1992 - 2024: 15 Greatest Centrebacks of the PL era? (numerical order please)

1 Ferdinand
2 Terry
3 VVD
4 Stam
5 Adams
6 Campbell
7 Vidic
8 Kompany
9 Pallister
10 Ledley King
 
Andersonson said:
1 Stam
2 Ferdinand
3 Terry
4 Adams
5 Sol
6 Carvalho
7 Kompany
8 Desailly
9 VVD
10 Johnsen
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Dunno how some United fans can rate Vidic below so many other centre backs. He was arguably our best player for at least two title wins.

He was twice Premier League player of the season, twice Fifa World XI, 3x ESM team of the year. Rio was never close to a player of the season award, once World XI and once ESM team of the year. He led a team that broke various defensive records and scored key goals.

Opinions are opinions but to not have him in your top 10 PL CBs is an absolutely glaring omission, like not having Henry in your top 10 strikers, or Schmeichel in your top 10 goalkeepers.
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
Dunno how some United fans can rate Vidic below so many other centre backs. He was arguably our best player for at least two title wins.

He was twice Premier League player of the season, twice Fifa World XI, 3x ESM team of the year. Rio was never close to a player of the season award, once World XI and once ESM team of the year. He led a team that broke various defensive records and scored key goals.

Opinions are opinions but to not have him in your top 10 PL CBs is an absolutely glaring omission, like not having Henry in your top 10 strikers, or Schmeichel in your top 10 goalkeepers.
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I would have him in my top 15, but not top 10. That doesnt mean he wasnt very good. He was top class. Rio for me was world class
 
Andersonson said:
I would have him in my top 15, but not top 10. That doesnt mean he wasnt very good. He was top class. Rio for me was world class
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But you have Ronny Johnsen ahead of him, Ronny himself would be the first to say he wasn’t in the same league as Vidic.
 
Right now for me the top 10:

1. Ferdinand
2. Adams
3. Vidic
4. Desailly
5. Stam
6. van Dijk
7. Pallister
8. Terry
9. Kompany
10. Campbell
 
BrilliantOrange said:
Cant we make threads like this more fun like, 'excluding center backs who played for one of the top 6'..

Havent we had enough of the RIO vs Terry vs VVD like discussions?
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I made my top 10 with your restrictions and tried to make it so they never played for the big six. I assume the top 6 to mean the teams who tried to break away into the super league. Probably missing some obvious ones but can’t think of the top of my head.

1. Des Walker
2. Phil Jagielka
3. Olof Melberg
4 .Brede Hangeland
5. Ugo Eghiou
6. Gareth Southgate
7. Ryan Nelsen
8. Lucas Radabe
9. Ashley Williams
10. Fabricio Coloccini
 
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1 Terry
2 Kompany
3 Ferdinand
4 Vidic
5 Adams
6 van Dijk
7 Campbell
8 Carvalho
9 Bruce
10 Carragher

Greatest does not mean best, they're very different things to me.

Edit: I just copied the most recent posters doing 10 instead of 15, even the bottom end of the top 10 was getting to the point where there'd be multiple candidates so I'm leaving it there.

sallycinnamin said:
Chris Fairclough
Phillipe Albert
Colin Henrdry

Would any of the above scrape in or not?
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Albert or Fairclough no chance for me, Hendry closer but still a no. I put a lot into captaincy and leadership in my list and he was defintely one of the big leaders and personalities of a title winning side, that goes a long way. It's why I've put Kompany so high up on mine.

I'd say Hendry was reasonably high up there in terms of all that when it came to Blackburn's hierarchy but Shearer was such a force that he overshadowed a lot of his teammates moreso than you'd get in a lot of title winning sides. Hendry wasn't even captain that season although he'd have been a great one, that was Sherwood.

They did win just the 1 title of course so there wasn't a sustained legacy of trophies and he suffers a bit from that as well as them being a somewhat unfashionable club in terms of how iconic he was.

He also made 219 PL appearances, which isn't that many compared to some others. Appearances are a factor to me, it's why I simply can't put Stam in there with only 79 and hesitated big time over Carvalho with 135.

