100 Greatest Players of the Premier League
Having only just said I was stopping my sports blog for good, so regularly was I getting things completely, merrily wrong, like a hopeless lying addict I've been lured back in.
I did have a go at this topic three years ago here (worth reading as a companion, probably, if you're at all interested), but plenty has happened in the Premier League since then. It's the post-Man Utd era, we've had Leicester, we've had Spurs, we've had Man City solidifying their challenger status etc. I think I was prompted primarily by Frank Lampard's retirement and the age-old "who was better Lampard or Gerrard?" (as if it really needs asking).
The Premier League is a great topic for a list because there's a limited amount of time but loads and loads of material to work from, all of which has been easily accessible.
As before, I'm only counting performance in the Premier League, nothing else, which affects some positions considerably. I'm looking at the same criteria as before - crystallizing the key questions as ...
How much better did they make their team on a season to season basis?
How many goals/assists/clean sheets?
How many titles?
How many games did they play?
Were they ever one of the very best players in a season?
Did they do brilliant things?
Did they mess up very often?
Did they have a lasting impact?
Were they consistent?
How different would the course of Premier League history have been without them?
There are brilliant oddities in the Premier League like Paul Warhurst, a journeyman defender who went up front for Sheffield Wednesday in a crisis, then scored 12 goals in 12 games, before losing the knack and hardly scoring again for the rest of his life. Or, on the other hand, Peter Atherton. Remember him? I had a vague memory of a player called Peter Atherton and would have put him down for about 100 Premier League appearances, but he actually made over 300 - none of which were memorable.
Which is simply to say that lots of folk have shone briefly in the Premier League and lots of people have managed to plug away for a long time. This list can't include all of them, though I've expanded from 50 to 100 and also named 100 others who were worth considering.
I'm pretty happy with my order from last time, especially near the top. There are a few reconsiderations and a few people who've done exceptional things since then.
-With gritted teeth, I've put John Terry above Rio Ferdinand - Terry just stayed good for longer and was more important to his club than Ferdinand was, albeit Ferdinand was, in his prime, a far better defender.
-I've stayed strong on Gerrard's comparatively low position - nothing that's happened since my first list has persuaded me he isn't the defining failure of the Premier League era. A fine player, but not a great Premier League player. Interestingly, his personal statistics bear that out somewhat - his goal ratio in cup competitions is much better.
-lso, I read Dietmar Hamann yesterday saying how Benitez kept Gerrard at arm's length, treated him with mild disrespect, as he understood the danger of Gerrard being bigger than the club. But, of course, for cup competitions, that's what was needed. Must have been tricky, to let him go full "I do everything" Gerrard for cup matches, in case a once-in-a-lifetime occurred like 2005, and at the same time, hold him back in the league, in order to have a semblance of a coherent team where others could shine. Never quite managed it.
-Whereas I've backed down a little, just a little, on Roy Keane - though I still think he's much lower than most people (even Alex Ferguson) say in the pecking order of defining Man Utd figures.
I've stopped being sniffy about Jermain Defoe - no matter the team mates, he'll always score a goal every roughly 3 games - that's gold dust, I suppose.
-But I've become more sniffy about Bergkamp and Zola - they were marvellous at the time, but others have come along and been better.
-The main one I pretty quickly realised i'd neglectfully omitted last time was Claude Makelele - even now, people talk about the Makelele role and it is absolutely one of the most important in modern football, almost impossible to fill. No one knows quite how it's done and no one did it better.
-Yes, it's a drag how many Man Utd players are near the top, but it can be no other way.
-Likewise it's a shame how many attacking players are in the Top 10 - I think that's just how it's fallen really - if there's been a defender who played 500 league games for Man Utd, they might have been in the Top 3 (maybe Denis Irwin should be higher ...)
But, yes, above all, if you're reading this and disagreeing, remember the main questions, I think, to ask are, how would their team have done without them? and, comparatively, how actually did their teams do without them before/after they were there ...
