World Class

[Ric Flair]

Kante was the best defensive midfielder in the world off the back of the herculean effort he put in for us, genuinely goes down as one of the greatest players of that role in the last 20-30 years.

[Joe90]

On 08/05/2026 at 08:29, Chrysalis said:

It’s big club syndrome, if Vardy moved to Arsenal he would have got way more recognition, and probably would also have replaced Kane as England #1.

Absolutely not, as much as I love vardy, not in a million years would he replace Kane as Englands number 9, Kane certainly is an all round better striker then vardy, yes vardy running of the shoulder with his pace world class, but that wouldn’t of helped with most teams sitting back against England 

[deep blue]

On 08/05/2026 at 08:30, teblin said:

They should’ve found a way to play Kane and Vardy together. 

Absolutely!

[PhillippaT]

20 minutes ago, deep blue said:

Absolutely!

The problem is that they never really made any passes to Vardy like they needed to/should have   I still remember when Drinky got his match and WOW a FORWARD PASS!  

[Product of 84]

England's problem has been a complete refusal to have a Plan B. We simply refused to play to Vardy's strengths. 

 

That said, I don't think he was World Class but probably towards the top of whatever titled category you'd have next. I'd put Elliot, Izzet, Lennon, Heskey, Fofana, Kaspa and Youri (at times) in this category too. 

 

Mahrez and Kante were World Class. They instantly improved any team and didn't require the team to change style etc to accommodate them. 

 

Cambiasso wasn't world class for us. He was a world class player that had lost a bit. Mancini probably falls into this category too. 

 

[Chrysalis]

55 minutes ago, Joe90 said:

Absolutely not, as much as I love vardy, not in a million years would he replace Kane as Englands number 9, Kane certainly is an all round better striker then vardy, yes vardy running of the shoulder with his pace world class, but that wouldn’t of helped with most teams sitting back against England 

He would have got it for virtue that Arsenal are a bigger club than Spurs.

[filbertway]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Kante was the best defensive midfielder in the world off the back of the herculean effort he put in for us, genuinely goes down as one of the greatest players of that role in the last 20-30 years.

Not even sure he would be classed as DM, obviously one of his major attributes were tackles and interceptions, but he drove us up the field 30-40 yards constantly as well. I'd have him down as a box to box man. I think the only thing that stopped him going down as one of the best CMs ever was the fact that when it came to shooting he usually turned into a toddler.

 

My god I miss that guy and his cute little smile.

[lanefox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Kante was the best defensive midfielder in the world off the back of the herculean effort he put in for us, genuinely goes down as one of the greatest players of that role in the last 20-30 years.

I'd also argue Ndidi in his first 2-3 season was in the conversion for one of the best DM's in the world , I can remember one season when out Kante'd Kante

[whoareyaaa]

Vardy, Mahrez, Kante and Mancini maybe even Cambiasso