Your favourite 3 players

[kid_a]

self explanitory. List your favourite three players and why you love them.

I'll get the ball rolling:

1- Frank Lampard
I'm still a Chelsea fan but I've lost much of the enjoyment of watching the higher levels of european football now for various reasons.
However back in my childhood til early twenties(crica 1997-2014) I'd say I watched 3/4 of chelsea's fixtures and wore some sort of club merch every 2nd day.
Frank Lampard will forever be my football hero, he always turned up, always lifted when he needed, always put in as much as he possibly could when he was out the pitch and whats more.....he had the ability and talent to make all that effort always count for something. His classic goals list is endless. The perfect professional and leader.

2-
Bobby Despotovski
Being a young lad watching the Glory in their pomp was just, well...."fun"...for lack of a better word, and this guy was the main man during those times. I remember just literally getting o.t.t excited when Bobby got near or on the ball and so often something special would ensue. Even well into his mid 30s and with the creation of the a-league and an influx of talent from overseas, he still won the best player award for the comp.

3- Ronaldinho
Simply the best player to watch that I think there has ever been. In terms of pure/raw talent he's is the greatest player who ever graced the sport.
I still don't know whether to be glad that we got to see him at all at the highest level and biggest stages doing his thing or angry that we didn't get to see it for longer as obviously football wasn't a priority for him. The only player who I've seen that seemed to just defy the laws of physics just about every other week.


Honourable mention-
Didier Drogba

 

[Zidane98]

1. Zidane

What more is there to say? The greatest player of the modern era, won it all, world cup, euros, champs league, serie a / la liga. The most complete player in modern times, the only thing he lacked really was pace and it simply wouldn't have been fair if he had that.


2. Archie Thompson

Melbourne Victory legend. Met him numerous guys, top guy, great player, nobody can forget him putting 5 past Adelaide in the granny.


3. Steven Gerrard.


Proper hero. Won plenty during his career including the biggest club trophy of all, the CL. It's a shame that he only really played in a top class team from 2006-2009, outside of those times he was carrying the team. Turned down double the money at Chelsea to stay. Absolute modern day legend and one of the greatest PL midfielders ever.

 

[jod23]

Of all time...

1. Gerrard
2. Fowler
3. Xabi

Currently...

1. Mo
2. Virg
3. Sadio

 

[DEVO]

All Time
1. Gabriel Batitstuta. Batigol, one of the finest strikers of his era stayed loyal to Fiorentina, even when relegated, until the twilight of his career.
2. Zinedine Zidane. The most skillful player I have seen play the game, and took France to it's first World Cup. May have won a second if he didn't lose his head.
3. Kenny Dalglish. Liverpool legend and star player when I first started watching the game in the late 70's. Also, he is a Scot and not Pom so it's okay to like him.

Current
1. Ross Laidlaw, Ross Doohan, Ross Munro & Logan Ross. All are Goalkeepers for ROSS County in Scotland.


2. Jon Mellish - Midfielder for Carlisle United.
3. Trent Alexander-Arnold

 

[iluvparis]

1 - Ruud van Nistelrooy
2 - CR7
3 - Paul Scholes

 

[Macpotata]

Mbappe
Perisic
Langerak

Nah not Mitch. Ronaldo. Used to hate him. But realised how good he is inspite of that, and the hate he got from opposition supporters drove him and made him better. He used it to his advantage and the arrogance he has is also a bit of '' * you '' to the haters. Some of it is just the way he is too.

The guys a legend. Started as a winger too and has been successful in 3 major leagues and good in Portugal too when he played for Sporting. Phenonemal.

 

[Macpotata]

Sancho's a *n gun too.

 

[kid_a]

Mbappe
Perisic
Langerak

Nah not Mitch. Ronaldo. Used to hate him. But realised how good he is inspite of that, and the hate he got from opposition supporters drove him and made him better. He used it to his advantage and the arrogance he has is also a bit of '' fu** you '' to the haters. Some of it is just the way he is too.

The guys a legend. Started as a winger too and has been successful in 3 major leagues and good in Portugal too when he played for Sporting. Phenonemal.

Haha exactly the same, a younger me hated Cristiano but now I love the guy. I have just endless respect for him.

 

[Cruyff14]

Not sure I'd be calling Zidane complete.

 

[Ocha905]

Kolo Toure
Kolo Toure
Kolo Toure

A beautiful human being.

