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Best player you've seen play 'in the flesh'

SO16_Saint

By SO16_Saint,
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hughieslastminutegoal

hughieslastminutegoal

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Against Saints - Best. Not only the 5-2 mentioned earlier, but in the 3-0 home defeat when the Dell's record attendance was set. He laid on all 3 and was basically playing us on his own as Saints dominated but lost. He also took us apart at Old Stretford in extra-time in a cup replay in72.

 

However, I saw a 19 year old Maradona run rings round england in 1980 and found this. http://www.life-in-england.info/?p=345

 

Are you talking about Jan 1964? Wasn't it 3-2? I may well be wrong but I can't imagine that crowd being surpassed later on.

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labibs

labibs

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At Saints, I remember seeing Ferdindand have a storming game for Leeds. He didn't even get out of walking pace and had our whole attack in his pocket. Other than that, last year a few of us went over to Milan for a few days and we jumped on a train to Genoa to watch a Sampdoria match (Inter v Juve at the Meazza, couldn't get tickets). Cassano was ridiculous, just miles better than any other player on the pitch.

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Deano6

Deano6

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Against Saints - Best. Not only the 5-2 mentioned earlier, but in the 3-0 home defeat when the Dell's record attendance was set. He laid on all 3 and was basically playing us on his own as Saints dominated but lost. He also took us apart at Old Stretford in extra-time in a cup replay in72.

 

However, I saw a 19 year old Maradona run rings round england in 1980 and found this. http://www.life-in-england.info/?p=345

 

I agree. I haven't been watching Saints for too long, but when I saw Leon turn out against us for Coventry he ran the show and made our team look like fools. Class player!

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Window Cleaner

Window Cleaner

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I agree. I haven't been watching Saints for too long, but when I saw Leon turn out against us for Coventry he ran the show and made our team look like fools. Class player!

 

Are you trying to tell us that you've never seen a better player than Leon Best??

Even Lallana is 50 times the player he'll ever be.

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sandwichsaint

sandwichsaint

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Having been weaned on a diet of Paine, Davies and Channon it's all been downhill since then. I loved Eric Martin, and I can clearly remember Jim Montgomery coming to the Dell with Sunderland in a sky blue away strip and playing an absolute blinder. I saw Best twice and he was electric. Dalglish and Rush were awesome and Frank Stapleton also stays in the memory. Mark Wright was top draw when he was at Saints. Saw Hoddle several times and he was absolute quality, to watch him warm up I don't think I've seen a player strike the ball so sweetly and consistently; another player you would pay to watch him warm-up was Frank Worthington. I've seen pretty much most of the domestic players listed above and they are all worthy candidates.

 

My 'single' stand out favourite would probably be Bergkamp, saw him the game in his first season when he destroyed Saints at Highbury.

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MarkSFC

MarkSFC

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That's the one.

 

That was a great game, Rooney was a fascination...it was a case of is he as good as they're saying? Of course he was!!

 

Ian Wright was always unplayable against us but not the best.

 

The best for me was Zola, Dalglish, Rush, Gazza to name a few.

 

In the red and white, Steve Williams was great, Shilton just awesome, Moran just a brilliant goalscorer, Keegan was an idol, David Armstrong was brilliant, but fairly obviously LeTiss was better than all the above.

 

I bought my season tickets just to watch him.

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toofarnorth

toofarnorth

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That was a great game, Rooney was a fascination...it was a case of is he as good as they're saying? Of course he was!!

 

Ian Wright was always unplayable against us but not the best.

 

The best for me was Zola, Dalglish, Rush, Gazza to name a few.

 

In the red and white, Steve Williams was great, Shilton just awesome, Moran just a brilliant goalscorer, Keegan was an idol, David Armstrong was brilliant, but fairly obviously LeTiss was better than all the above.

 

I bought my season tickets just to watch him.

 

You can't say that. Apparently saints fans hate Ian Wright.

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ericb

ericb

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Hard to pick really though since i've seen so many amazing players down the years, but probably one of either Marradona (playing for Barca), Cantona, Henry or Shilts (at his best).

 

Just to contridict that mind - if i was allowed i'd always, always say Le Tiss. The amount of arguments i've had with non saints supporting mates about his skill and ability is "unbelieavable".

