Vidic, Terry, Rio, Stam, Van Dijk

[The holy trinity 68]

I keep seeing Liverpool fans saying Van Dijk is the best CB in PL history, which for me is absolutely ludicrous.

As listed in the title, the first four, in my opinion are the four best in PL history. Is Van Dijk really better than them? Is he in the top five?

I know stats are not everything but for example, Vidic in 2008 which is his prime season vs VVD in his 2nd placed Ballon D'or season is as follows.

Cleansheets: Vidic 23 VVD 17,
Goals Conceded: Vidic 16, VVD 20,
Blocks: Vidic 26, VVD 17
Interceptions: Vidic: 71, VVD 39
Tackles: Vidic 62, VVD 34
Tackles Won: Vidic 45, VVD 24
Last Man Tackles: Vidic 4, VVD 1
Clearances: Vidic 360, VVD 183
Headed Clearances: Vidic 102, VVD 233
Aerial Battles Won: Vidic 128, VVD 152
Penalties Conceded: Vidic 0, VVD 1
Own Goals: 0 for both

Vidic has superior stats in all but one department. So clearly VVD in his prime was no where near Vidic. But is VVD even close to Terry, Rio and Stam?

VVD is easily the best CB in the PL as of now, but the PL currently has a lack of top CB's, with managers focusing more on passing ability than actual defending attributes.

Liverpool fan bias really winds me up. What is your opinion on VVD versus the other top PL CB's of all time?

 

[Carl]

"Absolutely ludicrous" is pure hyperbole. VVD is certainly amongst the best the league has seen. Who's out and out best is probably down to a mix of stylistic preference and club loyalties.

For me, Rio is the best in the PL era. Absolute Rolls Royce of a player. Closely followed by Stam.

 

[WeePat]

Terry is clearly the number one here.

Van Dijk is certainly up there in terms of his peak, but Terry and Rio were doing it at the highest level for much longer and from a younger age.

 

[hellhunter]

Terry is clearly the number one here.

Van Dijk is certainly up there in terms of his peak, but Terry and Rio were doing it at the highest level for much longer and from a younger age.

This will end well

 

[Bwuk]

Terry is clearly the number one here.

Van Dijk is certainly up there in terms of his peak, but Terry and Rio were doing it at the highest level for much longer and from a younger age.

Hmm… I wouldn’t say clearly at all.
VvD is superb but I think he falls into a bracket with the likes of Kompany, below your Rios, Vidic, Terry etc.

 

[2 man midfield]

I think they both suit the teams they played in. Put Van Dijk in that United team and he gets exposed more often. Vidic couldn’t do what Van Dijk does in this Liverpool team as well as he can. Both are excellent players, and I’d say he makes it into the top 10, but Rio, Terry and Vidic are out in front imo.

 

[WeePat]

This will end well

Hmm… I wouldn’t say clearly at all.
VvD is superb but I think he falls into a bracket with the likes of Kompany, below your Rios, Vidic, Terry etc.

I threw clearly in there for effect. I think it's much more reasonable to say there's a top tier of CB's in the history of this league and a select few CB's are in that tier.

 

[hellhunter]

I threw clearly in there for effect. I think it's much more reasonable to say there's a top tier of CB's in the history of this league and a select few CB's are in that tier.

Yep, works for me

 

[Moby]

Rio

Vidic Stam

Terry Kompany

VvD has to do it for a lot longer and win more leagues to be in the conversation.

 

[RooneyLegend]

He's the closest one to Paul Mcgrath imo.

 

[Vernon Philander]

Thiago Silva comes in at 36 and is still in the top 3 in the league.

 

[Oranges038]

Not one of them comes close to Steve Bruce.

 

[SilentWitness]

VVD doesn’t have the longevity of the others but his peak is on par with them.

Terry/Ferdinand at the top for me as they both have peak/longevity aswell as the major honours.

 

[ROFLUTION]

VVD has been great, but it hasn't been for many years like all the others mentioned.

