Top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history

Gehrman

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Who do you reckon are the top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history while playing for Man Utd? I think my list roughly is as follows.

1. George Best - Up there with Messi, Maradonna and Garrincha as the best dribbler of all time.
2. Ryan Giggs - Was called the next George Best for this very reason. A completely natural dribbler who also just had the pace to outrun defenders.
3. Nani - He might not have had the consistency of better players, but he had everything in his bag to beat defenders.
4. Ronaldo - Probably best player to ever play for United, but I still don't regard him as the best dribbler. He was still bloody good at it however.
5. Eric Cantona - Didn't beat defenders with pace but just had the natural skill to go past defenders.
6. Andre Kanchelshiks - Could just beat players with raw pace. Giggs said he was the fastest player he ever played with.
7. Bobby Charlton - Seemed to have a natural ability to glide past opponents in midfield.
8. Robin Van Persie - Wasn't pacey but had the natural close control and skilll to beat defenders.
9. Wayne Rooney - mostly showed this in his younger years.
10. Anthony Martial - Just seems very good at it. both pace and close control.

 
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Martial out of the current squad. Hear Coppel was more of an old school winger than a flashy type?
 
Shamana said:
Who do you reckon are the top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history while playing for Man Utd? I think my list roughly is as follows.

1. George Best - Up there with Messi, Maradonna and Garrincha as the best dribbler of all time.
2. Ryan Giggs - Was called the next George Best for this very reason. A completely natural dribbler who also just had the pace to outrun defenders.
3. Nani - He might not have had the consistency of better players, but he had everything in his bag to beat defenders.
4. Ronaldo - Probably best player to ever play for United, but I still don't regard him as the best dribbler. He was still bloody good at it however.
5. Eric Cantona - Didn't beat defenders with pace but just had the natural skill to go past defenders.
6. Andre Kanchelshiks - Could just beat players with raw pace. Giggs said he was the fastest player he ever played with.
7. Bobby Charlton - Seemed to have a natural ability to glide past opponents in midfield.
8. Robin Van Persie - Wasn't pacey but had the natural close control and skilll to beat defenders.
9. Wayne Rooney - mostly showed this in his younger years.
10. Anthony Martial - Just seems very good at it. both pace and close control.
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Berbatov was quite good also
 
Evra wasn't bad, too. Even though he always looked like falling down he just went past players.
 
Ronaldo might be second, people forget how good he was at dribbling. Nani was as good though, while Giggs was very good but not as good as them.

Best is obviously first. Our entire strategy on that match vs Benfica was give the ball to Best who then dribbles their entire team. And Benfica's tactics were foul the shit out of Best, cause stopping him conventionally was just impossible.
 
Shamana said:
Who do you reckon are the top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history while playing for Man Utd? I think my list roughly is as follows.

1. George Best - Up there with Messi, Maradonna and Garrincha as the best dribbler of all time.
2. Ryan Giggs - Was called the next George Best for this very reason. A completely natural dribbler who also just had the pace to outrun defenders.
3. Nani - He might not have had the consistency of better players, but he had everything in his bag to beat defenders.
4. Ronaldo - Probably best player to ever play for United, but I still don't regard him as the best dribbler. He was still bloody good at it however.
5. Eric Cantona - Didn't beat defenders with pace but just had the natural skill to go past defenders.
6. Andre Kanchelshiks - Could just beat players with raw pace. Giggs said he was the fastest player he ever played with.
7. Bobby Charlton - Seemed to have a natural ability to glide past opponents in midfield.
8. Robin Van Persie - Wasn't pacey but had the natural close control and skilll to beat defenders.
9. Wayne Rooney - mostly showed this in his younger years.
10. Anthony Martial - Just seems very good at it. both pace and close control.
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Might've been better to list a top 5, seeing as we really haven't had that many (with great dribblers being one of football's rarities). I'd probably have a young Lee Sharpe ahead of the likes of Cantona, Charlton, RvP and Rooney who, for all their abilities, weren't really known for their dribbling skills.

Maybe Steve Coppell and Jesper Olsen would be better choices but one of the older heads would need to weigh in as I don't really remember either of them.
 
Not sure I’d have van Persie in there. A phenomenal technically gifted striker, but I don’t remember him going on many dribbling runs at all for us.
 
Eckers99 said:
Might've been better to list a top 5, seeing as we really haven't had that many (with great dribblers being one of football's rarities). I'd probably have a young Lee Sharpe ahead of the likes of Cantona, Charlton, RvP and Rooney who, for all their abilities, weren't really known for their dribbling skills.

