Who is the best English defender in the Premier League?

nikebee said:
A lot of people mentioning Richards, I don't think he's up there yet. I think he's probably one of the picks to break through into the top lot with Rio/Cara but I wouldn't say he's there yet.

He still looks a little unfinished at times, but I think he'll end up being a brilliant talent.
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I think hes got a long way to go to be as good as bramble though! :)
 
Rio Ferdinand
Ashley Cole
John Terry
Jamie Carragher
Gareth Barry (as a left back)
Gary Neville



As an aside, Gary Cahill (ex villa) of Bolton is quality, and will be recognised as such over the next couple of seasons, WTF MO'N was doing getting shot of him is a mystery.
 
Yozz76 said:
Anyone who dismisses Carragher has either never played the game or is tainted with bias. A defender should be a defender first and foremost, i don't care if they can do the fancy stuff.

1. Carra
2. Terry
3. Wheater ( I really rate this fella )
4. Rio ( Should be a defensive midfielder imo )
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that's a really poor list in my eyes. For me the standout english defenders over the last few years have been Rio and Terry, with Rio the one who's been better over the last 12-18months. Apart from that you'd be looking at Carragher, Cole (of a couple of years ago) G Neville (before injury but no way i can include him after his time off with injuries.) and King when not injured. Woodgate would be up there on ability but is a sicknote so i couldn't really include him.
 
Im really suprised no-one has even considered Wes Brown after last season when he played consistantly at a high level right upto and including the CL Final ( think he is one player most people want to knock - but enough Man Utd supporters to even give him a mention I would have thought)

Better than Carra by a long shot in the last season or two
 
jakeke said:
Wes Brown isn't very good that's why he hasn't been considered. He's very lucky to be surrounded by arguably the best 3 defenders in the League.
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If anything being on the right - he is more likely to be caught out (playing in central defence you MIGHT have a case)

WB is a lot better than people seem to want to give him credit for
 
jakeke said:
They weren't that night though, you know that.
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Perhaps not but is there not a case that they were limited by the quality of the defence? Maybe it is just a coincidence that what some call the best attacking side in the World had an off day when they came up against the Man Utd defence but possibly the defence had something to do with their lack of chances.

I probably don't watch enough English football to comment fairly but from what I've seen Ferdinand and Terry would be the top two of the English footballers.
 
lol, barca are not the best attacking side in the world. How did they do in the league, frequently all their big names would dissappear. Henry is living off his reputation of how he played about 4 years ago now, his last season at arsenal was dire, the season before only semi good, the 2 since, woeful.

People live in history and its boring. Liverpools current side didn't win a cup back in the 60/70's, Barca were a massively worse side last year and not fantastic the year before. etc, etc.

Wes Brown was frequently found being left behind, anyone/everyone can have a few fantastic games and a few bad games, the worst striker in the world can and do score against the very best teams sometimes, thats football. Overall brown is average, very good on his best day but mostly fairly clumsy and makes plenty of mistakes.

Caragher was possibly best in league but that was almost 4 years ago now, last 2 years he's been a joke, this year, awful. Rio ferdinand only looks so good because Vidic has been world class and moping up his mistakes, Vidic only looks quite so solid as you see him have to mop up Rio's mistakes and he plays the furthest back defender role whose job it is, is to mop up mistakes. By being the "stepping out" centre back you will make more mistakes than the other type of centre back. No ones directly comparable really.

Vidic/Rio is just as strong as Terry/Gallas was. Rio + anyone else in the man U squad or any english setup is no where near as strong. Likewise Terry has never looked as good as he did alongside Gallas. You simply can not distinguish a single centreback out as being great, you can only defend effectively as a pair. left/right backs are a little more singular and more comparable to other left/right backs. Cole was great, not anymore. Neville is probably englands best player, he's been out injured, but thats not the same as playing badly for a year as say in Carraghers case. Theres nothing to suggest he'll come back and be less reliable than he was for the decade before he was injured where he really never changed in reliability.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Henry is living off his reputation of how he played about 4 years ago now, his last season at arsenal was dire, the season before only semi good, the 2 since, woeful.
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  • He struggled with injuries over the last two years.
  • 05-06 was when he became the club's top goal scorer and we got to the CL final.
  • He's only been gone a year.
  • He was Barca's top scorer last season.
 
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