 

[Sozabarus]

Yaya
Yaya Yaya
Yaya Toure

 

[Zidane98]

Kolo
Kolo Kolo
Kolo Toure

 

[Cruyff14]

1. Henry

Unbelievable at his pomp and virtually unstoppable. Keepers would know where he was going to put it and still couldn't stop it. Lightning fast, excellent technique, a great dribbler, a nightmare to mark with how deep he'd come to get the ball, and his passing was excellent for a forward.

2. Ronaldo

The best number 9 I've seen. Before the injuries he was incredible. Was like a steam train with the ball, it was basically glued to his foot. Flawless technique, one of the greatest finishers of all time. His dribbling was exceptional. After two knee recos he completely changed his game and was still brilliant.

3. Bergkamp

Excellent vision, outstanding technique. Sublime ball control. Didn't know how to score a poor goal.

 

[DaRick]

Chelsea
Roberto di Matteo: Came in as part of 'Harding's Revolution' in 1996. Was a quality B2B midfielder. Score a blinding goal against Middlesbrough to win an FA Cup final. Came back as caretaker coach and helped guide the worst Chelsea side (on paper) for around a decade to Champions League immortality in Munich. Also won an FA Cup final with us as manager. Although the way he was sacked was shameful, he was still nonetheless one of the key figures responsible for pulling Chelsea back from the brink of EL obscurity. Without that CL cup final win we also would not have acquired Hazard, and maybe not even Azpi or Oscar.

Fiorentina
Gabriel Batistuta: Fiorentina's best player ever? Certainly their best in the past 30 years. Basically a CF who was both a poacher and a target man. Having a #10 like Rui Costa feeding him bullets made him even more dangerous because he didn't have to run to collect the ball so much (endurance was a relative weakness of his).

Australia
Tim Cahill: Needless to discuss this. Already a pretty good player for Everton, but he was truly dangerous at international level, pulling off feats that he couldn't really perform at club level (first-time volleys, long-range strikes).

And for a bonus...

Urawa Red Diamonds
Shinji Ono: One of the best Japanese players ever, and the best Urawa Reds player ever. He is part of the long factory line of Japanese creative midfielders, with all the strengths (vision, passing, free kicks, relatively good on both feet) and weaknesses (made of glass) that came with that. However, he was basically the Porsche in that line to Nakata's Ferrari. Made a name for himself in Europe (Feyenoord), Australia (WSW) and internationally (2002 WC).

Brisbane Roar
Thomas Broich: Brisbane Roar's finest player ever, with Berisha not too far behind. Unlike Berisha, he didn't leave the club on poor terms and instead became a legend. His vision was truly remarkable within the confines of the A-League.

 

[kid_a]

Brisbane Roar
Thomas Broich: Brisbane Roar's finest player ever, with Berisha not too far behind. Unlike Berisha, he didn't leave the club on poor terms and instead became a legend. His vision was truly remarkable within the confines of the A-League.

He was a mid ranked Bundesliga club level of player, hence why he was able to just tear the a-league to pieces. A nice and interesting guy too, I met him on a few occasions. Along with Del Piero & Diego Castro as the best A-league players ever to now.

 

[Buckleys Jocks]

He was a mid ranked Bundesliga club level of player, hence why he was able to just tear the a-league to pieces. A nice and interesting guy too, I met him on a few occasions. Along with Del Piero & Diego Castro as the best A-league players ever to now.

I'd also add Matthieu Del Pierre to that list. Defenders never get much love in these discussions but what you've said about Broich here is also true of Del Pierre. A former Bundesliga winner and club captain. He was a class above his peers and it really stood out when you saw him live.

 

[Zidane98]

I'd also add Matthieu Del Pierre to that list. Defenders never get much love in these discussions but what you've said about Broich here is also true of Del Pierre. A former Bundesliga winner and club captain. He was a class above his peers and it really stood out when you saw him live.

Was a shame he retired after just a couple of seasons with MVFC. Was very classy.

 

[citizen-erased]

Zidane - i watch football because of him. Prior to that, it was a non-entity sport to me. Grace, power and skill in one package.
Schweinsteiger & Lahm - can't split these two as favourite all time german/Bayern players. so claiming both Whether patrolling the right side or getting into the middle to drive the engine of either team.
Zlatan - What's not to love. The ego, the walking of the talk. If he sat still long enough at one club, he'd be up there in the talks with CR7 & Messi.

Bale very stiff to miss this list.