Complete Players

CliffyG

CliffyG

CliffyG

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Was thinking last night about Arsenal players and realised i couldn't think of any players i would pedantically call complete. We've had some world class players but they always have a side to their game which wouldn't live up to the rest.

E.g

Henry - lack of heading ability
Bergkamp - lack of acceleration / electric pace
Wrighty - not the best dribbler, didnt have vision for passes
Campbell / Adams - passing skills pretty basic
Vieira - should have scored more

Now i know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter because they were all superb at what they did but i was wondering if anyone can think of players which ticked all the boxes.
 
Henrik Larsson (Celtic) - got every kind of goal imaginable (bullet headers, 6 yard poaching, 30 yard screamers), link up play, tracking back, setting up for others, crossing, had it all, never had lightning pace but wasn't slow by any means.

Although not sure I agree with your Vieira assessment, he got a few goals and not a position that always has to score loads. I'd say he was the complete *defensive* mid.
 
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George Best in his prime had all the skill in the world, workrate, tackling back, was good in the air and was top scorer from the wing ahead of the strikers at the time (Law and Charlton). A bit greedy on the ball if we're being picky but most ball players tend to be.

If only we had someone like that now. Oh wait..........!
 
I see Fabregas as the complete midfielder at the moment, if not yet then he will be.

Can tackle and has good aggression, yet he can make sublime passes and is scoring a ton of goals. I'd say if anything his aerial ability is weaker but certainly not poor, he's not tall but he can jump high enough to compensate.

Personally i don't join in with the idea that Henry couldn't head the ball, he scored a reasonable ammount with his head, i personally think it was more that he didn't get into heading positions, he preferred to flutter on the edge of the box and outpace opponents, so it's more technique than weakness.

Van Nistelroy at his peak was awesome, could head goals, poach from the box and run at defenders with a fair bit of pace.

C.Ronaldo as well, scores a lot of headers, sets up, scores more than most strikers and has world class skills.
 
davestar_delux said:
Henrik Larsson (Celtic) - got every kind of goal imaginable (bullet headers, 6 yard poaching, 30 yard screamers), link up play, tracking back, setting up for others, crossing, had it all, never had lightning pace but wasn't slow by any means.

Although not sure I agree with your Vieira assessment, he got a few goals and not a position that always has to score loads. I'd say he was the complete *defensive* mid.
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I must admit i did have second thoughts about that after posting it, he's as close as i can think of actually.

Henry always looked unfortable to me when heading the ball, when he was actually in the area to receive a cross i never expected him to score if it came in at head height.
 
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Ronaldo is probably the closest at the moment. Fabregas is there too.

Bergkamp also had a fair bit of pace about him when he needed it. Just so happened that most of the time he didn't. Vieira was definitely an all rounder, as was Keane. Both had goals in them and were useful in attack and defence. Perhaps Seedorf as well maybe? Not seen enough of him though.
 
Just checked and Vieira got 29 in 279 appearences for Arsenal, not bad for a defensive mid but 1 every 10 games seems a little low still.
 
But when he got into positions where he got the chances, he took them. He was a great finisher. Thing is if you go as far as saying he wasn't a complete player because he didn't score goals, then there is no such thing as a complete player. No defensive midfielder will score regularly. He and Keane had decent records for defensive players. Its what they were like when they got a chance that is important, and both of those players were calm in front of goal, making them in my eyes - complete.
 
Im struggling to think of any in modern day football tbh ZZ and Keane are about the only ones

Ronaldo is not quite there
 
[ASSE]Hinchy;10803422 said:
But when he got into positions where he got the chances, he took them. He was a great finisher. Thing is if you go as far as saying he wasn't a complete player because he didn't score goals, then there is no such thing as a complete player. No defensive midfielder will score regularly. He and Keane had decent records for defensive players. Its what they were like when they got a chance that is important, and both of those players were calm in front of goal, making them in my eyes - complete.
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They both had around 1 in 10, as did Gilberto so pretty much the norm for a DM. Now if one of them managed 1 in 5 for instance would they be considered as more complete or just complete making the others not complete?
 
I'd have said Zidane, but looking at your criteria he never was amazingly quick. Del Piero was also pretty awesome until his injury.
 
platypus said:
I'd have said Zidane, but looking at your criteria he never was amazingly quick. Del Piero was also pretty awesome until his injury.
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Thats why i left Cantona out, him and ZZ didnt need to be quick because they always had space, but on that basis they aint complete players because they are slower :confused:
 
Neither of those were good defensively. The only complete players you can have going off what you have said are midfielders. Box to box midfielders. Zidane wouldn't be defending.

Keane, Davids, Vieira, Fabregas, Seedorf, Gerrard... They are the general kind of player you have to pick from. Of those I can only say for sure that Vieira is the most complete as he had everything. Skill, attacking ability, aerial ability, defensive, fit, pacey etc..

When people suggest forwards, then they aren't good defensively in order to be 'complete'. Sure they'll track back and help out, but they're not 'good' defensively. Same with defenders really, though I suppose some are very useful at going forward as well.

I'd prefer personally to look at someone that is complete in their position. But as I've said, the only complete complete players around will generally be box to box midfielders.
 
From the Premiership I'd have to say Ronaldo is the closest at this moment in time.

It's rare that you get a winger who can head the ball as well as he does and score goals from it.

Cesc is a close second for me. He really is turning out to be the complete central midfielder.
 
A complete player is someone who can do everything in their specific position. By the logic in this thread only midfielders can be "complete players" which is rubbish.

Rivaldo and Ronaldo(fat) would be other candidates (albeit approaching a decade ago).
 
What is Steven Gerrard missing?

I don't think he has been as much of a complete player as he should be - but he tackles well, works hard, scores all types of goals (usually screamers), can defend. He's very quick as well when he gets going.

Don't see what he could be missing.
 
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