This Thread is devoted to Off topic.

Use this topic to talk about everything, in order to avoid clogging the other threads..

*fullback.

The 100 greatest football players ever according to fourfourtwo magazine:

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ra ... f-all-time

What can we say about that?

It's hard to make a top-100 players of all time. It can be made by using different criteria like trophies, individual achievements, skills, and so on. They tried to use all criteria and it turned out a mess. Lahm only 85? Neuer above Buffon and Yashin? Socrates 29? And of course they had to rank Messi number 1. I'm surprised Cristiano Ronaldo isn't right behind him. Of course there are more debatable choices.

Messi as number 1 is correct. The mistake is putting Maradona at number 2 when his career was nowhere near as good as Pelé, Ronaldo, Beckenbauer or Di Stefano (who should be top 5 at least).

The biggest crime is Paolo Rossi in the top 50 though. He has to be the most overrated player in the history of football. A pure poacher who scored 150 career goals. If he didn't win the World Cup he wouldn't even be in anybody's top 1000 players of all time. Even if you wanted to honor somebody that had an iconic World Cup performance, you could choose Kocsis, Fontaine, Jairzinho, Klinsmann, Kempes, Lineker etc. who were all superior players. Riva was 10 times better than him but you will never see him in any lists like this.

Other players that are too high: Zidane, Best, Socrates, Ronaldinho, Carlos Alberto, Gento. Players that are too low: Beckenbauer, Di Stefano, Eusebio, Van Basten, Buffon. That's only looking at the top 50 as there's many more examples further down the list.

IMO Neuer is the best goalkeeper ever and will prove in the future to be the most influential so I'm happy with his placement. He was certainly better than Yashin and his accomplishments dwarf Lev's even if you include the Ballon d'Or (which Yashin should never have won). Apart from a year or two where he struggled with injuries he's been completely dominant for more than a decade and because of his influence, teams that have a goalkeeper that can't play with their feet are at an automatic disadvantage. He is the player that made football teams play with 11 men and not 10 men and a goalkeeper.

Considering Messi's achievements (I believe some of his Ballon d'Or awards are undeserved), legacy and goals since 2008, I guess he can be number 1.
Paolo Rossi should absolutely not be in the ranking at all, as you said. And I agree with the others you mentioned. I would add Simonsen and Rooney. Then you have Facchetti only at 91 and Schmeichel at 92, for example.
I agree with the argument about Neuer and Yashin. However, I'd still have Buffon above him, even if it's just of one spot.
Unfortunately Riva will never get a spot in such rankings. After all he played for Cagliari, although he's one of the best strikers Italy has ever produced. Giuseppe Meazza as well isn't in the ranking at all.

Meazza is ranked at 19.

Good, I guess I missed him. Anyway, I'd rate him right below Garrincha or between him and Zico.

Best above Beckenbauer is an odd one. Even as a Man United fan George Best is so overrated by many, he was incredible but nowhere near the level of many on this ranking.

Honestly, this ranking is as crap as that useless FIFA 100 that Pelé was asked to make back in 2004.

These lists are always gonna be controversial since its impossible to actually get it "right". It'd be better to do a 100 favourite players of all time, then nobody can argue with your picks haha

People would still say that "yOU knOw nOthIng Of fOOtbAll" if you put names they don't like.

Pelé's list is ridiculous.

Regarding top 10's fourfourtwo list, Best at 7 and Di Stefano out is too strange for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BVIRpAcB_g

One down two to go

Phonzie speaking facts. If Musiala or Bellingham played for Barca or came from their academy, the award would have went to one of them for sure.

Now that Gerrard is unemployed, he can go back to Liverpool and start in their midfield…

Their recruitment has just been crazy, anyone can see that their midfield was falling apart. They’re either never fit (Thiago, Keita, Arthur), well past their best (Henderson, Milner) or even both (Chamberlain). And the only one that doesn’t have an excuse, Fabinho, has forgotten how to play football. Harvey Elliott is a very good talent but when your only performing midfielder is 19 years old then you’re never going to compete.

Looks like Klopp’s last season at Dortmund all over again.