Top 5:

1. Lothar Mattheus
2. Claude Makelele
3. Frank Rijkaard
4. Fernando Redondo
5. Didier Deschamps

HM: Pep Guardiola, Sergio Busquets, Edgar Davids, Patrick Vieira.

Gattuso?

Matthaus wasn't a defensive midfielder..

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Matthaus wasn't a defensive midfielder..

This. Makelele better than Rijkaard

You obviously did not watch him play.

I'd have Busi in my top 5.

I think Makelele is hyped up because of the redneck Premier League journalism that has never witnessed 4-3-3 before Jose Mourinho so they invented the terminus "Makelele role" for a midfielder sitting infront of the back 4 as if this never existed before which in return elevated Makelele's reputation. At the end of the day he was just a black Mascherano. Nothing extraordinary.

Defensive midfield partnerships would be more interesting by the way. Is there anything that trumps Busquets-Alonso?

futbol wrote:
Defensive midfield partnerships would be more interesting by the way. Is there anything that trumps Busquets-Alonso?

Rijkaard-Anceolotti

futbol wrote:I think Makelele is hyped up because of the redneck Premier League journalism that has never witnessed 4-3-3 before Jose Mourinho so they invented the terminus "Makelele role" for a midfielder sitting infront of the back 4 as if this never existed before which in return elevated Makelele's reputation. At the end of the day he was just a black Mascherano. Nothing extraordinary.

Defensive midfield partnerships would be more interesting by the way. Is there anything that trumps Busquets-Alonso?

100% except Mascherano is the white Makelele

Rijkaard and Ancelotti.

Rijkaard was better than both players.

//thread

Gilberto Silva was the best defensive mid the PL has ever seen. So if the likes of Patrick Vieira makes, and Makelele makes the list, than so should he.

Maka was more than just a DM for us, He was one of the main reasons we won the EPL.

Also, Vieira wasn't a DM.

Kick wrote:Maka was more than just a DM for us, He was one of the main reasons we won the EPL.

Also, Vieira wasn't a DM.

Yeah Veieira was not just a DM, he was EVERYTHING.

My fav DM of all time is Makelele.

An honourable mention to the Prince of Rome, Falcao.

I like Mascherano a lot, but to compare him with Makelele is blasphemy, Makelele was class and the center of two great Real Madrid and Chelsea teams.

If by DM we understand a ball-winning midfielder (because the OP also mentioned some B2B midfielders like Vieira or Davids), than the best DM I have seen play are (in no particular order):

Cocu
Busquets
Makelele
G. Silva
Simeone
Redondo
Paulo Sousa
Roy Keane
Hamann
De Rossi

Best partnerships: Cocu-Guardiola, Makelele - Vieira, Busquets - X. Alonso.

Davids is my personal favorite despite not being the best here.

The other 4 would be
Rjikard
Makelele
Redondo
Vieira

Makelele compared to Rijkaard is truly laughable. Rijkaard was better at everything.

I also want to mention that I've seen a few amazing games of marseille desailly playing DM

Comparing Makalele with Rijkaard is like comparing Nesta with Baresi. Makalele was world class and an amazing DM, best of his time but Rijkaard is probably the greatest ever in that position. No shame in admitting Rijkaard was better for Makalele.

Karim deserves a mention

El Shaarawy wrote:Karim deserves a mention

Lol

Rijkaard was probably the best.

Mikel.

Redondo

/bias (though, he was incredibly good, top3 without any problem)

 Danielino De Rossi