Top 3

[imperial109]

This has no doubt been done before, but due to the Internationals I am bored stiff.

In your opinion, who are the 3 best players ever to play football?

In order:

1. Maradonna
2. George Best
3. Johan Cruyff

[stenelly]

1. Pele
2. Best
3. Eusebio

[jabdc5]

Pele
Puskas
Di Stefano

[mfc1876]

I'm going for players who I've actually seen play full games whether it be in real life or on TV...

1. Zinedine Zidane. Loved watching him play, how comfortable he was on the ball, his passing, his shooting and the fact he hardly ever lost the ball or gave away possesion. He had everything for me.

2. Juninho. Took my breath away on so many occasions at the Riverside, I still wonder how he did some of the things he did with a football!!!

3. Michel Platini. One of the best passers of the ball ever to grace a football pitch. One hell of a goal haul too considering he was a midfielder. Only saw him mostly towards the end of his career but he was still class.

I'd watch any game of football if any of those were playing purely just because they were playing.

True story about Juninho though, I was watching him play in the world club cup or something once on TV when he was 17 and playing for Sao Paulo, he was absolutely class, Boro were languishing in the first division/championship/ or whatever it was called at the time and I started laughing and said imagine if he signed for the boro one day... I couldn't believe it when it came true

[goodison]

Worldwide:

1. Pele
2. Di Stefano
3. Maradona

British:

1. Best
2. Charlton
3. Finney

[Sharky]

Madonna
Pele
Jimmy Glass

[Allochtony]

Bryan Robson
Mark Hughes
Eric Cantona

[manUdave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodison

Worldwide:

1. Pele
2. Di Stefano
3. Maradona

British:

1. Best
2. Charlton
3. Finney

agree with 1st three but you forgot the geat sir stanley matthews. Played with a ball that weighed a ton in coal miner boot. How many could match him today.

[imperial109]

This might be a bit controversial, but I just think that Pele is overrated!

[adam_ayres1988]

Heskey

[bazzer]

Pele
Maradona
Baxter

[Sharky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imperial109

This might be a bit controversial, but I just think that Pele is overrated!

You can't argue with his goal scoring record.

[jowser]

Ill go for:-

1. Zidane
2. Scholes
3. Bobby Baggio

I enjoyed watching any of those three when possible. I can't comment on players like Pele and Best as I only get to see clips of them.

[imperial109]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharky

You can't argue with his goal scoring record.

True, but 2-300 of his 1000 goals were against amateur teams and also when he was playing military football. When you take those out of the total he isn't that far ahead of the likes of Eusebio.

The thing that gets me is, yes he is a good player but he was a good player in a great Brazil team. Those Brazil teams that won the World Cups had that much quality on the pitch that they could well have won them without Pele anyway. Plus he was the first good player than was seen on a global scale with more and more games being broadcast around the world. There could well have been greater players that played before Pele, just no one knows because they wasn't known on the same sort of scale as Pele.

There has certainly been better players that have graced the pitch, many dragging clubs and national teams up by their boot laces. Pele, certainly good but the best....questionable. But thats my opinion.

[goodison]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manUdave

agree with 1st three but you forgot the geat sir stanley matthews. Played with a ball that weighed a ton in coal miner boot. How many could match him today.

Yeah, it was a toss up between Finney and Matthews but I went for the fact that Finney was the better all rounder, playing in different positions, whereas Sir Stan was an out and out right winger. Both would be a nightmare to play against now for sure