Maybe Steve Coppell and Jesper Olsen would be better choices but one of the older heads would need to weigh in as I don't really remember either of them.
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I agree just thought that a top 5 is a bit limited for club with the history of Man Utd.
 
Shamana said:
I agree just thought that a top 5 is a bit limited for club with the history of Man Utd.
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Not when we've only had 5 great dribblers. You may as well make it 20 and sneak in Steve Bruce.
 
RVP? Dont really recall him being create at dribbling past players

Pogba is very good in fairness to him
 
M Bison said:
RVP? Dont really recall him being create at dribbling past players

Pogba is very good in fairness to him
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Well make your damn list! I was running out of ideas at the end!
 
  1. George Best. Had this Messi-esque ability of simply running with the ball through defenders. But combined with some tricks and feints. Probably the most naturally gifted player in club's history.
  2. Cristiano Ronaldo. Unstoppable at his best and he had so much variety in his dribbling.
  3. Ryan Giggs. Unbelievable pace combined with outstanding technique meant that at his best he was simply unplayable – even against some of the greatest defenders of all-time like Thuram and Ferrara. Giggs, Giggs will tear you apart again.
  4. Bobby Charlton. Had that Iniesta-like ability – he wasn't in-your-face dribbler like Best or Cristiano, but he seemed to glide through the pitch and players with such ease. His younger years as a left winger (looking up to the likes of Finney and Matthews) certainly influenced his development as a player.
  5. Nani. Inconsistent, but on his day you would think that he's the best player in the world.
  6. Andrey Kanchelskis. Had more pace than finesse, but he was still a marvel to watch.
  7. Antony Martial. He had produced some truly magical moments for us. Hopefully he'll rise further up in this list as the years go by.
  8. Wayne Rooney. Again, not the most technical, but as a young player his runs forward were a sight to behold.
  9. Lee Sharpe. Giggs-lite.
  10. Paul Pogba. People don't like to give him credit for what he has already done for us, but he's certainly one of the most gifted midfielders in club's history and a fantastic dribbler. Very different in profile compared to the rest of this list (Charlton is probably the only even remotely comparable player in terms of his skillset), but thoroughly deserves the inclusion.
Honorable mentions:
Di Maria – had the ability, but his stint with us was too short and forgettable.
van Persie, Cantona, Law – they weren't dribbling very often, but certainly possessed the ability to beat players with ease.
Memphis Depay – for that one game.
 
Liam “billy” Whelan has to be in there somewhere

lost his life at Munich

was said to be a great dribbler
 
Shamana said:
Who do you reckon are the top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history while playing for Man Utd? I think my list roughly is as follows.

1. George Best - Up there with Messi, Maradonna and Garrincha as the best dribbler of all time.
2. Ryan Giggs - Was called the next George Best for this very reason. A completely natural dribbler who also just had the pace to outrun defenders.
3. Nani - He might not have had the consistency of better players, but he had everything in his bag to beat defenders.
4. Ronaldo - Probably best player to ever play for United, but I still don't regard him as the best dribbler. He was still bloody good at it however.
5. Eric Cantona - Didn't beat defenders with pace but just had the natural skill to go past defenders.
6. Andre Kanchelshiks - Could just beat players with raw pace. Giggs said he was the fastest player he ever played with.
7. Bobby Charlton - Seemed to have a natural ability to glide past opponents in midfield.
8. Robin Van Persie - Wasn't pacey but had the natural close control and skilll to beat defenders.
9. Wayne Rooney - mostly showed this in his younger years.
10. Anthony Martial - Just seems very good at it. both pace and close control.

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The first four agreed.

Some of the above players were not really 'dribblers' but just beat a man for pace. I would include Kancheskis, Charlton, Rooney, RvP in that description although I'm not saying they weren't skilful.

If you are asking about Top 10 in our history then you would need to include Billy Meredith, George Wall, Joe Spence, Billy Wrigglesworth, Jimmy Delaney, Charlie Mitten, Johnny Berry, Willie Morgan, Ian Storey-Moore, Sammy McIlroy, Billy Whelan, Eddie Colman, Gordon Hill, Gordon Strachan, Jesper Olsen and probably Steve Coppell although he used more pace to beat his man.
 
From my lifetime, Best is a mile in front as number 1. Next ones would be Ronaldo, Nani and Giggs, with Strachan at number 5. Too many candidates to choose from for the next five places.
 
Stark difference between "dribbling" and "getting past players with pace". Dribbling uses more skills, techniques, trickeries, feints and touches(ball control) rather than blistering paces and agility (they also use those of course). Normally, they look just natural on the ball compare to the latter type.

