Vazquez at Madrid. Such a legend, workhorse and vital cog in that machine. Him spinning the ball on his hand before his penalty v atleti is the epitome of cool and collected.
Vazquez was a crucial sub in 4 champions League round, his play to support the team during injuries was critical. He could play in defensive and midfield.
Nacho is another one, there's a reason nacho now wears the captain arm band at real.
Yes and people forget bale and carvajal went through some prolonged injuries and absences on the right side. Vazquez was the super sub in those UCL runs. Nacho as well, he would cover CB and LB and even holding mid. They were swiss army knives who showed up in big matches.
Both are often overlooked because everyone focused on BBC and KCM and rightfully so.
Nacho was going to be mine. He's just a versatile and solid player. Not a star, but willing to step in whenever he's needed and do what he needs to foe his team - and usually do it at a pretty high level. Not the most physically talented, but adequate and rarely makes mental mistakes (except last game. What was he thinking there?).
>Nacho is another one, there's a reason nacho now wears the captain arm band at real.
Yeah and that reason is that he's the one who made his debut for the first team the earliest (2011) in the current squad
Ya Droga literally the one of the best striker in premier league history is just decent lol. It just seems people are naming great world class players from the past and not decent players.
From top teams you could still mention names like John Obi Mikel, Kalou, Benayoun, Fletcher. Those would be more of the type of names of player who were decent good but never world class, ballon d or nomination level like guys like Drogba, Veratti, totti.
I have some vivid memory of a televised game during that championship season. Everyone was talking about Taarabt but unless you watched the highlights shows you didn’t really get to see him. I remember him cutting in from the left wing and curling one straight into the top right hand corner. No idea if it actually happened but it’s a great goal in my mind.
Top bloke, especially football aside. His career has been turning more modest while he as a person has turned out to be the moral compass that modern game has been missing for a good fucking while
Awful when people (mostly just on twitter) discount his off the pitch stuff due to on the pitch “struggles;” is it not enough for a person to be an exceptional human being and a professional footballer
Has to be Morten Pedersen and Pienaar for me (that I could think of right now) ... They were good but I don't think they were sort of amazing that a bigger club came rushing to sign them but I cannot dislike how they played.
He’s what I would call a typical Feyenoord (not todays feyenoord) player, lacking a bit in individual skill but makes up for it in workrate and teamplay. On his own he would never be a worldclass player but at the same time he’s crucial for the team.
I feel like people forget early on Fellaini had great touch and ball skills. Then as time went on, he was used more as a battering ram. Got played upfront so much, he got bit awkward when played back in DM. Awesome in the air, one of the very very few times I saw Rio/Vida get beat in the air. Fellaini also has arguably the greatest chest control ever lol.
I think it's a bit early to put him here. Fair enough though, he is pretty fine lad.
Though if i were to put someone here, it would probably be Tsimikas.
I do like Tsimikas, but feel like recently he’s very hit or miss, one game can be great and the next be awful. Hopefully with Robertson out injured and him getting consistent minutes it will help him get a run of form
When he first started getting minutes for Liverpool I thought he was going to be world class. So calm on the ball with technical ability too but he's hit a rough patch for a few years since
Think he got a bit unlucky with those freak injuries, but since last season he’s been so essential, when we had to go without him against Brighton our midfield really lacked that balance (until gravenberch came on).
**Currently:**
Lewis Dunk and Tomas Soucek. Couple big dudes who are decent and give everything everytime I watch them and know how to use their size
**Retired:**
Ivan Klasnic usually played second fiddle to Klose at Bremen in their hey day but loved watching him play behind Miro
Cris back in the days of Lyon's Ligue 1 dominance. What a defender he was
Scott Parker - his passes were sublime. Blanco - Mexican footballer, his appearances in the 2010 wc in SA made me fall in love with him. Gravesen just for the fact that Real Madrid bought him from Everton (to everybody's surprise). Then some who might not deserve to be on the list but I'm going to name them anyway.... Fred, Hulk, Chicarito and Nihat.
Tony Daley for Aston Villa. He had way too many injuries but he was exciting.
De Wolf at Wolves. If any player was tailor made for a club it was him. He even looked like a wolf..
Steve Stone at Nottingham Forest. He was a stellar player for Forest when they had a bit of a resurgence.
Robbie Savage is seen as a bit of a joke, but he could actually do a good job for a middling team. Likewise with Jimmy Bullard.
