In a 2009/10 season that had seen the other members of the big four lose key players, Chelsea were in my opinion from very early on by a good margin the best team in the league and should probably (also with their goal difference in mind) have won more comfortable than they ended up doing.
There were definitely stumbling along the way. Losing an elite player like Essien to injury for starters. Then goalkeeper Petr Cech, while not on the Almunia scale but still, had some costly games where he just didn't seem confident and new coach Ancelotti while never messing up disastrously, did have new players and a new league that he had to get to know. Versus, to take the most obvious example, closest rival Manchester United with a manager and several players knowing exactly what it takes.
The one constant though for Chelsea. Ever since the Mourinho years but perhaps increasingly so now (with some cost defensively it has to be said) is the scary effective attack. Like I always say, they could be the most dangerous team of everyone in the final third. They can't always get it smoothly up there like a Barcelona, in fact Ancelotti's insistence on a more patient Milan-like possession based/less Mourinho direct attack, when that was stopped occasionally by teams in midfield simply cause this Mourinho build team still doesn't consist of finesse passers of the ball, was when they had their most trouble.
Once in the final third though, with Drogba as immense as ever, Lampard merciless and tireless with and without the ball, Malouda suddenly adding great skills to his always impressive work-rate and athleticism, enjoying his finest season ever, and then Anelka not to be confused anymore with the moody striker of the past, now instead in an almost free role working both right and central, holding up (and running with) the ball very well with strong balance being the insurance almost of maintained Chelsea final third pressure, giving everyone time to make the right runs around him.
Then if you add a couple of fullbacks in Cole and the revelation in that position that was Ivanovic able to go up and down the line all game long, it just becomes way too much for most teams to deal with defensively and that ultimately led to Chelsea's record breaking 103 goals scored.
If anyone have closed the gap enough to compete with that I'll hopefully get to in other previews of the top teams in England. For now though let's try and examine if Chelsea will be weaker or stronger this season.
The most important part of the team was what I just described. The final third domination that even when other things in other places, maybe weren't quite as good as they could, just kept on collecting points.
The most important players there are still intact and only potential vulnerability that I'm able to spot would be injuries. As excellent as they are one of Lampard, Malouda or Anelka injured could be lived with because of depth and versatility elsewhere in the squad.
Much worse would be a Drogba injury and I'm a little surprised that they didn't add a proven decent backup striker to their squad. Even if having to rot on the bench somewhat, Claudio Pizarro style.
Anelka of course has carried the load there well in the past, and could do so again, especially when the surroundings are so good, but by own admission (highlighted during the France World Cup disaster) he isn't and doesn't see himself as a center-forward anymore and reacted badly when put there.
For Chelsea it's much more flexible anyway though and there is constant movement among the attacking players and certainly with someone like (the up and down) Kalou, Anelka could do enough switching around to be be comfortable. And has done so in the recent past of course.
Third choice then is young English forward Daniel Sturridge who I'm not quite sure of yet (one way or the other) but that he is the leading striker on the England U-21 team can't be a bad sign surely.
Of attacking players actually gone most notable are Joe Cole and Deco. Both have been largely disappointing in recent times but occasionally when Chelsea's passing got obstructed to a point where the ball didn't get transported often enough to final third paradise, one or the other could come in and add some passing rhythm. Overall though I think it was correct of Chelsea to get rid of them with Cole being weak athletically and tactically and Deco aging while, ever since Scolari and "Blue Brazil", just not being a very good Premier League fit.
Instead Yossi Benayoun has come in who with both his movement and skill in the final third has every chance (on this team a better chance than ever) to be a good contributor whenever needed. Expect goals and assists.
Also kind of new when talking attacking players in the first team squad, since he has had both suspension (from the controversial transfer) and serious injury to deal with, is immensely talented 19 year old Gael Kakuta fresh from leading his France team to the U-19 European Championship.
He has played mainly left-wing where Malouda sit more strongly than ever but I wouldn't rule out Kakuta being able to contribute in most roles at Chelsea behind and around the striker. He has pace, excellent technique and a bag of tricks that makes very challenging one on one.
With injury history in mind and all I'm not sure he physically is quite ready to take significant minutes from various experienced attacking Chelsea players but he has so much talent that together with Benayoun I do think he makes up for losing even proven stars like Cole and Deco.
And then there is Chelsea's best signing, Brazilian Ramires with the nickname "The Kenyan" for his unlimited running.
He doesn't look like much physically at first glance but has potential Makelele-like strength in central midfield (despite looking very impressive I've still seen too little of him in that role for a fully convinced verdict) and he also has enough pace and skill to be effective wide out right.
