Watched the Man Utd v Sporting Lisbon game on RTE (Irish channel) were Eamon Dunphy was one of the pundits. I'm sure members like Sparky & Dave have educated fellow members about some of his previous rant on national television.

1st of all he joked about Alex Ferguson being deeply in love with Ronaldo, which I see where he's coming from but not exactly what you'd expect to hear from a football pundit on national tv.

Secondly, during a discussion about Spurs, he stated that Ledley King is bar far the best centre half in the Premiership if not Europe. I do think King is a great player but to say he's the best central defender in Europe I feel is a bit ridiculous.

Does anyone else agree with this bum bandit or is he just a complete nut job?

When did he mention the thing about Spurs? Cant remember that at all.

It depends on the night really with Dunphy, the RTE analysis is easily the best out there, they're never afraid to say what they think and always have interesting discussions compared to Sky, ITV, BBC etc

Some of the things he comes out with are just stupid but other things I completely agree with

He was on about the CL becoming boring the other night after the Utd game and I had to agree with him. He was saying its the same few teams every year and it doesnt matter how badly they play they still come out of the group stages. Then when they play each other its usually a boring tactical game.

Had to agree with him there

I think it was after they showed the Arsenal highlights and they got into a discussion about Arsenal v Spurs, then inevitably, the current situation at Spurs which led to it.

I thought he was sacked from the RTE for previous rants how come the hoor is back

Yeah he was sacked a few years back after getting drunk, throwing a tantrum and walking off the stage. Its much better with him on the show though, makes it much more interesting and controversial and its so refreshing compared to the British ones

The guy sounds like a complete nut.

Great craic though!! Much better than Jamie Redknapp and the like. Hes never afraid to speak his mind

As a football pundit his knwoledge is limited.

He's a good dancer tho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvSwUCBW0Vw

I can never rember him calling Ledly King the best defender in Europe.

He's an effing dumphead!

He's funny and good craic to watch but I think he is just playing up to the whole controversial opinion thing now.

He's a clown, only good for a laugh.

IMO if you are a player as injury prone as ledley king, then you can't be the best centre half in the premiership or europe. A few seasons ago wes brown was as good as ferdinand but he had injury problems. Thats fcuked him up a bit and now all he amounts to is a decent premiership player (instead of a world class player).

king went through the same thing, however i personally think he has more talent than both rio and wes brown put together. I can see where that commentator is coming from because if king could stay fit for a long period then maybe he would be the best defender in the world. He could have been better than rio, the most complete defender of all time.

King can still be a world class centre back but i doubt he will never be able to reach the level rio is playing at. Its a shame such a talented defender went to waste.

What monumentally ridiculous thing to say.

Seriously man, i think it would do you a lot of good if you never spoke of Rio again.

I didn't say he was the best defender of all time - i said he was the 'most complete' defender of all time. There is a difference.

Its not as ridiculous as you are making out. If a defender is defensively better than rio then i can accept that - some defenders in previous years have been able to tackle better than rio. But i don't think there has ever been a defender more complete than rio. He can't be matched for pace, vision and dribbling. His positioning and ability to read the game cannot be matched either. In terms of 'lunging in', there are some better than rio. But overall rio is the most complete if you take into account both defence and attack.

It would be even better if nobody ever mentioned him again & he gets dropped by Ferguson.

Sticky, if rio retired now, do you think he would be considered a legend?

And dissapeard into an underground cave.

His position is nowhere near as good as many top defenders.

What you said is every bit as ridiculous as i made out, because i know for a fact you have no idea about what you just said, because you're knowledge of all the great defenders, and how complete they are is very, very, very limited. As is mine though. I can't tell you how complete certain defenders from the 60's, 70's and 80's were. I know Beckenbauer was more complete though.




Nowhere near. Not even close mate.

He wouldn't be a Manchester United legend let alone a legend of the game.

Cafu, Baresi, Maldini, Bergomi, Scirea, Beckenbauer & so fort. Even Vidic & O'Shea are better in attack than Ferdinand.

It's staggering how much you overrate Ferdinand, it really is.

I thought you would've learnt your lesson, after i made that Nesta thread - obviously not.

Whether he is the best footballing defender of all time is up for debate. Whether he is the best in the world right now is also up for debate.

But there is one thing i am 100% certain on which is that Rio has been the best premiership defender so far this season. I don't think anyone can really argue with that. His performances this season have been sensational. Also Look through the stats for defenders this season and rio comes out on top.