The Greatest Player of the 00s: The Final Score

21 ballots were received, comprising
421 votes cast, for
116 different individuals.
And it went right to the wire.

Top 30 coming up.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3152/30makelele.jpg

30. Claude Makelele
64 points, four votes

So good they named a position after him....let's ignore the fact that he didn't actually invent said position. Madrid's best player according to Zizou, and if he's good enough for Zizou..

Great player, seems like a thoroughly decent guy as well. So good he actually made people care about an unglamorous job. Madrid were insane to let him go.

Did he come back for France's run to the 2006 World Cup Final?

He did, but I don't remember him being there. There can have been few more anonymous elite players - I even had a bit of trouble finding a picture of him actually playing football, rather than hanging on the arm of his ex-missus.

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2997/29xabialonso.jpg

29. Xabi Alonso
67 points, four votes, one first-placed vote

For some reason I didn't vote for any LFC players. But if I had done it would have been Xabi or Didi. He was mediocore for a season and a half until Rafa flirted with Gareth Barry but otherwise he was brilliant and Liverpool miss the hell out of him and so do Madrid when he doesn't play.

Didi and Xabi were the only two LFCs I voted for - I do like me a good midfielder, and they are proper good midfielders. I think I underrated them both on my list though.

Best Liverpool midfielder of the 00s.

I was in Madrid this time last year and saw him play against Malaga - he was terrible! Misplaced everything, was hitting short passes over teammates' heads for throw-ins, the lot. It was comically out-of-character.

Matt DC OTM

Liking the graphics by the way Ismael.

Thank you. I've got fifteen ready to go, so I'll most likely split the countdown over two or three days to have time to prepare the others.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/941/27rivaldo.jpg

27. Rivaldo
71 points, four votes

27th is a tie, that's not an error. There are two ties but I'm not using tiebreakers because I didn't set any, and also because the usual ways of doing it (#1s or no. of votes) were already taken into account in the vote weighting. So there are two 27s.

Always remember his hat trick goal in the last minute of the final game of the season to secure a Champions League spot for Barca. Tbh he played in an era when I didn't watch La Liga as much as I do now so mainly remember him from Champions League games against Man Utd and World Cups. Probably a lot better than I give him credit for and definitely worthy of the list.

Considering how good he was and what he achieved, Rivaldo's position is arguably all wrong and he should be top ten at least. I think he suffers for being linked to the 90s somehow (i.e. glory days long ago), having dragged out his career into mediocrity, and through having done bad things (cheating, following the money).

Next up is a young 'un who hasn't done any of these things yet.

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/2479/27fabregas.jpg

27. Cesc Fabregas
71 points, six votes

nice

thanks to ismael

Loving your work, but are you going to put up individual voting records so we know who to blame for what is already being described in some quarters (eg SE24) as a sham and a travesty (Makelele below no-marks Fabregas and Alonso, for shame!)?

On 6 out of 21 ballots. Not bad. Not on mine mind you. Having said that if LFC could have any other Premier League player for the next 5 years I'd take Cesc I think.

I may do xp, typing fingers permitting. I'll put up a full rundown of the 116 at least.

I can, however, already reveal useless chamber's shamelessness in sneaking through a ballot of 21 names, which I didn't pick up until counting - his 21st guy got 5 points, which thankfully proved not to be the clinching factor between #1 and #2.

Yeah, my chief memories of Rivaldo at this point consist of him falling over, not being able to run anymore, and suddenly becoming incredibly old with approximately no warning.

Great player, seems like a thoroughly decent guy as well. So good he actually made people care about an unglamorous job. Madrid were insane to let him go.

― Matt DC, Monday, 28 February 2011 12:13 (1 hour ago)

didn't he cheat on noemie

makalele deserves inclusion on merit and longevity, but i didn't include him cuz he has probably had the worst influence on football of any player in this time period -- every shitty pl side needs its own shitty makalele, or two

incidentally i think he was an attacking midfielder at celta vigo, but that's before my time

fabregas and alonso are both far better 'players' and accomplished enough to be included

rivaldo was second on my list cuz he was still an awesome player until 2002

i just loved watching him play

i voted rivaldo but think i put him outside my top 10, for reasons mentioned. his 90's career was still better than his 00 iirc?

yeah but that's only by virtue of his age, born 71 iirc

I had Rivaldo stupidly high. No 3 or something.

Oh, and I did vote for Fabregas after all, above Lampard even. What was I drinking?

Next up is possibly the guy whose presence here pleases me the most.

didi rite

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/2418/26zanetti.jpg

26. Javier Zanetti
74 points, six votes

He just looks happy to be here.

It occurred to me yesterday, watching Scott Parker charge around yet managing to maintain both immaculate and sensible hair, that he may well base his personal style on Zanetti.

I forgot he existed, for shame (xpost about Rivaldo). Please don't put individual ballots up, basically because I don't want people pointing and laughing at me any more than is strictly necessary.

didn't include him cuz about half my list was argentinian

like makalele, deserves it for longevity etc

the best utility player of the decade?

First one of mine to make it. Has had a ridiculously successful career in a variety of positions.There are those players which ever team needs, your Denis Irwin types, who you can pencil in for 7/10 performances week in week out and they're essential. But then there is someone like Zanetti who you can pencil in for 8-9/10 performances week in week out for over a decade. Phenomenal player and leader (goes all McNulty)

I can, however, already reveal useless chamber's shamelessness in sneaking through a ballot of 21 names, which I didn't pick up until counting - his 21st guy got 5 points, which thankfully proved not to be the clinching factor between #1 and #2.

shit, sorry about that. no idea how that happened. have been thinking i need an eye-test all weekend and this is some sort of confirmation. Also after the 1st 9 words of that post I thought the next words would be either 'ridiculous LFC boostering' or 'basing most of these on people who are quite good on PES4'.

xpost - ailsa otm

didn't put zanetti on mine for some reason i forgot but he deserves to be there. maradona is an idiot.

I think he was high on my list, I don't know how much out of general fondness for him and his career and how much for the actual player he's been. Fuckin Maradona. Coulda been a World Cup winner if not for him.

and pekerman in 2006

picked lionel scaloni above zanetti

In that picture, is Zanetti showing off how many votes he got? I voted for him, would have loved him in my team at virtually any point in the last few years.

this seems like time for

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/2456/25riquelme.jpg

25. Juan Roman Riquelme
76 points, five votes, one first-place vote

TOO LOW.

Argh 2006 World Cup Arg-Germany. Why was he subbed?? WHY???? Think I remember Ledley King attempting to man mark him in an England friendly to not much success.

Bit surprised only 5 of us voted for him tbh.

Riquelme really could have been a World Cup winner had it not been for Peckerman taking him off against Germany in 2006. I remember England successfully played Ledley King in defensive midfield for a few games and then he came up against Riquelme and 'Makaledley' was swiftly forgotten.

tbf that was eriksson's fault for thinking that if king can fill in at cm during an injury crisis at tottenham, he can do it vs argentina

I sort of hate myself for my lol-boosting of players I like that no-one else does now, when I forget about actual genuine proper good players. This is basically a reminder to Watch More Football though, which is good.

t/s: watching football vs watching the spl

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7027/53471303.jpg

24. Samuel Eto'o
81 points, six votes

TOO LOW

Knew I'd forgotten someone...

i guess it depends, list should include all sorts of players and maybe the top 10 will be all keepers, but as far as strikers go i'd say there are maybe one or two better than eto'o this decade, at the most. plus he's easy to like.

3 of my votes in a row. Think it was Nakh on the Champions League thread that was talking about Eto'os shooting technique, how flawless it is. He can basically get a shot off from anywhere with power and accuracy. Also v v good at joining in with play and also seemingly has a great attitude, calling out the over indulging Ronaldinho while at Barca springs to mind, as does arguably playing out of position for more than one season to help his team be successful.

Love that jpg Ismael!

Riquelme really could have been a World Cup winner had it not been for Peckerman taking him off against Germany in 2006
Argh 2006 World Cup Arg-Germany. Why was he subbed?? WHY????

haha this is totally what i talked about when telling ismael why i ranked him so high.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7329/23sneijder.jpg

23. Wesley Sneijder
82 points, six votes

3 of my votes in a row. Think it was Nakh on the Champions League thread that was talking about Eto'os shooting technique, how flawless it is. He can basically get a shot off from anywhere with power and accuracy.

yeah, he's one of my favourite players and along with villa is mising from my list, because i did the list in three or four minues and while trying to think of names i might have forgotten, missed those two because they were just too obvious

someone else has probably missed messi or ronaldinho for the same reasons

anyway, eto'o and villa are metronomically consistent -- apart from one seasons when he was injured (11 in 19, still) -- eto'o has scored at least 14 league goals every season for the last nine years

they both have superb technique, can play on the wings, are superb in the buildup, never take too many touches and are born finishers

ronaldo is the most gifted number 9 of this period, henry, shevchenko & maybe torres might have been better at their very peak, but eto'o and villa are the best

Think I underrated Sneijder until last years World Cup, which is ridiculous considering what he won prior to that tournament, but it was South Africa which really sold me on him as a player. Didn't vote for him but watching Inter-Bayern last week he and Eto'o seemed to be on a totally different wavelength to the rest of a talented Inter team. They were clearly next level.

yeah i'm not sure i voted for sneijder

goal vs austria the other week was next level tho

modern version of the classic dutch playmaker -- quicker passing, more efficient, less flamboyant

Eto'o is a lovely, economical player. So precise, no wasted energy. Opposite of Drog.

