Who do you think is/was the best central midfielder in the English Premier League era?

Who do you think is/was the best central midfielder in the English Premier League era?

In my opinion, Paul Scholes wins this.He is one of the reasons that encouraged me to become a real fan of Manchester United.

He is a complete CM.His passes are brilliant; he is maybe one of the best in the world when it comes about long passes.He has an amazing vision and takes the right decisions at the right time.He is also good at stealing the ball from the opponent.His standing and sliding tackles are amazing.

Scholes is a real fighter.He won many Premier League titles and he has been one of the most important pieces in Man UTD's midfield.

Roy Keane was also a fabulous central midfielder; many people say it is between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira.I still believe that Paul Scholes deserves to be the first in this top .

Vieira.

Had it all. Hugely technical, physical and all importantly tactical. Throw in his leadership and ability to always impact gameA very rich mans Yaya Toure..and I love Yaya Toure.

Patrick Vieira, Fabregas or Scholes

But i am biased so Vieira for me. PL won't see a Midfielder like him ever again

RealGunner wrote:Patrick Vieira, Fabregas or Scholes

But i am biased so Vieira for me. PL won't see a Midfielder like him ever again

Don't you think Roy Keane is better than Fabregas? I see you rate Vieira highly.Keano is considered Vieira's biggest rival on the pitch.

Oh, didn't see Roy keane's name on the list lol. Speaking of which, Yaya Toure just after 2 seasons ? T

Between Scholes, Viera and Lampard imo.

RealGunner wrote:Oh, didn't see Roy keane's name on the list lol. Speaking of which, Yaya Toure just after 2 seasons ? T

After 2 seasons i rate him higher than players like Scott Brave Scotty Brave Scotty Parker, Luka Modric for example and the list can continue.In my opinion he was one of the most important players for Man City last season and he won the English Premier League as being a decisive man for his team.

Well Bryan Robson played in the PL era and he was better than Yaya...in fact, he was better than Lampard, Gerrard and probably Cesc and Keane too in my opinion.

Never really got to watch Bryan Robson. Was he any good?

The Franchise wrote:Well Bryan Robson played in the PL era and he was better than Yaya...in fact, he was better than Lampard, Gerrard and probably Cesc and Scholes too.

He was amazing, of course...he was better than Yaya, but not better than Scholes.

Anyway, people can name anyone, i just forgot to put the "Other" option.I put Yaya in the poll answers because people can believe anything and maybe some fans really want to vote him.

The list is limited to a few players, but the answer isn't limited so you can pick any CM in the Premier League era .

Zealous wrote:Never really got to watch Bryan Robson. Was he any good?

He scored on the final day of the season against Wimbledon – it was his only senior goal of that campaign. By that game United were Premiership champions and Robson finally won the league championship medal that he had been trying to gain since his days at West Bromwich Albion some 15 years earlier.

Had to edit, Keane, not Scholes.

Anyway, Robson..hate showing my age by talking about these old players but yeah, I remember him pretty well from when I was young (and life, never mind TV was black and white lol)

Great player, very much in the Gerrard type, do everything well type mold. Pass, shoot, defend, tackle, run....was also pretty handy in the air too.

Unlike Gerrard though, I think he was very measured and played the simple ball as often as he could.

Juve tried to sign him at one point...pretty rare for a English centermid.

The Franchise you mustn't feel embarrassed because you partially showed us your age .

Robson was fabulous.He really comes close to Scholes.Maybe Scholes is being considered better because of his greater performances with the club, but if we are talking about individual skills, Robson was at least at Scholsey's level.

i know im biased but for me tis Frank Lampard. hes scored 20+ goals/season pretty much every season hes been at Chelsea, hes got the second (i think) highest assist tally in the PL era and he holds the record for the most consecutive appearances for an outfeild player in the PL era and only one red card to his name (and the second yellow-which was for a dive of all things-was questionable)

Then after you factor in his leadership quality, work ethic, reliability and even versatility (he played as a winger under Ranieri) for me he really is the complete package

and of course im speaking from the perspective of someone who hasnt watched football for very long, i havent even seen much of Viera

The Franchise wrote:Juve tried to sign him at one point...pretty rare for a English centermid.

ac milan signed his collegue ray wilkins as well. Underrated player imo, when i compared him to xavi once, that wasnt (completely) meant as an insult to xavi, wilkins was an excellent ball retainer and distributer.

Scholes by a mile imo, at his peak he was up there with the absolute best ever and even now he still can influence a game.

Yeah Wilkins was very good, not one people talk about nowadays though.

I dont see how its anyone "buy a mile"..and when was Scholes peak anyway?

The Franchise wrote:Yeah Wilkins was very good, not one people talk about nowadays though.

I dont see how its anyone "buy a mile"..and when was Scholes peak anyway?

95-05 was what I would consider his best years, but even after that he was still very good

I know i'm being biased but Gerrard for me. The guy carried an average Liverpool side at his prime. His prime extended for more than half a decade, and he had absolutely everything. There was nothing he couldn't do at his prime, absolutely nothing. Age has caught up with him now, and he isn't half the player he used to be. It's no coincidence that for the past three years Liverpool have been shite, because Stevie's past his best and just couldn't carry the team anymore. All of these guys are legends, but one thing Gerrard edges these guys over is that he made the impossible happen time and again in his prime.

In his prime, I dont think Gerrard haD discipline. I think he was too adventerous and didnt understand that sometimes it was better served to hang back rather than go forward.

I would put that on Lampard a bit too.

Keano with 0 votes

The Franchise wrote:In his prime, I dont think Gerrard haD discipline. I think he was too adventerous and didnt understand that sometimes it was better served to hang back rather than go forward.

I would put that on Lampard a bit too.

Good point! However, you have to look at why he had to leave his position and venture forward. Gerrard's prime was from 2003-09. In that time period our main attackers were: 2003-04 Owen (his last year, didn't even care for the team and played some lackluster football), Diouf (didn't score a single goal in Gerrard's breakthrough season), Heskey , Pongolle, 2004-09 Cisse (expensive flop), Morientes (past his best), Baros (another flop), Fowler (past his best), Crouch (inconsistent/average), Kuyt (decent but far from WC), Bellamy (disappointing first stint), Voronin , TORRES (first WC player), Keane (major flop), N'Gog .

He only had an injured Torres for the last two years of his prime and then he was played as an AM/SS by Rafa. Those average players really goes to show you why, as our best player, he felt the need to rally the troops by going forward and try to carry the goalscoring burden on his shoulders. This discipline argument is void because we just couldn't score without him making runs from midfield.

I understand he did what he needed to do for the the good for the team, I have no doubt it was needed considering the players you named.

However, with Rafa you had a great version of Torres and still Rafa opted to move Gerrard forward. This wasnt just because he was good going forward, but he wanted more discplined players..which he found in Alonso and Mascherano.

Its not exactly a knock on Gerrard, thats just what kind of player he is. Adventerous.

However, if im going to compare him to Vieira I think I would rather have the Frenchman.

PV4 had everything you could ask from a CM. Not only that, but he could also play other positions in the middle with just as much efficiency. Name other players in the league that could play DM, mobile box-to-box, CM at the same level as Patty?

Scholes is the second best imo. Although i liked him more when he use to play further up in the pitch than the role he has been given for the last4-5 years.

Vieira, but Scholes is also great.