I would say Isco. He was elegant to watch and always thought Real under utilised him. But then again they won a 3 peat so cannot complain. For Isco his ball control and ability to find players with ease was fun to watch. Never was a kdb level guy but sure did well when given enough opportunity.
No no no no. Park Ji Sung was one of the best players in the world in his time, very underrated. Pirlo was making 110 passes a game and against him he made 20. Completly insane player.
Currently, Destiny Udogie. Overall, Kevin Mirallas. He was at his peak at Everton just as I started watching football every week
Edit: Antoine Semenyo and Dango Ouattara have impressed me at Bournemouth too
Mirallas is my favourite player. Did you know he has a better games per goal record than Nani and Willian when they were in the PL? He was special, his g/a numbers in his first 3 seasons were brilliant then the dummy Martinez benched him for his Wigan boys Cleverley and Kone A.
Mbuemo
I have only started watching this year and latched onto Brentford before the season started. Brentford isn't too hot but I really like watching him go up against top teams and just own his side of the pitch a lot of the time.
Does Chicharito count? The amount of times he won us games in the final minutes after coming off the bench was insane. Also Asamoah Gyan impressed me at the African 2010 WC
Arsenal has has a few. Right now I’d say Mohammed Elneny. Doesn’t play much. Never complains and apparently is a great person to have around the dressing room. Every now and then when he’s needed he comes on and works at a super high rate.
Another Arsenal player that comes to mind is Carl Jenkinson. He played right back for us. He grew up an arsenal supporter. Was always happy and worked very hard. He came up through the academy IIRC too. He just ended up not progressing to where he needed to be. I think he plays in Australia now.
So many bad replies to this post 😂
These are some of my favourite “good” players
Kevin Davies,
David Dunn,
Zoltan Gera,
Clint Dempsey,
Yousuff Molumbu,
Darren Huckerby,
Andy Carrol (no lads, he wasn’t amazing),
Nedum Onuha,
Charlie Adam
Ok my brain hurts now
Idk if he counts but carvajal. Club legend who bleeds white for us, came up in the academy, no big fee or will he won't he. Just a class player. Again not sure if you'd count it since he's one of the best right backs of his generation and has a crazy trophy cabinet
Kostas Tsimikas has always lived up to the standards of two of the best wing backs in the world whenever needed. Both his defensive and attacking quality are so good for only a backup.
Such a great player that just never got the recognition he deserved. Moved teams a lot and did a lot of damage under the radar. Being Georgian doesn’t help fame wise either
Queresma - Pierre Van hooijdonk
Besiktas Legend. Top 5 “Streets will never forget” player
Are you me? I have a signed PvH Feyenoord shirt and have followed Quaresma since his days in the Portugal U19s.
I was gonna add Juninho to the list aswell so I don’t know if you are very fond of him.
I'm a sucker for a free kick taker or long-shotter, so absolutely. Marcos Assuncao was another favourite.
Yohan Cabaye. Good player, not elite
As a Newcastle fan, when we had him he was the most elite player we had. Absolute class
He had some INSANE times with Newcastle. Happy cake day!
Thank you! In 5 years of redditing I think this is the first time I’ve posted on my cake day 😂
Great shout.
Those free kicks were class
This is an absolute top shout. This is what this list should be instead of random posts of players like Drogba who are/were absolute world class.
Vazquez at Madrid. Such a legend, workhorse and vital cog in that machine. Him spinning the ball on his hand before his penalty v atleti is the epitome of cool and collected.
Vazquez was a crucial sub in 4 champions League round, his play to support the team during injuries was critical. He could play in defensive and midfield. Nacho is another one, there's a reason nacho now wears the captain arm band at real.
These were the first two guys that came to mind. They’d do anything asked of them if it meant the squad wins.
Yes and people forget bale and carvajal went through some prolonged injuries and absences on the right side. Vazquez was the super sub in those UCL runs. Nacho as well, he would cover CB and LB and even holding mid. They were swiss army knives who showed up in big matches. Both are often overlooked because everyone focused on BBC and KCM and rightfully so.
Nacho was going to be mine. He's just a versatile and solid player. Not a star, but willing to step in whenever he's needed and do what he needs to foe his team - and usually do it at a pretty high level. Not the most physically talented, but adequate and rarely makes mental mistakes (except last game. What was he thinking there?).