Sad I can't find the footage of Eto'o going ballistic in the TV studio after Drogba's last minute equaliser at Nou Camp in a 2-2 game in the Champions League (Mourinho knee slide).

drogba is a very efficient these days when he's on form, really i'd rate the drogba of the first half of this season over the harem scarem all action drogba of 05-07

i wonder if he's finished now tho -- it's taken a couple of years for k toure to regain his form after malaria, and drogba is nearly 33

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5391/22vannistelrooij.jpg

22. Ruud van Nistelrooy
83 points, five votes

I'm definitely guilty of underrating this guy. The Alonso nightmare match I mentioned above was also Ruud's farewell to the Bernabeu - he walked out in a leather jacket and waved. I was just surprised he was still around.

Didn't vote for him and what's more didn't even consider voting for him. And I can't really come up with a logical reason why not, unless it's some kind of unthinking anti Man U bias. I mean dude was prolific at Madrid but never seemed like the main man to me, even when his goal tally suggested otherwise.

maybe the only player that i associate with man u and still have affection for

One of those players who terrifies you for years and then you completely forget about as soon as they've moved on.

^^^^

yeah great player obviously, suffers from being a bit boring maybe

One more for today I think. This guy's devastated to have missed the top twenty.

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/9949/21pirlo.jpg

21. Andrea Pirlo
85 points, five votes

This list is just reminding me how little I have remembered of the last 10 years of football and, consequently, how ill-qualified I was to vote.

Wondering if there'll be any English players here at all. I doubt that any of them deserve to be above Pirlo, Eto'o or Van Nistelrooy, who lest we forget was an unstoppable goal-machine for at least 7 of the 10 years we're talking about.

Also wondering if 00s Sneijder is being overrated on the basis of his amazing form over the last year or so.

Ah another of my votes. Understated brilliance. 2006 World Cup felt like Cannovaro's but Pirlo was equally excellent. Not to get all Gray/Keys about it but I've often wondered how he would have fitted in the Premier League. Him and Milan seemed like the perfect fit. I kinda hate the term 'quarterback' when talking about footballers 'cos it always seems to imply 40 yard wonder passes, but in terms of most of the play going through one guy then Pirlo was like a quaterback. Has/had the ability to control the tempo of a game at his very best.

Wondering if there'll be any English players here at all. I doubt that any of them deserve to be above Pirlo, Eto'o or Van Nistelrooy, who lest we forget was an unstoppable goal-machine for at least 7 of the 10 years we're talking about.

scholes

doubt anyone rated pirlo more highly than myself

he was the best player in italy's 2k6 team (just abive buffon)

               kaka
seedorf                        gattuso
                 pirlo

favourite midfield of the decade

I'm saying nothing xps. However I can reveal that there may or may not be an English player or players yet to come. Indeed I can go so far as to reveal that the entire top twenty may or may not be homegrown.

The reason I'm stopping today at 21 is that I definitely won't be able to take it all the way down to no.1 tomorrow, so I'll do ten tomorrow and ten on Wednesday.

plus I haven't done the jpgs yet

no probs IK, thanks for this, been good so far.

Cashley is most probably good enough to make it, but he's a cunt.

Sol too, but if I didn't vote for him...

30. Claude Makelele - I remember watching PSG a while back and thinking that even at a billion years old, he still should have been playing for a better club (Guily on the other hand...). A deserved world cup winner. Didn't vote for him though.
29. Xabi Alonso - I don't know where to stand on Xabi. He had one of the best individual seasons of any players I've seen but before and after that one run, he just seemed like the guy who wanted to be a budget Pirlo, knocking long balls into the crowd instead of to his attack. Could just be the curse of watching players only on their off days though.
27. Rivaldo - 71 points, four votes (tie) - Didn't watch enough Spanish football when he was at his best, mainly remember his LOL Milan time and money chasing. Surprisingly played for the whole decade. THAT Valencia game is still a regular youtube view. Dirty cheating hand bastard world cup winner.
27. Cesc Fabregas - To whoever said Xabi and Cesc didn't deserve to be ahead of Makelele, I remind them of a Euro 08 medal. Cut off was before they won the WC though. Arguably the most talented player to ever play for Arsenal but I didn't vote for him, mianly out of hope that he'll make the 10s his decade winning everything on planet earth with Arsenal, Spain and then yeah Barcelona.
26. Javier Zanetti - First of my votes. Never seen him be less than excellent and in a whole range of positions too. Maybe not the best player to say this about but deserves a WC medal more than anyone, if that makes sense?
25. Juan Roman Riquelme - 2nd of my votes. Maybe as a nostalgia vote as he is the last of the great lazy playmakers. As the game becomes more about athletic ability, you are more likely to find a Modric than a Riquelme make an attack tick, which is fine but to see someone like Riquelme stand there, looking out of breath after going 5 paces out of his boundry to get a ball and dink it over the top of three defenders or to put it straight in the top corner is something to make any football nerd's heart flutter.
24. Samuel Eto'o - More of a machine than human. His precision and ability is spectacular.
23. Wesley Sneijder - See Eto'o. Both can do beautiful things but they are Mourinho type players, to the point where he bought them, and that just isn't my thing.
22. Ruud van Nistelrooy - Ronaldo won World Cups in a great Brazil team but van Nistelrooy and Eto'o were arguably as good. One of those players that, no matter how great a defender is, and he played against some of the best, they could just not stop him from somehow being there first. And once he was, it was always on target and past the keeper. He may not be a showy player, he may have never been the best passer of the ball, he never even really scored beautiful goals but he was possibly the most effective player of the decade. /mcnulty
21. Andrea Pirlo - Other people have talked about him as a playmaker so instead I'll go for a more under-rated part of his game: interceptions and sly tackles. Kaka would have never won WPOTY without Gattuso being a nutcase and Pirlo quietly doing the defensive job of two midfielders at once. A rare form of class in a player.

Cheers for this Ismael, and terrific graphics.

I was going to start off today with a recap, but no need after that.

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/9313/20cannavaro.jpg

20. Fabio Cannavaro
89 points, eight votes

cool thread, you guys

i'm holding out for tevez :D

24. Samuel Eto'o - More of a machine than human. His precision and ability is spectacular.

i got the machine/robot feel from him in this past WC when it seemed like he couldn't care less about cameroon being a massive disappointment but i'm sure i'm reading him wrong

Yeah, that was very strange - everyone but the coach could see he was being wasted on the wing, and Eto'o must've known that above all. Him sticking to that gameplan was either an incredible commitment to proper lines of authority, or just plain perverse.

Can't argue with Cannavaro, although his career basically peaked with the 2006 World Cup final and then went rapidly downhill.

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/4461/19scholes.jpg

19. Paul Scholes
94 points, seven votes

Wait wait is Jordan a CIty fan now? Cool!

Paul Scholes, ladies and gentlemen

someone rant about his tackling, or something

I saw what I'm willing to believe was the finest game of his career, though it doesn't get talked about much - England beating Scotland 2-0 at Hampden in the Euro 2000 play-offs. He scored both goals and basically killed the tie dead (even though Scotland almost got it back in the return leg). The printed a full set of stats in the paper the next day and his were just astonishing - every number for passes completed and the like was twice as high as the next-best player.

Easily the best English player of the last 10 years, can't think of any others who come close. And he hasn't even been at his peak since 2004 or so.

I didn't vote Scholes. I see him as more of a 90s player for some reason. But also I genuinely can't stand him, which is unusual for me as I can take or leave most footballers (Barton, Bowyer, Cole, Shawcross, Rooney, Ronaldo, Gerrard - I genuinely don't care what any of them get up to and get bored beyond belief listening to other people's fake moral outrage about them).

I don't think it's the viciousness in his play - I love a bit of ultraviolence in my footballers - it's more the fact he always goes unpunished and is endlessly condoned that grates. But I can't stand Roy Keane either and he rarely got away with it, so maybe it's just something about brilliant but dirty Manchester United central midfielders of the 1990s that gets to me.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1296/18ibrahimovic.jpg

18. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
95 points, seven votes

I voted for Cannavaro and Zlatan. Zlatan has an amazing haul of titles for which he was usually top scorer. Plus I just kinda love his attitude and arrogance. Never quite sure which stories about him are true and which not, but one of my favourites is when Malmo brought in an experienced back up goalie who was around 30 years old and when he was doing his first meet and greet with the rest of the squad a 16 or 17 year old Zlatan introduced himself thusly - "Hello, you won't have seen a player like me before."

forgot about this.

Happy enough so far, tho obv makalele shouldnt be anywhere near top 30

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/837/17buffon.jpg

17. Gianluigi Buffon
104 points, eight votes

Nice to see a goalie make it. Is Buffon hands down the keeper of the decade? I think I considered Casillas before I considered him, and in the end voted for neither. Perhaps I'm prejudiced against the snood.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4238/16casillas.jpg

16. Iker Casillas
112 points, eight votes

I'd expected most goalie votes to be concentrated between Buffon and Casillas and would have been surprised if neither had made it. Casillas may still do, due to being a) Spanish, b) terrific and c) not a fascist.

