Vidic, Terry, Rio, Stam, Van Dijk
- Thread starter The holy trinity 68
- Start date
No non-chelsea fan would ever have Terry as the best of the best defenders. Heavily biased answer.
VVD is the best defender in the world in a time where the quality of defenders is massively short compared to years gone by. Stam, Rio and Vidic were world class centre backs in an era when there were many world class centre backs.
Kind of checks and balances type of thing. I stand by my statement though. He’s a new type of defender and the best in the world for last few years.
. VVD is brilliant to be fair and a proper all-rounder tailor-made for the modern game - comfortable in a high line, great athleticism, excellent in the air and good on the ball. He's already up there with the best in the PL era imo with longevity being the only thing he lacks at this point. I just don't see him as being some transcendental type as you seem to.Purely in anorak-mode here and taking things off topic, surely Keegan deserves a shout alongside or ahead of him as your most influential signing?
I get what you're saying, but hear me out - Liverpool were so bad defensively, that any good center back would've been as influential. Don't get me wrong, this worked out well both ways, as the club got a very good played just before the peak if his abilities, and the player himself gained more and more confidence from winning with a big club.
Nobody is denying how good VVD is, he has a great mix of strength, speed and defensive awareness and I for one was gutted that United didn't sign him before Liverpool did. But to say he's brought defending to a new level is a bit over the top. Your claim is as reasonable as saying Ruben Dias is now better than VVD, because he won the league and played in the UCL final.
Finally, VVD has only played on top level for 2 years and has won major honours, yes, but in my opinion it's not enough to be considered an all time PL great. Those other players have done the same for much, much longer and from a younger age.
Stam > Rio > Van Dijk > Vidic > Terry
Vidic played half a season next to Jonny Evans when Ferdinand was injured and they got the EPL record for most clean sheets in a row (13) winning 11 of them.
Yeah but we all know how amazing Jonny Evans is. Plus your post is devastating for my case…
Rio
McGrath
Stam.
McGrath
Stam.
Rio
Vidic
VVD
Terry
Stam
Vidic
VVD
Terry
Stam
Where's Matip in all of this
Thankfully, the world isn't just a pack of scousers who'd swallow a bucket load of shit if it was presented on a red jersey. Your fellow scouser in a different thread is suggesting Matip might be better than VVD ffs and you wonder why no one takes you seriously
While I think it's hard to judge the best CB in PL history one thing I would say is that VVD plays in a era of fewer top CBs being around. That in of itself makes him standout more than he would in past eras.
Similar could be said for Maguire, for me he is nowhere near the top CBs in league history but right now it is easily top 5 in the league.
For me, I always thought Rio was the most talented in the prem era, Terry the best leader and probably Vidic as the best individual season.
Similar could be said for Maguire, for me he is nowhere near the top CBs in league history but right now it is easily top 5 in the league.
For me, I always thought Rio was the most talented in the prem era, Terry the best leader and probably Vidic as the best individual season.
I think you misread that one. Konate will be partner to VVD I believe to become the best combo in the world for years to come imo. A healthy Matip next VVD is just as formidable but Matip breaks too easily. But it’s about VVD being a legend already isn’t it? After that injury which most on here said he would never be the same. Amazing
What's new about his defending?
Don't forget, everyone rolls over for Liverpool, no one ever rolled over for United.
I always think Campbell gets underrated in these discussions. The best Arsenal defender I’ve seen, and I’d argue ahead of Adams, who several on the first page have put forward as the league’s best.
Interestingly, Vidic's best ever form (and probably the best half a season any defender has ever had in the PL era) came during a period that Rio was in and out of the team and was starting to struggle with the back injury which would end his reign as the best in the world. 18 clean sheets in 21 games, conceding just 6 goals in that period (two of them being late goals we conceded in a game we were winning comfortably)...it's hard to put into words just how good Vidic was for that period in 08/09.
However I would still put VVD's 18/19 ahead of Vidic's 08/09 as Vidic did fall away a bit in the latter part of the season. Unfortunately his drop started a few weeks before the famous game where he had all kinds of problems against Torres, and I distinctly remember writing a post on this forum hoping that Vidic would turn it back around for that match which obviously didn't work out too well. Overall Vidic still has to be ahead as he did it at the top level for longer, but if VVD can get back into his top form and maintain it for a couple more seasons then he'll have a strong claim.
