Super 6 'Greatest Squad' results revealed - from No. 1 to No. 18
Wednesday 6 May 2020 17:45, UK
Your votes have helped the Super 6 team to create 'The Greatest Squad' from the Premier League era - but who made the cut?
We asked you to pick the best player by shirt number from 1 to 18 with a series of @Super6 Twitter polls.
Some players stormed to victory, while others edged their way to selection in fiercely-fought contests. Read on to see who made it...
Peter Schmeichel palmed away some stern competition from Petr Cech, David Seaman and David de Gea to earn the inaugural spot in 'The Greatest Squad'. The Dane received 62 per cent of the votes and took the position between the sticks.
There was only one man for the right back slot, and it had to be Gary Neville. The Sky Sports pundit also racked up 62 per cent of the vote, with Branislav Ivanović the closest competition on just 17 per cent.
Despite the best efforts of Denis Irwin, Patrice Evra and Gareth Bale, Ashley Cole strolled to the number three shirt - Cole was classed as the best left back in the world at some moments during his career. Gareth Bale tallied just 14 per cent, with Denis Irwin seeing 19 per cent of the share and the winner, Cole, on 55 per cent, slotting in alongside his former England teammate.
This was labelled as the 'group of death' before the poll went live, but unfortunately the competition did not match that. Patrick Vieira saw over a half of the votes with 53 per cent, with centre-halves Vincent Kompany and Virgil van Dijk battling it out for second place, 19 and 18 per cent respectively. Vieira is admired by many as one of the best centre-midfielders to grace the Premier League, and this was proved once more in this poll.
Rio Ferdinand had the number five shirt before the Twitter poll went live, with a hefty 77 per cent voting for the former Man Utd centre-back. Martin Keown could only manage 12 per cent as the six-time Premier League champion reclaimed the number five.
There were some polls that were too close to call, and the face off between Tony Adams and Jaap Stam was certainly one of those. It went down to the wire, but Adams prevailed with 40 per cent as opposed to Stam's 37, leaving Ricardo Carvalho and Marcel Desailly to fight it out for third place.
Cristiano Ronaldo had to fend off Eric Cantona, Luis Suarez and David Beckham to snatch the number seven, but a lightning start allowed the five-time Ballon D'or winner to peel away from the competition and seal another prestigious position, this time in 'The Greatest Squad'.
A Liverpool legend against a Chelsea legend. Nearly 13,000 votes. Only one winner.
Steven Gerrard carried Liverpool for years, rallied his side to a miraculous comeback in Istanbul, but never won the Premier League. Frank Lampard claimed three Premier League titles and won the Champions League in Bayern Munich's back garden.
Whatever your opinion, or whoever got your vote, this is what we love about the beautiful game. Football is a game which brings us so much joy and fuels us with passion, but it is ultimately down to opinions, which leads us onto the next chapter of 'The Greatest Squad'.
The all-time Premier League record goalscorer would certainly add some goals to his total of 260 playing in this squad. Alan Shearer brought in 78 per cent of the vote, beating Les Ferdinand, Andy Cole and Robbie Fowler by some margin. It was never in doubt for the Premier League's greatest number nine.
The surprise package of 'The Greatest Squad' has to be Dennis Bergkamp, right? A three-time Premier League winner, and quite simply a genius for Arsenal, playing alongside Thierry Henry and Robert Pires. There will not have been many people who thought the Dutchman could have surpassed the modern-day players of Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero, who both have more Premier League winner medals than Bergkamp, five and four respectively.
Taking this into consideration, there were 14,917 votes on this poll for the number 10, the most of any number during 'The Greatest Squad', which can tell you two things. There was more desire to be involved with this number than any other due to the players that were in the poll, and there are a surprising amount of people who truly appreciate what Dennis Bergkamp brought to the Arsenal side, both individually and collectively.
There was no denying Ryan Giggs a slot in 'The Greatest Squad'. With 13 Premier League winners medals and 632 appearances, who was going to stop him? Didier Drogba came closest with 21 per cent, but that was nothing on the 57 per cent that the Welshman accrued.
In the tightest group of 'The Greatest Squad', in which eight per cent separated all four players, Olivier Giroud claimed the number 12 spot. The Frenchman has often come under scrutiny from fans and fellow players, but his goal record and all-round play cannot be questioned, despite the fact he is often used as a substitute even now.
In a closely-fought contest, Michael Ballack's 45 per cent edged out Park Ji-sung's 39 per cent, With just the one Premier League title in comparison to Park's four, many would be surprised to see the former Chelsea man sneak in ahead of his Manchester United counterpart.
There were a few players who could have been in line to win their polls by the biggest margin. The likes of Alan Shearer and the Manchester United trio of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand were all in the hunt, but it had to be Thierry Henry.
Many will claim that the fact he wore 14 helped him to win by the landslide of 83 per cent, but some of the players involved in the group were not to be taken lightly, such as the man who wears his number now for Arsenal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric made up the group but those three combined amassed just 17 per cent between them.
Thierry Henry cruised to victory, much like he did in racking up 175 Premier League goals, two titles and four Golden Boot awards, not to mention playing a pivotal part in the 'Invincibles' season.
Rio Ferdinand will be happy to see his teammate of many years joining him in 'The Greatest Squad'. Much like his playing career, Nemanja Vidic made his poll look easy, despite the presence of Peter Crouch, who did earn 22 per cent. The Serbian crossed the finish line with 61 per cent.
Who else? No other player, including Michael Carrick and Aaron Ramsey, could get over the eight per cent mark in Roy Keane's group, with the Irishman storming home with 77 per cent of the final votes. Keane was never going to miss out on 'The Greatest Squad'.
Kevin de Bruyne walked his group in some style, tallying 71 per cent to earn his shirt. Many Premier League players admire the way the Belgian plays the game, and his creative eye has placed him on the brink of surpassing the assist record of 20, currently held by Thierry Henry.
The last player to put on a shirt in 'The Greatest Squad' is fitting of that title. Paul Scholes contributed to more than 150 goals during his time with Manchester United, while scoring 107 Premier league goals. He received 79 per cent of the vote, outscoring Jermain Defoe, Ashley Young, and the man with the most Premier League appearances Gareth Barry.
One great squad. A blockbuster 18 players. Yet, it is missing one thing. Keep your eyes peeled to find out what comes next in #TheGreatestSquad on @Super6.
