No.
Joe Hart.
No.
Van de Sar?
Always scored against him.
Hi, I'm Jermain Defoe
and this is my Fives on SPORTbible.
So goalkeeper...
I'm gonna go with Hugo Lloris.
When he- I actually knew Hugo before he came to Tottenham.
I met him in the south of France
and I remember us playing like,
this like head tennis on a beach with him.
And I remember thinking, "Wow".
Like for a goalkeeper with his feet, he was unbelievable.
I was surprised.
So when I found out he was coming to Tottenham
you can imagine I was buzzing.
I was telling all the players, like I said,
"Hugo's top, like, you know. He's so good with his feet."
And when he come to Tottenham,
what really impressed me is how quick he was
around the goal.
'Cause he's not massive, to be fair.
You wouldn't say Hugo's got big presence and that,
but he was just like electric around the goal.
Quick off his line.
World Cup winner,
so yeah.
Okay, that's easy.
Ledley King.
Ledley had everything and it was unfortunate, to be fair,
because
he had all the injuries.
So he never trained. He never trained.
Like you see Ledley during-
throughout the week and that, he'd be on a bike.
On a Friday, he might go out and have a jog.
On a Saturday, get man of the match.
It was unbelievable.
And I remember Thierry Henry saying,
I think it was after one of the Euros, maybe 2004,
Thierry actually said he's one
of the best defenders he's ever played against.
In terms of a defender, like an all-round.
You talk about the modern game, you know,
defenders that can defend, that can run,
that can pass, that can tackle.
Like he had everything but just unfortunate with injuries.
I think if you speak to any top defender,
you speak to Rio, JT, they all say
that Ledley's one of the best.
Easy.
Luka Modrić.
How long we got?
I remember we played against Croatia for England
Stevie, Lamps played. You'd get this little guy in midfield
and I remember just thinking, "Wow, this guy's special".
Just like so silky with the ball, never lost the ball,
could receive the ball anywhere on the pitch.
You just knew then
that he was gonna be a world-class player.
Then obviously I played with him at Tottenham
for a few years.
Again, he just made the game look easy.
Everything went through Luka
and obviously a Ballon d'Or winner.
And obviously everything that he's achieved at Madrid.
He's definitely one of the best players I played with.
But that's an easy one, Luka Modrić.
Can you read that?
Michael Carrick.
Wow, what a player.
See, Michael-
I played with Michael in the youth team at West Ham.
I just remember in the youth team like,
he just did everything that the game asked you to do.
And if anything simple, you know, if he got the ball
and you should pass here, he would pass there.
You know, if something’s on that he should play long,
he'll play long.
But just his range of passing was so special
and I think, to be honest, I don't think he gets-
I don't think he gets enough credit.
But just for like a complete midfielder,
definitely one of the best I've played with.
But it's just crazy how he didn't get more England caps.
Obviously, it was just unfortunate
because obviously you've got Stevie and Lamps,
who, at the time, was at the top of their game.
But you know, what a player.
So you got Hugo, you got Ledders.
These two that can play.
Just need someone that's gonna score, innit, really?
So I've got- obviously I've got Robbie [Keane].
[Dimitar] Berbatov.
Even when I was younger, I played with Les [Ferdinand].
Showing my age here.
Hmmm?
[Paolo] Di Canio.
He was like genius.
And I learned so much off Paolo.
When I went to West Ham as a young kid,
I was 16 at the time,
and I remember every day just watching him.
I'd ask loads of questions, the stuff he like-
what he would do when he goes home.
He was always on a massage bed for like two hours
before training and after.
The way he lived his life, you know. Even on days off,
like he'd always be in.
I remember being in the youth team and that,
and then we'd be training and I could always
see Paolo just jogging on his own and it was like
one first team player in. That's-
and there's no coincidence how he was always
the best player on the weekend.
Just a genius.
Everything he did, the goals that he scored.
But yeah, I think that's a good team, you know.
No.
Joe Hart.
No.
Van de Sar?
Always scored against him.
I think there's someone who I
played against and played with.
I remember speaking to a lot of players
about David James and a lot of the players
said the same. On his day,
he made the goal look so small
and he was just like an unbelievable athlete.
