Our best ever player

M23 Citizen said:
For me, David Silva and Rodri are our most consistent players. They never had or have bad games.

David was rarely a 7/10 but for me also was rarely a 10/10. He was 8 or 9 out of 10 every week. He was also beautiful to watch; so silky, so smooth, no mither, no dramas, just calmness and class oozing out of him as he made the game tick. So I can see why people have him as their #1.

But David never really hit the highest of heights that the very best players get to. I think de Bruyne, Agüero and Yaya could hit higher heights than David ever could. They were big game match winners and bosses of games. They could have 5 and 6 out of 10 performances but they would also regularly smash 10/10s as well.

For longevity of putting in those 10/10s, that’s where I have de Bruyne and Agüero over Yaya, and all over David.
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That's the thing with David Silva, for 10 years he was our beating heart. The maestro who set the tempo & dictated our games.

I've always rated Silva as the best I've seen in a City shirt, but this was confirmed when I watched a series on Setanta Sports years ago featuring great matches of the 70s.

I was a bit too young to fully appreciate the nuances of football back then, but this series gave me a great insight into football then & now. I got to watch several full City matches featuring my heroes & was able to compare them to our modern day greats.

I kept a specific eye on Colin Bell because of the comparisons many made between him & KDB. Bell was brilliant at his best, but imo Yaya, KDB & Silva were better. Comparing over the ages is hard, because football & player fitness & tactics have moved on, but taking everything into consideration, I honestly can't see past David Silva as the best City player I've ever seen.

It's all subjective though, & the players you've mentioned would all be in my top five City players ever, in no particular order aside from Merlin being number one. But you've highlighted some supreme ballers there mate...
 
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Longevity has to be Kev

At his best and for big moments in big games then it’s Yaya.

Rodri still could eclipse them. Tough ask but we’ll see.

Still think Buster Douglas might come good one day
 
ayrshire_blue said:
Dave Silva

After that - in no particular order - Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Yaya Toure, Fernandinho
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I wouldn't put Fernandinho or Rodri as our best, but I'd create a special category for our most important. In that respect both stand out from all our legends as the glue that gelled our greatest teams together. I suppose that could make them more crucial to City's success than the best.
 
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It should be Kevin De Bruyne, the numbers and the reality on the field suggest so.At his peak, an unreal player to watch. Absolute superclass from day one, a player who raised Man City from the level of a club that "could" do something in the Champions League,to a club that actually plays in the semi-finals and finals of the aforementioned competition (especially the one from 2016 where he alone brought City there). This is the player who first showed how to beat Real Madrid in the CL and who repeated it several times.
If he hadn't had be so unlucky with injuries, there would have been talk of an even bigger legend, and even like this, I hope he will enter the 400 club this season.

It should be Kevin De Bruyne, and the numbers suggest so. Absolute superclass from day one, a player who raised Man City from the level of a club that "could" do something in the Champions League, a club that actually plays in the semi-finals and finals of the aforementioned competition (especially the one from 2016 where I brought City there). This is the player who first showed how to beat Real Madrid in the CL and who repeated it several times.
If he hadn't had an accident with injuries, there would have been talk of an even bigger legend, and even like this, I hope he will enter the 400 club this season.

The best EPL and Man City assistant ever, and also above average goalscorer for a midfielder to top it all off.
 
Dribble said:
That's the thing with David Silva, for 10 years he was our beating heart. The maestro who set the tempo & dictated our games.

I've always rated Silva as the best I've seen in a City shirt, but this was confirmed when watch a series on Setanta Sports years ago featuring great matches of the 70s.

I was a bit too young to fully appreciate the nuances of football back then, but this series gave me a great insight into football then & now. I got to watch several full City matches featuring my heroes & was able to compare them to our modern day greats.

I kept a specific eye on Colin Bell because of the comparisons many made between him & KDB. Bell was brilliant at his best, but imo Yaya, KDB & Silva were better. Comparing over the ages is hard, because football & player fitness & tactics have moved on, but taking everything into consideration, I honestly can't see past David Silva as the best City player I've ever seen.

It's all subjective though, & the players you've mentioned would all be in my top five City players ever, in no particular order aside from Merlin being number one. But you've highlighted some supreme ballers there mate...
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Indeed.

And let’s hope we’re talking about Rodri, Foden, Haaland and maybe someone else in the same light in ten years time.

To think Foden is around the same age now that we bought David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne (all 24).

Last season I thought Phil needed to improve on his goalscoring. And he went from 16, 14 and 15 goals in the previous three seasons, to 27 last season.

If he can continue with that and then add it to the next thing I’d like to see him improve on (creativity, assists, through balls, link-up play from central attacking midfield - he’s always been more creative when playing wide than centrally, whereas he scores more goals centrally) and we could be talking about Foden being our greatest by the mid 2030s.

These are great times aren’t they?!
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
@Moderating Team . Can you put a poll up please.
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We could do, if the op didn't mind. But where do you draw the line? Having a poll of, say, thirty players would be unwieldy, not to mention silly. If you limit it to, for example, 10 players, which 10 make the cut? I'm just not sure it'd work. You'll get posters saying "my personal choice isn't in there. Why not?". My choice would be Ousmane Dabo, and I'd personally include him in the poll. But that could well be at the expense of KDB, and Kev's fans would be up in arms.
 
KDB or Spanish Dave. I think it just comes down to opinion between those two, personally I think De Bruyne edges it but not going to disagree with anyone who picks Silva.

Rodri a close 3rd behind them, with a chance to step into 1st over the next few years

Yaya after that.

Sergio after that.

Phil could potentially get there.