- Ryan Giggs
- Thierry Henry
- Frank Lampard
- Eric Cantona
- Alan Shearer
- Paul Scholes
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Wayne Rooney
- Peter Schmeichel
- John Terry
- Rio Ferdinand
- Matt Le Tissier
- Ashley Cole
- Patrick Vieira
- David Beckham
- Steven Gerrard
- Nemanja Vidic
- Didier Drogba
- Dennis Bergkamp
- Cesc Fabregas
- Sergio Aguero
- Tony Adams
- Andy Cole
- Roy Keane
- Robert Pires
- Dennis Irwin
- Yaya Toure
- Gary Neville
- Robbie Fowler
- Petr Cech
- Michael Carrick
- Gareth Barry
- Vincent Kompany
- Ricardo Carvalho
- Michael Owen
- Edwin Van der Sar
- Gianfranco Zola
- Robin Van Persie
- Robbie Keane
- Gary Speed
- Claude Makelele
- Sol Campbell
- Patrice Evra
- Ruud van Nistelrooy
- David Seaman
- Jamie Carragher
- Teddy Sheringham
- Gareth Bale
- Xabi Alonso
- Jermain Defoe
- David Silva
- James Milner
- Dwight Yorke
- Steve McManaman
- Steve Bruce
- Lee Dixon
- Nicolas Anelka
- Sylvain Distin
- Les Ferdinand
- Gary Pallister
- Phil Neville
- Scott Parker
- Sami Hyppia
- Branislav Ivanovic
- Luis Suarez
- Fernando Torres
- William Gallas
- Arjen Robben
- Nolberto Solano
- Damien Duff
- Pablo Zabaleta
- Brad Friedel
- Joe Cole
- David James
- Gary McAllister
- Martin Keown
- Leighton Baines
- Jaap Stam
- David De Gea
- Carlos Tevez
- Ian Wright
- Tim Howard
- Paul Merson
- Eden Hazard
- Mark Hughes
- Mark Schwarzer
- Dimitar Berbatov
- Lee Bowyer
- Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
- Rob Lee
- Nigel Winterburn
- Peter Crouch
- Gael Clichy
- Shay Given
- Kevin Davies
- David Ginola
- Michael Essien
- Emile Heskey
- Craig Bellamy
- David Batty
Emmanuel Petit
Graeme Le Saux
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer
Nicky Butt
George Boateng
Robbie Savage
Kevin Nolan
Darren Anderton
Mesut Ozil
Dion Dublin
Aaron Hughes
Richard Dunne
N'Golo Kante
John O'Shea
Bacary Sagna
Steed Malbranque
Kolo Toure
Paul Ince
Peter Beardsley
Mikel Arteta
Juan Mata
Tim Cahill
Kyle Walker
Antonio Valencia
Pepe Reina
Joe Hart
Dennis Wise
Jay Jay Okocha
Andy Townsend
Colin Hendrie
Ray Parlour
Willian
Romelu Lukaku
Mark Noble
Laurent Koscielny
Ledley King
Marc Overmars
Kevin Phillips
Nick Barmby
Ashley Young
Leon Osman
Muzzy Izzet
Ruud Gullit
Wayne Bridge
Adam Lallana
Jordan Henderson
Per Mertesacker
Alexis Sanchez
Lucas Radebe
Luka Modric
Tim Flowers
Alan Wright
Ian Harte
Nigel Martyn
Stephen Carr
Danny Murphy
Paul Robinson
David Unsworth
Trevor Sinclair
Ian Walker
Darren Bent
Robbie Earle
Diego Costa
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Andy Hinchcliffe
Steve Staunton
Ugo Ehiogu
Jamie Redknapp
Tugay
Paul McGrath
Gary Kelly
Chris Sutton
Jurgen Klinsmann
Steve Finnan
Lauren
Jussi Jaskelainen
Rory Delap
Georgi Kindladze
Paolo Di Canio
Robert di Matteo
Gus Poyet
Marcel Desailly
Gareth Southgate
Wes Brown
Robert Huth
Harry Kane
Harry Kewell
Juninho
Jermaine Jenas
Glen Johnson
Darren Fletcher
Nani
Jan Vertonghen
Stewart Downing
Aaron Lennon
Matthew Taylor
John Arne Riise
Kevin Kilbane
Phil Jagielka
James Beattie
Thanks. Honestly, I know I was saying I get lots of stuff way wrong about sport, and that's true, but I think this is a pretty good list, as lists go ...
Thanks. Honestly, I know I was saying I get lots of stuff way wrong about sport, and that's true, but I think this is a pretty good list, as lists go ...
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