Aargh thanks man. Guess most people on here don't follow the French league, hence he hasn't been mentioned that often in this thread. A couple of years ago, he'd have been top 3-5 in most lists.
10 best centrebacks in the world?
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
It feels weird talking about our centrebacks, because it ends up sounding so over the top, but here goes:
Gomez was absolutely outstanding last year until his injury. Looked world class. A bentley to Van Dijk's Rolls Royce.
Then he got injured, Lovren took over, was a bit shit and sickie and once Matip played himself into form, he looked top class and even outperformed Van Dijk in some of our biggest games. Deserved the plaudits.
-------
This season, Gomez got his starting berth back for a game or two and was clearly not back to speed after his long layoff. Matip got back in, did much better albeit a bit more shakey at times than the season before.
Then he got injured, Lovren took over, was a bit shit and sickie and once Gomez played himself into form he looked as good, if not better, as he was the season before, prior to his injury.
-------
I'd say Matip is a top centreback and good enough to hold his own as a regular starter in a top team without any questions asked of his performance.
Gomez looks like he can touch the heights of Van Dijk at times. Just a level above Matip. Gomez & Van Dijk with Alisson behind them is easily the best defensive core in world football right now. Of the 18 games gomez has started in the league since start of last season, we've conceded 5 goals.
Still early days for him, but if he stays at this form level, he's easily England's best defender and I'd say top 10 in the world as well.
Gomez was absolutely outstanding last year until his injury. Looked world class. A bentley to Van Dijk's Rolls Royce.
Then he got injured, Lovren took over, was a bit shit and sickie and once Matip played himself into form, he looked top class and even outperformed Van Dijk in some of our biggest games. Deserved the plaudits.
-------
This season, Gomez got his starting berth back for a game or two and was clearly not back to speed after his long layoff. Matip got back in, did much better albeit a bit more shakey at times than the season before.
Then he got injured, Lovren took over, was a bit shit and sickie and once Gomez played himself into form he looked as good, if not better, as he was the season before, prior to his injury.
-------
I'd say Matip is a top centreback and good enough to hold his own as a regular starter in a top team without any questions asked of his performance.
Gomez looks like he can touch the heights of Van Dijk at times. Just a level above Matip. Gomez & Van Dijk with Alisson behind them is easily the best defensive core in world football right now. Of the 18 games gomez has started in the league since start of last season, we've conceded 5 goals.
Still early days for him, but if he stays at this form level, he's easily England's best defender and I'd say top 10 in the world as well.
Pique is seriously underrated by people who don't watch barcelona on a regular basis
As almost every CB who doesn't play in EPL
The only top 10 list Ramos should be anywhere near is "top 10 most over rated players of all time"...
They had been more or less horrible defensively for the whole season. It has more to do with Valverde and Langlet, but still, Ter Stegen is the only world class player in their backline at the moment. Pique would get in my top-10 anyway though.
True but he's not the only one, nowadays if at any point a defender has a drop off in form he will be underrated for years even if he gets back to performing consistently. Then this will fuel the narrative of "why defenders aren't as good as they used to be". They are, if you don't refuse to acknowlegde their greatness.
Top 3 in that order:
VVD
Koulibaly
Laporte
VVD
Koulibaly
Laporte
Overall Pique has been more consistent and more important than Ter Stegen this season
FFS, people putting Smalling in top-ten CBs in the world. It's debatable if he's even good enough. Top ten? In what world.
VVD is a mile ahead of anybody currently in the game.
VVD is a mile ahead of anybody currently in the game.
I have always thought he seems like a nice and likeable guy but for me he has always been overrated as a player when mentioned as one of the best in the world. Top player, I can agree, but never one of the best in the world imo. He has often failed in the big matches with either poor performance or big mistakes like conceding unnecessary penalty etc, and he has been letting his team down when refusing to take penalty in shoot out. Think he has had a lot of problem with being nervous.
Thiago Silva was by far the best CB in the world at Milan
Pepe ?
Aye for me in the years between the peaks of Rio and Godin he was clearly the best. No chinks in his armour, capable of playing a high line, man-to-man and zonal, robust in the air and on the deck.
Yeah, this seems to be a fairly common opinion. Sadly I didn’t watch that much of Milan or Serie A, so only caught glimpses of T Silva in the big tournaments etc. but he was as complete a CB as you could find.
He was good at Milan, after the move to PSG he declined imo. But never been best in the world.
David Luiz
Phil Jones
Marcus Rojo
Jon Stones
Dejan Lovren
VN Lindelöf
Nicolas Otamendi
Shkodran mustafi
Andreas Christensen
Kurt zouma
Phil Jones
Marcus Rojo
Jon Stones
Dejan Lovren
VN Lindelöf
Nicolas Otamendi
Shkodran mustafi
Andreas Christensen
Kurt zouma
De Ligt and Ake also. They have outstanding options at centre back right now.
How is Smalling WC? I’m a huge Utd fan and even I have not drank that much koolaid. One purple patch does not overshadow his limitations as a defender. WC defenders in this modern age has to be able to do pretty much everything. Leadership, vision, ball control, aerial threat, positioning, agility, etc. VVD has all these qualities. Ramos for the longest time was my top pick because he had these qualities. Smalling isn’t even close. Our closest to WC defender is Maguire but he to be still still a step below the likes of Pique/ De Vrij. Part of that I feel is that he is fairly exposed as our midfields are not very good. He also has a tendency to take the ball himself to push up field which is admirable but when the ball is lost, he is caught out of position
WC as world class, not water closet.
Very different from the time we had four world class or close to it forward players with Sneijder, RvP, van der Vaart and Robben but had a defense with defenders like Heitinga, Matthijsen, Vlaar and Bruno Martens Indi.
VVD
Ramos
Chiellini
Laporte
T Silva
Pique
Hummels
Gimenez
Godin
Skriniar
Ramos
Chiellini
Laporte
T Silva
Pique
Hummels
Gimenez
Godin
Skriniar
Koulibaly, Varane, Laporte, Ramos, Van dijk and Bonucci are special class for me. They make every defence better.
Skriniar, Pique, De vrij and Gimenez are close to them but not that class.
That is my top 10.
Skriniar, Pique, De vrij and Gimenez are close to them but not that class.
That is my top 10.
Virgil van Dijk
Sergio Ramos
Milan Skriniar
Aymeric Laporte
Raphael Varane
Giorgio Chiellini
Kalidou Koulibaly
Leandro Bonucci
Thiago Silva
Gerard Pique
That's my list for right now. Of course there's players like de Ligt and Gimenez who will be in that bracket once they hit their peak. de Vrij of Inter Milan is a very underrated centre half and is unlucky to miss out.
Sergio Ramos
Milan Skriniar
Aymeric Laporte
Raphael Varane
Giorgio Chiellini
Kalidou Koulibaly
Leandro Bonucci
Thiago Silva
Gerard Pique
That's my list for right now. Of course there's players like de Ligt and Gimenez who will be in that bracket once they hit their peak. de Vrij of Inter Milan is a very underrated centre half and is unlucky to miss out.