Arsenal legends brought me down to earth, but John Terry was the best I played against

27/03/2024 18:25

Peter Crouch has named John Terry as the best defender he ever faced in his 21-year career.

The 43-year-old has had an extensive career in the top tier, playing for a list of clubs including Liverpool, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Stoke, and came up against some of the best defenders the Premier League has ever seen.

But the very best among those he has faced include a couple of Arsenal legends – Tony Adams and Sol Campbell.

Many rank the two as a couple of the best defenders in Premier League history but Crouch went on to say Chelsea legend Terry tops his list of toughest opponents.

Crouch was speaking on talkSPORT’s Hawksbee & Jacobs Show when he was asked who his toughest opponents were.

The former striker replied: “I always remember getting schooled by Tony Adams in one of my first games.

“I was at QPR. It was a cup game, it wasn’t Premier League. I remember Tony Adams and I think it would have been Steve Bould, maybe.

“I thought I was a Premier League player at the age of 18 but I was playing in the Championship and I thought, ‘Yeah, I’m scoring goals at this level, I’ll make Premier League level no worries’.

“Then I came up against Tony Adams and that view changed very quickly. What a defender he was.

“I think over the years, Sol Campbell gave me a big test because he is so physically strong.

“But John Terry was probably the best of the bunch, I think.”

Terry and Crouch had fought some fine battles over the years, not least their tussles in the Champions League.

In 2007, Chelsea and Liverpool thrashed out a hotly-contested battle which saw the Reds progress to the semi-finals after winning on penalties. The two sides also met in the group stage of the competition in the 2005/06 campaign, Crouch’s first season at Anfield.

Crouch was tasked with roughing up Terry and Ricardo Carvalho but could not perturb them, hitting blanks in both legs.

Adams and Campbell, meanwhile, are both Arsenal legends in their own right with the former spending his entire career at Highbury.

In total, Adams made 672 appearances for the Gunners while Campbell played 211 appearances across two spells, winning six league titles between them.

While Terry might have got the better of him, the 6ft7 striker forged a fine career in the Premier League.

He scored 108 times over 468 appearances, joining a prestigious list of players to have netted over 100 goals in the Premier League.