Arsenal's 10 best CBs ever

[Mitch]

I am intrested in seeing how people would rank our 10 best CBs ever?

 

[Riou]

1. Campbell
2. Toure
3. Koscielny
4. Mertesacker
5. Keown
6. Adams
7. Gallas
8. Vermealen
9. Luiz
10. Sokratis

...only considering players from my time as a fan, I know we have had better centre backs than some on this list, but this are the top 10 I have seen.

Also, Adams would have been number 1 and Keown number 3 if I saw both at their peak in the 90s...but since I didn’t, I am putting the others above them who in my time were better, even though they weren’t better defenders.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I'll try to do this as best as I possibly can given I've not seen a lot of them.

1. Tony Adams (obviously)
2. Sol Campbell
3. David O'Leary
4. Kolo Toure
5. Steve Bould
6. Martin Keown
7. McLintock
8. Laurent Koscielny
9. Per Mertesacker
10. Viv Anderson (I gotta be honest I had no idea who to put here)

 

[BigPoppaPump]

1. Campbell
2. Toure
3. Koscielny
4. Mertesacker
5. Keown
6. Adams
7. Gallas
8. Vermealen
9. Luiz
10. Upson

...only considering players from my time as a fan, I know we have had better centre backs than some on this list, but this are the top 10 I have seen.

Also, Adams would have been number 1 and Keown number 3 if I saw both at their peak in the 90s...but since I didn’t, I am putting the others above them who in my time were better, even though they weren’t better defenders.

Upson is probably the weirdest choice, but one of my fav ever matches was Arsenal v Juventus 2001, watching Matthew and Sol dominate Del Piero and Trezeguet in a 3-1 win, is one of my best memories...it was not long after I first started getting into football too, so I am very nostalgic about it, thought Sol and Upson were going to be our centre backs for the next 5-10 years

Oh god imagine putting Koscielny is your top 3 anything, he was an absolute liability.

Koscielny is gonna be on everyone's list in this thread and it's already upsetting me.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

I'll try to do this as best as I possibly can given I've not seen a lot of them.

1. Tony Adams (obviously)
2. Sol Campbell
3. David O'Leary
4. McLintock
5. Kolo Toure
6. Martin Keown
7. McLintock
8. Laurent Koscielny
9. Per Mertesacker
10. Viv Anderson (I gotta be honest I had no idea who to put here)

McLintock was so good you named him twice. Good list though and finding 10 is a struggle.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

McLintock was so good you named him twice. Good list though and finding 10 is a struggle.

Fixed it, was editing how I had the list and was meant to put in Bould.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

1. O'Leary
2. Adams
3. Campbell
4. Keown
5. Bould
6. Toure
7. Koscielny
8. Vermaelen
9. Mertesacker
10. Saliba/Gallas

The top 6 walk into any squad and hopefully Saliba will hit those heights as a minimum. Quite a struggle to pick a real top ten at CB.

 

[truth_hurts]

Was O'Leary that good?!

A top 10 Arsenal cb list of my time would depress me and I'd have to include players that have no business being in any top 10. Just goes to show how neglected our cb position has been over the past 2 decades.

Top 5 would be Sol, Adams, Keown, Bould, Gallas.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

What would be your top ten then...would Kos really not be in it?

I don't think I could name 10 good Arsenal CBs since I wasn't around much for Adams and Keown and co. I'm from the Campbell era. I only really rate Campbell, Toure and Mertesacker.

Arsène Wenger wasn't the best coach of defenders. Even look at your list, you got Gallas, Luiz and Vermaelen in there

But yeah coming to think of Koscielny would probably be in my top 10 even though I dislike him a lot, there's just not much to pick from.

 

[truth_hurts]

Gallas makes Mourinho' best ever 11 (albeit at full back), yet he isn't rated in Arsenal-Mania. He was class here but surround by muppets like Clichy, Eboue and Vermaelen.

He was world class.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

World class?
Do me a favour....

 

[Riou]

Gallas makes Mourinho' best ever 11 (albeit at full back), yet he isn't rated in Arsenal-Mania. He was class here but surround by muppets like Clichy, Eboue and Vermaelen.

He was world class.

He was great for Chelsea, very good for us too up to a point...his last 2 seasons here though, he was an unbelievably negative influence on the dressing room by all accounts.

 

[Notorious Big]

Yeah,Gallas was underrated tbf.Was way better than most our defenders in recent years.

Probably got a lot of hate because he played for our big rivals.

 

[Notorious Big]

He was great for Chelsea, very good for us too up to a point...his last 2 seasons here though, he was an unbelievably negative influence on the dressing room by all accounts.

We were never defensive side under Wenger.You can put Vidic and Rio in our defence and we would concede more goals than we expected.It's about how team play and what is their system.

The only time when we put more defensive approach and try to play on result was in CL 2005/06 imo.

 

[truth_hurts]

He was great for Chelsea, very good for us too up to a point...his last 2 seasons here though, he was an unbelievably negative influence on the dressing room by all accounts.

His attitude did stink out the joint and he had a track record of being an arse. He also completed the treble of playing for Arsenal, Chelssa and Sp**s.

Bit of a knob, but quality defender. His partnership with Carvalho is one of the best that the league has saw.

 

[truth_hurts]

World class?
Do me a favour....

Spent time being Chelsea's best defender as well as Frances best defender. Both teams amongst the best in the world.

But, not world class because his incompetent team mates threw away the league and he kicked off?

Sounds about right!

 

[say yes]

1. Adams
2. O’Leary
3. Campbell
4. McLintock
5. Keown
6. Bould
7. Gallas
8. Mertesacker
9. Toure
10. Koscielny

O’Leary and McLintock there on reputation as I never got to see them play.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Spent time being Chelsea's best defender as well as Frances best defender. Both teams amongst the best in the world.

But, not world class because his incompetent team mates threw away the league and he kicked off?

Sounds about right!

So basically Kolo Toure, an Invincible who played fantasticly well alongside Sol Campell from 2002 to 2005 or later alongside bloody Senderos (2005/06) was an "incompetent" teammate?

Gallas throwing a tantrum at St. Andrews in 2008, whilst being our skipper, was in terms of behaviour not what you'd expect from a world class CB. Itt even got so bad, that he lost his captaincy late 2008 in a rather poor set of circumstances.

Of course Mourinho rates him more as a LB, because out there in an Mourinho team, you can do little wrong. In the end they were very happy to let him go and get Cole instead.....one of the biggest mistakes from Arsenal in the last twenty years.

 

[say yes]

Quite enjoying all these little threads tbh. Keeping me occupied.

Someone needs to make an AM end of season awards thread.

 

[truth_hurts]

So basically Kolo Toure, an Invincible who played fantasticly well alongside Sol Campell from 2002 to 2005 or later alongside bloody Senderos (2005/06) was an "incompetent" teammate?

Gallas throwing a tantrum at St. Andrews in 2008, whilst being our skipper, was in terms of behaviour not what you'd expect from a world class CB. Itt even got so bad, that he lost his captaincy late 2008 in a rather poor set of circumstances.

Of course Mourinho rates him more as a LB, because out there in an Mourinho team, you can do little wrong. In the end they were very happy to let him go and get Cole instead.....one of the biggest mistakes from Arsenal in the last twenty years.

I could be very wrong in this, but I can't remember Toure starting much in that horrific end to the 2007/08 season.

But no, I was not referring to Toure as incompetent as he was a fantastic servant for us and a good player. I rated Gallas more highly however.