Best player you've seen live

[originaltrueblade]

Seen loads George Best then we have Jimmy Greaves and great goalkeepers like Banks ...Then we have wonderful players like Pele Eusebio Cruyff and these players played amongst nearly all international players so when you consider how good some of our own were I know Hodgy had a great defence is front of him but he was only 5ft 9inches tall....just in front of him was a Centre half of only 5ft 6 inches tall thats Joe Shaw and then I think further forward and in my opinion The wonderful Alan Woodward and then we come to Tony Currie doing it without the assist of world class players all around him so my opinion is TC when he was on song he was amazing...Thank you TC amazing. and if the truth be known Pele held TC in the highest esteem

 

[JohnDenver]

Saw him in person a few times for Italy and Milan. Don't think he made 5 tackles in all the games combined, certainly never saw him sliding on his arse making last ditch tackles, but his positional sense and reading of the game was almost perfection, knew what the opposition was going to do before they did.

He was still playing when Football Italia was on C4. Didn’t look very tall or very quick. But the Milan back four was like a collective under the control of a single mind.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

He was still playing when Football Italia was on C4. Didn’t look very tall or very quick. But the Milan back four was like a collective under the control of a single mind.

Indeed, that team with Maldini, Costacurta and Baresi and Tassotti was as near perfect as any defence has been. Add Rijkaard at his peak as DCM, Gullitt attacking from midfield and Van Basten up front and you had probably the greatest club side ever.

 

[Goodpinchofclough]

Messi in his prime, scored 2, hit the bar and missed an open net.

Most of the Barca team from 2013

Gazza but not in his prime

Johnny Ertl

In that order

 

[Everblade]

Eric Cantona, such poise and presence.

 

[shorehamview]

The best non-Blade I’ve seen would have to be Cristiano Ronaldo. Sure, he missed a sitter when he played at the Lane, but in terms of the career he’s had he’s easily the best player I’ve seen in the flesh.

 

[Antonb]

The best I have seen is mark Duffy in the friendly against Sheffield fc . Different class

 

[Frank the tank]

Probably Paul McGrath although remember thinking tevez was different class even though hr missed two sitters and we won easily

 

[PurpleRain]

Eden Hazard in his prime at Chelsea, he just glided past defenders as if they were not there. Saw him at Schalke in a CL game. World class player back then.

 

[biggiesablade]

Honestly got to say our very own Illiman

 

[Bert]

Greaves, Pele, Best, Charlton, Ronaldo Moore, Jennings, Banks, Law, Currie, Woodward etc, etc.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

George Best at the Lane for Fulham but he was past his best by then.

Gazza for England in the 1990 World Cup ( I was only in Sardinia for the group matches)

Best player of my football watching years but I never saw live ….. has to be Johan Cruyff.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Couldn't limit this, so I will go up the pitch, back to front:

Keeper: Peter Schmeichel for Denmark

Defender: The great imperious Franco Baresi

Midfield: I want to say TC, but I saw Michel Platini who was different levels.

Forward: The finest individual performance I ever had the pleasure to see, Marco Van Basten.

I was going to mention Van Basten , that goal in euro 88!
Sadly career marred by injuries

 

[dublin 10 blade]

George Best at the Lane for Fulham but he was past his best by then.

Gazza for England in the 1990 World Cup ( I was only in Sardinia for the group matches)

Best player of my football watching years but I never saw live ….. has to be Johan Cruyff.

Didn’t Rodney marsh play for Fulham that day as well ?
They just passed the ball to themselves
Blades won 2-1 memory serves mi reight

 

[Big Hitter]

Slight twist on the question asked but I’m gonna go with ‘biggest surprise’

in a similar manner I always thought Emile Heskey was a cart horse who somehow managed to gain caps for England. The way he dominated our defence (Morgan included) in Warnock’s year in the prem made me realise how effective he was at what he did

He ran the game that day against us - was it Wigan ? Beat us on his own.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

Didn’t Rodney marsh play for Fulham that day as well ?
They just passed the ball to themselves
Blades won 2-1 memory serves mi reight

From my sketchy memory I think Bobby Moore also played. I thought it was 2-2 but I was only a lad at the time on the Kop so a long way to think back !

