FourFourTwo's 101 Best Footballers of the last 25 years

[Il Mediano]

The image was published in a newspaper from Barcelona - therefore all the badges and former Barca players have yellow names.

Thoughts? I have some critiques/observations, myself.

1) I think a lot of Prem/English players are overrated on this list. Straight up. In that first column, Gerrard is the only one that makes sense--and I might even have him higher. I'd also remove some names entirely.

2) The ranking for defenders is kinda throwing me off. Cannavaro being 39 spots ahead of Nesta makes no sense, but whatever.

3) I don't mind the top 8, but 9-33 is giving me headaches.

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[Pouchkine]

Ballon D'Or winner Shevchenko is 52??? Terrible list all around.

 

[Il Mediano]

Well, then. Probably time to retire from thread-creating.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Well, that sure is a list of guys that played professional football.

 

[YNWA14]

Arjen Robben relative to some of the players ahead of him yikes.

Also Zidane ahead of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Maldini? Come on man (not you, but the list).

Yeah I can't really look at this list and agree with almost any of it aside from Messi and CR7 at 1 and 2.

 

[Jussi]

No Litmanen?

 

[koyvoo]

Rooney way too high. Look at some of the names he’s above. Ridiculous.

Edit- yes, in general English/Prem players are way overrated here.

And where is Rui Costa?

 

[Il Mediano]

Edit- yes, in general English/Prem players are way overrated here.

Yeah, man. I'm not one of those people that's boastful about "my league", but it's pretty bad.

 

[Stray Wasp]

It's pleasing to see Mauro Silva missed off a list that is such a stinking heap of effluent.

Eric Cantona at 18, when he only played three of the last 25 years?

Gazza makes this list for his performances over the period 1994-2005?

The positioning of Lilian Thuram in relation to the other centre backs makes me want to spit.

 

[robertmac43]

First look annoyance, seeing Henry in a Barca shirt and not an Arsenal one.

 

[Evilo]

Also Zidane ahead of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Maldini? Come on man (not you, but the list).

Erh, that's hardly a problem.
Ronaldo and Ronnie had a much shorter prime. Zidane was a top 3 player for something like 8 years.
Zidane won every single trophy while being the main man.

Nope, that's hardly controversial. *Some* could take Ronaldo's peak over Zidane's longetivity, but that'd be arguable. Don't think anyone takes Ronnie or a defenseman over Zidane.

 

[Evilo]

Roberto Carlos will go down as one of the most overrated players in football history.
List is crap after a somewhat decent top 8.

 

[Ajacied]

These lists are never accurate. Some comical decisions to say the least.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I damn near pissed myself at the Rooney ranking stopped reading after

 

[Say Hey Kid]

I damn near pissed myself at the Rooney ranking stopped reading after

Yeah, the top 8 is not bad, but Rooney at 15!?!

 

[Ajacied]

Also, I might get a lot of flack for this and I think Giggs is a marvelous player, but I always found him to be very overrated. And I don't particularly say this due to his absurd ranking on this list. I'll include Paul Scholes, too.

 

[koyvoo]

I actually preferred Scholes to Gerrard and Lampard at the time and still rate him higher. If we’re talking about English players who were a part of that generation and that this list is severely overrating English players in general, I’m surprised Ashley Cole didn’t get a nod.

 

[Live in the Now]

Scholes was not better than Gerrard but we've had this discussion before. Carrying a team to a CL trophy outweighs a lot of things. Scholes was part of the Man United machine and obviously that clouds people's judgments in rating players properly. Just look at Rooney and Cantona for proof of that.

The list as a whole is awful.

 

[koyvoo]

Believe me. The last thing I’d ever want to do is praise a United player over a Liverpool player. Especially when that Liverpool player is one that I’m extra emotionally bonded to.

 

[hatterson]

Even as a United fan, a couple of their players are too high. Rooney is about 20 spots too high.

 

[Il Mediano]

They both do things the other couldn't, but Gerrard's much more complete and if we were to surround them both with 10 average players, Gerrard could do more with what he was given.

I think a lot of the hype surrounding Scholes comes from the fact he's a type of player England doesn't really produce. He is super rare in that regard, but that doesn't mean he's better. The dude had serious flaws in his overall game that were hidden by Keane and the overall talent he played with. He's a genius, but you had to insulate him. Gerrard needs no protection.

 

[les Habs]

Wow, what an awful list. WAY too Premiership focused.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Brutally bad list. Also Lampard was better than both Gerrard and Scholes.

 

[YNWA14]

Brutally bad list. Also Lampard was better than both Gerrard and Scholes.

Lol

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Lol

I will never be convinced otherwise and will 1000% die on this hill