There's a lot of truth to that article but we've had some great defenders/defences since 2005. They just seem to have taken a bit of a dip this last couple of seasons, and this season in particular. But given the various rule changes over the years I suppose we can only judge defenders (or any player in any position) in terms of their own era, given we'll never know how Messi or Kompany would've performed under previous conditions just as we'll never know how Maradona or Maldini would perform in this current one (although I suspect with all of them, that they'd have done just fine in any era).
Anyway, off the point but 'world class'. I hear this term all the time about whether a player is or isn't but I've never quite understood what 'world class' actually means. Anyone?
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