(xpost lol)

i think I give Casillas extra points for playing behind a ropey defence for the first half of his Madrid career.

Julio Cesar probably deserves an honorable mention here.

olli kahn too

But not Jens Lehmann.

Oli Kahn a good shout, howlers in World Cup Finals apart. Again I don't have a good grasp on how good he was because I didn't used to follow the Bundesliga.

we should have 30 worst after this #paulrobinson

I voted Kahn.

world cup 02 was just a buildup to see if kahn could keep ronaldo out

Something's come up means I have to leave it there for today, but I should be clear for a 15-1 frenzy tomorrow. Meantime, talk amongst yourselves.

Zlatan has an amazing haul of titles for which he was usually top scorer

indeed. if we forget juve's cheating, a milan serie a win this year will mean he'll have won nine consecutive league titles with five different clubs. O_O

should predict who our players of the 2010s will be.

voted zlatan and buffon. casillas certainly been the better keeper between the two the last couple of years, but at his peak i prefer buffon.

five of mine accounted for so far.

Only one i regret so far is zanetti. Maybe eto'o and ruud too, tho i've enough strikers.

should predict who our players of the 2010s will be.

― territory of the magic wand (Chris), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 13:30 (4 hours ago)

P certain he's gonna be in the top 3 of this poll anyway.

and c ron too

the ppl worrying that they haven't seen enough football for this poll -- you don't need to really, if you see a few big champions league games a year & world cup / european championships, then you have enough to go on really

good results so far

hoping no more english ppl now the peerless scholes (who was in approx the same place as in my ballot) has placed

20. Fabio Cannavaro - Voted Nesta instead, mainly because Milan didn't win anything by cheating.
19. Paul Scholes - Think of him as a 90s player and he's so shit at tackling that he borders on dangerous. But when he's good, like that semi-final v. Barcelona in what 2007 or 08?, he's really good.
18. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Voted for him, of course. I don't think anyone, even Thierry, scored more beautiful and insane goals than Zlatan in the 00s.
17. Gianluigi Buffon - Second best keeper of decade, deserved world cup winner. Didn't vote for him to keep my fascist tally to a minimum (holy shit I forgot to vote for Del Piero!)
16. Iker Casillas - Second placed vote for me. I don't think any player has been as consistent for a decade. Zanetti gave 7/10 every game, Casillas gave 9/10 every game.

scholes as a 90's player? Look at the stats, that seems all wrong to me.

stats don't make for great reasoning, this is football!

So this poll is so far enough of a success to give me the ok to do an all time poll this upcoming off season, right? no world cup or anything to distract us.

Up for that, yes. Nominating by picking a squad is a great idea btw, I wish I'd thought of it.

yeah. Tho the scope prob not as conducive- if ppl aren't comfortable throwin out names from a decade they've just witnessed, they'll be terrified of the 50's

Scholes only rly broke into utd first team in 95

I was kinda sorta thinking about a CONCACAF player poll, tho didn't rly think about a specific period of time to frame it w/.

now there's a poll i wouldn't have a clue about, tho it would certainly be educational

dan just wants to see freddy adu win something

I've already submitted in that poll btw

yeah i'm thinking a squad of players won't be enough, 50 votes?

Pretty sure I could fill a ballot of 1,000 if I had to (I do not recommend this). The most important thing is that people vote though, regardless of whether they consider themselves qualified - the individual ballots don't have to be sensible for the whole thing to work.

yeah well i'm thinking of putting the voting thread on ile.

20. Fabio Cannavaro - Voted Nesta instead, mainly because Milan didn't win anything by cheating.

yeah me too, plus nesta is prettier. doubt he'll be placing now though.

if rooney places ... I dunno

plus nesta is prettier

we may be able to widen the ILF readership with a complementary 'Most Attractive Player of the 00s' poll.

would still have the same #1 tbh

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00783/gilberto-silva_783095c.jpg

6/10, outofmyleagueLAD.

30. Claude MAKELELE (64 points, four votes)
29. Xabi ALONSO (67 points, four votes, one first-place)
27. RIVALDO (71 points, four votes)
27. Cesc FABREGAS (71 points, six votes)
26. Javier ZANETTI (74 points, six votes)
25. Juan Roman RIQUELME (76 points, five votes, one first-place)
24. Samuel ETO'O (81 points, six votes)
23. Wesley SNEIJDER (82 points, six votes)
22. Ruud VAN NISTELROOY (83 points, five votes)
21. Andrea PIRLO (85 points, five votes)

20. Fabio CANNAVARO (89 points, eight votes)
19. Paul SCHOLES (94 points, seven votes)
18. Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC (95 points, seven votes)
17. Gianluigi BUFFON (104 points, eight votes)
16. Iker CASILLAS (112 points, eight votes)

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/443/15totti.jpg

15. Francesco Totti
116 points, six votes, one first-place

left off my list. I think cos of inconsistency/injury/fecklessness.

But i love the dude.

far be it from me, but someone put him first? Would be an interesting debate that.

ha that is a great jpg, ismael

Italy seems to be the place to go for great football photography. With other countries I usually have to hunt for a while, but with Italian clubs I'm picking from dozens of great shots.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5008/14figo.jpg

14. Luis Figo
119 points, eight votes

might have been higher imo

might have been, but there're better on the list already imo

Figo's like Scholes - you think of him as a 90s player and then look at what he actually did in the first half of this decade and reconsider.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1152/13larsson.jpg

13. Henrik Larsson
126 points, nine votes, two first-places

ROLLEYES.GIF

Very good player obviously but having an exceptional scoring record in the fucking SPL should not be anywhere near enough to put you above Van Nistelrooy, Totti and Eto'o.

worthy as fuck, stfu.

Very worthy. Not better than Ibra.

Pffffffft.

When I was still very new to football I saw a bit of Portugal/Holland in a pub and thinking Portugal - with Figo and Ronaldo - were the best team I'd ever seen.

Can see Berba finishing in top ten here, which would be even more of a joke.

Figo is brilliant, should be higher.

fuck...sean dundee obv going to be higher than i'd thought.

My only regret so far is not voting for Giggs, which was a horrendous oversight of taking sustained brilliance for granted.

'brilliance'

I reckon Scholes probably mopped up most of the potential Giggs votes. I doubt Berbatov will place (ie I didn't vote for him and I love Berbatov more than most players) - Gerrard is maybe the unexploded bomb here.

Figo should definitely have been higher though.

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8877/12gerrard.jpg

12. Steven Gerrard
134 points, eight votes

giggs was equivalent to lennon for a huge chunk of his mid-career, and hasn't been half as good as reported in the last few years either.

Gerrard will place.

^ nostradamus

xp

berbatov doesnt deserve a place. Certainly not above larsson

Pfffffffffffffffffffffffft!!!!

( to Gerrard and Darragh.)

we're gettin to the meat of it now.

Does this mean lampard places higher tho? Are you watching, sven?

the last minute of a cup final, and he's doing that - well worthy of his place (indeed I had him 12th on mine)

think i noted that he was responsible for more amazing moments than any other footballer this decade, or somesuch.

take THAT, you whinging lfc/rafa lovers- i gave your boy a vote

Lampard won't place above Scholes and Gerrard, surely. Even I only had him at 20.

Gerrard has always felt like a moments player rather than a consistently great player - he feels like an embodiment of much that's wrong with English football to me.

Can't work out if Rooney is a lock for this list or not.

Think I undervoted Lampard for fear of bias - looking at Gerrard and Larsson I shouldn't have been so constrained. Matt DC is spot on.

in theory, yeah i'd agree. And certainly at england level. But though it's arguable that making him the focus of lfc for the decade highlighted the limitations of that approach, it also gave him the platform to showcase a pretty exceptional talent. Great for placing high on individual plaudits like this, and tbf pickef up a few pots along the way too.

rooney is a non-runner. If he does get in then i'll regret not giving berbatov/modric my one/two.

what gerrard has over lampard- pretty much no serious competition from more lfc fans voting.

Less boring for the neutrals too.