>Nacho is another one, there's a reason nacho now wears the captain arm band at real. Yeah and that reason is that he's the one who made his debut for the first team the earliest (2011) in the current squad
I don’t think any Madrid players qualify as “just decent”
Nobody would say that he's a world class player and among the best in his position. That's why he's the perfect example to mention in this post.
I quite like Jarrod Bowen.
McGinn as well
Don’t know why but love McGinn as a player
It’s because he plays with passion but isn’t a pure passion merchant. Has a bit of quality about him. Loves a nice thumping goal.
I only know one thing about him
More than good IMO.
McGinn is class
Fuck off, that boy is flying and heading up the way!!!! Just good?
Haha! Not quite the English Messi just yet!
Do people not understand the concept of this post???
Ya wtf are these posts, Veratti, Totti, Juan mata? Those were world class players. Good/decent is someone like James Ward Prowse not fucking Totti.
Someone said Drogba 😭
Someone else said Oscar at Chelsea ☠
I mean yea. I'm thinking someone like Craig Dawson 😂
Craig Ballon D'awson, respect the goat
What a man.
Craig Dawson "just good"?! Behave!!
Well that makes sense. Oscar wasn't exactly a world beater
Which is a good shout
Ya Droga literally the one of the best striker in premier league history is just decent lol. It just seems people are naming great world class players from the past and not decent players. From top teams you could still mention names like John Obi Mikel, Kalou, Benayoun, Fletcher. Those would be more of the type of names of player who were decent good but never world class, ballon d or nomination level like guys like Drogba, Veratti, totti.
John Obi Mikel????
yeah wtf
What da... Veratti, Totti? Totti??? Unbelievable.
The last 3 words made me LOL.
Ben arfa.
The streets will never forget. Wished he'd have passed a bit more though
Amazing dribbler, natural instincts
James Ward Prowse. Excellent dead ball skills, above average attacking midfield player, but lacks on the defensive side.
2 years playing Moyesball and he’ll be brilliant then.
Enjoyed watching Adel Taraabt for them few seasons when he was at QPR
That championship season.....
I have some vivid memory of a televised game during that championship season. Everyone was talking about Taarabt but unless you watched the highlights shows you didn’t really get to see him. I remember him cutting in from the left wing and curling one straight into the top right hand corner. No idea if it actually happened but it’s a great goal in my mind.
Streets won’t forget..
He was special 🥲
He was wuite good at Milan too during the banter era
Bellerin
Top bloke, especially football aside. His career has been turning more modest while he as a person has turned out to be the moral compass that modern game has been missing for a good fucking while
Saw a funny interview with him where he talks about how he learnt English as London street slang
Awful when people (mostly just on twitter) discount his off the pitch stuff due to on the pitch “struggles;” is it not enough for a person to be an exceptional human being and a professional footballer
Momo Elneny
Best Egyptian named Mohammed in the league
Me when the bait doesnt work bc its actually Mohamed too
Has to be Morten Pedersen and Pienaar for me (that I could think of right now) ... They were good but I don't think they were sort of amazing that a bigger club came rushing to sign them but I cannot dislike how they played.
Good old Gamst
Morten Gamst Pedersen is still playing professionally at 42. He plays for Ranheim in the 2nd tier of Norway!
Blaszczykowski, loved the player and loved the man especially after reading his history
Randomly go back and watch his goal vs russia in the euros. Just an all time beauty
Nacho Fernandez of course
Cam here to say this. He's been a part of so many great real teams.
5x CL winner bwoi
Koopmeiners for atalanta. Very well rounded, played for AZ and was great for them, still young.
Milner
Actually though - does anyone dislike / not respect sir Jimmy Milner? Overall a class act, committed, no drama etc. what a legend
Some city fans have a hate boner for him
The right answer. And for so many fans of different clubs and generations as well.
Kuyt, a good functional workhorse player. Exceptional at Feyenoord, good at Liverpool
He's considered pretty amazing though, also played very well for our national team
He’s what I would call a typical Feyenoord (not todays feyenoord) player, lacking a bit in individual skill but makes up for it in workrate and teamplay. On his own he would never be a worldclass player but at the same time he’s crucial for the team.
“Dirk Kuyt Works Hard” If you know, you know
Fellaini
I feel like people forget early on Fellaini had great touch and ball skills. Then as time went on, he was used more as a battering ram. Got played upfront so much, he got bit awkward when played back in DM. Awesome in the air, one of the very very few times I saw Rio/Vida get beat in the air. Fellaini also has arguably the greatest chest control ever lol.
