Top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history

Superden

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there's some serious recency bias going on in some of the earlier posts, if we are talking about the greatest man utd dribblers ever. the likes of Johnny Berry for example are head and shoulders above some of the names listed.
 

Gehrman

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there's some serious recency bias going on in some of the earlier posts, if we are talking about the greatest man utd dribblers ever. the likes of Johnny Berry for example are head and shoulders above some of the names listed.
Never heard of him. Does he have a good youtube video with techno music?
 

Vooon

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This is the list of the players I've actually seen in a sort of ranged order:

feck it, Best, I've seen the videos of him.
Ronaldo
Giggs
Kanchelskis
Martial
Nani
Sharpe
Berbatov
Rooney
I'm throwing RvN in there because of his raid against Arsenal.

I guess the likes of Pogba, Cantona, Beckham, Scholes, Yorke, RvP could have made the list instead of some of the mentioned. Becks occasionally showed what he could do with the ball, his goal against Real in the CL comes to mind. Scholes had some stuff going on in his early years as a striker. I'm undecided whether Giggs or Ronaldo was the best dribbler. Giggs was unstoppable in the 90s, but Ronaldo could also pull off the Giggs style raids in a totally differemt era.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Never heard of him. Does he have a good youtube video with techno music?
The 1957 FA Cup final should be available.

https://footballia.net/players/johnny-james-berry

You need to register to watch it, though.

And there ain't no techno music.

He was a Munich survivor, for those who don't know - but he was past thirty at the time of the accident *. Right winger who got a couple of caps for England.

* And never played professionally after it.
 
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Chief123

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Even though he never made it at Utd or the top level, Luke Chadwick was freakishly brilliant at dribbling!
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Insane underrating of Giggs here.

I’d be happy to say that Giggs is closer to Best than Ronaldo is to Giggs.

With all 3 of these being far and away better than anyone else to play for the club.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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Insane underrating of Giggs here.

I’d be happy to say that Giggs is closer to Best than Ronaldo is to Giggs.

With all 3 of these being far and away better than anyone else to play for the club.
Giggs is the closest to Best.

Charlton would tend to glide past players with guile and speed rather than dribbling ability.

Denis Law was a terrific dribbler but just never played on the wing.

Edwards would bull doze his way through defences but all reports say he ws incredibly skilful.

All three would be up there.

Other notable true dribblers who are vastly underrated would be Charlie Mitten, Johnny Berry (who has been mentioned), Eddie Colman, Willie Morgan, Sammy McIlroy, Jesper Olsen, Gordon Strachan...

Virtually all the others mentioned tended to use speed rather than trickery and close control.
 

MADReaLJL

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This is the list of the players I've actually seen in a sort of ranged order:

feck it, Best, I've seen the videos of him.
Ronaldo
Giggs
Kanchelskis
Martial
Nani
Sharpe
Berbatov
Rooney
I'm throwing RvN in there because of his raid against Arsenal.

I guess the likes of Pogba, Cantona, Beckham, Scholes, Yorke, RvP could have made the list instead of some of the mentioned. Becks occasionally showed what he could do with the ball, his goal against Real in the CL comes to mind. Scholes had some stuff going on in his early years as a striker. I'm undecided whether Giggs or Ronaldo was the best dribbler. Giggs was unstoppable in the 90s, but Ronaldo could also pull off the Giggs style raids in a totally differemt era.
I remember Giggs was gliding past opponents effortlessly at CM position. I don't think Ronaldo can play like he did.
 

RooneyLegend

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1 Best: A thrill a minute player in the truest sense. The most complete dribbler in football history. Agility like none before or since, extreme balance, very good acceleration, pace and bewildering control. He could beat a slew of men from a standstill and just do them for pace in the open field. His switches of feet look unrealistic.
2 Giggs: Lacked power and balance but had unbelievable acceleration, high end speed and control of the ball at pace. Not to forget his agility.
3 Ronaldo: With him it wasn't pretty but it worked somehow. His athleticism was something else. Add his quick feet, the man became hard to stop.
4 Martial: What he does at times in the tightest of areas in and around the box would be unparalleled if Best wasn't in our history.
5 Nani: in terms of pure ability, he had more control of the ball than even Ronaldo. Strangely didnt always want to put it all on show. Amazing dribbler from almost any situation.
 

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Another mention for Cantona. He didn't have the lung power for a sustained run, but for coming out of a scrum of three or four player with the ball still at his feet he was pretty good.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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By the way...if you want to see some master class performances of dribbling ability...do some google searches for Jimmy Johnstone of Celtic and Garrincha of Brazil...there’s your benchmark.
 

Green_Red

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I felt this didn’t get the attention it deserved:
Some of the names on that list though, I find it extremely hard to believe anyone alive on this forum is in a position to say some of those names belong on that list, unless they have access to footage none of the rest of us have / went to every game and witnessed it first hand, which would make them very very old, at least 90 odd.
 

