Top 10 dribblers in Man Utd history

KeanoMagicHat

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Billy Meredith and Charlie Mitten were meant to be great dribblers but it depends how far you want to go back. For dribbling of all skills I think it is ok to go way back because if anything dribbling was a bigger part of the game back then than it is now.

The obvious first 3 is Best, Giggs and Ronaldo in that order.

Anyone not with Giggs in the top 3 needs to watch this video and immediately re-evaluate. He's one of the best dribblers of his generation.

 

davidmichael

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No Sammy McIlroy, Lee Sharpe or Stevie Coppell ? I’d definitely have all of those over Rooney if it’s only for dribbling ability.

Can’t look past Georgie Best, Giggsy, Ronaldo pre 2008/2009, Kanchelskis and Charlton as the top 5 in my opinion.
 

Martialfc

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  1. Lukaku
  2. Obertan
  3. Phil Jones
  4. Chris Smalling
  5. Fellaini
  6. AWB
  7. Daniel James
  8. Lingard
  9. Tom Cleverly
  10. Danny Welbeck
 

Bobski

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Giggs was a better dribbler than Ronaldo, his control of the ball at pace was well ahead of Cristiano. All the tricks and obfuscation that Ronnie chucked in during his early career were eye catching, and fun to try, but not really that effective. Giggs didn't have to use stepovers/flips flaps, all the flashy stuff that the Ronaldo 9 and latterly Ronaldinho made so popular, because the fundamentals of his dribbling were so strong, the change of pace, body feints, amazing balance, and I don't think I have ever seen another player, outside of Messi, who kept the ball as close to his feet at pace the way Giggs did. He wasn't kick and rush, he could sprint while dribbling.

Martial is fantastic at times, very direct, keeps defenders guessing, while Nani and Evra also had great ability running with the ball, in their different ways.
 

yan man utd

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Can somebody please remind me what a dribbler is these days, TIA
Someone that can beat a man and leave him behind you. In the modern game pace and physical dynamic are important usually - but even look into the past at maradona and pele And then there is Messi. All physically dynamic loaded with tricks as were Ronaldinho and rivaldo. A rare exception is Best who could drink 10 pints and leave a man for dead with tricks. But then the opposition was no where near as physical as it is now...
 

Idxomer

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That video above of Giggs Dribbling and speed is just absurd.
 

Gehrman

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Beckham would enter my top 10. His crosses and freekicks were so good that people forget about other parts of his game. Despite not having pace, he managed to go past defenders with skills. Not anything too aesthetically pleasing but efficient.
 

Luke1995

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Nice! He would probably make a good coach, at least for the kids and teenagers who are hoping to be like him one day. At this point he would've probably pursued it if he had any interest though.

Wonder if he'll have any say on how his Miami team will play or if he's just involved on the monetary side. Anyway, surely he would be in any top 10 restricted to the 90's. In the 2000's we had alot of good dribblers.
 

Sassy Colin

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Woeful lack of respect for Stevie Coppell and Gordon Strachan in this thread
No there hasn't been at all, have you even read the thread? Or are you putting them ahead of Best, Ronaldo, Giggs?

Actually, not just you, all sorts of posts shocked by the lack of mention of x or y player, when they have already been mentioned multiple times.

It's the top 10, not the top 50, lots of good players get left out, it doesn't mean they're shit dribblers or everyone hates them.
 
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OrcaFat

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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.
Coppell was my all time favourite player for many years (but we had so many good players since his day, he’s dropped down the list a touch).

Sadly retired through injury at 28. He was very highly rated in his day and considered an important player for England as well as United.

I would say he set the standard for the position of wide midfielder. High work rate, tracking back etc.

He was a good dribbler but more in the push and rush mould than tricky. He was effective and got a lot of crosses in from the byline area. Had good off-the-mark pace and could beat the full back. But he didn’t go on mazy dribbles really and whilst he was a better player than several on this list, he wasn’t near the top in terms of dribbling. (As I remember him anyway).
 
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Icemav

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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.

Ronaldo was up there alongside Best. Incredible dribbler when at United. Nani? not even in the same universe. Ronaldo single handedly ripped apart teams, and did it frequently. Nani didn't despite having very good creativity and talent.
 

Eckers99

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Coppell was my all time favourite player for many years (but we had so many good players since his day, he’s dropped down the list a touch).

Sadly retired through injury at 28. He was very highly rated in his day and considered an important player for England as well as United.

I would say he set the standard for the position of wide midfielder. High work rate, tracking back etc.