That's pointing towards a player who not only can fill in, but possibly be a good upgrade over the departed Ballack and often disappointing Mikel in central midfield, not least Ramires being Brazilian and with that almost automatically better at reading the game quickly and act accordingly, something Mikel can struggle with under pressure, but also play out wide on the right side, with how wide exactly depending on Ancelotti's system. But definitely a player more natural as a right central midfielder than Essien, opening up I think, with Ballack gone, an important door for starting lineups without necessarily Mikel as the defensive midfielder.
On that note here is my strongest Chelsea lineup with the attacking positions not in very fixed positions at all meaning there are a lot of things you could call this system:
Safe choice to call it would be a 4-3-3 variation. That covers a lot of things... Often how Ancelotti lines up it's referred to as a 4-3-1-2 which in my formation would indicate Malouda less predominant on the left and Lampard one of the three central behind him, defensively often covering the left. Anelka then roaming around often based right helping making it all work. Not least by making up numbers so it's 5 and not 4 in midfield, despite what it says on paper. No matter what it is on paper exactly though, it's these I think are the strongest.
Defensively (where the goal really isn't supposed to be empty - sorry Petr Cech) one of the best central defenders in the world Ricardo Carvalho has joined his old boss Mourinho in Madrid, and hasn't really been replaced.
Fortunately for Chelsea, Terry and Alex are both very durable (unlike Carvalho recently) and easily make up what is still one of the strongest duos in the league and that on a team usually in control of their matches.
It's still a downgrade though with the only proven alternative being last season's right-back Ivanovic . Up until then usually a central defender anyway so if former right-back star Bosingwa comes back well from injury, it might very well be worth considering a Terry/Ivanovic duo to make room for what not long ago was one of the best right-backs in the world.
Fourth choice central defender looks to be young Dutch player Jeffrey Bruma. I hope he is ready, and if he is (sometimes quite the if) that Ancelotti will actually trust him (a young player gasp) cause I would hate once again seeing Essien used as emergency in central defense.
Ashley Cole on the left needs no introduction. He is one of the best at his position and effective both going forward and defending. His backup Zhirkov on the other hand is really more of left-wing in certain systems who's clear strength is when attacking where he can be a real weapon. Therefore he can fill in for Malouda as well, though now perhaps with increased competition in the form of talented Kakuta.
Final verdict:
An incredibly strong squad and team. One of the best in the world and likely still superior in England (but to keep it interesting let's at least see what the other previews from England bring). Only potential questionmarks being injuries and age of key players. As far as the last thing go, even if it's only a matter of time, there aren't really any danger signs just yet and even when it comes to injuries there only seems to be one player, Drogba, where it would really hurt, and not even to the extent of how it hurts United when they're without Rooney, Arsenal without Fabregas or Liverpool without Torres.
Tactically my only issue with them last season was at times relying too much on Mikel in central midfield. He has tremendous talent that would probably be much more out there to see had he more freedom. To go forward as well. Instead he is usually in a very tactical role and sometimes he struggles with the distribution aspect of it.
However there are some vague early signs, and I'm not ready to conclude anything, it was also against weak competition, that perhaps he has improved in those areas. It's still early of course but when on more than one occasion last season he was substituted prematurely because a lack of reading the game and limited passing was exploited as the one Chelsea weakness by opponents, it should of course set alarm bells ringing and be all the motivation needed to try and improve.
Even if he hasn't, and it's of course much easier said than done, Chelsea now both have a healthy Essien and newcomer Ramires as high quality midfielders more capable in those areas (among others) than Mikel.
UPDATE: in an interview I just came across, Ancelotti interestingly said this about Mikel: "Last season, he had an average of 18 per cent forward passes and in the three games this season he had 38 per cent.He's trying to put more balls directly to strikers.
It's very hard still not to see a Chelsea team who beats others like no other with their winning combination of great physique and great skill. Whether it's one or the other or both.
Yes eventually they'll get too old but for at least one more season they could be even better than the last one, so it will be up to other teams to step up. Even with a few very potential question marks here and there, central defense (perhaps combined with becoming too attacking) and striker depth if injury plagued, other areas on the other hand arguably more important ones, have been improved. Such as midfield overall looking stronger with on board a healthy Essien and the versatile Ramires. Even Benayoun, due to potentially blending so well with the final third surroundings, could end up doing quite a lot better than what the finesse players shown the door (Cole and Deco) did recently.
Outside of Barcelona in Spain, Chelsea are as much guaranteed to be excellent as anyone. It's the others who will have to improve.
