***FA Cup QF and Premier League 7th March***

[marscay]

I was surprised when I saw the stats for his assists. I thought they'd be higher. He had players like Wright and Henry with him, also wingers like Overmars and Ljungberg who were regular goalscorers, you'd expect more. For me, Zola was far better. A greater goalthreat and creator for his team-mates.

stats don't always paint the whole picture especially when it comes to intangibles like passing.

quite often Bergkamp pullled the strings but that doesn't mean he will always see an assist or that the player actually puts the ball away - anyone whose seen Dennis play quite a bit (not just highlights on MOTD) knows how special he really was.

there'll never be another Bergkamp

Zola was a great player but what did Chelsea win back then, Bergkamp was winning titles and playing a key role.

 

[Tummy]

Park is a good player, Probably one of the best utility player in the League.

A lot of people on here have used him as a scapegoat for what they feel were below average performances. Park probably could be a better finisher, I'll hold my hands up and say he's not perfect, but he's far better then what some people have said in the past on the forum about him.

 

[Tummy]

stats don't always paint the whole picture especially when it comes to intangibles like passing.

quite often bergkamp pullled the strings but that doesn't mean he will always see an assist or that the player actually puts the ball away - anyone whose seen Dennis play quite a bit knows how special he really was.

there'll never be another bergkamp

Dennis Bergkamp was a brilliant player.

Many games I watched Arsenal and everything going forward went through this man, or he played a part in the attack, despite having no pace towards the end of his career.

He was a very clever player.

 

[HangTime]

Undoubtedly would have made Premiership team of the Season or been therabouts between 1996-2000 but he wouldn't be in a UEFA team of the season during that period.There were better forward/playmakers at the time.

Somewhat surprising for a player who was voted officially the 3rd best player in the world in 1997 (with only one forward ahead of him) and was in the WC'98 all-star team. While you can never be sure with those votes, for me, he was definitely one of the best players in Europe around 1997-8.

Personally if I look at forwards around that time I would say that there were not many of his calibre except for Ronaldo, Shevchenko, Shearer and Weah (towards the start of the period).

Whether or not he is overrated is open to debate, personally I'd say the biggest critisism one can wage against him is that he was a scorer of great goals (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drScL8q956o , not many tapins there, also a few of them show his strength at protecting the ball which is often overlooked), but not a great goalscorer. I really can't think of many peers in terms of his vision and technique aside from Zidane and Le Tissier (don't laugh) though. There was a game towards the end of his career when Everton got battered 7-0 (not bad against a team who finished in the top 4) and he was running the show, truly mesmorising and the only comprable performance I've seen since was Zidane against Brazil in WC2006.

 

[elroberto]

Del Piero?

 

[Visionary]

Ferdinand was better than Shearer in the mid-nineties.