Best Player Ever?

[PeterLe]

I was just reading another posting on here about Ronaldinho...and was just thinking about about who is/was the best player ever
I know Messi is amazing, but surely Zinadine is right up there with him..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7mXGMcpA0g

Its easy to forget just how good some of these guys are.
Any other nominations?

[RichStone]

Yeahh I'd go with Zidane, over anyone else. However Zico and Beckenbauer (forgot how to spell his name - thankyou Google) and Cruyff aren't too far behind imo

Rich

[to75ne]

very subjective question and in my very biased opinion best uk player depending on what mood i happen to be in, george best or jimmy greaves.

without doubt the best european player ever (again my very biased opinion) johan cruyff; i rememebr as a kid being completly bowled over and mesmerised by him, wonderful.

[walshy]

Yeah Cruyff was absolutely amazing and defiantly up there with the best of them.

I always thought Marradona was the best I'd ever seen until Messi came along but it really is hard to compare era's as the game changes so much every 20 years or so.

Would Messi be the player we see today if he got the treatment Marradona got from defenders? Or for that matter would Marradona have looked as good if he got tackled the way Best did? It's impossible to say really.

One thing is for sure Messi definatly deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those fellas though in my opinion. I feel a bit sorry for Ronaldo in one way (never thought I'd hear myself say that) he is head and shoulders above almost every other player at the moment its just that Messi is that little bit better than him.

[NileVentures]

You guys are on a nostalgia trip wearing rose tinted glasses

No ifs, buts or maybes - Messi is the best there is, the best their has been and probably the best the ever will be - IMHO

[to75ne]

You guys are on a nostalgia trip wearing rose tinted glasses

No ifs, buts or maybes - Messi is the best there is, the best their has been and probably the best the ever will be - IMHO

how would messi get on with chopper harris trying to break his legs for 90 minutes.

as walshey says "really is hard to compare era's as the game changes so much every 20 years or so."

[NileVentures]

You guys are on a nostalgia trip wearing rose tinted glasses

No ifs, buts or maybes - Messi is the best there is, the best their has been and probably the best the ever will be - IMHO

how would messi get on with chopper harris trying to break his legs for 90 minutes.

as walshey says "really is hard to compare era's as the game changes so much every 20 years or so."

The argument about different eras has been done. Today's game is better than it as ever been: the game is faster, the players are fitter, the pitches are better, there is more at stake and the overall standard of ALL the players is higher. Therefore, the players of the modern era are better footballers than those who played the game in the past.

Obviously, Messi would not have had a chance against the likes of "chopper" Harris because there was not any protection for skillful players in those days. But the question is who is the best footballer not all in wrestler.

[Consty1]

You guys are on a nostalgia trip wearing rose tinted glasses

No ifs, buts or maybes - Messi is the best there is, the best their has been and probably the best the ever will be - IMHO

Yep I agree. Regardless of what era he played in his first touch still would have been pretty much what it is today which is outstanding.

I think when a player retires people in general tend to remember more of the good performances than the bad and whilst Zidane was a brilliant player I'm not convinced he had the same level of consistency as a Messi or Ronaldo.

I'd probably go something like 1) Messi, 2) Maradona, with third being really open. Of course I'm sure some of the older posters remember the likes of Cruyff, Best and Pele so can judge them a bit better.

Ronaldinho deserves a mention, not as being the greatest player ever but for the way in which he almost single-handedly influenced the type of skillset that could be used on the pitch. He brought skills that were previously resigned to the beach or training pitch to a match at the top level and with it created a whole freestyle era which looked great but was also effective.

[hgodden]

To be fair I don't think football was neccessarily that much tougher in the past, it's more just the kind of thing ex playing pundits like to come out with just to big themselves up and make themselves look tough while they're sat in their cosy chairs judging the young men out there today

I've watched quite a few classic matches on ESPN from the 70s etc and they didn't seem a great deal dirtier than today's games. If anything it's more competitive nowadays with the extra pace that is in the game you can't switch off for a second.

[CaerMyrddin]

We are all focusing on strikers or forwards, could a player in another position be the player ever?

The player that has impressed me most ever is Patrick Vieira. He could balance the whole midfield by himself and was tacticly brilliant.

Curiously the player with the most profilic career in terms of amount of trophies and individual prizes won was a goalkeeper. Any guesses?

[NileVentures]

Curiously the player with the most profilic career in terms of amount of trophies and individual prizes won was a goalkeeper. Any guesses?

It may come down to longevity, so maybe Dino Zoff (Italy / Juventus) or maybe Sepp Maier (Germnay / Bayern).

[CaerMyrddin]

You should have thought about an uncompetitive championship:

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

[NileVentures]

Well there you go, you learn something new every day. To be honest, I can't say I have ever heard of him before.

[Dublin_Flyer]

The Vitor Baia name rang a bell but it took a bit of time to remember why.
Goal build up is about 7.15 in, not exactly brilliant defending, as far as I remember the same chap scored against him in the US in a summer tournament in 96, direct from a corner no less!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9MwZMP19YQ

[CaerMyrddin]

Obviously I'm not claiming he was the best player ever!

Just pointing trophies and individual prizes just mean well, what they mean.

Vitor Baia was a good goalkeeper, but that's it. At the same time you had Kahn and Buffon that were much better!