Even in training as well,
I remember we used to do a lot of finishing in training
and it was- it was always hard to beat him.
I just felt like he had everything.
He gets around the goal quick.
He had that presence where he could like,
he could come for crosses.
Just that complete athlete and it was-
I think it was a lot different to goalkeepers
I probably played against at the time
when I first come through and played with.
Do you know what, it was just like, just a proper defender.
When you play against people like that,
you know you have to be on it
to get any sort of chance to score.
To be fair, if I could have put, I could've put Rio,
I could've put Sol Campbell, I played against Martin Keown.
I played against Marcel Desailly.
But I think with JT, he had everything.
He could defend, tackle, head it.
Basically, he would run through a brick wall for the team.
You know, even like little things like with movements,
like he was really clever because I always think
that sometimes, with center forwards,
like the defender has to go off your movement so
you're in control most of the time, you know,
because if the ball goes wide
I'm looking to get across the near post.
But he always knew, so he was sort of like blocking
the near post and it was really clever and
it's almost like he spent a lot of time with the centre
forwards that he played with and just probably
asked questions. Like with
the Drogbas, Anelka, all the like...
Crespos.
All these players, all the top centre forwards.
Shevchenko,
all these world-class centre fowards he played with.
It's almost like he spent a lot of time asking questions and
that because I always felt like every run you made,
it's like he knew
so you had to bring a little bit more.
I mean, I could speak all day about Stevie.
I always say everything he did was so aggressive.
Like his passing, his running, tackling, heading.
Everything he did was just like so aggressive and explosive.
He was definitely one that could sorta like just
dictate a whole game.
You know, could score goals, could create goals,
could probably play as a six, could play as an eight,
could play as a 10, could play as a number nine.
Could probably play here 'cause he could tackle as well,
you know.
But yeah, on his day, talk about players at their peak.
I mean, if you're playing against Steven Gerrard then...
Good luck.
Frank Lampard.
Just bringing goals.
Goals from midfield. Twenty goals.
'Cause even playing against Lamps sometimes, you know like,
you see him and you think, ah, he's having a quiet game,
and all of a sudden the ball just comes out to the box-
edge of the box, 20 yards, 30 yards and he just,
it would just ping in the top corner.
And I don't believe there's many midfielders
that can do that.
I think especially now, if you look
at football now, how many midfielders you get-
Even like kids really,
you go to academy games, there's not a lot of kids
that shoot from distance
'cause everyone wants to play, you know. You talk
about passing patterns and everyone wants to, you know
the ball comes here and they pass it wide or they, you know,
they go back and they turn out and all that.
So Frank Lampard, ball dropping out to the edge of box,
he's just- he would just smash in the top corner.
Thierry Henry.
Do I need to explain?
You know, physically he was so gifted,
because it's not often you see players that are that big
and that could run,
has got skills, that can finish.
But I just felt like he was just completely different
to anything I'd seen before.
I remember when I was young, at West Ham actually
we played at Highbury.
We played against Arsenal and I scored early in the game.
We ended up losing 3-1, I think it was.
I remember saying to him like, can I have your shirt
after the game? You know when you're a young player.
The game finished and then we went back
into the changing room.
So I probably- I sat there and thought, he's forgot.
I remember there was a knock on the door and he came
in and actually gave me his shirt, wrote a long message
and I was like, wow. Like it was unbelievable so...
Not only was it like obviously a special player and that,
but I'll never forget what he'd done there
'cause he was like- Yeah, a good guy and that.
But just completely different to what I've seen before.
I just felt like he had everything.
Probably the best player
that we've seen in the Premier League, in my opinion.
Gotta be careful with this answer, haven't I?
Obviously, I'd want-
I'd want this team to win.
It's a draw.
And then penalties, and then it's a lottery then, innit?
What you doing to me?
I could moan at Luka 'cause he was quite chilled.
Spuggy, that's what we used to call him at West Ham.
Spuggy.
Carrick, yeah, I dunno where it come from,
all like the youth teams. Spuggy,
I could probably moan at him 'cause he
never moaned.
Couldn't say anything to him.
Couldn't say anything to Paolo. He was mad.
He was quiet as well, Leds.
This team's special, innit?
Probably play on this team, to be fair.