Appearance numbers is a large part of why Carragher squeaks in there for me. With 508 it's the most of any PL central defender (a chunk were at full back to be fair), all the while being a one-club man. He wore the captain's armband and was a big fan favourite of one of the largest teams around. He would not make my best 10 at all, probably not even top 15 if I expanded it to that either. Lack of a title almost made him not make my top 10 in this as it was. Hyppia, who he played with was better for a start. There's the previously mentioned Stam as well who'd be right near the top when it comes to best instead of greatest.
 
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I think VVD was the most talented but Ferdinand is the greatest.
 
Nico87 said:
I made my top 10 with your restrictions and tried to make it so they never played for the big six. I assume the top 6 to mean the teams who tried to break away into the super league. Probably missing some obvious ones but can’t think of the top of my head.

1. Des Walker
2. Phil Jagielka
3. Olof Melberg
4 .Brede Hangeland
5. Ugo Eghiou
6. Gareth Southgate
7. Ryan Nelsen
8. Lucas Radabe
9. Ashley Williams
10. Fabricio Coloccini
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Very nice list!

Jose Fonte? Fabian Schar? Colin Hendry?
 
BrilliantOrange said:
Very nice list!

Jose Fonte? Fabian Schar? Colin Hendry?
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Hendry had a stint at City which ruled him out for me, same as Dunne and Distin. Admittedly though it was before before City were version 2.0. Don’t remember Fonte much but Schar is quality when I see him play.
 
BrilliantOrange said:
Ah yeah, but was at United before 1992 ofcrouse haha... I thought about Wes Morgen, but only because the Leicester title win..
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Yeah only basing it on Premier League era.

Morgan was brilliant that season, genuinely elite stats and then a very good level for 2 other seasons.
 
Nico87 said:
Hendry had a stint at City which ruled him out for me, same as Dunne and Distin. Admittedly though it was before before City were version 2.0. Don’t remember Fonte much but Schar is quality when I see him play.
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Totally slipped by me Hendry played for City...
 
1) Terry (least mistake prone defender I've ever seen)
2) Rio
3) Stam
4) Kompany
5) Vidic
 
1. Stam
2. Rio
3. Vidic
4. Kompany
5. Terry
6. McGrath
7. Van Dijk
8. Campbell
9. Carvalho
10. Adams
11. King
12. Desailly
13. Bruce
14. Henry
15. Dias

I haven’t worried about longevity or trophies or anything like that. Just the highest levels of performance I’ve seen from centre backs in the Premier League.
 
Stam's the best I've seen. Desailly is probably the best that's played there. Separating a lot of the other obvious names feels fairly artificial, and something I'd be doing more on vibes and strong opinions than always paying meticulous attention.

I do feel King and Woodgate probably deserve a bit more love than they've been getting here. (Maybe I'm prejudiced by Woodgate's time in Spain, which technically shouldn't even matter.)
 
Kompany in these lists but no Gallas, Gallas was a better PL CB than Kompany.
 
jakko said:
Kompany in these lists but no Gallas, Gallas was a better PL CB than Kompany.
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He wasn’t, Gallas was a very good defender who could play CB and LB/RB to a very high level.
Gallas was not as good of a CB as Kompany, let alone as a leader.
Kompany took his team over the line with title deciding goals, Gallas cried on the pitch as Arsenal captain.

Not even remotely close, different level.
 
Kompany over Vidic is wild. Like absolutely batshit. He’s not even in the same class for me.
 
1:Rio (the best all round defender by a distance!)
2:Terry (a leader of men).
3:Vidic (best pure defender in Premier League history, warrior doesn’t do him justice).
4:VVD (he’s been overrated by the scouse media and his passive style leaves him short of the very best, but undoubtably a top player).
5:Stam (a pure colossus).
6:Carvalho (probably helped make Terry’s reputation).
7: Campbell (rapid at his peak).
8: Kompany (injury prone, overrated but good leadership qualities and some big goals).
9: Dias (hard to fully judge, but I think he’s the best of the current CBs at City).
10: Adam’s (a cnut of the highest order, but a decent player).
11: Saliba (this one is abit premature but if he sticks around I see him going into the top 5. He’s got everything and unlike Van Dyke, he’s actually got the right aggression to go with it).
12: King (another player with everything but injuries robbed him of a higher spot).
13: Pallister (abit before my time).
14: Bruce (top player but before my time).
15: L Martinez (clearly premature but rather than stick someone I don’t know in, I’ll say if he can get over his injuries, Martinez is climbing this list because he’s the best CB I’ve seen at Utd since Rio/Vidic by a long shot and could easily be the best in the league alongside Saliba).