I'd have lampard in an actual team ahead of him, if it consoles you pete.

anyway. Rooney is akin to gerrard, except that his team wasn't based around him to the same extent for the entire decade- and when it was he was very shit indeed for most of that time

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8200/11nedved.jpg

11. Pavel Nedved
154 points, nine votes

yesssssss

Love love love Nedved, at his best he was absolutely incredible. Watching the Czechs play Holland in Euro 2004 was one of my happiest football watching memories as a neutral and he was a big part of that.

http://bigdaynews.com/wp-content/uploads/pavel-nedved.jpg

http://www.comedy.co.uk/images/library/people/300/i/inbetweeners_interview5.jpg

30. Claude MAKELELE (64 points, four votes)
29. Xabi ALONSO (67 points, four votes, one first-place)
27. RIVALDO (71 points, four votes)
27. Cesc FABREGAS (71 points, six votes)
26. Javier ZANETTI (74 points, six votes)
25. Juan Roman RIQUELME (76 points, five votes, one first-place)
24. Samuel ETO'O (81 points, six votes)
23. Wesley SNEIJDER (82 points, six votes)
22. Ruud VAN NISTELROOY (83 points, five votes)
21. Andrea PIRLO (85 points, five votes)

20. Fabio CANNAVARO (89 points, eight votes)
19. Paul SCHOLES (94 points, seven votes)
18. Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC (95 points, seven votes)
17. Gianluigi BUFFON (104 points, eight votes)
16. Iker CASILLAS (112 points, eight votes)
15. Francesco TOTTI (116 points, six votes, one first-place)
14. Luis FIGO (119 points, eight votes)
13. Henrik LARSSON (126 points, nine votes, two first-places)
12. Steven GERRARD (134 points, eight votes)
11. Pavel NEDVED (154 points, nine votes)

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/8947/10maldini.jpg

10. Paolo MALDINI
159 points, eight votes, one first-place

Yay Maldini! Boo I have to go out!

Larsson the only of todays I voted for, tho' I really should have gone for Nedved. Incredible skill, intelligence and creativity married to a Kuyt like work ethic.

Either Rooney, Drogba or one of Xavi and Iniesta is going to miss out by my count.

I voted for 2 other left backs neither of whom are as good as Maldini but he probably suffered on my ballot because he was good for two decades rather than one! Stupid, I know.

Don't think Rooney will make it. Xavi and Iniesta better do!

Still left:

(probably all locks)
Zidane
Messi
Fat Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldinho
Kaka

Then maybe:

Xavi
Iniesta
Drogba
Rooney
Villa
Torres
Stern John

Gonna be some high-profile scalps.

this is good so far.

think the first eight of yr names are locks, matt

gerrard has had sustained periods of good form, he's defo more than a moment's player. what counts against him most is the total loss of form in the last year or two, v weird. he has been awful.

but in terms of moments, the guy has 10-20 utter screamers and perhaps 7/8 at really crucial times. the west ham one in particular, the guy couldn't even walk and he fucking pulls that out of the bag.

this one in particular also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvHq_BFnGQk

and henry

great thread, love the jpegs and hope this becomes a regular thing for the big polls now.

got to imagine the top 9 will include messi, cronaldo, xavi, henry, zidane, ronaldinho, kaka, villa + one other?

Voted for the first 8 on Matt's list, but had Shaun Goater just edging out Stern John.

Yeah I'm thinking there might be a split vote hampering Xavi and Iniesta, although at the same time most people think of them as a pairing and I voted for both. Torres might miss out due to recent poor form + fucking off any Liverpool voting bloc.

(xpost - shit forgot about Henry. Mad high profile scalps here)

btw just realised you forgot Stern John on your list Matt

x-post oh my bad

dont think villa's gonna make it tbh, nor torres.

I have little to add other than to marvel at some of the photos - Totti in the rain! Even Gerrard - that West Ham flag in the background with the four years on it; he is in the very act of rubbing the "2006" off the bottom right quarter.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/8912/09iniesta.jpg

9. Andres Iniesta
168 points, eleven votes

tevez??

Iniesta has won five La Liga titles, one Spanish cup, four Spanish Super Cups, two Champions Leagues, a UEFA Super Cup, a Club World Cup and a World Cup.

Basically, he's completed football on 'Hard'. On 'Really Really Hard'.

but I guess that applies to xavi and for instance, puyol, too, no ?

no way @ tevez. Pluck only gets you so far

Iniesta was never going to miss out here

Raul, anyone?

did you forget a european championship for iniesta, matt? Or was he only on the verge of that team?

but I guess that applies to xavi and for instance, puyol, too, no ?

True, but we got to Iniesta first. And he won them the World Cup.

Yes I forgot Euro 2008 as well. Ridiculous medal haul.

Him and Xavi both will receive the ball no matter how tightly marked and keep the ball no matter how tightly marked before finding a teammate with a pass over and over and over again. Not that big, and probably not that strong, but an incredible shielder of a ball. Pundits always talk about 'finding space' but when your technique is that good you don't actually have to find that much space.

tevez isn't just pluck, he has a pretty strong goalscoring record, prob not quite enough in the 00s proper tho.

The ones I thought were a lock for the top 30 but am no longer expecting - Roberto Carlos, Shevchenko, and Raul.

tevez before rooney, but certainly larsson before either.

Yeah Tevez has been at his career best in the 10s. Villa too, maybe.

vieira?

raul may well make this. Carlos not ahead of cashley in the decade, shevchenko prob should but after abramovich years he won't

Lack of Drog increasingly troubling.

he was untouchable for maybe three years of the decade. I voted for him, but i don't think it's enough

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/132/08kaka.jpg

8. Kaka
199 points, twelve votes

Didn't vote Ballack, but thought him a good outside bet. Just me?

Ballack would have been in my 20-30 range. I want kaka to be Kaka again, so quick over the ground with the ball.

wow i forgot about kaka

yeah was thinking ballack just now...

catching up on today's placings, also didn't vote for maldini, which is silly, but the guy was already a legend in 99 and you forget he was pretty decent in the 00's as well.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3188/07ronaldo.jpg

7. Cristiano RONALDO
242 points, thirteen votes, one first-place

Annoyingly he really is as good as he thinks he is.

FUCK OFF DO LARSSON AND GERRARD DESERVE TO BE HERE

I bet he'd be annoyed at being seventh though xp

Both had a better decade than Cesc. Easily.
xp

NESTA, RAUL, SHEVCHENKO, VIEIRA, DEL PIERO, DECO, CARLOS AND CAFU, LUCIO, SEEDORF, PIRES - All not going to fucking make it because you guys wanted to vote for HENRIK FUCKING LARSSON?

I didn't vote for Cesc, pandemic.

He was in the 20 tho' no?

Sorry 30

:DDDDD @ Nedved and Maldini making it though.

Didn't vote for Kaka or CRonaldo. They may be terrific atheletes but they just aren't players to enjoy watching play all the time.

Yes, he was. Your point is? I mentioned it at the time. Stop being 'but you are an arsenal fan, why are you not talking about this guy we've already talked about instead of todays picks' guy.

http://oleseamoldavia.blogs.sapo.pt/arquivo/ronaldo.gif

My point was you seemed to be outraged about Larsson making the list and I didn't notice the same level of outrage over Cesc, but maybe I missed it. But obviously much like Andy Gray you can always tell what goes through someone elses head with your

'but you are an arsenal fan, why are you not talking about this guy we've already talked about instead of todays picks' guy.

Maybe it is because Cesc was better than Larsson, he won the fucking Euros and had one of the best individual performances of any player in the decade at the age of 18 v. Real Madrid away.

Look I think Casc is phenomenal so really don't want to argue. Sorry if I offended you.

you didn't, i was just confused by your position. anyway, :D nedved. <3 you guys.

c ron too low

need to go into town. hope i come back to find henry in the top 3 (was never gonna happen, it'll be 3-ronnie, 2-messi, 1-zidane) and my #1 make it (now looking p unlikely).

surprisingly little amount of #1s so far. are they all just for zidane and messi?

C Ron should be top three, no question.

larsson doesn't make it but cesc does on the strength of one game?

Riiiight

Ronaldo should be higher def. He's incredible, but hard to love.

next up is the other tie

messi gets all #1's or else it's voting strategy bollocks or just str8 challops

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/5808/05xavi.jpg

5. Xavi
282 points, fifteen votes

jeez we're at 5 already?

I think it was against Racing earlier this season that Xavi completed more passes than the entire opposing team.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/534/05henry.jpg

5. Thierry Henry
282 points, sixteen votes

Great picture!

looking at the premium seating tier in behind, you can pinpoint it to some point in the fifteen minutes before halftime

Is that David Bentley looking on, thinking "hmm made the top 5 not bad, if I get a run at Birmingham that #1 spot is mine for the next decade"

hmmm. I knew he'd place but that's far too high.

Sam will be along in a minute to bemoan

Who was your #5 darragh?

I sulkily didn't vote for Henry 'cos of his whining after the 2006 Champs Lge final.

no idea without checking. Matt holland?

initials TH

an yeah thudd. Still got fingers crossed for the lad

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3105/04ronaldo.jpg

4. Ronaldo
293 points, sixteen votes

anyway, i'm only pointing out sam's ridiculous hissy fit.

Voted cesc in myself, but half a decade playing tiddlywinks in a losing outfit doesn't give you and bragging rights over our hen.

handy timing of retirement worth a few places maybe, tho he was the best and i gave him a high vote

lol no wait i gave him a low vote nm.

During World Cup 2006, in which Ronaldo managed a few goals, I remember Guy Mowbray commentating on one of Brazil's group games and when the camera panned to Ronaldo just before kick off he 'joked' "I predict a diet, I predict a diet" and I was OUTRAGED. Because it was Ronaldo and he was genuinely great and the best player in the world during his peak. Still pretty good during his Milan years. Is it right that he never won the Champions League? Seems unlikely.

Like that the picture Ismael chose shows him as a blur. Sooo quick from a standing start, and then the step overs, and then round the keeper.

