GOAT defensive midfielders?

Can you see why I didn't want to get involved sports. Half the posters here know *bleep* all.

Cambiasso, if not mentioned, should definitely be in here.

As far as historically:
- Claudio Gentile
- Rijkaard
- Tigana
- Cambiasso
- Gatusso
- Makelele
- Marco Tardelli
- Dunga
- Deschamps
- Several other Brazilians lol
- There has to be a German somewhere too
etc.

Gentile was a CB.

M99 wrote:Gentile was a CB.

 To start... Italy and Juve started play 3 CBs a lot in the early 80s with Gentile basically man covering the best opposition attacking player all game... in the 1982 WC for example, they had a back 4 of Bergomi, Cabrini, Collovati and Scirea.  Gentile chased Rummenigge.  He had chased Zico and Maradonna earlier in that tournament.  The role Gentile played in front of Collovati and Scirea centrally was really what you consider the destroyer DM one... it just wasn't called that until later.

sportsczy wrote:

M99 wrote:Gentile was a CB.

 

To start... Italy and Juve started play 3 CBs a lot in the early 80s with Gentile basically man covering the best opposition attacking player all game... in the 1982 WC for example, they had a back 4 of Bergomi, Cabrini, Collovati and Scirea.  Gentile chased Rummenigge.  He had chased Zico and Maradonna earlier in that tournament.  The role Gentile played in front of Collovati and Scirea centrally was really what you consider the destroyer DM one... it just wasn't called that until later.

Nicely put. It is apparent from watching the games that Gentile's roles mirror that of a destroyer DM in recent times. Oriali had the the DM role and Gentile helped him a lot with that. Still I consider Gentile a CB just like I consider Beckenbauer a defender. It was their position and role at that time even if what they did is a job of players playing in a different position today.

sportsczy wrote:Vieira was not a DM though... he was a B2B.  Vieira and Makalele partnered next to Zidane in 2006 WC.  Makalele was the DM, Vieira the B2B and Zizou the CM.  


Peeps are really mixing up the players' positions.

Nobody is calling Vieira a defensive midfielder, though. Pérez wanted to replace Makélélé with Vieira, and I think it definitely could have been possible if Pérez was willing to splash that high of an amount on a player who would play a defensive role.

Before 30, Makélélé had incredible speed and stamina, and that's what made him so valuable in defensive midfield. Vieira was more physical, had fantastic defensive qualities, and was just a perfect all-around midfielder.

In 2004 when Pérez was trying to woo Vieira to RM, he kept saying that Vieira was the best in the world in his position, which was centre midfield. Zidane got involved at that point too, even as a player.

There is no doubt in my mind that if Pérez acquired Vieira, he would have shoehorned him in the holding midfield role where if he became more restrained in his attacking prowess, he could have been the best holding midfielder in the world.

Makélélé at RM was different to the one at Chelsea. That's why I think that Vieira could have played his role in the team, and done it better -- only if he was to keep his attacking ability in check.

Perez' evaluation of players should be completely ignored as a general rule. Trust me . He replaced Makelele with Beckham