Overall it’s quite tough to compare eras, and I obviously have abit of recency bias having not really seen the early Premier League years. I do think Rio is some way ahead of the pack. Tough for me between Terry and Vidic. Terry was more of a leader, but Vidic was just incredible and I think he’s hugely underrated overall. He had a ball magnet in his head, biggest beast in the air I’ve ever seen and stylistically was the kind of defender I wanted to be! Behind the top 5 there’s a drop. Players that either had the ability but didn’t stay injury free long enough, or modern players who just haven’t been around long enough to establish their legacies. It’s a poor era for CBs though overall.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
1:Rio (the best all round defender by a distance!)
2:Terry (a leader of men).
3:Vidic (best pure defender in Premier League history, warrior doesn’t do him justice).
4:VVD (he’s been overrated by the scouse media and his passive style leaves him short of the very best, but undoubtably a top player).
5:Stam (a pure colossus).
6:Carvalho (probably helped make Terry’s reputation).
7: Campbell (rapid at his peak).
8: Kompany (injury prone, overrated but good leadership qualities and some big goals).
9: Dias (hard to fully judge, but I think he’s the best of the current CBs at City).
10: Adam’s (a cnut of the highest order, but a decent player).
11: Saliba (this one is abit premature but if he sticks around I see him going into the top 5. He’s got everything and unlike Van Dyke, he’s actually got the right aggression to go with it).
12: King (another player with everything but injuries robbed him of a higher spot).
13: Pallister (abit before my time).
14: Bruce (top player but before my time).
15: L Martinez (clearly premature but rather than stick someone I don’t know in, I’ll say if he can get over his injuries, Martinez is climbing this list because he’s the best CB I’ve seen at Utd since Rio/Vidic by a long shot and could easily be the best in the league alongside Saliba).

Overall it’s quite tough to compare eras, and I obviously have abit of recency bias having not really seen the early Premier League years. I do think Rio is some way ahead of the pack. Tough for me between Terry and Vidic. Terry was more of a leader, but Vidic was just incredible and I think he’s hugely underrated overall. He had a ball magnet in his head, biggest beast in the air I’ve ever seen and stylistically was the kind of defender I wanted to be! Behind the top 5 there’s a drop. Players that either had the ability but didn’t stay injury free long enough, or modern players who just haven’t been around long enough to establish their legacies. It’s a poor era for CBs though overall.
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Think this is the most accurate one I've seen. For the top 10 anyway.

I'd probably take Saliba/Martinez out especially Martinez, he's only had 1 season of football really and whilst he was very good, he wasn't exceptional.

Another good season from Saliba and he can start to be in these discussions. Would the Spurs CB from the Pochettino era be considered - Vertonghen and Alderweireld? In fairness - there's probably a host of names that can be considered for 10-15.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
6:Carvalho (probably helped make Terry’s reputation).
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I feel like this gets said so much but I always disagree, and no-one ever says it in reverse, that Terry helped make Carvalho's reputation, which I think is much closer to the truth. Terry played 16 years at the top. Carvalho was around for 5-6 of them. He won the title playing every game aged 35 with Cahill as his partner. Having a world class partner isn't something that should be held against either of them, otherwise one could also say Rio helped make Vidic's reputation or vice versa, but no-one ever says that.
 
WeePat said:
I feel like this gets said so much but I always disagree, and no-one ever says it in reverse, that Terry helped make Carvalho's reputation, which I think is much closer to the truth. Terry played 16 years at the top. Carvalho was around for 5-6 of them. He won the title playing every game aged 35 with Cahill as his partner. Having a world class partner isn't something that should be held against either of them, otherwise one could also say Rio helped make Vidic's reputation or vice versa, but no-one ever says that.
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Carvalho was amazing for Porto well before he got to Chelsea.
 
