Best Player in the World Ever

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Jack Celliers
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Best Player in the World Ever

by Jack Celliers » 23 Oct 2020 21:41

The BBC is letting you choose at the moment, in honour of Pele's 80th Birthday. I found it extremely tough to choose between players of different eras and ended up with this:

I would probably come up with a different order tomorrow, but Pele will always be the best. I know that there are probably statistics around to say that most of the current England squad are demonstrably better than Pele, and that Ronaldo and Messi are by far the best footballers that have ever walked the earth, but that would be the kind of massively-wrong expert view that came up with VAR and misunderstands the game I love.

It seems a pretty good top 10, with no British players. Is there anybody who you think should be in there? I'm not sure there is, (apart from Trevor Senior)? Beckham, Barnes, Best or Banks come close, maybe.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by AthleticoSpizz » 23 Oct 2020 21:47

Eusebio(sic)

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Zip
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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Zip » 23 Oct 2020 21:50

Pele no 1 for me. A World Cup winner x 3
British players? John Charles and Gordon Banks.
Beckham doesn’t come close.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Simmops » 23 Oct 2020 22:02

Kevin Doyle

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by WoodleyRoyal » 24 Oct 2020 22:43

I’m not sure I can vote for a player I’ve never seen play. I mean like others I’ve seen the clips of pele. But never watched a whole game with him playing on TV or live. Same as all of these goat lists. F1 the same never saw moss or Prost. Boxing never saw Ali.


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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by LUX » 25 Oct 2020 17:40

I'm old and saw Pele, Cruyff etc.

But I'd vote for Ronaldo. The quality -and quantity- of his goals at the very highest level make him stand out. He has turned so many matches. Normally with athletic goals. I would pick him every time over Messi (who is of course fantastic). For me, Messi always scores the similar sort of goal, very rarely a header, and he scores them when Barcelona are already two or three goals up.

From the UK, I'd add Best

From England, yeah, Gordon Banks.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Franchise FC » 25 Oct 2020 17:55

Presumably, Jimmy Kebe refused to allow his name to go into a poll of false Gods

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by BR0B0T » 25 Oct 2020 18:37

How do we test this?

Do footballers from the past come with modern strength/fitness/tactics etc...what rules do we use?

There's hardly any footage of Puskas, Di Stefano, Cruyff, Pele, Beckenbauer etc in comparison to Ronnie, Messi etc

Also, the longer they haven't played the better they become esp if they're Mythical from your childhood era

Watching Youtube footage the most 'skilled' are Messi, Ronaldinho and Maradona by a long way

but...

...who do you want in your team to win a game? i.e. first name on the team sheet!

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Silver Fox » 26 Oct 2020 09:00

It's Kenny Dalglish isn't it?


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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Sanguine » 26 Oct 2020 09:11

Opinions are opinions of course. Not sure how anyone can ever have Messi at no. 7.

As for 'he always scores the same type of goal, and when Barca are 2-0 or 3-0 up', I almost don't know where to start with this. First, he has over 700 career goals. How many goals do we think Barca score? Second, he scores with both feet, with his head, he scores solo efforts, he has (or had, less so now) terrific movement as a poacher in the box, and he scores from distance. Not only that, but no-one has more asissts in world football than Messi since his debut. Think on that. He has the most goals and the most assists in football since his debut.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the Formula 1 car of football. Ridiculous levels of fitness, strength, pace, probably the best attacking header of the ball that there has ever been, and arguably the most clinical finisher too.

It's Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, Ronaldo (C) for me, but it's close. I've never really watched Pele, so won't pretend to be able to 'rank' him. Maradona because as well as being an out of this world footballer (the closest in my view to Messi in terms of pure ability), he dragged Napoli and Argentina sides to the summit on his back.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Sanguine » 26 Oct 2020 09:13

Silver Fox It's Kenny Dalglish isn't it?