If timespan/longevity is not important, then even Ledley King could get mentioned

 

[Harry190]

The Stam scares people.

Tony Adams is quite underrated, and so are the older defenders.

 

[bosnian_red]

His peak is definitely comparable with Rio's peak, or Vidic and Terry. Rio did it the longest. Van Dijk the shortest.

 

[Gazza]

Some notable others, perhaps from the second tier: Adams, Campbell, Carvalho, Gallas. I say second tier but there are thin margins involved.

 

[MadDogg]

Personally, I do think VVD's 18/19 is the second best season any defender has had in the PL years. Rio's 07/08 being the best.

Vidic's first half of 08/09 was almost certainly the best half a season, but he definitely fell away in the second half of the season (still good, but nowhere near the level he'd been previously). The fact that it was still arguably the third best season anyone has had shows how ridiculously good he was for the first half though.

Just how highly VVD ends up getting rated depends on how long he can do it for. If he fully recovers from the injury and goes on to be great again for another couple of seasons then he's going to be right up there, but if he doesn't get back to that level then he's really only going to have the two and a half great seasons.

Terry is an interesting one. I would say that the other four players in the OP have all had a higher peak for a couple of seasons, but Terry had a much longer period at the top.

 

[sullydnl]

It's fair to say he's one of the best in PL history, because he's obviously extremely good. Saying he's the outright best is definitely too much though.

Of the CBs listed in the OP the only one I'd definitely have him ahead of is Stam, who imo was a step below the likes of Rio/Vidic/Terry and who only really played for two and a half seasons in the league, whereas they performed for multiples of that.

VVD could go on to be better than at least some of the others but right now he (like Stam) just hasn't had enough seasons fighting it out for PL titles to match up.

 

[Heardy]

VVD has an aura of flavour of the month. Sure at he’s peak he’s excellent, but he needs to have some form of longevity to be up there.

VVD is a fantastic defender, but needs to do it consistently for 5 years to be up with Rio, Vidic, Terry IMO.

 

[mu4c_20le]

He had one good season and then one amazing one where he was the best player in the world, but don't think that's enough to crack into the all time list.

 

[RUCK4444]

Terry is clearly the number one here.

Van Dijk is certainly up there in terms of his peak, but Terry and Rio were doing it at the highest level for much longer and from a younger age.

 

[redrobed]

Am I the only Utd fan old enough to remember Tony Adams?

 

[NewYorkRed]

Terry is clearly the number one here.

Van Dijk is certainly up there in terms of his peak, but Terry and Rio were doing it at the highest level for much longer and from a younger age.

Terry wasn’t even the best center back on that Chelsea team for a long time IMO. It was Carvalho, he was absolutely top class.

As for VVD, he’s incredible, but he needs to do it consistently for longer, like others have said. Lets see him win a couple more leagues performing at the highest level and then we’ll come back to this. Vidic in my eyes is still the best defender I have seen in the PL.

 

[0le]

United:
Vidic
Ferdinand
Stam

Arsenal:
Adams
Campbell

Chelsea:
Terry
Carvalho
Desailly

City:
Kompany
Diaz

Liverpool:
van Dijk
Hyypia
Carragher

Probably Adams or Vidic.

 

[Desert Eagle]

United:
Vidic
Ferdinand
Stam

Arsenal:
Adams
Campbell

Chelsea:
Terry
Carvalho
Desailly

City:
Kompany
Diaz

Liverpool:
van Dijk
Hyypia
Carragher

Probably Adams or Vidic.

Are you high?? how the feck has spitty scouser made this list??

 

[Dumbstar]

For Vidic I just can't see past Torres. Liverpool's number 9. Great defender but Torres ended him.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

I keep seeing Liverpool fans saying Van Dijk is the best CB in PL history, which for me is absolutely ludicrous.

As listed in the title, the first four, in my opinion are the four best in PL history. Is Van Dijk really better than them? Is he in the top five?

