Your Top Ten Players In The Premiership Since Its Inception

Originally Posted by Ginlarde

how come he wasnt getting picked for france? was it political reasons or were there better players?

serious answers appreciated

The French manager didn't like his attitude.

Still managed 45 caps though - not bad.

Tbf to Hman he is only looking for attention.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

he inspired the influx of the great foreign players once they saw that cantona's creativity and flair could flourish in the English league

Vieira, Gullit and Bergkamp amongst plenty others were heard to say exactly that

absolutely brilliant point that. How many brilliant foreign players were around before Eric?

Originally Posted by Ginlarde

how come he wasnt getting picked for france? was it political reasons or were there better players?

serious answers appreciated

He was actually French captain prior to the incident at Selhurst Park, so the notion that he didn't do well at International level is quite simply a load of %@#$&!s. He got 20 goals in 45 games.

French national team

Eric Cantona was given his full international début against West Germany in August 1987 by the then national team manager Henri Michel. In September 1988, angered after being dropped from the national team, Cantona referred to Michel as a "bag of shit" in a post-match TV interview and was indefinitely banned from all international matches.[15] However, Michel was sacked shortly after that having failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup.

The new coach was Michel Platini and one of his first acts was to recall Cantona who was a favourite of his. He claimed that Cantona would be selected as long as he was playing competitive top-class football; Platini had initiated Cantona's move to England to restart his career. France qualified for the 1992 European Football Championship held in Sweden, but failed to win a single game despite the striking partnership of Cantona and Jean-Pierre Papin. Platini resigned after the finals to be replaced by Gérard Houllier.

Under Houllier, France then failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. after losing the final game 2-1 at home to Bulgaria when a draw would have sufficed. David Ginola gave away possession in the game which led to Bulgaria's winning goal by Emil Kostadinov. Cantona was reportedly angry with Ginola after the game. Houllier resigned and Aimé Jacquet took over.

Jacquet began to rebuild the national team in preparation for Euro 96 and appointed Cantona as captain. Cantona remained captain until the Selhurst Park incident in January 1995. The suspension which resulted from this incident also prevented him from playing in international matches.

By the time Cantona's suspension had been completed, he had lost his role as the team's playmaker to another star, Zinédine Zidane, as Jacquet had revamped the squad with some new blood and built it around Zidane. With the inclusion of young new talents such as Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and David Trézéguet, Cantona, Papin and Ginola lost their place were never again selected for the French team, thus missing Euro 96. Though there was criticism about Cantona's omission, as he was playing his best football in the FA Premier League, Jacquet himself stated that the team had done well without Cantona, and that he wanted to keep faith with the players who had taken them so far.[16] The decision was vindicated as Les Bleus subsequently won the World Cup in 1998.

To this day, Cantona still harbours resentment for the people at the head of his national team but also admiration for his adopted football country; at Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he supported England and not France.[17]

Picking Zola is an absolute joke.

The bloke sat on Chelsea's bench for 18 months behind Gudjohnson and Hasselbaink.

He was a decent player but how can you be in the top 10 of the last 15 years if you were sat on the bench so much?

There was no massive outcry from Chelsea fans or the media. Can you imagine Cantona, Henry or Gerrard sat on the bench for 18 months.

It wasn't at the end of his career either, he actually got his place back later.

Also he got in a fight with then-teammate Bruno Martini, beat him up pretty good, whilst Martini was in the French squad. That further hurt his chances of getting picked.

Cantona
Keane
Henry
Zola
Shearer
Giggs
Schmeichel
Bergkamp
Viera
Scholes

Schmeichel
Parker
Bruce
Pallister
Irwin
Ince
Keane
Giggs
Kanchelskis
Hughes
Cantona

11 I know - but I £#%&!ing loved this team.

Originally Posted by Coracao

He got 20 goals in 45 games.

During a period in which the French were quite shit, I believe.

[quote=The Withered Hand;1388296]Picking Zola is an absolute joke.

The bloke sat on Chelsea's bench for 18 months behind Gudjohnson and Hasselbaink.

/QUOTE]

You'll find that JFH and Gudjohnnsen signed for Chelsea in 2000. Zola was 34 then. Are you screaming that Scholes is being benched in favour or Carrick?

1) Cantona

The rest in no particular order:

Bergkamp

Schmeichel

Shearer (@#%&!, but he was like Roy of the Rovers in the mid-nineties)

Ronaldo

Scholes

Henry

Kanchelskis

Stam

Vialli

Hughes

Originally Posted by Zorg

1) Cantona

The rest in no particular order:

Bergkamp

Schmeichel

Shearer (@#%&!, but he was like Roy of the Rovers in the mid-nineties)

Ronaldo

Scholes

Henry

Kanchelskis

Stam

Vialli

Hughes

Interesting inclusion. His achievements playing for Everton, are probably more impressive than his time at United, considering the Everton side he was playing in. All fell apart when he left England. Italy was a shit league for a player like him to move to.

Nope.

I am saying he had two good seasons 97-98 and 98-99.

By the next season he was on the bench and spent a lot of time there from 2000-2002 until his last season where he played more and had a good season.

That to me doesn't get him near a top ten.

He may be one of the top 10 talents to play in the premiership but he contributed a lot less to it than the likes of cantona, bergkamp, henry, shearer, vieira, keane, schmiechel etc.

Scholes has done it at the top for 12 years, zola did a couple of years at the arse end of his career.

Just my opinion but I believe his contribution to the premiership is vastly overrated.

Originally Posted by Coracao

Interesting inclusion. His achievements playing for Everton, are probably more impressive than his time at United, considering the Everton side he was playing in. All fell apart when he left England. Italy was a shit league for a player like him to move to.

I just loved watching him play - the fastest player I've ever seen. And very difficult to handle. Bang it down the touchline, give the full back a ten yard head start, steam past him and cross it in. Simple and very exciting.

The sight of him, Giggs, Hughes and Cantona up front

Originally Posted by Zorg

I just loved watching him play - the fastest player I've ever seen. And very difficult to handle. Bang it down the touchline, give the full back a ten yard head start, steam past him and cross it in. Simple and very exciting.

The sight of him, Giggs, Hughes and Cantona up front

Word.

Awfully underrated player is Kanchelskis.

In no particular order

Eric
Keane
Schmikes
Giggs
Scholes
Henry
Gerrard
Shearer
Bergkamp
Lampard

First 9 are no brainers, could have gone with Lampard or Vieira.

Lampard

Originally Posted by Zorg

Lampard

He has been pretty consistent over a sustained period of time, chipped in with a ridiculous amount of goals (for a midfielder) and been a key player in 2 title winning seasons...

Probably wouldn't get into my top ten, but I can understand why people would include him.

Robert Pires scored as much from midfield and won more trophies than Lampard has thus far. I like Lampard as a player - he's really the only Chelsea player who has earned his money this season- but wouldn't have him in or even terribly close to the top 10 of Premiership players.

Originally Posted by Coracao

He has been pretty consistent over a sustained period of time, chipped in with a ridiculous amount of goals (for a midfielder) and been a key player in 2 title winning seasons...

Probably wouldn't get into my top ten, but I can understand why people would include him.

Originally Posted by Grimson

Robert Pires scored as much from midfield and won more trophies than Lampard has thus far. I like Lampard as a player - he's really the only Chelsea player who has earned his money this season- but wouldn't have him in or even terribly close to the top 10 of Premiership players.

Yep. I'm not saying he's shit, he's clearly not, but I would put about twenty others in there ahead of him.