DrRodo

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Fecking Mkhitaryan dribbled past players for fun in dortmund but im sure he didnt completed a single dribble in his time here in the PL. Just a couple of dribbles in the europa league and that's it
 

Gehrman

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Some of the names on that list though, I find it extremely hard to believe anyone alive on this forum is in a position to say some of those names belong on that list, unless they have access to footage none of the rest of us have / went to every game and witnessed it first hand, which would make them very very old, at least 90 odd.
Duncan Edwards might have the greatest potential of all time if you listen to Charlton, but he died in 1958 at 21 years old. I feel it's kind of pointless to include players that hardly anyone alive saw and suffered a tragic early end to his life.
 

Grande

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Some of the names on that list though, I find it extremely hard to believe anyone alive on this forum is in a position to say some of those names belong on that list, unless they have access to footage none of the rest of us have / went to every game and witnessed it first hand, which would make them very very old, at least 90 odd.
You haven’t seen footage of Major? How old are you?
 

MikeeMike

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Giggs is the closest to Best.

Charlton would tend to glide past players with guile and speed rather than dribbling ability.

Denis Law was a terrific dribbler but just never played on the wing.

Edwards would bull doze his way through defences but all reports say he ws incredibly skilful.

All three would be up there.

Other notable true dribblers who are vastly underrated would be Charlie Mitten, Johnny Berry (who has been mentioned), Eddie Colman, Willie Morgan, Sammy McIlroy, Jesper Olsen, Gordon Strachan...

Virtually all the others mentioned tended to use speed rather than trickery and close control.
Ok, i think dribblers is a bit fuzzy. Beating multiple players is rare even in modern game. A winger who gets to byline and crosses is different but included ?
1.Ronaldo
2.Giggs
3. Kanchelskis
4. Coppell
5. Blomqvist
 

Grande

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Duncan Edwards might have the greatest potential of all time if you listen to Charlton, but he died in 1958 at 21 years old. I feel it's kind of pointless to include players that hardly anyone alive saw and suffered a tragic early end to his life.
I see your point, but then again, what you’re saying is that this thread is pointless. 10 greatest dribblers in United History. In fact, history becomes somewhat pointless if all we should care for is direct first person eyewitness testimony.

I think if we’re gonna have a crack at saying something about United history, that starts in 1878 or at a minimum in 1902, so we’re going to have to depend on various sources and make intelligent evaluations of them.
 

NFM

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Best
Ronaldo
Charlton
Giggs
A lot of other good ones like Coppell, Morgan etc, and of today's players Martial is up there on his day, but these four are probably in the top 10 dribblers of all time anywhere in world football, and probably in the top 20 of best players ever in world football.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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Duncan Edwards might have the greatest potential of all time if you listen to Charlton, but he died in 1958 at 21 years old. I feel it's kind of pointless to include players that hardly anyone alive saw and suffered a tragic early end to his life.
The problem with referring to someone like Duncan is not his age...but the fact that there is such limited footage. Even the 1957 Cup Final saw him play out of position.

In terms of his career, he roughly played the same number of games and seasons as Eric Cantona...but no one says Eric didn’t play enough games. We shouldnt therefore label Edwards career as less significant in any way.
 

Gehrman

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The problem with referring to someone like Duncan is not his age...but the fact that there is such limited footage. Even the 1957 Cup Final saw him play out of position.

In terms of his career, he roughly played the same number of games and seasons as Eric Cantona...but no one says Eric didn’t play enough games. We shouldnt therefore label Edwards career as less significant in any way.
No I mean its just a bit difficult for us modern posters discern Duncan Edwards dribbling ability when the vast majority of us never saw him play and there is only like a few minutes of footage available. I get the point though.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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No I mean its just a bit difficult for us modern posters discern Duncan Edwards dribbling ability when the vast majority of us never saw him play and there is only like a few minutes of footage available. I get the point though.
Agreed. However most match reports were 100% more detailed than today’s sensationalism...so you will find reports of him beating 6/7 players and outting the ball in the net regularly...
That really helps give us a picture.
 

Gehrman

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Agreed. However most match reports were 100% more detailed than today’s sensationalism...so you will find reports of him beating 6/7 players and outting the ball in the net regularly...
That really helps give us a picture.
He scored 21 goals in 177 games for Man Utd so he couldn't have been that prolific. Considering his playing position and role, he comes across more as a Beckenbaur type.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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He scored 21 goals in 177 games for Man Utd so he couldn't have been that prolific. Considering his playing position and role, he comes across more as a Beckenbaur type.
He played as DM in most games...thing to remember is that most DM’s in the 1950’s didn’t score any goals at all. Their job was to win the ball and give it to the forwards.

So 21 goals was amazing. Newspaper match reports illustrate how exceptional he was...
 

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I've always thought Duncan Edwards was a Robbo /Gerrard type player. I wish I could've seen him play.
 

TwoSheds

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Would Dwight Yorke sneak into the top 10 maybe?
 

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Nani's dribbling was awesome. The ease by which he could beat a man was a joy to watch. A couple of personal highlights:



Of the players I've been fortunate to see, Nani would be towards the top in terms of pure close control and dribbling ability, not relying on pace.