At least, unlike in Spain, there is more than one team with at least the chance to do it.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah and I had such a good run going, maybe even good enough to finish before the World Cup, then things not entirely inexplicable came to a halt and now I'm way late. I just can't give up though!
Must keep going...
MUST!
Anyway don't call it a comeback, but here is another cool entry:
200-195 200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain 199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia 198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain 197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil 196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria 195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain 194-193 194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France 193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine 192-189 192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England 191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales 190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal 189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia 188 188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy 187-185 187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland 186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain 185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel 184-182 184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy 183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire 182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia 181-177 181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina 180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium 179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia 178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia 177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England 176-173 176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey 175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina 174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands 173-170 173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France 172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England 171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia 170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia 169-167 169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain 168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil 167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland 166-163 166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria 165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil 164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands 163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal 162-160 162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania 161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England 160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany 159-155 159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil 158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales 157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark 156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy 155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France 154-152 154: Walter Samuel - Inter - Argentina 153: Diego Lugano - Fenerbahce - Uruguay 152: Mauro Zarate - Lazio - Argentina 151-148 151: Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus and Luca Cigarini - Napoli - Italy 150: Taye Taiwo - Marseille - Nigeria, Rod Fanni - Rennes and Benoit Tremoulinas - Bordeaux - France 149: Domenico Criscito - Genoa - Italy 148: Fernando Llorente - Atletic Bilbao - Spain 147-144 147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Marseille, Benfica and Palermo - Argentina 146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile 145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England 144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain 143-139 143: Raul Meireles, Porto - Joao Moutinho - Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lissabon - Portugal 142: Bacary Sagna - Arsenal - France 141: Eljero Elia - Hamburger SV - Netherlands 140: Marko Marin - Werder Bremen - Germany 139: Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal - Italy 138-135 138: Raul - Real Madrid-Spain and Ruud Van Nistelrooy - Hamburger SV-Netherlands 137: Konstantin Zyryanov - Zenit Saint Petersburg - Russia 136: Simon Rolfes - Bayern Leverkusen - Germany 135: Ze Roberto - Hamburger SV - Brazil 134 - 129 134: Mauro Camoranesi - Juventus - Italy 133: Simone Perrotta - Roma - Italy 132: Marcelo - Real Madrid - Brazil 131: Christian Chivu - Inter - Romania 130: Simäo - Atletico Madrid - Portugal 129: Marcell Jansen - Hamburger SV - Germany 128 - 122 128: Hatem Ben Arfa - Marseille - France and Goran Pandev - Inter - Macedonia 127: Rafael Marquez - Barcelona - Mexico 126: Nigel De Jong - Manchester City - Netherlands 125: Grafite - Wolfsburg - Brazil 124: Pablo Hernandez - Valencia - Spain 123: Daniel Guiza - Fenerbahce - Spain 122: Ramires - Benfica - Brazil 121-117 121: Mohamed Sissoko - Juventus - Mali 120: Dejan Stankovic - Inter - Serbia 119: Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen - Germany 118: Frederic Kanoute - Sevilla - Mali 117: Jermain Defoe - Tottenham - England
116:
Carlos Puyol
Barcelona
Central defender/Right-back - Spain
Inspirational warrior captain leader of the best club and country in the world, Puyol always defends with great intensity and possesses a knack for last ditch tackles preventing goals for the opposition.
In reality he probably gets a little too much credit for all things like the above and he probably hasn't been as good this season as previously.
In fact he probably isn't even the best central defender so far. But of course this isn't position by position rankings and like some other players previously on the list, Puyol also receives credit for being a very good right-back and with that mastering two positions.
115:
Alou Diarra
Bordeaux
Midfielder/Defender - France
It's tempting to write a lot about Bordeaux, the soon to be not champions of France anymore (edit: actually Marseille clinched the title last night and my first thought is regretting lumping Lucho Gonzales with the other Argie playmakers thereby hurting his ranking). The good and the bad, the rise and the fall - since they've been one of the most interesting teams the last couple of years, but I'll save it for when I get to their highest ranked players which both the rise and the fall have a lot more to do with than Diarra.
Alou Diarra while also able in central defense (earning him the usual bonus points on this list) is primarily a very good defensive midfielder. Athletic with great stamina he rarely misses a beat when it comes to defensive assignments, whether it's applying pressure or covering his position, and I'm guessing it has to do with his central defender ability that he is also one of the best midfielders at helping out the defenders in the box itself when necessary.
With the ball, and I could be wrong here since it's possible he was never bad at all, it's my impression that he has improved quite a bit in recent years, and passing or controlling the ball, where he can also put his athletic ability to use meaning great balance, aren't weaknesses anymore.