Top 10 United dribblers
  1. Best - He's the best.
  2. Ronaldo - He's damn good, at his best in 07/08 and 06/07 close second best.
  3. Giggs - Good and consistent for about 20+ years.
  4. Nani - his ability on the ball is freakishly good portraying high techniques and touches, maybe he's the most composed when dribbling.
  5. Martial - natural and flowing when dribbling. Silky is the word.
  6. Pogba - emphasizes mostly skills when dribbling. Shame, we could've see this more if we just let him attack more.
  7. Young - yeap, he's that good at dribbling. Repetitive skills and trickeries.
  8. Mkhitaryan - down the pecking order because he uses pace and agility a lot, but definitely have the skills and touches when dribbling.
  9. RVN - he's actually good at dribbling, obvious when he's in his earlier years with us, but very rarely, almost none in his latter years.
  10. Zlatan - past his prime in dribbling, but he's still good and he showed it in 16/17. His game at that time is more on team play though, so the few chances he gets to show his good dribbling skills.. he sure did just that.
  11. RVP - skillful when dribbling past players, often when defenders is at his back. Not really that good at dribbling when facing defenders.

Can only say what I remember now, off the top of my head.
Want to include Depay, a pure dribbler and actually good at it but he's damn inconsistent.
 
Bestie was to me better at dribbling than Messi. He also had the guts to take on players. Ronaldo is a better goal scorer and in the days of Best you got away with anything short of murder on the pitch.
 
Fitchett said:
From my lifetime, Best is a mile in front as number 1. Next ones would be Ronaldo, Nani and Giggs, with Strachan at number 5. Too many candidates to choose from for the next five places.
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Best number 1 and always will be. Could come off both feet, beat players for fun in a time where crippling opponents was the norm.

No one will come close in my lifetime
 
Web of Bissaka said:
Stark difference between "dribbling" and "getting past players with pace". Dribbling uses more skills, techniques, trickeries, feints and touches(ball control) rather than blistering paces and agility (they also use those of course). Normally, they look just natural on the ball compare to the latter type.

Top 10 United dribblers
  1. Best - He's the best.
  2. Ronaldo - He's damn good, at his best in 07/08 and 06/07 close second best.
  3. Giggs - Good and consistent for about 20+ years.
  4. Nani - his ability on the ball is freakishly good portraying high techniques and touches, maybe he's the most composed when dribbling.
  5. Martial - natural and flowing when dribbling. Silky is the word.
  6. Pogba - emphasizes mostly skills when dribbling. Shame, we could've see this more if we just let him attack more.
  7. Young - yeap, he's that good at dribbling. Repetitive skills and trickeries.
  8. Mkhitaryan - down the pecking order because he uses pace and agility a lot, but definitely have the skills and touches when dribbling.
  9. RVN - he's actually good at dribbling, obvious when he's in his earlier years with us, but very rarely, almost none in his latter years.
  10. Zlatan - past his prime in dribbling, but he's still good and he showed it in 16/17. His game at that time is more on team play though, so the few chances he gets to show his good dribbling skills.. he sure did just that.
  11. RVP - skillful when dribbling past players, often when defenders is at his back. Not really that good at dribbling when facing defenders.

Can only say what I remember now, off the top of my head.
Want to include Depay, a pure dribbler and actually good at it but he's damn inconsistent.
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Most accurate list so far with Rooney rightfully omitted but so too should be Van Persie. Depay would definitley be in instead of Mkhitaryan who is not a great dribbler as well.
 
Its flown under the radar a little but Greenwoods dribbling has been really good in patches. More in the style of making space for a pass or shot than gliding past people.

Ranking wise
1) Best
2) Giggs
3) Cantona
4) Ronaldo
5) Kanchelskis

After that is alot more debatable
 
Woeful lack of respect for Stevie Coppell and Gordon Strachan in this thread
 
Gordon Hill?

slightly before my time but was a star before Sexton turfed him out
 
Surprised nobody has mentioned Strachan and Olsen. I remember the United team of around 85 winning their first 10 matches playing some scintillating football. Probably would have won the league if it hadn't have been for a bad injury crisis.
Best of course was the lad, I also liked Kanchelskis who I remember seeing destroy Oldham in a cup replay at Maine Road in 1994.
 
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Man United top 10 ALL TIME dribblers

10. Eddie Colman
9. Cristiano Ronaldo
8. George Wall
7. Nani
6. Duncan Edwards
5. Eric Cantona
4. Ryan Giggs
3. Billy Meredith
2. Georgie Best
1. Major
 
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