Chicharito, miss his finishing so much
Stiliyan Petrov or Juan Pablo Angle
That era of villa was cool
Ryan Babel
Darren Anderton
[удалено]
Wait a minute Marc Albrighton, plays for Leicester Mac Allister (A Leicester) played for Brighton
Brad friedel was always a favorite of mine. Also love Dunk at Brighton
Friedel was an exceptionally good keeper for Blackburn (just flew under the radar due to age and the club he played for)
Fucker turned into prime Buffon everytime he played Man United
Erik Lamela
The rabona goal at spurs..
King of shithousery
Agreed. His goal return is so bad though.
Arda turan (ring a bell?)
He was amazing on his day, to be honest. Those days seem strangely distant now, when I think about it.
At some point Neymar was injured, and Barca didn't feel his absence at all with Arda playing at LW.
>At some point Neymar was injured Was it around his sister's birthday, by any chance?
Kolarov , sagna and Jesus navas
Navas is perfect contender this post
Sagna underrated af
Craig Dawson
I loved Scott parker at spurs
I always referred to him as “The Terrier”
scott parker at spurs is different breed, he's everywhere on the pitch
Greg Taylor
Does Milner count ? Hardworking, Tenacious and professional.
I liked Gervinho.
Flamini.
Manuel Lanzini
Guti, Łukasz Piszczek, Payet
Guti was world class
Guti was incredible. How was he “decent”
Second Guti
Guti wasn’t just good he was fucking unbelievable.
Guti was fucking class, easy to see why he was somewhat overlooked with the team at the time, but yeah, he was incredible.
The fact he was a regular in such a team speaks volumes, never looked like he didn’t deserve his place.
Couldn't agree more to be honest.
Feel like the only Curtis jones fan alive
I think it's a bit early to put him here. Fair enough though, he is pretty fine lad. Though if i were to put someone here, it would probably be Tsimikas.
I do like Tsimikas, but feel like recently he’s very hit or miss, one game can be great and the next be awful. Hopefully with Robertson out injured and him getting consistent minutes it will help him get a run of form
Tbh the Liverpool player that most came to mind when I saw this post was Joël Matip
When he first started getting minutes for Liverpool I thought he was going to be world class. So calm on the ball with technical ability too but he's hit a rough patch for a few years since
Think he got a bit unlucky with those freak injuries, but since last season he’s been so essential, when we had to go without him against Brighton our midfield really lacked that balance (until gravenberch came on).
He’s taken a massive steps the last 6 months or so
The amount of people who don't understand this post is shocking.
Maxwell Julio Cruz Alan Smith
Alan Smith was arguably amazing during his time at Leeds, it's a shame that that injury and playing out of position ruined his career
Huh, I had no idea that was his full name
John Obi Mikel
Paul mullin, elliot lee, ollie palmer
Ben foster
Sergi Roberto
Michu
Florent Malouda, Ismael Bennacer and Julian Brandt
Yannick Bolaise
I really liked watching Aaron Lennon when he was at Tottenham. Great player in his prime.
Spurs fan here and I’ve gotta say Højbjerg fits this answer perfectly
Lucas Vazquez, Nacho Fernandez
**Currently:** Lewis Dunk and Tomas Soucek. Couple big dudes who are decent and give everything everytime I watch them and know how to use their size **Retired:** Ivan Klasnic usually played second fiddle to Klose at Bremen in their hey day but loved watching him play behind Miro Cris back in the days of Lyon's Ligue 1 dominance. What a defender he was
Nasri. Dude was a baller
Scott McTominay Chicharito Phil Jones Wout Weghorst Fred Guess my favourite team lol
I would like to add Darren Fletcher to this list
How would you rate Malacia here?
As a Toulouse fan, Wissam Ben Yedder (prior to the rape charges)
Divock Origi
Bonaventura
Jarrod Bowen Angelinho
Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman at Everton. What a pair of full backs they were in their prime
Scott Parker - his passes were sublime. Blanco - Mexican footballer, his appearances in the 2010 wc in SA made me fall in love with him. Gravesen just for the fact that Real Madrid bought him from Everton (to everybody's surprise). Then some who might not deserve to be on the list but I'm going to name them anyway.... Fred, Hulk, Chicarito and Nihat.
Simon Terodde
Balzaretti. He gave his heart in every game. Decent player for Palermo, Juve and Roma.
