How good was Ryan Giggs?

[Relevated]

I wasnt old enough to know what giggs was like during his younger days. I see everyone from that generation rates Giggs but I want to know exactly how good he was

Was he ever the best in the world? Or was he more consistently great more than anything else?

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

He was imperious, a naturally gifted footballing artist, exciting, the rightful heir to Georgie Best, there wasn't a club that wouldn't have taken him if they had the chance.

 

[Relevated]

He was imperious, a naturally gifted footballing artist, exciting, the rightful heir to Georgie Best, there wasn't a club that wouldn't have taken him if they had the chance.

If you could compare him like for like to one player from the last 5 years then who would you compare him to?

 

[Port Vale Devil]

I thought he was really top drawer until you see what Ronaldo did at Utd then you see he was just a very good player but not at the upper echelons of football.

Even though he was a winger, to be thought about as world class he should have been more than a 1 goal in 6 games player.

Good player for sure with some brilliance.

 

[DRM]

Sensational, my favourite player during the 90's! Sure he lost his pace as he grew older, but he was so effective in the middle. People often remember his pace and dribbling ability but his passing was just as exceptional .

 

[MrMarcello]

I remember every summer the club were fighting off Italian interest for Giggs. He was often rumored to be off to this club or that club. SAF knew better, though I seem to recall there was one potential transfer that was somewhat possible but never came off. Not sure if it was for Nedved or Mendieta, someone else, or perhaps Figo (do recall a Beckham/Figo move was rumored at one time).

There were times Giggs went into slumps, or was injured for periods, but he was quite good most of the time. And how he transformed his left wing flying style into a calmer central midfield role really elevated his place in the annals of greatness, and extended his playing career.

Still my all-time fav footballer.

 

[DRM]

I wasnt old enough to know what giggs was like during his younger days. I see everyone from that generation rates Giggs but I want to know exactly how good he was

Was he ever the best in the world? Or was he more consistently great more than anything else?

Forgot to answer your questions. I think between 98/99/01 he was genuinely one of the best wingers in the world. After that when he lost some of his pace some of the fans actually turned on him and I remember he got boo'd at OT. But he was consistently good for over 16 years for us!

 

[acnumber9]

If you could compare him like for like to one player from the last 5 years then who would you compare him to?

Sane is the closest I could compare him to but Giggs was better and less reliant on the explosive pace.

 

[starman]

In this day and age of mostly 3 forwards with limited defensive responsibilities he would be winning individual awards and recognition that alluded him in the 90s

Have to remember much of his early career was in a 4-4-2 that required lots of tracking back, something you will rarely see today's modern day forwards do

 

[balaks]

Easily one of the best players of the premiership era.

 

[Rozay]

Pretty good.

Was a better ‘young player’ than he was a seasoned pro though, I think. But amazing on the whole.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Manchester United's Maradona. He had everything, including top tier car engine in his legs. When he got older, practiced Yoga to sustain himself a quality player to his late 30's.

Mentality that we're lacking today.

 

[acnumber9]

I thought he was really top drawer until you see what Ronaldo did at Utd then you see he was just a very good player but not at the upper echelons of football.

Even though he was a winger, to be thought about as world class he should have been more than a 1 goal in 6 games player.

Good player for sure with some brilliance.

That’s nonsense. He played as an actual winger. Not the wide forwards of today. He was better than 1 goal in 6 games over a 23 year career where he changed position and including becoming a more sparsely used player. Not to mention being 40 fecking years old.

 

[fps]

There's a lot of slight underplaying of Giggs here - you didn't stay in Man Utd's first team for that many years winning that many titles without being an unbelievably impressive all-round footballer and character. He had a lot of injuries and setbacks too, and it looked as if he was done in his late 20s, but he adapted and became just an even better playmaker and passer. He barely sprinted from late 20s on for risk of injury, so he did everything in this amazing gliding style to protect his hamstrings.

 

[MrMarcello]

In this day and age of mostly 3 forwards with limited defensive responsibilities he would be winning individual awards and recognition that alluded him in the 90s

Have to remember much of his early career was in a 4-4-2 that required lots of tracking back, something you will rarely see today's modern day forwards do

Interesting post. Would have developed more into what Bale was with Spurs and Real in today's schematics?