I've tried mostly using photos I haven't seen before but that one's so amazing I had to go for it. Also, it's depressing beyond belief to try honing a GIS so you don't just get Cristiano Ronaldo - every variant I tried brought tons of shops of Ronaldo eating pies, doing sumo, etc.

Anyway, it was him announcing his retirement that gave me the push to run this thing as I recall - glad he placed so high. If we ever do a 90s one he should pulverise the competition.

Yup Ron never won champs league iirc

getting close on points interesting to see gap btwn zidane and messi. And in which direction!

Ronaldinho being written off for the top spot then?

It's true xp, he played for over a decade for Barca, Inter, Real and Milan and never did it. Meanwhile Djimi Traore has a medal, and Harry Kewell feels aggrieved he doesn't have two.

dinho third by a distance behind those two i'd imagine

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3663/03ronaldinho.jpg

3. Ronaldinho
316 points, fifteen votes, two first-places

The player Barca had to make do with when Beckham wouldn't come. Oh well suppose the lad did okay. Both the best player in the world and a wasted talent if that's even possible.

i don't think he's deserving of a place above c ronaldo. But for two years he set a marker that nobody touched til messi for final product allied to entertainment and flair

Wonder if any of the top 2 appear on all ballots.

either not any

lol at my ballot, which had him ahead of c ron, of course. But i'd anticipated sentimentality to wash out a bit when all was tallied

Dinho's probably underrated on recent years but come on at his peak he was untouchable.

Ronaldo, ZZ, Messi, Dinho and C-Ron have all been the Best Player In The World at some point recently, which makes C-Ron's poll performance a bit of a flop.

EBJT stumbling in the wake of Dinho. How long did it take you to find that Ismael?

c ron not as beautiful to watch as the rest of that list matt.

I had a nice one of him leaping against a crowd background, but in the end I couldn't resist xp. The little scenes playing out in the background have been an unexpected pleasure of doing the jpgs.

And you are, of course, going to credit the photographers in a separate post at the end of the thread, right? ;)

messi peak (if he's hit it) vs ronaldinho peak is real gnat's pube stuff? Or not. I may have convinced myself not tbh.

top 5 is p perfect, such a shame ronaldo had to keep breaking his legs though.

nedved at his peak >>> c ronaldo at his peak in terms of joy to watch.

xxx-post

Clearly a foul on Terry.

also if we did a 90s one my top five would be 1. batistuta, 2. baresi, 3. stoihckov 4. ronaldo, 5. ronaldo (6. hagi, 7. romario, 8. adams).

c ron's peak continues though, tht has to be a consideration. There can't be too many who admired his inconsistent but entertaining talents back mid-decade that would have ever guessed at the phenomenon he'd become

batistuta cosign

oh certainly. and someone is going to have to work fucking hard to stop him being #2 in the 10s poll (my guess is Pique fyi)

Incidentally Ismael you will be failing your duty as ILF pollmaster if you don't leave time for joke answers between #2 and #1. Just saying, like.

you know who really got screwed here? defenders obv. no cafu, nesta, ayala, ramos, alves, campbell, cole, vidic, lucio, thuram, lahm, carlos, puyol, chivu, bramble...

Going back a bit, the most angry a Spurs player has ever made me was back in 2002 or 03, when Kasey Keller went on camera to say that he "didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast", shortly after having been made to look like a complete idiot by the aforementioned player. Actually my brain was just going, with rising degress of incredulity:

"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"
"I didn't realise Thierry Henry was that fast"

eh only lucio, ramos, maybe vidic and a cole rly hard done by there. The rest either past it, inconsistent, injury prone or just not rly good enough

Maybe it's tougher to be a consistently great defender?

cafu, nesta, ayala, ramos, alves, campbell, cole, vidic, lucio, thuram, lahm, carlos, puyol, chivu, bramble...

Of that lot, I think only Lucio, Thuram and Nesta deserve to be in this poll, MAYBE Cafu/Carlos as well. Fullbacks appear to be particularly hard done by in this poll. Also, Germans in general have been diddled.

lahm prob deserves it...

Actually Thuram was one of the best defenders in the world around the time Jaap Stam was, so probably just outside the remit of the poll.

carlos no, cafu not rly due to longevity reasons

it's hard to think of everyone tho. impossible.

a cole ahead of lahm

I voted for Carvalho, but my heart wasn't in it. That's the only one I'd change looking at the final 30. And I'd replace him with Giggs, who isn't on the list anyway.

Lack of Drogba is a FUCKING DISGRACE!!!!!!!! *removes flip flops*

And here we go, our obvious winners by a landslide...

amateur

http://ghostfood.tv/misc/windass.jpg

Drogba has been the best centre-forward in the world for about five years, although he's had his periods of can't-be-arsed in that time. Should really be here.

Miroslav Klose averaged about a goal every other game for six years at the top end of the Bundesliga and smashed it in three successive World Cups, and I bet no one voted for him.

larsson got the 'piss easy league goalgetter' vote from me and others.

I mean, where else do you want votes to go? Pauleta?

oh shit klose

Think the Bundesliga is a bit harder than the SPL, just saying like.

that catagory

klose
benzema
niang
larsson
benni mccarthy
huntelaar

it's time

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3674/02zidane.jpg

2. Zinedine Zidane
432 points, eighteen votes, six first-places

See I always had the impression that klose struggled in the league but was great internationally, but looking up his stats that appears not to be true.
xp

Props for not going for the headbutt photo.

Is that from Hamden? Is it THE volley?

it is that volley. shamefully one of the three people who didn't vote for him.

It is. Joint with Gerrard in the FA Cup Final for most jaw-dropping moment of the decade for me - after Ronaldinho's little chip over Cech at Stamford Bridge.

huge gap

didnt make my ballot.

He should have.

Hmmm, if I'd put Zidane at #1 where he belongs rather than in second place behind Ledley King then maybe he'd have won this.

Messi has no place at the top of this poll fwiw.

Can't be entirely rational about Zizou. I just flove him. Helps that I don't speak French and haven't seen many interviews with him in English, if he even speaks it, so he just seems coolly mysterious and unknowable. Getting sent off in 2 W Cups, coolly slotting a penalty top corner in the Semi Final of Euro 2000 after having to wait a couple of minutes, vomiting then slotting a last minute pen against England. The carousel or whatever his go to move was. Awesome.

Matt DC again OTM. Messi not even top five for me. Zidane's the king of the 00s

Messi has no place at the top of this poll fwiw.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 15:17 (1 minute ago)

kinda true. didn't win wpoty until '10 and '11, wasn't in the final winning team in '06 or whenever they beat us, outperformed by tevez for a long time for argentina.

but then otoh its fucking messi.

rubbish, matt

Messi is by a distance the polltopper on merit

otm...messi was still doing great stuff even in 2006. plus the fact is he blows away all of these other amazing footballers, into utter oblivion, along with every other great of the last 20 years or so. messi is like watching old videos of george best where you mentally would make an excuse for why he did such ridiculous shit like "oh the defence is rubbish" or whatever...

I'd say Messi has had two years as the best player in the world and they've been the last two years. If the poll were from 2000 up to the present day he should be at the top, no question about it. For the 00s alone he'd be maybe top five.

lj still makes that excuse

I mean I think Messi is the best player I've ever seen but he's THIS decade's best player and if he continues like this for another three seasons he definitely will be.

Oh, and let's not be too fussy about what's 00s and what's not. I'm happy to consider everything after that-night-in-Barcelona and the 99 Copa America, up to the 2010 World Cup Final, as part of the 00s.

Getting all of 09/10 season in helps Messi's cause.

Okay when you put it like that...

messi has outdone ronaldinho in terms of end product, outdoes c ronaldo for sheer briliance, outdoes zidane in the decade for maybe both, is unrivalled for consistency of genius in his or any position as far back as maradona.

Some of this may be hyperbole, but not to the extent of saying he's not top 5 for the decade.

I love ZZ (being french, he's kind of a god !) but since he retired in 06 and won most of his main titles in the early 00s (or late 90s), I'm not sure he represents the 00s...

thing about Messi is he's done NOTHING with the national team (CR is roughly in the same situation).

well Messi wasn't really around for the first half of the 00s either xp

Aw, you all guessed...

but even bigger thing about messi is he's only 23, he'll have at lest 2 more world cups

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7645/01messi.jpg

1. Lionel Messi
440 points, nineteen votes, four first-places

that's what held me on zidane, though if i'd done a bit more thinking i'd have him top five.

Zidane club record in 00's, roughly- played 264 scored 55. Though goals weren't his game tbf.

Messi- played 214, goals 127.

There's no rational basis whatsoever for leaving messi out on 'decade' grounds.

8 points in it!!

When Messi wins a World Cup, we can talk. ZZ is the man. Prefered to watch him play as well.

Great stuff Ismael. Brilliant fun.

messi hampered by playing nationally for a team run by morons. Zidane came into the decade the focal point of an amazing international setup.

Okay these images have all been fantastic esp Totti in the rain and this Messi one. Thanks v much Ismael.

I didn't count the votes until after voting had closed - I thought Messi had it by a mile, couldn't believe it as Zidane closed in. With one ballot to count, Messi led by two.

anyone got a youtube of zidane's best goal for france out of interest (not sure what it would be)?