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benjii

benjii

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At Saints, I remember seeing Ferdindand have a storming game for Leeds. He didn't even get out of walking pace and had our whole attack in his pocket. Other than that, last year a few of us went over to Milan for a few days and we jumped on a train to Genoa to watch a Sampdoria match (Inter v Juve at the Meazza, couldn't get tickets). Cassano was ridiculous, just miles better than any other player on the pitch.

 

Aha! ;)

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Nick65

Nick65

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Saw Man Utd against us a few times in the late 60s; Best & Charlton were good, but Denis Law was awesome.

That was also Rodney Marsh's golden period - complete tw*t but a great player.

 

But the best(non-Saints) player I've ever seen in the flesh has to be Stan Bowles- just a genius.

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Chap in the Chapel

Chap in the Chapel

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No-one's mentioned him yet, surprisingly, but Neville Southall was one of the best I've seen play against us. I can remember a game at The Dell in about 1994 when he single-handedly (metaphorically and occasionally literally) stopped Everton losing by a huge margin.

 

I always thought van Nistelrooy and Vieira were incredible talents whenever I saw them. More recently, when we played Manchester United in the FA Cup 3rd round, I remember thinking that Berbatov was something else, with so much more ability than anyone else on the field it was untrue. Admittedly he was up against probably the worst Saints outfit in living memory, but if Manchester United had played with only seven or eight men that day and Berbatov was one of them they'd still have won.

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goso

goso

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I'm sadly old enough to have seen Pele play at Villa Park in the 70s. Although clearly past his best, his control and passing were amazing - 80 yd passes to feet without appearing to look. For Saints, Steve Williams was a class above most although he never replicated it at Arsenal. MLT goes without saying - he's still famous everywhere I go in the world. Georgie Best was great, but I never really appreciated it because he was always on the other side. Ron Davies for dominance in the air - never seen his like before or since.

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derry

derry

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Nandor Hidekuti, (Hungary), the original perpetrator of what was later called 'The Revie Plan'

In fact any of the 1956 Hungary side. Can't say where I saw Hidekuti play for fear of reprisals, but it was local.

 

MTK v Portsmouth about 1957.

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derry

derry

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Team from Pat Jennings, George Cohen, Franz Beckenbaur, Bobby Moore, Terry Cooper, Danny Blanchflower (capt), Johnny Haynes, Stanley Matthews, Terry Paine, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Charlton, John White, George Best, Ron Davies, Kevin Keegan, etc. etc. Wouldn't need any tacklers as they would keep the ball for 90 minutes except for periodic kick offs after goals.

Edited by derry
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derry

derry

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George Best by a country mile.[ To think Bobby Charlton rates Duncan Edwards the greatest player he ever played with,or has ever seen in his life][He must have been some player].

The greatest Saints player a toss up between my two all time favourites-Mick Channon,or Matt Le Tissier.

 

Duncan Edwards was awesome Andy, I only saw him on tv but once seen never forgotten, He was like a big Dave McKay with the passing ability of Hoddle with pace and power. There has never been another to compare with him. Sadly he died in the Munich air crash, only about 21 years of age and already a legend.

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hasper57saint

hasper57saint

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This is one for the 'Oldies'

Len Shackleton for Sunderland v Leicester (at Leicester in early 1950) Sunderland left back lobbed the ball into the Leicester box and Shack leapt up to trap the ball between his right shin and pad, let it go and turned in mid-air, hit it, and saw the ball in the back of the net before he landed back on the ground. Brilliant. Never seen it done since. Like Matty he wasn't a 'favourite' so didn't get as many caps as he really deserved.

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derry

derry

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This is one for the 'Oldies'

Len Shackleton for Sunderland v Leicester (at Leicester in early 1950) Sunderland left back lobbed the ball into the Leicester box and Shack leapt up to trap the ball between his right shin and pad, let it go and turned in mid-air, hit it, and saw the ball in the back of the net before he landed back on the ground. Brilliant. Never seen it done since. Like Matty he wasn't a 'favourite' so didn't get as many caps as he really deserved.

 

I remember the story how he dribbled around the goalkeeper, every defender gave up as he only had to tap it into an empty goal, so he sat on the ball on the line before scoring. It brought the house down. Absolutely unique.

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sambosa75

sambosa75

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Have a look on Wikipedia (Sp?) and just type in Len Shackleton. He actually scored SIX in his debut for Newcastle in their 13 - 0 win over Newport County.It is to my eternal pleasure to have seen him play.

 

Fascinating chapter in his auto-biography called "The average football director's knowledge of football..." The page is blank.

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