 

[Gandalf]

I thought he was really top drawer until you see what Ronaldo did at Utd then you see he was just a very good player but not at the upper echelons of football.

Even though he was a winger, to be thought about as world class he should have been more than a 1 goal in 6 games player.

Good player for sure with some brilliance.

Not really a fair comparison. Ronaldo is a little better but that is in many ways due to his being far more selfish than Giggs. Ryan put in a tremendous amount of defensive work and was far more focused on the team than he was on personal achievements.

Comparing players from different eras is hard to do also but as others in this thread have stated, there was not a club in the World that would not have broken their transfer record to get him if he was available. He was the most exciting player I have seen at Old Trafford over a sustained period and even in his mid thirties when his legs were going he was able to reinvent himself and still boss the best teams in the world.

 

[Port Vale Devil]

That’s nonsense. He played as an actual winger. Not the wide forwards of today. He was better than 1 goal in 6 games over a 23 year career where he changed position and including becoming a more sparsely used player.

Not nonsense! Just a view really and even wingers do grab goals. So who would you have him on par with? A long career doesn’t necessarily make you the best player to lace up the boots at Old Trafford.

 

[acnumber9]

Not nonsense! Just a view really and even wingers do grab goals. So who would you have him on par with? A long career doesn’t necessarily make you the best player to lace up the boots at Old Trafford.

Nobody claimed it was. I can’t think of many actual wingers who were better than him in the last 25-30 years. So up there with the likes of Figo and Robben. He had a better goalscoring record than Figo so was he not world class? Which wingers of the 90’s regularly scored more than him?

 

[Port Vale Devil]

Not really a fair comparison. Ronaldo is a little better but that is in many ways due to his being far more selfish than Giggs. Ryan put in a tremendous amount of defensive work and was far more focused on the team than he was on personal achievements.

Comparing players from different eras is hard to do also but as others in this thread have stated, there was not a club in the World that would not have broken their transfer record to get him if he was available. He was the most exciting player I have seen at Old Trafford over a sustained period and even in his mid thirties when his legs were going he was able to reinvent himself and still boss the best teams in the world.

Not saying he was rubbish......far from it and his goal v Arsenal is the stuff of legends. I just think he was far from ‘true’ world class.

Would be head and shoulders over anyone in the current team though.

 

[caid]

He was the best winger in the league for about a decade. Then he was 'just' top tier for about 5 more years and bloody useful for 5 more. The guy has a trophy cabinet most football clubs would be jealous of.

 

[TMDaines]

In 2008-09 his average performance as a central midfielder was incredible. He was a squad player and rotated heavily, but was arguably our best player that year. It was bittersweet as you knew it was the final flourish of a legend’s career.

 

[VorZakone]

He was amazing. Just look at some clips of him. Run Juventus ragged, didn't he?

 

[starman]

Interesting post. Would have developed more into what Bale was with Spurs and Real in today's schematics?

Yes, he would be pushed further up the pitch. Salah or Bale is today's equivalent, imo.

 

[Leftback99]

He'd be comfortably our best player now.

 

[youngrell]

A goal or assist in almost every other game for over 900 games says it all really.

Not to mention being the only player in all of SAF’s great teams he built at United.

 

[Port Vale Devil]

Nobody claimed it was. I can’t think of many actual wingers who were better than him in the last 25-30 years. So up there with the likes of Figo and Robben. He had a better goalscoring record than Figo so was he not world class? Which wingers of the 90’s regularly scored more than him?

Depends how you define world class really. It is something bounded about pretty easily at times and Giggs falls right in that bracket for me. He was a very very good player who could do amazing things at times but those times were not regular enough for me to be considered world class.

Arjen Robben was a 1 in 3 goal scorer after a quick look at wiki and I don’t consider him up there with the actual top notch players either.

 

[buckooo1978]

fantastic player and I find that some tend to focus on drops in form

most assists in the Premier League and a nearly identical record to Messi in terms of assists.

amazing balance and ball control and like Fergie he evolved over the years - he was still a top player when he retired

 

[MrMarcello]

There's hardly a doubt in my mind had he transferred to Real or Milan or Juve and dominated there for a decade or so, in different schemes that likely gave him more freedom, he'd certainly be seen at a higher stratosphere universally than by some fans.