Although ZZ did drag a team run by a moron to a World Cup final tbf

I agree with this:

I love ZZ (being french, he's kind of a god !) but since he retired in 06 and won most of his main titles in the early 00s (or late 90s), I'm not sure he represents the 00s...

Then again, I also agree with this:

When Messi wins a World Cup, we can talk. ZZ is the man. Prefered to watch him play as well.

Hahaha the Messi photo is brilliant. Like something out of a Jackie Chan movie.

Although ZZ did drag a team run by a moron to a World Cup final tbf

see also Ballack in 02 and Wilshere in 18

for all this, my reconsidered vote would have won it for zidane

Messi pic reminds me of Maradona 82 and massed ranks of Belgians.

great stuff ismael, have enjoyed matt and pete as the two old dudes from the muppet show throughout too.

Pete- fwiw, out of three on my ballot that didnt place, two were chelsea

When Messi wins a World Cup, we can talk. ZZ is the man

and especially when/if messi wins a WC by himself ! (ok, exaggerating a little but ZZ was so amazing with les bleus... so many great memories... of course, the 2 goals in 98, the way he won the game against england in 04 all by himself, the header during the final 06 which, without that amazing save from buffon, would have made him win 2 WC by scoring 2 goals in each final...).

Hahaha the Messi photo is brilliant. Like something out of a Jackie Chan movie.

ahah, exactly !

Although ZZ did drag a team run by a moron to a World Cup final tbf

true ! I remember an interview with abidal in the early stage of the WC06, when nobody thought we would go anywhere (but home).
he was saying something like "of course we will win. we have zizou".

Who didn't place on your ballot darragh? Mine were Shevchenko(kinda Chelsea), Ashley Cole, Raul, Roberto Carlos, and Marta.

Zidane got more #1 votes though.

Was my #1

didnt place on mine- a cole, drogba, ferdinand.

My votes did well on this poll, only ones who didn't make it were Drogba and, erm, Ledley King.

Didn't vote, but Zizou was magnificent.

1. Lionel MESSI (440 points, nineteen votes, four first-places)
2. Zinedine ZIDANE (432 points, eighteen votes, six first-places)
3. RONALDINHO (316 points, fifteen votes, two first-places)
4. RONALDO (293 points, sixteen votes)
5. Thierry HENRY (282 points, sixteen votes)
5. XAVI (282 points, fifteen votes)
7. Cristiano RONALDO (242 points, thirteen votes, one first-place)
8. KAKA (199 points, eleven votes)
9. Andres INIESTA (168 points, eleven votes)
10. Paolo MALDINI (159 points, eight votes, one first-place)

11. Pavel NEDVED (154 points, nine votes)
12. Steven GERRARD (134 points, eight votes)
13. Henrik LARSSON (126 points, nine votes, two first-places)
14. Luis FIGO (119 points, eight votes)
15. Francesco TOTTI (116 points, six votes, one first-place)
16. Iker CASILLAS (112 points, eight votes)
17. Gianluigi BUFFON (104 points, eight votes)
18. Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC (95 points, seven votes)
19. Paul SCHOLES (94 points, seven votes)
20. Fabio CANNAVARO (89 points, eight votes)

21. Andrea PIRLO (85 points, five votes)
22. Ruud VAN NISTELROOY (83 points, five votes)
23. Wesley SNEIJDER (82 points, six votes)
24. Samuel ETO'O (81 points, six votes)
25. Juan Roman RIQUELME (76 points, five votes, one first-place)
26. Javier ZANETTI (74 points, six votes)
27. Cesc FABREGAS (71 points, six votes)
27. RIVALDO (71 points, four votes)
29. Xabi ALONSO (67 points, four votes, one first-place)
30. Claude MAKELELE (64 points, four votes)

31. Didier DROGBA (59 points, five votes)
32. Dietmar HAMANN (58 points, three votes)
33. David BECKHAM (54 points, three votes)
33. Sami HYYPIA (54 points, three votes)
33. RAUL (54 points, three votes)
36. Roberto AYALA (52 points, four votes)
36. Arjen ROBBEN (52 points, four votes)
38. Dennis BERGKAMP (49 points, four votes)
38. Clarence SEEDORF (49 points, four votes)
40. Carles PUYOL (45 points, four votes)

40. Carlos TEVEZ (45 points, four votes)
42. Patrick VIEIRA (44 points, three votes)
43. Ashley COLE (41 points, four votes)
43. Robert PIRES (41 points, two votes, one first-place)
45. Edgar DAVIDS (40 points, two votes)
45. DECO (40 points, three votes)
45. Gennaro GATTUSO (40 points, three votes)
48. Alessandro NESTA (38 points, three votes)
48. Andriy SHEVCHENKO (38 points, three votes)
48. Fernando TORRES (38 points, two votes)

51. Esteban CAMBIASSO (35 points, two votes)
52. Dimitar BERBATOV (32 points, two votes)
53. Oliver KAHN (30 points, three votes)
53. Ledley KING (30 points, one vote, one first-place vote)
53. David VILLA (30 points, two votes)
56. LUCIO (29 points, three votes)
57. Wayne ROONEY (27 points, two votes)
58. Roy KEANE (25 points, two votes)
59. Roberto CARLOS (23 points, three votes)
59. Ryan GIGGS (23 points, two votes)

61. Heurelho GOMES (22 points, one vote)
62. MARTA (21 points, one vote)
62. Lubomir MORAVCIK (21 points, two votes)
62. Jay Jay OKOCHA (21 points, one vote)
65. CAFU (20 points, one vote)
66. Antonio CASSANO (19 points, one vote)
67. Alessandro DEL PIERO (18 points, two votes)
67. Rio FERDINAND (18 points, one vote)
67. Philippe LAHM (18 points, two votes)
67. Dado PRSO (18 points, one vote)

67. Pepe REINA (18 points, one vote)
67. Dejan STANKOVIC (18 points, one vote)
73. Gilberto SILVA (17 points, one vote)
74. Ibrahim AFELLAY (15 points, one vote)
74. Miroslav KLOSE (15 points, two votes)
74. Bastian SCHWEINSTEIGER (15 points, one vote)
77. Michael BALLACK (14 points, one vote)
77. Jamie CARRAGHER (14 points, one vote)
77. Ricardo CARVALHO (14 points, one vote)
77. Gary McALLISTER (14 points, one vote)

77. Giovanni VAN BRONCKHORST (14 points, one vote)
77. Robin VAN PERSIE (14 points, one vote)
83. Dani ALVES (13 points, one vote)
83. Gabriel BATISTUTA (13 points, one vote)
83. Jari LITMANEN (13 points, one vote)
83. Lillian THURAM (13 points, one vote)
87. Andrei ARSHAVIN (12 points, one vote)
87. Frank LAMPARD (12 points, two votes)
87. Freddie LJUNGBERG (12 points, one vote)
87. Mark VAN BOMMEL (12 points, one vote)

91. Cristian CHIVU (11 points, one vote)
91. Ludovic GIULY (11 points, one vote)
91. Gerald SIBON (11 points, one vote)
91. YAKUBU Aiyegbeni (11 points, one vote)
95. Yossi BENAYOUN (10 points, one vote)
95. Hernan CRESPO (10 points, one vote)
95. Walter SAMUEL (10 points, one vote)
95. David WEIR (10 points, one vote)
99. Michael OWEN (9 points, one vote)
99. Edwin VAN DER SAR (9 points, one vote)

101. ALEX (8 points, one vote)
101. David JAMES (8 points, one vote)
101. Patrick KLUIVERT (8 points, one vote)
101. Bixente LIZARAZU (8 points, one vote)
101. Aiden McGEADY (8 points, one vote)
101. Juan Sebastian VERON (8 points, one vote)
107. Bert KONTERMAN (7 points, one vote)
107. MAICON (7 points, one vote)
107. Luka MODRIC (7 points, one vote)
107. Lee TRUNDLE (7 points, one vote)

107. Rafael VAN DER VAART (7 points, one vote)
112. Didier AGATHE (6 points, one vote)
112. Pablo AIMAR (6 points, one vote)
112. Landon DONOVAN (6 points, one vote)
112. Jonathan REIS (6 points, one vote)
112. Marcos SENNA (6 points, one vote)

Wau @ Torres and Villa being so low.

107. Lee TRUNDLE (7 points, one vote)

107. Rafael VAN DER VAART (7 points, one vote)

Lol.

and raul!

torres- eh not really. Two great seasons with injuries to boot, before that he was a v good striker without a huge profile or goals tally.

Darragh it you who voted for Gomes or do we have a secret PSV fan in here?

Would have liked to have seen Darragh's reaction if Carra had made the top 30.

ah who gave benayoun ten points ffs

33 for Beckham is about right though.

It really is a scandal that LFC didn't win a Championship in the 00's considering they apparently had half a dozen of the best 125 players in the world during the time.

Liked this little cluster coming together
74. Miroslav KLOSE (15 points, two votes)
74. Bastian SCHWEINSTEIGER (15 points, one vote)
77. Michael BALLACK (14 points, one vote)

tammany ball

Players we probably underrated - Deco, Gattuso, Nesta, Shevchenko, all the Germans.