Rio's 07/08 still hasn't been beaten though. Alongside Nesta's 02/03 (I might be a year or so off), it was the best entire season I've seen any defender in the world have over the last 20 years. Other than one bad game he had against some mid-table striker (can't remember who it was off the top of my head) he was pretty much imperious the entire season.
I personally would have had Campbell in the top 5 until VVD's emergence. I think he's slightly below the 5 listed in the OP, but ahead of the others that people have mentioned (Adams, Kompany, etc).
Liverpool fans would say Carragher is one of the best the PL has ever seen before van Dijk came along.
Good job you’ve got Konate who’s known for his ability to stay fit.
Vidic
Rio
Terry
VVD
Kompany/Gallas
Rio
Terry
VVD
Kompany/Gallas
VVD is brilliant but when you claim he's the best ever, taken defending to a "new" level or that he's a "new type of defender", you gotta back it up with something more solid than OMG he's awesome.
Can you elaborate on what's this new type of defending VVD has brought to football that has never been seen before?
EDIT: btw, I didnt misread anything. here you go:
Or if you got Matip for free and then VvD. No goals would be scored ever.
@Klopper76 I've been trying to tell my footy mates for weeks that Matip is probably the best defender in the league at the moment fractionally ahead of VvD. Tried the same in the Top 5 defenders in the world (Maguire
There’s nothing new about what he does. He’s basically Mats Hummels with pace.
Starting a thread saying Vidic is the best...
Rio was better than Vidic. And VvD is close to Rio.
Rio was better than Vidic. And VvD is close to Rio.
He's much better than Stam. I won't comment on the others, since I can't judge em that well.
Vidic above Rio? That's interesting. I've always thought the consensus among United fans was Rio was your best CB in the PL era.
Rio
Terry
Vidic
Campbell
Stam
Kompany
Adams
Carvalho
Gallas
VVD in and around Carvalho right now but comfortably top 10. If he keeps it up for another couple years he’ll be top 5. Will need to win more silverware to even be in the conversation with the top 3 though.
Terry
Vidic
Campbell
Stam
Kompany
Adams
Carvalho
Gallas
VVD in and around Carvalho right now but comfortably top 10. If he keeps it up for another couple years he’ll be top 5. Will need to win more silverware to even be in the conversation with the top 3 though.
If we are creating tiers, I'd put Rio at the top on his own and in the best the English game has seen since Moore. The rest would go into a second tier along with Campbell. Van Dijk loses out on longevity, but if he has another year or two at his best level then I imagine he'd move up to Rio's tier.
I personally rate Vidic slightly higher. Rio was better on the ball but for me Vidic was Imo a better defender. Maybe it has to do with preference but I feel our defense was a bit too soft without Vidic, whereas when Rio was injured thereafter, it's not like our build up fell apart or anything.
Which says a lot about the league I think.
Dont know if these stats are still correct
It's all opinions anyway, but all of them were very good CB's of course.
It's all opinions anyway, but all of them were very good CB's of course.
Well, if we're playing this card one can point to Stam's signing in 1998 and United proceeding to win The Treble and three straight league titles with Stam earning PFA Team of the Year honors three straight seasons (despite missing a chunk of 00-01) and twice crowned UEFA defender of the year in succession.
Yeah I tend to agree. He was a beast although, as with all Arsenal defenders it seems, a bit of a weirdo, and basically done at 31. Nonetheless that was more or less 10 years of world class football. Him and Rio with Ashley Cole next to them in WC 2002 were an unbelievable set of defenders. The fact that Gary Neville at RB was the "weak link" because he was only turning in 7/10 performances every game says it all.
Interesting, I've always had Vidic as the third best overall behind Rio and Terry, but to be honest, there is very little splitting the 3, so I can see how something like personal preference can weigh it towards a particularly player.
You can also add Vidic, ManUtd didn't win league for 4 years, signed Vidic and then they won the league 5 out of 7 seasons, lost league title on GD and by one point in other 2 seasons.
Also we didn't qualify from group stage, signed Vidic and then we won 1 CL, reached 3 finals in 6 seasons.
Loved Stam and never had a good partner like the others.....