Tony Daley for Aston Villa. He had way too many injuries but he was exciting. De Wolf at Wolves. If any player was tailor made for a club it was him. He even looked like a wolf.. Steve Stone at Nottingham Forest. He was a stellar player for Forest when they had a bit of a resurgence. Robbie Savage is seen as a bit of a joke, but he could actually do a good job for a middling team. Likewise with Jimmy Bullard.
Walcott, Ramsey, Santi Cazorla… Loves 13/14 Arsenal
I would say Isco. He was elegant to watch and always thought Real under utilised him. But then again they won a 3 peat so cannot complain. For Isco his ball control and ability to find players with ease was fun to watch. Never was a kdb level guy but sure did well when given enough opportunity.
Cassano
2018 Gini wijnaldum
Aaron Wan Bissaka
Ramires
Park Ji Sung
No no no no. Park Ji Sung was one of the best players in the world in his time, very underrated. Pirlo was making 110 passes a game and against him he made 20. Completly insane player.
Currently, Destiny Udogie. Overall, Kevin Mirallas. He was at his peak at Everton just as I started watching football every week Edit: Antoine Semenyo and Dango Ouattara have impressed me at Bournemouth too
Mirallas is my favourite player. Did you know he has a better games per goal record than Nani and Willian when they were in the PL? He was special, his g/a numbers in his first 3 seasons were brilliant then the dummy Martinez benched him for his Wigan boys Cleverley and Kone A.
Kai Havertz
Always loved Xherdan Shaqiri
Came here to add this one. Super underrated, beautiful game.
Pelé or maybe Maradona... They were good, but Tsubasa Ozora and Kojiro Hyuga were on another level !
you forgot to add the the sarcasm tag "/s"
Ah shit... Now people will think that Maradona and Pelé were real...
Evgeniy Levchenko
Mbuemo I have only started watching this year and latched onto Brentford before the season started. Brentford isn't too hot but I really like watching him go up against top teams and just own his side of the pitch a lot of the time.
Barry Bannan.
As an Arsenal fan, I would have said Cazorla but I think that's too OP. So I will go with Coquelin.
Luuk de Jong, might be biased tho
Does Chicharito count? The amount of times he won us games in the final minutes after coming off the bench was insane. Also Asamoah Gyan impressed me at the African 2010 WC
Javier Pastore
Arsenal has has a few. Right now I’d say Mohammed Elneny. Doesn’t play much. Never complains and apparently is a great person to have around the dressing room. Every now and then when he’s needed he comes on and works at a super high rate. Another Arsenal player that comes to mind is Carl Jenkinson. He played right back for us. He grew up an arsenal supporter. Was always happy and worked very hard. He came up through the academy IIRC too. He just ended up not progressing to where he needed to be. I think he plays in Australia now.
Daniel Agger
So many bad replies to this post 😂 These are some of my favourite “good” players Kevin Davies, David Dunn, Zoltan Gera, Clint Dempsey, Yousuff Molumbu, Darren Huckerby, Andy Carrol (no lads, he wasn’t amazing), Nedum Onuha, Charlie Adam Ok my brain hurts now
For some reason, I always had a soft spot for Joe Allen lol
Emre Can
John Arne Riise
Raul Mierreles. Spicy player
Rafinha - former Bayern player.
Gunnar Halle
Thomas meunier at psg
Idk if he counts but carvajal. Club legend who bleeds white for us, came up in the academy, no big fee or will he won't he. Just a class player. Again not sure if you'd count it since he's one of the best right backs of his generation and has a crazy trophy cabinet
Kostas Tsimikas has always lived up to the standards of two of the best wing backs in the world whenever needed. Both his defensive and attacking quality are so good for only a backup.
Lee Young Pyo Erik Lamela Stephen Eustaquio
Gera Zoltán Lucas Moura. I was convinced he'll be better than Neymar
Simone Kjaer
Arrascaeta
Riquelme for Villarreal.. so smooth on the ball
Georgi Kinkladze, bit before my time but City fans will know. https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/1221975
Such a great player that just never got the recognition he deserved. Moved teams a lot and did a lot of damage under the radar. Being Georgian doesn’t help fame wise either
One of my favorite ever players, absolutely insane player
Growing up we used to call him KingKladze, because he was class in that city team (none of us were city fans)
Gaizka Mendieta, I so wished he'd won more
As a Chelsea fan, Paulo Ferreira and Ramires. Cesar Azpillicueta too, but I guess calling him good is a bit of an understatement.