Players we definitely overrated - David James

Great list, with exception of Larsson/Gerrard. Some lovely names lower down. Mine that didn't make it were the Chelsea triptych of Lampard, Drogba and Carvalho, plus Kahn.

Hyypia at 33 was a particular roffle.

lampard on your list while bemoaning gerrard is kinda hypocritical tbh.

Eh, same for larsson - drogba over the decade actually

eh

Same for hyypia carvalho, actually

Not really, i think Lampard is better than Gerrard - who definitely isn't the 12th best of the decade, and DD should definitely be in lower reaches of top 30. SG and HL shouldn't be within spitting distance of top 10.

So who is manager? SAF, JM or Pep?

Carvalho was a brain fart. But his end placing is fair. Sammi Hyyia, fine player though he was, is not better then Nesta.

It pains me to say it but JM. 2 Champ Leagues to 1. Actually did Del Bosque win a Champs League in the 2000's? If so that plus W Cup FTW.
xp

Ancelotti has two Champs Leagues and a bunch of other stuff.

in all fairness i won a cl myself managing that real side

Yes Ancelotti, overlooked him.

91. Gerald SIBON (11 points, one vote)

Is there something I don't know about this feller? Cos I remember him as a lumbering forward whose enormous wages played a major factor in Sheffield Wednesday -

Wait a second.

CAEK.

MY OFFICE.

NAOW.

my ballot (players who didn't make the 30 in bold)

Robert Pires
Iker Casillas
Leo Messi
Thierry Henry
Xavi
Cafu
Antonio Cassano
Zlatan Ibrahmovic
Gilberto Silva
Roberto Ayala
Francesco Totti
Alessandro Nesta
Lilliam Thuram
Pavel Nedved
Christian Chivu
Juan Roman Riquelme
Jaiver Zanetti
Carlos Tevez
Phillip Lahm
Marcus Senna

i.e. i must rate Capello's Roma the best team of the decade. Who knew? Was THIS close to adding Batistuta as well.

oh wait forgot to bold pires.

Was senna at Villareal at the same time as Riquelme? I forget.

yup. in that team that came 2nd ahead of barca.

that team was ridiculous now i think about it- nihat, forlan, riquelme, senna, cani, cazorla pires and capdevilla joined in 2007...

Wait seriously no one voted for Forlan?

Hadn't noticed that. Really is the biggest omission. By far!

i dunno. If you had twenty votes, div that up to include say five strikers for the whole decade, is he really gonna make it in a poll of even 20 odd?

no way for the whole decade...and there are plenty prolific strikers who didn't get next to near the list that you'd have ahead of forlan too.

I considered Forlan, decided to burn a vote on lolDonovan instead.

ok

new series of polls, by position

It was a toss-up between doing a 'best of 00s' and 'best of modern times' meaning 1980-present (so as not to conform to the Sky/Premiership Years thing). But I thought Maradona would walk the latter, whereas with the 00s I wasn't sure. Doing the totalling was absolutely fascinating: Zidane hunting Messi down, Totti looking like he'd miss out, Makelele coming from nowhere (didn't score a point until about the 17th ballot).

ok but someone voted yakubu.

other great forwards i dont remember seeing: kluivert, saviola, kanoute, pippo, vieri, anelka, benzema, the cry baby, morientes, carew for his time at valencia, recoba, robinho, adriano, aguero and pato maybe too young, lol owen and shearer and viduka, fabiano, berbatov...

benzema lol

Kluivert and (European player of the year during the 00s) Owen at least both got a vote, but my heart weeps for Inzaghi. And David Villa too, that's the biggest injustice imo.

Ha, my iPhone is offering me 107M AICON7 as a speed dial link.

i voted for kluivert, one of the many things i regret about my ballot. i overlooked players still playing at top level.

I assume we're all ignoring the presence of Bert Kunterman/David Weary?

I think we skewed in favour of more recent players, against dislikeable types, and heavily against guys who have turned into shadows of the players they once were. But I reckon the attack/defence balance is pretty good.

Have to say I'm disappointed that Lee Trundle only got 1 vote.

Maybe most intriguing for me is Ayala so high, I barely know him at all.

ayala was key for valencia's team when they won their 2 Liga titles (both seasons they allowed just 27 goals) and was the most capped player for argentina until zanetti overtook him (they're the same age).

wanted to say hasselbaink earlier, i always feel he was underrated. scored goals everywhere and not just tap ins either, some fantastic strikes.

great stuff ismael. messi winning ahead of zidane just feels rong but otherwise the results are lot more reasonable than i expected.

if it weren't for my contribution, yall would have wrongly anointed zidane #1

also u just know mcnulty would have voted for the mercurial and some would say enigmatic former marseille man who will have been seen whoring for the qatari royal family in recent threads

Lionel Messi
Rivaldo
Zinedine Zidane
Ronaldo
Pavel Nedved
Xavi
Ronaldinho
Kaká
Deco
Andriy Shevchenko
Andrea Pirlo
Andres Iniesta
Lúcio
Thierry Henry
Iker Casillas
Hernan Crespo
Dimitar Berbatov
Paul Scholes
Roberto Ayala
Pablo Aimar

eto'o and villa should have been just below kaká

oh shit i forgot crespo

should probably have found room for adriano, but it feels wrong to laud such a clusterfuck of a career

similarly if ronaldinho had just disappeared in 2006, he would be #2 at least, but loses out for being a total waster

others discounted for suspect temperament.....c ronaldo, totti, drogba, ibrahimovic, cassano

dunphy.jpg

c ron's temperament isnt really a drawback? Dude's ego keeps him improving imo.

Yeah, the idea that C Ronaldo shouldn't be in everyone's top five, never mind top thirty, just seems ridiculous. He's very unlikeable, but that doesn't stop him being incredibly talented.

yeah sure but he's a dick

juan roman riquelme was the most complicated and some will have said inexplicable omission from the text based footballing list

i really like him but when he was about to take that penalty in the cl semi final, there was an awful sickness in his eyes as he enacted his certain fate

"Alas," said JRR, "the whole goal is growing smaller every second. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept walking and walking, and I was glad when I saw posts far away to the right and left, but these posts have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the centre stands the psycho that I must pass to."

"You only need to change your direction," said the Jens, and ate it up.

via

yeah sure but he's a dick

...which is why he won't do very well in Ismael's follow-up poll 'The All-Round Jolly Good Egg of the Noughties', but has nothing to do with his footballing abilities. See also Thierry Henry.

jeez they're all dicks, why wouldn't they be?

yeah but with something like this you can only do it voting for your favourite players, and there are entertaining dicks (cassano, balotelli) and just dicks (cronaldo)

the argument that he is a terrible choad overlaps with an actual football argument against him -- that his egotism is incompatible with advanced tactical schemes in the sacchi-cruyff tradition of closely synched movement, pressing, maximization of space

i don't think the superman c ronaldo of recent seasons has really been integrated into a fully functional balanced team; at ynahtid there was that lopsided formation with rooney and tevez compensating for him by doing extra rations of gruntwork, and at madrid it's still a one man show with c ron allowed to shoot from ridiculous distances while the rest of the attack functions only fitfully

fitful(ly) is total nultspeak and i promise never to use it again

Argh 2006 World Cup Arg-Germany. Why was he subbed?? WHY????

actually, this might be favourite bit of the whole poll - the anguish

loooool i didn't vote for sibon

Ha, really, I was the only one to vote for Crespo? I really liked him. Can't believe I forgot Forlan though.

Dado Prso, Bert Konterman and Davie Weir? LOL votebombing from the outer reaches of the SPL thread.

I wished I'd voted for Chris Sutton.

i voted for crespo

so what happened here exactly?

Oh, maybe I didn't vote for him at all. I did consider him strongly, if that helps.

i had him on my ballot, but took him off after looking at his stats

I didn't vote for him at all. As you were...

Dado Prso, Bert Konterman and Davie Weir? LOL votebombing from the outer reaches of the SPL thread.

wasn't me i swear. i did vote for van bronckhorst, but balanced that out with a larsson tacked onto the end.

Ha, onimo told me earlier that I'd never guess which Rangers player was on the list (I tried about five before he gave up listening to me naming random rubbish ex-Rangers players and I sort of didn't actually believe him when he told me it was Bert Konterman). I did suspect you, I must be honest. I can't think who else would even remember he existed, tbh.

And yes, I was the one single 20th place vote for Didier Agathe. <3 him

i tried to avoid rangers player tokenism as much as possible (cuz unlike with larsson it'd be pretty laughable), but van bronckhorst seemed both nearly legit and not really a 00s rangers player at all. was a toss-up between konterman and maldini, though.

so, jonathan reis. who on earth is jonathan reis.

21 year old brazilian who plays in holland, iirc

gvb is a better selection than larsson -- possible lb of the decade (maldini/carlos finished at fullback by 2k6, far more international rep than cole)

larsson probably not even in top forty centre forwards

jonathan reis' career highlights seem to be being fired for cocaine use and fined for drunk driving

Larsson scored twice in one European final, turned the game in another to wide acclaim, and has a Premiership and a La Liga medal. He's also scored in three World Cups. It's not like we were voting for Kris Boyd or Colin Nish or someone limited to the SPL, ffs.