When did it become not Tony Rougier? :|

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Sanguine » 26 Oct 2020 10:41

Not seriously putting him forward as the greatest ever, but I'm always surprised Zlatan Ibrahimovic isn't at least talked of more as a genuine 'all-time great'. One of the criticisms levelled at Messi is his being a one-club man (not one I agree with, same as I don't think Giggs' career is denigrated by the same). Zlatan has done it everywhere - England, France, Spain, Italy, Holland (and don't mention the US). And now he is back in Italy again, and as a 38/39 year old has 14 goals in 20 Serie A games for Milan, in what is supposed to be one of the hardest leagues in which to score. He has won the league everywhere bar England, and at one point had 13 league winners' medals in 15 seasons.

490 club goals - of active players only Messi and Ronaldo have more. And 62 international goals for Sweden, a team that has never been any great shakes. What a player. He needs 16 more goals to go into the top 10 all-time.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by leon » 26 Oct 2020 17:32

Sanguine Not seriously putting him forward as the greatest ever, but I'm always surprised Zlatan Ibrahimovic isn't at least talked of more as a genuine 'all-time great'. One of the criticisms levelled at Messi is his being a one-club man (not one I agree with, same as I don't think Giggs' career is denigrated by the same). Zlatan has done it everywhere - England, France, Spain, Italy, Holland (and don't mention the US). And now he is back in Italy again, and as a 38/39 year old has 14 goals in 20 Serie A games for Milan, in what is supposed to be one of the hardest leagues in which to score. He has won the league everywhere bar England, and at one point had 13 league winners' medals in 15 seasons.

490 club goals - of active players only Messi and Ronaldo have more. And 62 international goals for Sweden, a team that has never been any great shakes. What a player. He needs 16 more goals to go into the top 10 all-time.


Yeah and he's a massive piss taker - which I like.

Maradona for me. I've always liked Argentina. And he played for Napoli. He was riding tackles in the age where you could go out and maim people. Amazing footballer and an absolute twat as well. So much more interesting than Pele.


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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Royal Rother » 26 Oct 2020 22:28

Messi
Maradona
Ronaldo

Don’t like the way Messi strolls disinterestedly back after an attack has broken down and is getting moodier as the years go by, but for sheer brilliance of close control, dribbling, assists and finishing he’s tops for me.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by bcubed » 26 Oct 2020 23:52

WRT OP and a question 're British players, you have to consider Bobby Charlton. He practically won the World Cup on his own. Well not quite but he was head and shoulders above anyone else on show.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by 6ft Kerplunk » 27 Oct 2020 09:58

leon Maradona for me. I've always liked Argentina. And he played for Napoli. He was riding tackles in the age where you could go out and maim people. Amazing footballer and an absolute twat as well. So much more interesting than Pele.

^ This. One of those people who is a complete bellend but somehow also as cool as f*ck. Doubt he bothered to include goals in friendlies and exhibitions in his career total either, eh Pele.
<heads to youtube to type in Maradona life is life warm up>
Would say that my opinion of Pele is probably tempered by not having seen that much footage of him at his prime.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Sanguine » 27 Oct 2020 10:11

6ft Kerplunk
leon Maradona for me. I've always liked Argentina. And he played for Napoli. He was riding tackles in the age where you could go out and maim people. Amazing footballer and an absolute twat as well. So much more interesting than Pele.

^ This. One of those people who is a complete bellend but somehow also as cool as f*ck. Doubt he bothered to include goals in friendlies and exhibitions in his career total either, eh Pele.
<heads to youtube to type in Maradona life is life warm up>
Would say that my opinion of Pele is probably tempered by not having seen that much footage of him at his prime.


Fwiw, the official goal tallys are here. Romario another who claims over 1,000 career goals but whose number is much lower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... more_goals

Josef Bican's numbers are absurd, but boosted by a wholly uncompetitive Czech league around the time of WWII.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by 6ft Kerplunk » 27 Oct 2020 10:41

I think Pele includes bicycle kick from Escape to Victory in his total.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Old Man Andrews » 27 Oct 2020 11:37

It is impossible and a bit silly to talk about the best ever. I prefer to narrow it down to the best of a particular decade or era of football, the game has evolved so much over the years.

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Re: Best Player in the World Ever

by Silver Fox » 27 Oct 2020 14:00

6ft Kerplunk I think Pele includes bicycle kick from Escape to Victory in his total.


Should count double tbf, I never thought it would be topped but then along came Yakou at the weekend

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