Paul McGrath for me, even though he couldn't run and was permanently drunk by the time the Premier League started. Followed by JT.

2 minutes ago, Liam said:

Paul McGrath for me, even though he couldn't run and was permanently drunk by the time the Premier League started. Followed by JT.

Quality player, and (I've read his autobiog, which is excellent) a Chelsea fan.

3 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

Quality player, and (I've read his autobiog, which is excellent) a Chelsea fan.

Yes, a difficult read at times but the best football autobiography by some distance. I played golf with him about 8 years ago and we talked Chelsea most of the way around. 

Just now, Liam said:

Yes, a difficult read at times but the best football autobiography by some distance. I played golf with him about 8 years ago and we talked Chelsea most of the way around. 

Impressive!

Agree with you about the book. The opening chapters about his years in a children's home really got to me. And of course his horrendous battles with drink are harrowing.

You wonder how much more he'd have achieved without the injuries (which basically prevented him training for about 10 years) and the alcoholism.

I thought McGrath was good too though once he went to Villa it seemed to go all downhill.

Steven Gerrard

Just now, chiefBlueCFC said:

Steven Gerrard

oop, i slipped and misunderstood the point of the thread 

18 hours ago, Stretford Ender said:

He was brilliant. Scored twice for us at Anfield once.

Good call

Terry has to be number one. Could pass better than 99% of centre backs, although this was overlooked with Rio being considered the "ball-playing centre back", and Terry considered aerially dominant. JT had it all. Needed a balll pinged 40 yards crossfield with his weaker foot? No problem. Organising the backline? Yep. Could handle all types of players from pacey nippers to big target men. Read the game impeccably, scored important goals for us. There have been many great defenders in the prem, but none as complete as Terry. Massively underrated. Labelled as a Tony Adams type that was big and strong and a leader, but he was so much more than that, they just couldnt fit it all in an easy label, so it got largely overlooked.

VVD is probably the closest thing to JT in terms of being a complete all rounder, but JT did it for 15 years. Can Van Dijk?

For me, top two are Rio and JT. The others are a little way back.

I don't really know much about the new PL Hall of Fame thing but I read online that the remaining 6 inductees will be determined by fans votes (Henry and Shearer are already in) so just saying that JT should be up there with the rest of the first HOF players.

Almost impossible for us to remove our blue bias, but it is hard to argue against JT.  Longevity, leadership, consistency at all levels.  The results and major trophies say it all.  Fearless, determined, great positioning and much better on the ball than he gets credit for.

Notable mentions all said above - Rio, Vidic, Stam, Hyypia, Campbell, Adams, Kompany, Carvalho.  I'd probably go with Vidic and Rio.

VVD is class, no doubt about that.  Was riding a wave of form, but doesn't quite match the above for longevity.  Hopefully he recovers well so the quality can show once more - I do not like Liverpool at all, but I appreciate how good he is. 

 

 

Stuart Peace. I know he was towards the end of his career when the Premier League started.
However, I felt he was still a really good defender. 

John Terry.

I think VVD have a chance to be up there alongside Terry but he need to win a lot more trophies to cement his name as a legendary cb. For all we know, he could come back from injury a different player.

Thinking about centre backs its easily JT for me, the longevity of his career and how long he played at a top level and still winning trophies. I would put Adams in second, seeing alot of him live he was some defender and scored one of the most iconic goals in PL history.

At left back is one of the easiest decisions anyone can make in Cole.

12 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Thinking about centre backs its easily JT for me, the longevity of his career and how long he played at a top level and still winning trophies. I would put Adams in second, seeing alot of him live he was some defender and scored one of the most iconic goals in PL history.

At left back is one of the easiest decisions anyone can make in Cole.

Agreed about Cole at left back. Just thought Stuart Pearce deserved a mention. 

This is the BBC PL Top Ten Defenders as chosen by Shearer and Richards with Lineker chipping in. List includes Desailly and Pallister. Can't see their names mentioned elsewhere. Apologies if mentioned. Desailly oozed class.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56739737

44 minutes ago, erskblue said:

Agreed about Cole at left back. Just thought Stuart Pearce deserved a mention. 

Deffiantly, was a top defender

On 04/05/2021 at 09:38, Boyne said:

This is the BBC PL Top Ten Defenders as chosen by Shearer and Richards with Lineker chipping in. List includes Desailly and Pallister. Can't see their names mentioned elsewhere. Apologies if mentioned. Desailly oozed class.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56739737

Pleased to see they agreed on last night's show that JT is the best Prem defender of all time. Shearer actually put Adams as his no 1 but JT finished above him 'on average' as it were. (Cue howls of outrage on Merseyside as VvD was placed 5th).

All of them spoke glowingly about all aspects of JT's game, not just his toughness, positional play, reading of the game and leadership, but his massively underrated footballing and passing skills. Lineker had to check JT is actually rightfooted, because they all raved about his ability to hit pin-point passes with his left. Richards said his skill and passing was ridiculously good after seeing him in training at Villa. He also highlighted his superb goal-scoring record.

Desailly and Carvalho alo earned glowing praise but were placed 10th and 9th respectively. Personally I think that's fair enough, as we only rarely saw the very best of Marcel at Chelsea, and RC did have a few flaws in his game.

They discussed a few players who didn't make the shortlist like Carjacker and Bruce, but totally overlooked Paul McGrath, who in my eyes was a far superior player to Stam, Vidic and Pallister who were in the top 10. Apparently the 10 were selected for them to discuss, not chosen by themselves (probably a Manure fan, with 4 on the list, Ferdinand being the other one).

I've really enjoyed this Top 10s series. Some of the banter is quality. All three pundits can laugh at themselves and go along with the piss-taking in very good spirits. Especially Micah Richards, who clearly knows he doesn't belong in the company of proper legends - and is constantly reminded of the fact.

 

Edited May 9, 20215 yr by Backbiter