Cantona or Bergkamp

Randall Flagg

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Copying Boss with this thread and also inspired by the thread in the Utd forum

Well??

Try your best to look at it from a non Utd point of view and take into account talent and overall impact.

Cantona for me, obviously
 
Cantona was more inspitational and all...but.....Bergkamp edges it for me slightly.
 
Cantona.

Bergkamp was just a normal bloke who happened to be good at football. Cantona was the man.
 
Eric.

He was more than just a wonderful footballer.
 
Some seem to think Eric was overrated. It is a shame that he only got a couple of shots at Europe with us which was mostly hindered by the foreigner rule. And I think this is one of the main reasons some have the odd negative view on him.

But looking at what he did in the league was nothing short of incredible. Bergkamp was great but he simply was not as talented as Cantona and he was nowhere near the leader or influence.

I have often said, if it was not for Eric our recent history and success would look very different right now than what it is.
 
Cantona, Cantona, Cantona everytime, fecking Arsenal fans and their bullshit.
 
Dennis could do things with a football Cantona could only dream of. His genius bought about a revolution in the league, a new appreciation of art at it's finest.
 
TheHorse'sMouth said:
Dennis could do things with a football Cantona could only dream of. His genius bought about a revolution in the league, a new appreciation of art at it's finest.
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Utter shit, it brought a revolution to Arsenal, the league had already been revolutionised by the king. Cantona could do things to the ball that Bergkamp could only dream off, more importantly though Cantona could do things to the game that was far beyond the reach of Bergkamp. I love the way that Arsenal fans make out they are the paragon of footbal purity when thats only been for the last 20 years. Before that they were fecking awful.
 
Both brilliant players of sublime intelligence, but Cantona's aura and talent combined made United rise to his level of excellence.
 
SteveJ said:
Both brilliant players of sublime intelligence, but Cantona's aura and talent combined made United rise to his level of excellence.
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and the league. Bergkamp was just another skilful player.
 
The timing of Cantona's arrival at Old Trafford was perfect for both him and the club. The Premier League was in it's infancy - football was about to boom and United had youngsters about to break through looking for a creative inspirational figure. Cantona thrived in that environment and his performances and influence on the team's development were clear for all to see.

Cantona was the 'greater' player in terms of his place in Premier League history and his influence within (what at the end of the day is a team game) but - much as it pains me to say so - I would say that Bergkamp (by a smidge) was a 'technically' better player.
 
Cantona, Cantona, Cantona. Theres no debate. Bergkamp is the epitome of the modern Arsenal. Likes toclaim they are the best most skilfull footballers, but end up being innefectual at the end and unable to produce that extra bit of magic to truly make them great.
 
gambit28 said:
Utter shit, it brought a revolution to Arsenal, the league had already been revolutionised by the king. Cantona could do things to the ball that Bergkamp could only dream off, more importantly though Cantona could do things to the game that was far beyond the reach of Bergkamp. I love the way that Arsenal fans make out they are the paragon of footbal purity when thats only been for the last 20 years. Before that they were fecking awful.
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Are you on fecking smack? Cantona was a very good footballer, but was nowhere near Dennis in terms of ability. Ask any sane neutral who they'd prefer to watch and the majority would plump for Dennis every time. Plus, Cantona did absolutely feck all on the international stage while Dennis ended his career as the top scorer ever for his country and provided this league and the world with countless moments of pure genius and inspiration with a football.

Would be better off posing this question to a set of neutrals.
 
I'm going to say Cantona for his leadership... and the fact that he never really bottled a last min penalty in the same way Bergkamp did in the 99 semi... (you might make a case for Eric not doing it vs Dortmund in 97, but he was one of many who couldn't score that day)... but I'm not going to slag Bergkamp. He was a talented long serving player who ushered in a period of success for the Arse and the Dutch.
 
Cantona. Not just the player but the man. Inspired a generation of United players and fans to an unparalleled period of success.
 
Jesus Christ.....If I remember correctly even with all his issues Cantona was not too far off a one in two record for Les Blues. If it wasn't for him kicking that shithead (and his other moments of craziness) and Djorkaeff's near telepathic partnership with Zidane we could have a completely different tale on Canto's international career.
 
