Top Three Dribblers of All-Time

Physiocrat

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The Marcelo thread got me thinking about who is the best dribbler of all-time. By dribbler here I mean the best at taking on and bearing his man on a regular basis using misdirection or ball manipulation (speed merchants who just beat their man on speed need not apply)

For me the best three I've seen are Maradona, Messi and the one trick pony Denilson.

If you can check in a vid. Here's a great all touches compilation of Maradona against Poland. The amount of dribbles in a single game is insane.

 
Physiocrat said:
The Marcelo thread got me thinking about who is the best dribbler of all-time. By dribbler here I mean the best at taking on and bearing his man on a regular basis using misdirection or ball manipulation (speed merchants who just beat their man on speed need not apply)

For me the best three I've seen are Maradona, Messi and the one trick pony Denilson.

If you can check in a vid. Here's a great all touches compilation of Maradona against Poland. The amount of dribbles in a single game is insane.

Click to expand...

That video shows how the wind and litter used to conspire against people trying to compete against Messi before he was born.
 
Yeah, dont think you can go against Diego.
But there are some that are very, very close to him - Fenomeno and younger Messi first come to mind. And then below that level you have geniuses like Best, Dinho, Rivelino, Robben maybe and few players that arent that great/good but are insane if you only look at their dribbling ability like Denilson, Robinho, Kinkladze etc.

This is impossible there are way to many players that deserve mentions like Iniesta, Gazza, Cruyff, Garrincha....
 
Messi and Maradona are in a class of their own as far as dribbling is concerned.
 
serghei said:
Messi and Maradona are in a class of their own as far as dribbling is concerned.
Click to expand...
From footage I've seen, I prefer Best over Messi. Mind you, I always feel that Messi is slightly overrated generally by the "FIFA Generation" so I may be biased.
 
Maradona, Messi and then Garrincha

In my mind lefties have always been better at dribbling.
 
From the ones I've seen play in my life.
Dinho, Messi, Luis Ronaldo.
 
Maradona, Best, Garrincha

Modern times- Messi, Iniesta and Denilson
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
From footage I've seen, I prefer Best over Messi. Mind you, I always feel that Messi is slightly overrated generally by the "FIFA Generation" so I may be biased.
Click to expand...

Nah. Never overrated. He took the ball at the halfway line, dribbled half of Bilbao's team and scored in a Cup final. How is that overrated? Did it against Madrid in a key moment in a CL semi-final. Did it vs Getafe at 18 years old. Henry said that in training sessions, he took the ball from the keeper dribbled everyone and scored. I believe that 100% because I've seen Messi dribbling 3-4 players at once time and time again, no matter the opposition.

Dropped Boateng for dead as well, embarrassed so many great players. At 18 he took on the entire Chelsea team until they had nothing else to do except foul him badly in an attempt to intimidate him.
 
Ronaldo (Brazilian one), Messi and Ronaldinho that I've seen anyway.
 
Remember Messi fans - George Best did his dribbling on pitches that were much worse than the manicured lawns of today, plus defenders could actually tackle..and when I say tackle, I mean tackles (or attempted tackles) that would be a straight red today if they connected.
 
Messi and Maradona are the two definitive names at the top. Best is my favourite for the third spot, with Garrincha right behind. Best looked like Messi on ploughed up pitches with thugs kicking the shit out of him, which is why I'm partial to picking him.

Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Laudrup and Fat Ronaldo deserve mentions as well.
 
Maradona, Messi, Garrincha, Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Best, Iniesta
 
Hard to qualify the 'top' dribbler, to be honest, but in my subjective view:

1. Maradona - Flamboyant, impeccable technique and close control while dribbling. Plus, he seemed to have the innate gift of heightened-godlike spacial awareness - which helped him determine the distance he had around him, and map out every move - giving the defender(s) no chance. Would routinely take out out 3 or 4 of them with one stop-start side-to-side move alone.

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2. Messi - This guy is quite misunderstood. Doesn't quite capture the imagination of some, but he's the most effective dribbler. No unnecessary tricks or flicks or showboating - you get the sense that (like Maradona) he knows exactly what his next move is, and he'll do it in the most precise manner with very few added frills. Guess the fact that he makes it look so easy and compact counts against him in the eyes of some.

3. Torn between Best and Garrincha - Mané had his inimitable style - more nimble in condensed spaces and could change direction on a whim - beating his marker over and over again, but Georgie was more exciting in an explosive way and given a bit of space - could tear teams apart with acceleration alone.

Special mention for two dribblers who weren't necessarily Top 5 per se and weren't exceptionally fast (like cannon ball Fenómeno - who was pure momentum), but had great technique and were really elegant: Rivelino (Elástico) and Laudrup.
 
Has to be Messi by some distance. Not just because he's fecking amazing at it but how ridiculously easy he makes it look to the point where people have begun to take it for granted now and it barely even registers.
 
Messi, Maradona, Richard Dunne


Not close on the top 3 of all time and he could do feck all else but our little Georgian was awesome. Pity his career went to shit.
 
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