He was a good dribbler but more in the push and rush mould than tricky. He was effective and got a lot of crosses in from the byline area. Had good off-the-mark pace and could beat the full back. But he didn’t go on mazy dribbles really and whilst he was a better player than several on this list, he wasn’t near the top in terms of dribbling. (As I remember him anyway).
Cheers for the info. My family speak highly of both him and Gordon Hill. After the barren post-Busby years they were excited to see United play with genuine wingers again but I've only seen them both in old footage. Maybe Hill was more of a classic winger than Coppell? He certainly scored his fair share bangers, if YouTube is anything to go by.
 

OrcaFat

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Cheers for the info. My family speak highly of both him and Gordon Hill. After the barren post-Busby years they were excited to see United play with genuine wingers again but I've only seen them both in old footage. Maybe Hill was more of a classic winger than Coppell? He certainly scored his fair share bangers, if YouTube is anything to go by.
For some reason I can’t remember much about Hill. I do remember he and Coppell played together for a couple of years but I was a bit too young to appreciate his qualities before he was sold and seemed to pretty much disappear. I don’t think he was in the elite class though, even if popular at the time.
 

Tribec

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For some reason I can’t remember much about Hill. I do remember he and Coppell played together for a couple of years but I was a bit too young to appreciate his qualities before he was sold and seemed to pretty much disappear. I don’t think he was in the elite class though, even if popular at the time.
Gordon was class, an England international along with Stevie Coppell. As you say Stevie was more of a push and run winger, but with an exceptional engine and capable of scoring goals. Gordon didn't get the nickname Merlin for being a straight at them type winger. They were a 70's version of Kanchelskis and Giggs, in the respect one pushed and ran and the other had the tricks and guile. After being sold he suffered a knee injury which at that point effected his game, and ended up playing his final years out in the States. A good follow on twitter mind you.


I'm going to say I'm not to shocked to see only fleeting mention of Eddie Coleman. Listen to interviews with Wilf McGuinness and he'll tell how good Coleman was. I never saw him myself, but again I don't think he'd have earned the nickname "snake hips" for nothing.
 

OrcaFat

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Gordon was class, an England international along with Stevie Coppell. As you say Stevie was more of a push and run winger, but with an exceptional engine and capable of scoring goals. Gordon didn't get the nickname Merlin for being a straight at them type winger. They were a 70's version of Kanchelskis and Giggs, in the respect one pushed and ran and the other had the tricks and guile. After being sold he suffered a knee injury which at that point effected his game, and ended up playing his final years out in the States. A good follow on twitter mind you.


I'm going to say I'm not to shocked to see only fleeting mention of Eddie Coleman. Listen to interviews with Wilf McGuinness and he'll tell how good Coleman was. I never saw him myself, but again I don't think he'd have earned the nickname "snake hips" for nothing.
Hill sounds exciting. Shame his story is another of a talent dulled by injury. I read there was an outcry when he was sold but I wonder why Sexton would do such a thing. Possibly he didn’t fit the contemporary model for the wide midfielder or else it’s a mystery.
 

Tribec

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Hill sounds exciting. Shame his story is another of a talent dulled by injury. I read there was an outcry when he was sold but I wonder why Sexton would do such a thing. Possibly he didn’t fit the contemporary model for the wide midfielder or else it’s a mystery.
I was only young myself at the time, I do think Gordon has mentioned the reasons why he was sold by Sexton, who got rid of a fair few of the Doc's players very quickly to suit his game. You have to remember that Sexton was much more tactical, in terms of style of play, Sexton was more LVG, whilst the Doc was closer to Fergie. He wanted to get players to suit his style more, but my god it was dull and boring.
 

Bestietom

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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.

Cantona, Van Persie, Charlton, or Rooney weren't dribblers. Willie Morgan was a good dribbler.
 

reddevil80

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1. Best, although it was before my time, i never got to see him in action but the videos are astounding.
2. Giggs, exceptionally quick and graceful with hot feet.
3. Gordon Hill, just 1 or 2 years before I started going to old trafford but everybody older than me said he was brilliant, the vid's show Giggs was very similar.
4. Ronaldo, sensational speed, skill and attacking prowess.
5. Kanchelskis, speed, skill and strength. Loved watching his wing play creating excitement
6. Coppell, had the strength, speed and power to get by most of his opponents easily
7. Nani, always in Ronaldo's shadow but when he turned it on, he was better than given credit for
8. Sharpe, bloody house party and drinking stopped him attaining Giggsy's level. Really was as good, if not better than Giggs at the start
9. Olsen, whippet of a player, fast and very skilful
10. Charlton, strong, hard tackling and driven, especially with the ball.

Martial only just misses out for me, he is quick and silky on the ball and he is still plying his trade and can only improve further.
I also liked Whiteside and Mcllroy as plus notes.
 

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Ruud van Nistelrooy for me. Showed great close control & dribbling ability on ocassion.
 

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Pick any nine you wish, but the first name in the United Top 10 is Best.

And remember that played in the days of heavy pitches and murderous defenders, with little ref protection.