I know stats are not everything but for example, Vidic in 2008 which is his prime season vs VVD in his 2nd placed Ballon D'or season is as follows.

Cleansheets: Vidic 23 VVD 17,
Goals Conceded: Vidic 16, VVD 20,
Blocks: Vidic 26, VVD 17
Interceptions: Vidic: 71, VVD 39
Tackles: Vidic 62, VVD 34
Tackles Won: Vidic 45, VVD 24
Last Man Tackles: Vidic 4, VVD 1
Clearances: Vidic 360, VVD 183
Headed Clearances: Vidic 102, VVD 233
Aerial Battles Won: Vidic 128, VVD 152
Penalties Conceded: Vidic 0, VVD 1
Own Goals: 0 for both

Vidic has superior stats in all but one department. So clearly VVD in his prime was no where near Vidic. But is VVD even close to Terry, Rio and Stam?

VVD is easily the best CB in the PL as of now, but the PL currently has a lack of top CB's, with managers focusing more on passing ability than actual defending attributes.

Liverpool fan bias really winds me up. What is your opinion on VVD versus the other top PL CB's of all time?

VD has 183 clearances of which 233 were headed ?

Anyway, Rio‘s well clear and as much as Terry is a womanising full kit wanker, he’s also above VD. As an all round CH, I’d have Stam over VD too.

(and not you, but no one is similar to Paul McGrath)

 

[JakeTheRed]

Are you high?? how the feck has spitty scouser made this list??

And Dias, who has been in the league for about 5 minutes

 

[WeePat]

I threw clearly in there for effect. I think it's much more reasonable to say there's a top tier of CB's in the history of this league and a select few CB's are in that tier.

 

[Desert Eagle]

And Dias, who has been in the league for about 5 minutes

Yeah i was getting ready to complain about Dias but then i saw Calamity Carragher on the list.

 

[hellhunter]

For Vidic I just can't see past Torres. Liverpool's number 9. Great defender but Torres ended him.

Once, yeah

 

[Tom Cato]

Premier League player of the year TWICE Nemanja Vidic

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Am I the only Utd fan old enough to remember Tony Adams?

Nope. Picked (understandably) in the first PL team of the decade… some team too?

Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Marcel Desailly, Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Patrick Vieira, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Alan Shearer and Eric Cantona.

For all the jokes (drink, donkey, etc), he was exactly what I look for in a CH… someone who prevents goals and gets the ball to his midfield/forward teammates. Nothing fancy.

 

[JJ12]

For Vidic I just can't see past Torres. Liverpool's number 9. Great defender but Torres ended him.

For Vidic I just can't see past Torres. Liverpool's number 9. Great defender but Torres ended him.

And this is why scousers opinions are useless

 

[Dancfc]

People really sleep on Carvalho and Gallas (probably due to his Arsenal spell) in these discussions, imo.

 

[WeePat]

Terry wasn’t even the best center back on that Chelsea team for a long time IMO. It was Carvalho, he was absolutely top class.

As for VVD, he’s incredible, but he needs to do it consistently for longer, like others have said. Lets see him win a couple more leagues performing at the highest level and then we’ll come back to this. Vidic in my eyes is still the best defender I have seen in the PL.

I mean that's not true. Carvalho was a fantastic CB and extremely complementary to Terry, and he's up there with a lot of the great CB's in PL history, but Terry was the better defender even during Carvalho's peak.

 

[Lay]

Vidic
Rio
Terry
Adams
Campbell
Kompany (despite thinking he's a bit overrated)

Are all ahead of Van Dijk.

 

[Relevated]

Carvalho was better to be honest

 

[EtH]

People really sleep on Carvalho and Gallas (probably due to his Arsenal spell) in these discussions, imo.

I thought Carvalho was better than Terry at his peak the dirty cnut. But he wasn’t around long enough to really be in the top tier discussion. Gallas isn’t in the same league as those two or Rio or Vidic.

Rio the best of the lot for me.