Whos the best defender of all time ever?

[stavros]

He doesn't warrant being on this list, but I thought the best defender at the World Cup in the summer was Philip Lahm.

 

[kained&able]

lahm would make any best full back list i made but if you iclude centre backs he is nowhere near the cut.

dave

 

[gunneradt]

scrap that - by someone under 25

 

[stavros]

lahm would make any best full back list i made but if you iclude centre backs he is nowhere near the cut.

dave

In my time of watching football, I'd certainly pick Thuram and Cafu ahead of him for the right back spot, and arguably Tassotti and Neville (don't flame me), but Lahm was as vital a part of that awesome German breaking movement in the Summer as Schweinsteiger, Muller, Podowlski, Ozil, Klose, et al.

 

[kained&able]

hmm yeah thuram would be my first choice at rb but lahm would be very close behind and probabley left back number three as well.


dave

 

[twistedAM]

Richard Dunne

I'm sending you bill for the dmge cused by spilling cup of coffee on my keybord

 

[BlackArab]

There's only 1 Des Walker!

 

[gabi]

wheres rio?

 

[kabbes]

In terms of who I personally saw play live, I have to say that Gullit in his latter days at Chelsea was still a truly astonishing player. Whether you wish to call him a defender or whether you wish to call him a midfielder in a defensive role, I saw him effortlessly keep the cream of the premiership striking talent in his pocket before setting up attack after attack with a perfectly weighted pass.

I'm sure the Milanese back line were techincally better defenders and all that, but I never actually saw them play live.

 

[discokermit]

eric young. best man-to-man marker i have ever seen.

 

[strung out]

andy tilson

 

[Andy the Don]

eric young. best man-to-man marker i have ever seen.

One of the 1988 cup winners..

Up there for making Andy Thorn worth £1.7m to the Geordies.

Tony Adams, wouldn't want him the drive me back from a BBQ, but a world class defender.

 

[stavros]

I'm sure the Milanese back line were techincally better defenders and all that, but I never actually saw them play live.

I always like to consider which was a better back four; the Milan 88-92 foursome of Tassotti-Baresi-Costacurta-Maldini, or France's 1998 winners with Thuram-Desailly-Blanc-Lizarazu? Thoughts please, because I can't make up my mind.

As I said, Maldini the best I can remember, but Thuram and Desailly get extra points for being world class at both RB and CB, and CB and CM respectively.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Liverpool 1978-79 had a good defence. 42 games in the league, 16 conceded. I think it was Neal - Kennedy (A) - Hansen - Thompson.

 

[toblerone3]

Gotta be Brian Greenhof

 

[bigbry]

Paulo Maldini - no one in modern times played at such a high level for so long. I don't like Italian football - too negative- but Maldini is a legend.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

anyway, where's lee dixon?

him of the famous chant "if lee dixon plays for england, so can i, if lee dixon plays for england so can i....etc etc"....

 

[The Octagon]

"You'll never beat Des Walker..."