Best Footballer Ever

[Handsome Man]

Christiano Ronaldo's genius is in the news again and he has been compared with Pele and Best:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39788520

Who is the best footballer ever then? I would always have said that it was Pele, but Messi and Ronaldo must come close now.

[NewCorkSeth]

Christiano Ronaldo's genius is in the news again and he has been compared with Pele and Best:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39788520

Who is the best footballer ever then? I would always have said that it was Pele, but Messi and Ronaldo must come close now.

Robin Friday?

[Handsome Man]

Christiano Ronaldo's genius is in the news again and he has been compared with Pele and Best:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39788520

Who is the best footballer ever then? I would always have said that it was Pele, but Messi and Ronaldo must come close now.

Robin Friday?

I had to restrain myself from mentioning Trevor Senior

[BR0B0T]

I would always have said that it was Pele, e now.

over8d thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIepK9uulLU

[Silver Fox]

Pele's not referred to as the black Glenn Little for nothing you know

[Winston Smith]

I would always have said that it was Pele, e now.

over8d thread

I am with you on this. Being the best at a time when opposition players were out of shape drunks and the game was played on muddy fields does not mean the best.

[jd82]

I would always have said that it was Pele, e now.

over8d thread

I am with you on this. Being the best at a time when opposition players were out of shape drunks and the game was played on muddy fields does not mean the best.

but it's not like he travelled back in time to play them.. he was subject to the same conditions and was better than everyone else, in much the same was Ronaldo is now..

but yeah - he'd probably get marshalled out of the game by Gunter these days.

[Winston Smith]

over8d thread

I am with you on this. Being the best at a time when opposition players were out of shape drunks and the game was played on muddy fields does not mean the best.

but it's not like he travelled back in time to play them.. he was subject to the same conditions and was better than everyone else, in much the same was Ronaldo is now..

I get that in a pound for pound kind of way you can say he is the best, but if Pele was put out onto a pitch now he would be wheezing and struggling within 25 minutes due to the pace of the game, and would be subbed off again. Though afterwards he would of course tell everyone he scored 5 goals in the match.

[jd82]

yeah.. see the edit

[Sutekh]

I would always have said that it was Pele, e now.

over8d thread

I am with you on this. Being the best at a time when opposition players were out of shape drunks and the game was played on muddy fields does not mean the best.

Put Pele, Best, Puskas, Bobby Charlton, Cruyff, Dalglish, Jairzinho, Moore plus countless others in their prime into today's game and more than likely they'd be a match or eclipse the likes of Messi, Ronaldo etc. or perhaps they would not. Who knows.

I'd like to think some would at least be as good if not better given the improved fitness, medical, training techniques - plus the fact the FIFA's fiddling about has largely destroyed the art of tackling.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Pretty sure most people in the country would be including Maradona in the discussion if he hadn't out jumped Shilton to punched one in. If Ronaldo didn't have that spoilt child face when anything slightly goes against him he'd be a lot more likeable. I'd have Pele fourth on the list at the moment behind Those two and Messi. Not sure which order tbh, easier to decide once Ronaldo and Messi have finished playing.

Doesn't Pele count goals in friendlies and exhibitions in his total?

[BR0B0T]

Enjoying a quick fag during training, world cup winner Jackie Charlton

[Vision]

Obviously cross generational comparisons are impossible really but all in all I'd go for Maradona.

Made average sides into exceptional ones during a time when defences generally ruled and kicking lumps out of the so-called star players was considered perfectly acceptable.

[NewCorkSeth]

Zidane not getting a mention? Ronaldo (original) would have been the greatest with no injuries.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Zidane is in the next tier down with the likes of Cruyff for company.

[Ark Royal]

In context, Pele for me. Did things on a football field that I have not seen attempted before or since: the dummy against Uruguay in Mexico; playing one-twos off Bobby Moore's legs. Two-footed, great in the air, strong as fu ck and hard as nails as well. The perfect footballer. Zidane is as close as anyone recently to being his equal.

[From Despair To Where?]

For me, it's a toss up between Sonny Pike and Cherno Samba.

[NewCorkSeth]

Zidane is in the next tier down with the likes of Cruyff for company.

Feels wrong to consider them lesser in any way

[genome]

over8d thread

I am with you on this. Being the best at a time when opposition players were out of shape drunks and the game was played on muddy fields does not mean the best.

Put Pele, Best, Puskas, Bobby Charlton, Cruyff, Dalglish, Jairzinho, Moore plus countless others in their prime into today's game and more than likely they'd be a match or eclipse the likes of Messi, Ronaldo etc. or perhaps they would not.

Thanks for the insight Sutekh

[tmesis]

I'd like to think some would at least be as good if not better given the improved fitness, medical, training techniques - plus the fact the FIFA's fiddling about has largely destroyed the art of tackling.

The "they weren't as fit" argument is daft. It's like saying Ayrton Senna wasn't as good a driver as Lewis Hamilton, because F1 cars being slower then made it easier back then.