 

[Bobski]

He was a fantastic footballer, the most exciting of all my times watching Utd. Inconsistent yes, but creative, skilled, team orientated, even at 38-39 he would put defenders on their backside with a subtle body feint. Didn't need all the ostentatious stepovers and the like, just superb natural balance and grace on the ball.

Comparing goalscoring stats of players like Giggs and Figo to today's wide forwards is pointless, players like Robben and Salah were/are pretty much strikers playing from the wing rather than the more create first role that the earlier players had.

Makes me a little sad how his playing reputation has diminished in recent years. Scholes seems to be deified further with every passing year while Giggs(much of it down to his relationships and obvious desire to manage Utd) is sneered at.

 

[Can7onA]

He scared the shit out of defenders.

 

[Cutch]

Champions League nights at Old Trafford under the lights, they were the matches you couldn't wait to get home from school for to see Giggs tear some of the best right backs in Europe a new one

 

[The holy trinity 68]

He was good but he was never as good as Ryan Wilson.

 

[Foxbatt]

The one Bristish player Johan Cruijff wanted in his Barca team. Linekar was already there when Cruijff took over. He said Eric Cantona is a very good player but not as good as Giggs. If there is a weakness in him it is his passing and heading. As a dribbler he was fantastic and much better than Ronaldo. Zidane said either Pires or him would be on the bench if Giggs was French.
I think his lack of goals maybe taken against him but he was a classic winger who played on the touch line and not like Ronaldo who was a psuedo winger.

 

[Jimmy_Bond]

Absolutely world class. Right in the a discussion for greatest ever United and Premier League player.

As a winger, terrifying. Shame there's not more videos around of him in those days.
Like others have said, in modern systems he'd be an absolute superstar (which he was back then, but we didn't live in the hyperbole media led shit storm that we do now).

I'm not going to start saying who he was better than as there are so many fans from other teams here who will start going off on one, but let me say this... There is not one winger in the PL now who is as good as Giggs was. And not one of them will be reinventing themselves like he did and winning titles when they're close to 40. And most importantly, they won't have a fifth of the trophies he finished with.

Fin.

 

[edcunited1878]

Name a forward or winger who had better delivery than Giggs. Name them then add in Giggsy's pace, agility, technique, big game mentality and dribbling.

 

[Billy Blaggs]

He was the most naturally talented player I've ever seen play for Manchester United.

Still my favorite player ever.

 

[quackattack]

The one English player Johan Cruijff wanted in his Barca team.

Are you sure about that?

 

[acnumber9]

Depends how you define world class really. It is something bounded about pretty easily at times and Giggs falls right in that bracket for me. He was a very very good player who could do amazing things at times but those times were not regular enough for me to be considered world class.

Arjen Robben was a 1 in 3 goal scorer after a quick look at wiki and I don’t consider him up there with the actual top notch players either.

Who were the best wingers of Giggs era then? Actual wingers.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Are you sure about that?

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

Giggs was incredible. Think about it; he's a top 10 Manchester United player of all-time, a top 10 British footballer player of all-time and even if you disagree with his winning the award of best premier league player (1992-2012) you have to conceded he's at least in the discussion.

When he first broke into the team he had pace to burn and crazy dribbling skills which terrified defenders. He had turned into a world class player by the time of our first double and only a few injuries hurt his form between that and the treble, which he was a great contributor. What a prime that is. As he got older and was less effective out wide, his incredible football IQ, professionalism and desire helped morph into an excellent central midfielder in his latter years. He had great seasons in 2002-2003 and 2006-2007 despite being past what would be considered his "prime" years. The next couple of seasons he was used more as a squad player and in the center of midfield where he helped dictate games with his criminally underrated passing ability. He always had great crossing and a great eye for a killer pass but at the end he got to showcase his passing from a deeper position. Not the long range passer that Scholes was, but an excellent link who could find space and found the man in space and moved the ball forward.

Giggs is a truly great footballer.