TheHorse'sMouth said:
Are you on fecking smack? Cantona was a very good footballer, but was nowhere near Dennis in terms of ability. Ask any sane neutral who they'd prefer to watch and the majority would plump for Dennis every time. Plus, Cantona did absolutely feck all on the international stage while Dennis ended his career as the top scorer ever for his country and provided this league and the world with countless moments of pure genius with a football.
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Couldn't give 2 shits about what he did for his country, in the premiership and for his club, Cantona rules everytime. Get overit, it's another case of Arsenal, great onpaper and in skill, but just don't cut it in the end. fecking Cantona rules over any player that has donned the gunners shirt. I know it's hard for an Arsenal fan to accept but for all the recent years of playing the beautiful game, Arsenal just weren't that good. Henry had more of an effect than Bergkamp. Bergkamp was just the first player that made Arsenal fans realise how the game could be played.
 
For all the skill Bergkamp had, Zola had an equal effect in England.
 
TheHorse'sMouth said:
Cantona was a very good footballer, but was nowhere near Dennis in terms of ability. Ask any sane neutral who they'd prefer to watch and the majority would plump for Dennis every time.
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I think Bergkamp was ahead in technical abilty (not by miles as you say) however I think you're way off in terms who people 'would prefer to watch'. Cantona had swagger, charisma, style and attitude - something that puts bums on seats and epitomises the United team of that era. Bergkamp was by comparison - well a bit dull.
 
Gerrard was a better player in the premier league than Bergkamp.
 
gambit28 said:
Couldn't give 2 shits about what he did for his country, in the premiership and for his club, Cantona rules everytime. Get overit, it's another case of Arsenal, great onpaper and in skill, but just don't cut it in the end. fecking Cantona rules over any player that has donned the gunners shirt. I know it's hard for an Arsenal fan to accept but for all the recent years of playing the beautiful game, Arsenal just weren't that good. Henry had more of an effect than Bergkamp. Bergkamp was just the first player that made Arsenal fans realise how the game could be played.
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I wish this forum had a "like" button!
 
dinners85 said:
I think Bergkamp was ahead in technical abilty (not by miles as you say) however I think you're way off in terms who people 'would prefer to watch'. Cantona had swagger, charisma, style and attitude - something that puts bums on seats and epitomises the United team of that era. Bergkamp was by comparison - well a bit dull.
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Denílson de Oliveira Araújo was arguably the most skilfull player Brazil produced in the last 20 years, Give me Ronaldo, Ronaldinho everytime though.
 
Randall Flagg said:
ohh controversial. At his very best you could be correct
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for what he's done, the better player isn't always about how well they can juggle a ball with their feet, more about what they can do and how they effect those around them. Gerrard could literally drag his team to play as could Keane, as could Zola, as could Cantona. Bergkamp could play skilfull football. The football that Arsenal fans hold onto in the belief that in some way they are preffered by the neutrals now because they finally started to try and play the game the right way 40 years after the rest of the country.
 
As i said in the other thread on the same subject. The reason we have dominated the game for the last 20+ years is bcause we had the best manager and the best players. Even our supposedly shittest team is better than anything they have had to offer. Next year Rooney will be a better player than Bergkamp.
 
The best Arsenal players for the last 20 years was Viera and Henry.
 
and even they were not fit to lace Cantonas boots.
 
Cantonawas the most influential player English football has seen in the last 20 years, he forced the whole league to catch up with what was going on outside of our little footballing world. Other fans will argue that they have a player who was better at this or that. In the end though, you turn up your collars. You stride the pitc for 90 minutes and know that for all the fawning they do over their primadonnas, they would have given everything to have had him, in their team, at that time!
 
peterstorey said:
Henry was the best player to grace the PL, better even than Dennis.
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:lol: no he wasn't that honour goes to Ryan Giggs, and if you want to take it into terms of pure footballing skill, then that goes to Ronaldo, if you want to take it into goals scored then it goes Shearer, then Andy Cole. If you want to take it into how they infuenced those around them, Keane and Gerrard are more effective. If you want to take it into how they influenced the sport in the league then it's Cantona. Henry was the greatet player to ever put on an Arsenal shirt, it wasn't the hardest feat.
 
gambit28 said:
Cantona was the biggest ponce English football has seen in the last 20 years. In the end though, you turn up your collars, you pretend to stride the pitch for 90 minutes and do all the fawning.
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...is about right.
 
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