Fortitude said:
Carvalho was amazing for Porto well before he got to Chelsea.
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I know he was. So was Terry, and he was amazing long after Carvalho left, winning further titles and a CL partnering Cahill or Luiz long after Carvalho was gone. I don't think either of them are responsible for the other's reputation, certainly not in the way it often gets framed on the caf. They complimented each other superbly and they were an incredible partnership.
 
Terry
Van Dijk
Rio
Kompany
Stam
Carvalho
Carragher
Vidic
Campbell
Adams

will anybody bite? Damn can’t even do white text anymore
 
How is Carragher creeping into people's lists? :lol: he was bang average throughout his entire career, even spending some of his 'peak' years at RB to make way for two better Liverpool CBs. His punditry seems to have elevated his playing career in the same way it has for Micah Richards.

1. Rio
2. Stam
3. Vidic
4. Terry
5. Kompany
6. Campbell
7. Carvalho
8. Van Dijk
9. Adams
10. Desailly
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
How is Carragher creeping into people's lists? :lol: he was bang average throughout his entire career, even spending some of his 'peak' years at RB to make way for two better Liverpool CBs. His punditry seems to have elevated his playing career in the same way it has for Micah Richards.
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I was asking myself the same… maybe they’re Liverpool fans but even then, Van Dijk, Matip, Konate, Hyypia, are all miles better than Carragher.
Even Agger was probably better, I always thought Carragher was a bit shit, slow, clumsy and just not very good.
 
I find it mad that carragher is making peoples lists, he was bang average. It’s like if he wasn’t on tele now and not in peoples minds he wouldn’t get a mention for is football ability
 
Andersonson said:
1 Stam
2 Ferdinand
3 Terry
4 Adams
5 Sol
6 Carvalho
7 Kompany
8 Desailly
9 VVD
10 Johnsen
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1) Rio - best defender Ive seen in the PL. The composure and reading of the game gave him an edge. Apart from that spell where he had the silly afro hair. Bit of an obnoxious twazzock (in his playing days)
2) Kompany - great defender. Prone to very occasional rash decision but that was his only weakness
3) Desailly - My dad used to love him
4) Vidic - tough one as again hard to pinpoint a weakness but he never looked quite as good without Rio next to him. Slipped over vs Liverpool once which created some weird myth of Torres always giving him a "torrid time"
5) Terry - probably would be higher but I think you can genuinely count lengthy racism bans and creating dressing room unrest by being a collosal cnut as negative attributes.
6) VVD - I know Liverpool fans love him but I think even 6th is generous. Very very good for a year or so. Otherwise just very good. Bit of an obnoxious twazzock
7) Carvalho - really rated him but what an insufferable cheat
8) Stam - May be higher if I could remember that far back. I'm sure our defence wasn't exactly impenetrable during his tenure. It certainly got worse after he left but then we replaced him with the world's slowest human.
9) Campbell - another who would be higher but I also think you can count becoming an increasingly problematic weirdo as a negative attribute.
10) Adams - I was too young to remember but I ran out of players to name and he's on other peoples lists and I want to pretend I know what I'm talking about
 
diarm said:
There’s simply no way that’s true.
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Just simply is, one made loads and loads of errors that lead to goals and was always injured.
The other was never injured much more consistent and can barley remember any mistakes he made.
Kompany is hugely overrated.
 
LankyHoggie said:
He wasn’t, Gallas was a very good defender who could play CB and LB/RB to a very high level.
Gallas was not as good of a CB as Kompany, let alone as a leader.
Kompany took his team over the line with title deciding goals, Gallas cried on the pitch as Arsenal captain.

Not even remotely close, different level.
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I disagree, Kompany never even had good a campaign in Europe.
Made more errors and was injured much more. I can count so many errors from Kompany that led to goals but hardly any from Gallas.
Gallas was just more consistent and was part of a record defence that conceded 15 PL goals.
One gets remembered because he scored a big goal in a title decider VS Utd one gets remembered for crying on the pitch away to Birmingham, shame.
 
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