 

[Tezza1889]

Gazza at the Lane, I think we lost 3.2 (?). Best player on the pitch by a country mile . I was young though so my judgement may have been clouded by his brilliance

Nope your judgement was bang on mate.

 

[Luke1993]

Fortunate enough to have seen kaka once in his prime at Milan, unbelievable player. But Andrea pirlo is the best footballer I've ever seen live.

 

[JackSUFC]

Seen both Messi and Ronaldo in the flesh. Neither of them ‘wowed’ me on the day but in terms of their careers they’re the best players I’ve seen live.

Saw Liverpool vs Newcastle when Steven Gerrard was in his peak and he was levels above everyone. Looked like an older kid playing against toddlers in the garden.

More recently went to Man City 6-0 Forest a couple of weeks ago and Bernardo Silva was brilliant. Ran the show.

In our PL season I remember thinking Van Dijk looked quality at the Lane. Made it look easy. We gave them a game that day too.

 

[dillis]

This guy.

Andrés D'Alessandro - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The year was 2003 and Me and a work mate decided to take a drive from the sleepy village of Wittingen to Wolfsburg and watch them play Hamburg

We didn’t have tickets but managed to blag some on the back of being English and the Hamburg fans thinking we’d add some Hooligan credibility to their denim wearing mob.

D’Allesandro was a young kid and it was early season, he’d just signed I think and he had loads of tricks, a bit like N’Diaye

He ran them ragged and Wolfsburg bagged 4

He never really hit the heights I’d expect after that performance

Used to sign him on FM years ago. Wand of a left foot

 

[SwissBlade]

Used to sign him on FM years ago. Wand of a left foot

ha ha yeah he was awesome on there but he always had a sky high value

 

[dillis]

Seen a load of top players but the one that sticks out would be Hazard for Belgium. Went over to France for the euros and managed to get to a few games, he was unreal. Pace with the ball. Just glided past players.
Little mention for Van Dijk when we played Liverpool in the prem at home, lost 0-1(no idea how) and I thought he was mustard. So calm, never out of position and won everything in the air. Top, top player.

 

[Bladethebrian]

Greaves, Pele, Best, Charlton, Ronaldo Moore, Jennings, Banks, Law, Currie, Woodward etc, etc.

As a young teen I had the pleasure of being told to “Fuck off” by the great Pat Jennings when asking for his autograph. Beat that!

 

[georgebernardshaw]

Denis Law, explosive and peerless

 

[wak1889]

Went to see Barcelona when their front 3 was messi , neymar and Suarez, neymar was the pick of the 3 on the day absolutely different class

 

[Silent Blade]

Didn’t Rodney marsh play for Fulham that day as well ?
They just passed the ball to themselves
Blades won 2-1 memory serves mi reight

Moore, Marsh and Best played in the 1-1 draw in October 1976. Only Best out of the three played in our 2-1 win In October 1977

 

[Silent Blade]

From my sketchy memory I think Bobby Moore also played. I thought it was 2-2 but I was only a lad at the time on the Kop so a long way to think back !

1-1 in Oct 1976

 

[Maidenhead]

Best player I have seen is George Best by a country mile.

Best individual performance- Duncan McKenzie for Everton when they walloped us 3-0 at the Lane in a league Cup tie.

He was unplayable that night.

 

[AWetFlannel]

Saw Messi play in the finalissima, was incredible.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61653337

 

[Maurice Maurice]

Bergkamp scored that goal against us in the infamous Arsenal cup replay. I stood swearing for a good two minutes before sitting down and admitting to my son that the goal was absolute class.

TC was the best on a consistent basis. Watching some of the stuff he could do when we were stroking the ball about was a joy to watch.