Also, someone put Ledley King at #1 on their list and HENRIK LARSSON's a bad choice :-)

also 7th highest goal scorer in all european competitions, tied with henry. case closed. i only put him at 20th though...

Hah, tied with Henry but below Shevchenko, Raul and Superpippo, none of whom made the list.

and Henry won a WC and a euro...

Not saying he's the best player, just my favourite. And not an entirely ridiculous choice.

ya but it's 'the greatest' player, and while larsson was a very good player he was no more a threat to the messi, zidane tier than john o'shea

He's the greatest player of the 00s IN MY EYES. And someone else's too.

Wait 10 years till I get to vote for Beram Kayal. THEN you can all go rolly-eyed at me.

sure, but you have to allow that if john o'shea's mum was voting, he would be her greatest ever player and she'd say MY BOY NUTMEGGED FIGO SO HE DID, DID YR BOY LARSSON DO THAT NO I THINK NOT

judging by the back page story about him i read in the scotsman last year, that 14yr old somali kid at celtic will wipe the floor in the 2k20s poll (hopefully in a metaphorial rather than janitorial sense)

also, probably a fair number of the names placing here never earned as much as john o'shea does

~~think about it~~

Aye, mentioned him (Islam Feruz) in the promising youngsters thread. Just so as I can claim first mention of him when he takes over the world.

there's a lot of players in the top thirty never threatened the zidane/messi tier.

How big is that tier though? Before we did this I had an elite of a half-dozen or so in mind, but the gap suggests it's a tier of two.

for sustained highest-level excellence, it's those two and c ronaldo in the decade

Henry, Xavi, Casillas and Ronaldinho are in that tier too.

nice try

one of those things is not like the other

Kaka and Figo for Xavi and Henry imo. And Ronaldo da Lima's arguably in the tier above, though mostly in the 90s.

Wait, didn't we do this already?

xavi has to be approaching that tier, tbf.

poll xp lol

time for the inevitable Greatest Player of the Greatest Player of the 00s Poll poll.

xp :'(

we have a hall of fame

don tbleev zidane made it tough luck son wanna headbutt someone? huh?

Did we do a HoF for February, or can we do two in March?

Henry scored about a goal a game for about 3 or 4 seasons running and only had one "bad" season (his last season at Barca)

In fact of my list I'd say Dinho was the most inconsistant.

goal a game?

ilXor.com

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ok sorry like .8 a game.

in which 3 or 4 seasons?

just for declaration, henry placed 5th in my ballot.

but there was a gap to 4.

like 02-06?

you gonna make me look this up?

No.

I'm just annoyed at losing the league on goal difference and then losing the fa cup final and cl final in extra time on fm11 and wanting to push my annoyance onto others.

don't think he hit .8 in any of those years btw. tho his rate was brilliant for all but one (a mere 22 in 50 odd)

i'm about to dive into fm2011 actually.

Thierry Henry goals per game record

2001/02
league: 0.73
overall: 0.65

2002/03
league: 0.65
overall: 0.62

2003/04
league: 0.81
overall: 0.76

2004/05
league: 0.78
overall: 0.71

2005/06
league: 0.84
overall: 0.73

not bad I guess.

never hit .8 i draw ur notice

goalies don't get in the top tier.

"if they were any good they'd be playing outfield anyway"-ron atkinson.

looking at the age distribution of this list would maybe be an interesting thing to do. It kind of seems that it's for the most part in the extremes of old guys whose peak is decisively past and young guys who have plenty of it left, less of the players who are tailing away right now.

the young turks on the list have reached amazing peaks early on, where yr zidanes etc seemed to build to unquestioned greatness, is maybe another angle?

Yeah, I was wondering that about Zidane today - what did he do with the first half of his career? He was already about 28 by the time he won the world cup I think.

he was a left wing back in cm2 just saying

feel like totti's mad overrated, like many a italian post-baggio /trequartista/

#pollsarelame but would've had henke p.high. no pippo inzaghi either?! my ctrl+f must be broke

can we do one for the 90s now?

hell yes

that's where all the *great* players lived anyway

larsson to top that one obv

hierro
sammer
karembeu
baggio
romario
djorkaeff
nilis
batistuta
signori
shev/reb
bierhoff

van basten
klinsmann

cantona tbf

le tis would mobilise the challops bloc

Darragh it you who voted for Gomes or do we have a secret PSV fan in here?

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 15:58 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Would have liked to have seen Darragh's reaction if Carra had made the top 30.

― Paulo Odd Futre (pandemic), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 15:59 (Yesterday) Bookmark

carra ahead of hyypia would be a travesty for a start

i dont think gomes has been anywhere good enough to merit a placing, even tho some of his saves are breathtaking. so no.

gascoigne, matthaus, hagi, riedle, seedorf, del piero, keane, veron ... 90s poll would be mouthwatering alright

dare I say it... shearer

yeah, for sure ... would need a nominations process there as a refresher I think

who would the celtic bloc catapult up the charts? hooijdonk? di canio? thom? cadete?

all from the second half of the decade I see

larsson

wtf at le tiss as 'challops'

if gazza is a legit nom then le tiss is a legit winner

BARESI

Mcstay.

ronny johnsen

Never saw enough to really say Papin but Papin. And Weah. And Rui Costa. And that Ajax/Dutch side. And Romario, Stoichkov and Enrique. And the Laudrups. The 90s were the best.

marco simone and papin were the best subs of the decade probably.

lentini

...

......

yr antonio contes, yr torricellis

gullit

le tis was a mercurial big man with a hook nose

like the 00s regularly fêted, and most divisive player, he's the proto-ibra

mercurial, but neither quick nor silver

ali dia

bergkamp, costacurta, stam, litmanen, schmeichel, redondo, suker, thuram, asprilla, desailly, vialli, albertini, zola, boban

Lubo Moravcik for the Celtic vote. I mostly hated the 90s though, no-one really worth rating on a worldwide basis. Might chuck in a lol Harald Brattbakk vote (not really).

Le Tiss is totally non-challops. Cantona ftw. Dragan Stojkovic for the 80s/90s straddler nostalgia win.

boban might be the personal pick

Schmeichel, Parker, Pallister
Irwin, Bruce, Sharpe and Ince
Hughes, McClair, Keane and Cantona
Robson, Kanchelskis and Giggs
Come on you reds, come on you reds
Just keep your bottle and use your heads, etc.

all ok except giggs

Yeah, I was wondering that about Zidane today - what did he do with the first half of his career? He was already about 28 by the time he won the world cup I think.

nah, he was 26. before that he went to semi finals of the euro 96, won some cups (european and national leagues) or got to finals with juventus (and even bordeaux !) in 95, 96 and 97, award for best player in france in 94 and best foreign player in italy in 97...

no premier league player of the month awards though?

See, now I look stupid. I first became aware of him with Bordeaux's run to the UEFA final, which was 96 I think. Players do seem to peak younger these days though, all the same.

PS I do think the 90s poll is a goer, but someone else will have to do it - this one wasn't all-consuming, but I still had difficulty getting the countdown up quickly what with real life getting in the way. Fwiw I thought 20 picks each, and the points system I used, worked really well in terms of getting a proper list. I do think a nominations thread will probably be necessary though, both as a reminder and because the further back you go the less obvious the elite consensus will be

i'll wait to read a nomination thread this time

Players do seem to peak younger these days though, all the same.

yeah, I think part of that is due to much heavier media coverage/pressure to find/make new stars. there was more time to develop back in the days !

don't think it's necessarily, just that recent gens have seen a lot of hyped prodigies that never really got thee (rooney, robinho), temperemental inadequates (ronaldinho, adriano) and actually really precocious talents (messi, aguero, pato)

drogba, lúcio, samuel, milito, xavi have arguably peaked after thirty

All my man crushes come to roost in the 90s with Hagi, Stoichkov and Zidane.

Plus Frank Sinclair.

yr letchkovs, yr raducioius

actually having a look at his wiki now, seems florin raducioiu was a changeable type. 1990-2000 he averaged two clubs a year if I'm parsing correctly

actually no, scratch that. I'm being dense

Darragh it you who voted for Gomes or do we have a secret PSV fan in here?

― Matt DC, woensdag 2 maart 2011 16:58 (3 days ago) Bookmark

*Raises hand* (voted for and [not so secret] PSV fan)

oh, and:

91. Gerald SIBON (11 points, one vote)

Is there something I don't know about this feller? Cos I remember him as a lumbering forward whose enormous wages played a major factor in Sheffield Wednesday -

Wait a second.

CAEK.

MY OFFICE.

NAOW.

― William Bloody Swygart, woensdag 2 maart 2011 17:42 (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hehe, that was me William, he was my sympathy vote. He did alright at Heerenveen and did dick all at PSV tbh, but he made my ballot on the sole basis of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5egDevf4kw

The night of PSV championship, he (drunkenly) takes a young and extremely shy (and Aquarius drinking) Afellay (now Barca) under his wing, and gives him some great advice ("You should smile some more" being one of them). I know it's Dutch, consider it an eternal shame that you can't understand this all time classic video of Dutch football.

Oh, also: fuck me for not having noticed this thread jesus christ ;_;