I wasn't alive for Colin Bell so can't really comment on that era.
 
jimharri said:
We could do, if the op didn't mind. But where do you draw the line? Having a poll of, say, thirty players would be unwieldy, not to mention silly. If you limit it to, for example, 10 players, which 10 make the cut? I'm just not sure it'd work. You'll get posters saying "my personal choice isn't in there. Why not?". My choice would be Ousmane Dabo, and I'd personally include him in the poll. But that could well be at the expense of KDB, and Kev's fans would be up in arms.
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Just put up the players who are mentioned most on here.
 
M23 Citizen said:
Rumour has it, the day/night Mancini lost the players was when he went apeshit at them and told them all they were all shite without Yaya, at Everton away, when he kept them in the changing rooms for 45 minutes after the final whistle when we got beat there (bloody Darren Gibson winner the Rag twat!) with Yaya missing.

But, he was right!

Yaya was the man back then. He was the boss of the league in his prime. And after his legs went, we went four years without challenging for the title.

He only did it for four years compared to others who did it over a longer period of time that stops me putting him up as high as de Bruyne and Agüero though.
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Sergio is my favourite ever player. But I still think Yaya is the best. No one else could or can do what he did. He could pull off any pass that Kevin can do. He never missed a penalty. He could bang in 35 yard free kicks. He could dictate play with simple passes in the middle of the park. This is a guy who played centre half in a Champions League final and kept Ronaldo in his pocket. He could also out run every player on the park, leave every one for dead, then slot the ball home after a 50 yard run. We have not even talked about all the heavy goals he scored.
He was a sublime player and easily the best midfielder I have ever seen play in this country.
 
jimharri said:
We could do, if the op didn't mind. But where do you draw the line? Having a poll of, say, thirty players would be unwieldy, not to mention silly. If you limit it to, for example, 10 players, which 10 make the cut? I'm just not sure it'd work. You'll get posters saying "my personal choice isn't in there. Why not?". My choice would be Ousmane Dabo, and I'd personally include him in the poll. But that could well be at the expense of KDB, and Kev's fans would be up in arms.
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Depending on where that line is drawn it really could be a bloody long list. It’s is a 130 year long list afterall.

Here is my all-time City squad:

G: Ederson Moraes, Frank Swift, Bert Trautmann

D: Sam Cowan, Rúben Dias, Mike Doyle, Vincent Kompany, Roy Paul, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Dave Watson, Max Woosnam

M: Colin Bell, Kevin de Bruyne, Rodrigo ‘Rodri’ Cascante, Peter Doherty, Ílkay Gündoğan, Fernando ‘Fernandinho’ Roza, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Yaya Touré

F: Kun Agüero, Eric Brook, Erling Haaland, Joe Hayes, Tommy Johnson, Francis Lee, Billy Meredith, Mike Summerbee

Coaching staff: Pep Guardiola, Malcom Allison
DoF: Txiki Bergistain, Joe Mercer


But putting that in a poll may be a bit ‘overkill’.
 
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M23 Citizen said:
Depending on where that line is drawn it really could be a bloody long list. It’s is a 130 year long list afterall.

Here is my all-time City squad:

G: Ederson Moraes, Frank Swift, Bert Trautmann

D: Sam Cowan, Ruben Dias, Mike Doyle, Vincent Kompany, Roy Paul, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Max Woosnam

M: Colin Bell, Kevin de Bruyne, Rodrigo ‘Rodri’ Cascante, Peter Doherty, Ílkay Gündoğan, Fernando ‘Fernandinho’ Roza, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Yaya Touré

F: Kun Agüero, Eric Brook, Erling Håland, Joe Hayes, Tommy Johnson, Francis Lee, Billy Meredith, Mike Summerbee

Coaching staff: Pep Guardiola, Malcom Allison
DoF: Txiki Bergistain, Joe Mercer


But putting that in a pole may be a bit ‘overkill’.
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That was my point. In my opinion, it's just not practical.
 
M23 Citizen said:
Depending on where that line is drawn it really could be a bloody long list. It’s is a 130 year long list afterall.

Here is my all-time City squad:

G: Ederson Moraes, Frank Swift, Bert Trautmann

D: Sam Cowan, Rúben Dias, Mike Doyle, Vincent Kompany, Roy Paul, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Max Woosnam

M: Colin Bell, Kevin de Bruyne, Rodrigo ‘Rodri’ Cascante, Peter Doherty, Ílkay Gündoğan, Fernando ‘Fernandinho’ Roza, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Yaya Touré

F: Kun Agüero, Eric Brook, Erling Haaland, Joe Hayes, Tommy Johnson, Francis Lee, Billy Meredith, Mike Summerbee

Coaching staff: Pep Guardiola, Malcom Allison
DoF: Txiki Bergistain, Joe Mercer


But putting that in a poll may be a bit ‘overkill’.
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Think Trevor Francis and Dave Watson would walk into that squad, mate.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
Think Trevor Francis and Dave Watson would walk into that squad, mate.
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I thought I’d put Dave Watson in.

I tried to have 3 keepers, 9 defenders, 9 midfielders and 9 forwards.

Watson was supposed to be one of the 9 defenders, for some reason I’d omitted him (now amended).

Would you have Francis? I didn’t add him due to lack of time with us. But didn’t know who to be the 9th forward.
 
It's impossible to compare eras, I think.

I loved that 1967/68 team, but I think the present XI would run rings round them. Though if it was played to 1967 rules on a 1967 pitch - who knows?

Colin Bell was an amazing player who could play in about 10 positions and was super fit. I reckon if a 23-year-old Colin Bell walked into the Etihad tomorrow Pep would absolutely love him. A dedicated and natural athlete with no side to him and a hell of a lot of skill.

Of the present generation, I have to agree it comes down to David Silva, Ya Ya, KDB, Rodri, Sergio and Haaland. Foden isn't far off and there are several of the younger players who could make it. I wouldn't want to single one out.
 
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