and Banksy and respected them big time ,but the ball toady moves with such velocity and movement that those guys would looked cumbersome in comparison to some of the goalies of today. As for player there is none greater than Thierry Henry it's as simple as that. I will say it's also unfair to compare strikers with defenders as they do different things and SHOULD be judged as such .I would rather separate the player into positional categories. Striker Thierry Henry right now ,but by the end of his career it could be Drogba.
Here's one piece of footage that is probably superior to any save Friedel or James have ever made (and those two have made some spectacular ones, indeed). [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQA234KPA2s"]YouTube- Pele x Gordon Banks[/ame] Henry would have very, very stiff opposition between the likes of George Best, Stanley Matthews, Billy Lidell, Bobby Charlton, Stern John, Alan Shearer, Dixie Dean, Tommy Taylor, Danny Blanchflower, Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes and Dennis Law, just to name a few. One thing is for sure, Henry is up there but he is not the unquestionable #1 attacking player to ever play in England.
I disagree ,his record speaks for itself 3 season's running 20+ goals and almost 20 assists. No player can boast numbers like that , and it basically means that he not only can score but can bring others into the game also. I don't remember Shearer doing that in one season.
First of all, 'almost 20 assists' is a stretch - one year he had 23, another he had 15, and in another he had 8. Alan Shearer did not have the same number of assists but his ability to hold the ball for onrushing attackers has been matched only by Drogba in the Premiership era - that is hugely important in bringing others into the game. On top of that, Shearer scored 30+ league goals in three consecutive seasons. Dixie Dean scored 60 league goals in a single season, and retired with 349 goals in 399 games in the league for Everton. George Best... nuff said. That guy is held in the same regard as one of the all-time greats of the entire sport, anywhere in the world. Bobby Charlton is considered one of (arguably the) greatest CM to ever play the game. He did much, much more than score goals but still finished up with 249 in his Man United career. Another player I forgot to mention earlier was Duncan Edwards, who Charlton called 'the only player he ever felt inferior to' on the pitch. In the five seasons from 1962 to 1967 Dennis Law scored 162 league goals; that is an average of over 30 a season. Billy Liddell put up over 200 goals in the league alone for Liverpool, as a winger. There is also Ryan Giggs who has won more than anybody else ever in the history of the English game. Even Ronaldo from 06/07-08/09 performed on the same level as Henry, and in 06/07 he genuinely did play on the wing (whereas 07/08 & 08/09 he spent as a 'free roaming forward'). According to many, he single handedly won Manchester United three consecutive league titles, a Champions League trophy and spot in the final the next year. Henry can not claim to have played such a significant role in his club winning so much over such a short timeframe.
Shearers record was impeccable and i rate him very highly ,but compared to henry's assist and goal tally Henry gets the edge. If Shearer was so good at holding uo the ball and bringing others into the attack why doesn't he have more assists? Those old timers you mention i don't even want to get into that because yes they were greta player ,but not on this advanced level of play. As for Ronaldo.......don't even get me started. Ronaldo's scoring record was very good ,but who against in the premiership? When he won the player of the year award the first time he was incredibly overrated ,no more than a media creation more than anything. IN that season He scored 45 goals against top four opposition 1 (liverpool) 1 (arsenal) 2 (Everton) if my memory serves me right. Most of the goals he scored were against lower level opposition, not only that Ronaldo never once took control of a big game ,he never showed the same form he showed against the lesser teams. He couldn't beat the best defenders one on one. You can look at his premiership hi lights and you will be hard pressed to find a video of him dribbling past a top notch defender, and this is supposed to be the man with magic in his feet if we are to believe the media at the time. Ronaldo couldn't hold Henry's jock strap and his amount of goals is impressive ,but the lack of goals in big games made him a good player not great . That being said i gave him much more credit in his last season with man u ,because he steeped up in big games like against POrto and Barcelona in the final( the only man u player that didn't bottle it at that).
Probably to do with the fact that he played with the likes of Chris Sutton, Mike Newell and Craig Bellamy rather than Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires.
But you grew up watching these players, so surely you can shed some further light as to what makes Henry better than them right? If we use the logic that Henry was competing in a more 'advanced' league, well the league has become even more 'advanced' in the last few years than it ever was in Henry's prime... and by that logic, somebody doesn't even have to argue that Ronaldo was better than Henry. The only team Ronaldo struggled to score against by the way was Chelsea (who he scored one against in the CL final - something Henry never managed). He otherwise scored his share against Arsenal & Liverpool, and bagged loads of goals against Spurs, Villa & Everton. I'll leave it here, except to ask you one question... is Gael Clichy still the best attacking and defending fullback in the world? Your argument is so full of logical fallacies that it leaves me wondering if you are serious or not.
I can shine some light on some of those players ,I watched George best in his prime in person and it was the first match i ever went to. He was the star in every part of Britain and someone we all wanted to be like. His ability at that point in time cannot be questioned he was top notch. Bobby Charlton another impeccable player amongst many others ,but to compare those to player like today is unfair to those players of old. As for Ronaldo and Henry. we have to take into consideration a couple of things ,Ronaldo in the prime of his life had very limited success against the best teams. Henry two years earlier was making teams look very bad indeed. Henry's last season in the premiership was as poor as i have ever seen him. His body language was terrible, he blamed his teammates for his mistakes and just couldn't operate like he once did. Maybe he just wanted out i don't know ,but he would never be able to play as well in the premiership again because he's past it. BUt Ronaldo never once did what Henry did consistently in that league,he never took hold of a big game by the scruff of the neck and pulled his team through.
George Best was a useless drunk, hes better off dead. Craig Johnston was your best player, he qualify s because he got English citizenship.
This is how low George Best was, even after his dad donated one of his own kidneys to keep the dirty Irish alcho alive, he went out the day he got released from hospital and celebrated his good fortune at the nearest pub, by getting so intoxicated he completely passed out. George Best was a jerk.
aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aarrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrgggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggggggggg gggghhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhh!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He was still a great player though. Just because he was a piss-pot, it didn't mean that he wasn't great player. Johnston was an excellent player too. Too bad he didn't play with the Socceroos or that he was born in a different time. Rale Rasic's Aussie team of 1974 could have done with someone like him.
yeah he shud hav definitly played wif the soccaroos, but he himself said playin football 4 australia waz like surfing for england incidentally our finals down here in the A legue comp kick off next week, the teams in it this year are Sydney FC(my team) Melbourne Victory(SCUM!) Gold Coast United, Wellington Phoenix, our kiwi team their first finals, well done nz, Perth Glory and the Newcastle Jets. Tune in if you can, you will be treated to some great football from downunda
That surfing analogy was probably his most famous quote. The Phoenix are doing well and the Glory are in their best form since the NSL days.
Yeah its good to finally see some other teams making an impression at last, for the first 4 seasons its just been Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide mostly.
lol he was average at best The best player in the English league and probably the world was Tonton Zola Moukoko. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6UM2AxmhR8"]YouTube- Tonton Zola Moukoko, central midfielder, 6, 10, from Sweden[/ame]