Don Pacifico hey, Bergkamp was one of our greatest ever players and one of the best during that period but a level below R9 and the others. Bergkamp was certainly better than some of the others on that list but just didn't want to go and make like 3 or 4 different tiers. I was just trying to show how many great players there were those days across the board rather than being so concentrated. That said, with Seedorf, Figo, Kaka, Shevchenk he's in great company.
Yes I mean Haji, the one who played for Galatasaray. I was too young to watch him at Real and Barca but all my memories of him were scoring some amazing goals in the CL for Galatasaray. You thought I meant the one who played for Villa? Nah, not even, though he was pretty good as well.
As @RowJimmy says, it's true, the level of the game has increased as I mentioned in my post. Players on general are better than they were. However its like whilst the mean average ability has gone up, the standard deviation has also narrowed with there being less of a gap in quality between the average player and the greats.
Also it doesn't help that the explosion in the tactical emphasis side of the game has neutralised the freedom players used to enjoy back then and limits expression and individual briliance in favour of teamwork and taking the safe option to minimise risk.