With likely the biggest stars for Bordeaux. including coach Blanc, jumping sinking ship it will be interesting to see if Diarra stays. I think Bordeaux if they can manage to keep Gourcuff still has a great centerpiece to build from and add needed depth around, but if they aren't even making the Champions League, and it doesn't look like they will after leading most of the year, then hanging on to anyone good will be very tough.
114:
Antonio Cassano
Sampdoria
Forward - Italy
The clown prince and enfant terrible of Calcio has had another tumultuous season of ups and downs, on and off the field.
Amidst a massive media campaign trying to get him called up to the national team Cassano started the season well showing trademark brilliant attacking flair, passes and dribbles, making those voices even stronger, only to, as usual, at the first sign of adversity, self destruct, threaten to quit, and fall out with both fans and coach resulting in him being excluded from the squad and once again the team starting to do better without him.
Here is what I wrote about Cassano in the Sampdoria part of my Serie A preview (one I'd like to improve immensely next time around) before this season:
He is a talented attacking player who is creative with a lot of flair, but also someone who through sheer unprofessionalism throughout his career has been unwilling to even try and improve other areas of his game. That's why he is playing for a midtable Serie A club and not a big one. European or Italian.
27 years old now having wasted many years of his talent, he does still have time to improve, or mature if you will, but even last season while being praised by the media, there were many games, especially early on, where he didn't even seem fit, slightly overweight like in the Madrid days and when without the ball was probably consistently the worst player on the pitch, hurting his team with his lack of work/movement/effort.
As absurd as it is, while hysterical voices for Cassano being selected for the national team grew louder and louder, his team where he had been made the most important player, was slumping and slumping, flirting with relegation!
This season it looked like deja-vu. After a bright start once again Cassano was bringing the team down with him but Del Neri took the brave decision, left him out and suddenly Sampdoria couldn't stop winning and have been putting my midtable-tag fully to shame and are currently challenging for a Champions League spot.
To both men's credit though, after Del Neri was sort of forced to include Cassano again when striker Pozzi got injured, Sampdoria arguably became even better and has duly continued their winning ways.
Here are some interesting comments from Del Neri on Cassano when he was recalled to the squad and the style of play:
Sampdoria boss Gigi Del Neri claims to have re-built Antonio Cassano after dropping him earlier in the spring.
Cassano has started producing world-class performances again, scoring winning goals against Genoa and Juventus.
Interviewed in La Gazzetta dello Sport, Del Neri was asked if it was courageous of him to drop Cassano.
“No, because before I took the decision I thought about it 100 times. We had a problem in attack. We needed more substance and less technique, Pozzi instead of Cassano, someone who helped the team move up the pitch, someone who pressed the opponent.
“Now, things are going better, even if it's not ideal. But in one move of his during the derby I saw the right level of anger. He'll be great when he can move like that more.
“Before Cassano couldn't manage many 30m sprints. When he plays further forward he has to sprint 10m so it's different. The question is: when will he do 30 separate 10m sprints?
To get the full picture here is what I think is a very comprehensive blog entry from Francesco on the Italian Offside page, where I'm not sure I have much to add at all:
There is little doubt that when Antonio Cassano is in form, he is right up there with Francesco Totti as the most talented player in Italy. His technique and skill is just so sublime at times and he can really give defenders headaches. However, would you say that Cassano is the hardest working player on the pitch? In a short answer: Hell no.
Cassano himself has stated many times that he hates tactics and training and learning tactical schemes and such. He just wants to go on the field and play. Cassano is practically one of those players that is very difficult to place in a restricted tactical scheme, because he is a classic fantasista who just roams the pitch and creates.
In the past Roberto Baggio had trouble with coaches because of this exact reason. Many coaches like Sacchi and Capello didn’t know where to place Baggio in rigid formations like a 4-4-2, because he was neither really a midfielder or a striker, a “9.5″ like some coaches called him (a mix between an traditional number 9 and a traditional number 10).
If you’ve watched Cassano over the past three years, you’ll notice the same thing. While technically he’s a striker, he hasn’t really been a true striker. At Sampdoria he has always played next to another striker (from Montella to Bellucci to Pazzini etc) but placed himself on the left wing and started from there. Very rarely was he anywhere else on the pitch. He would hang out on the left flank, receive the ball, and try and make something happen. That’s basically how he’s been playing the past three years. Added to that, he wouldn’t pressure the defense, and he would never come back and help defend. A real tactician’s nightmare.
Enter into the fold Mr. Luigi Delneri. The same guy that Cassano said he couldn’t understand what the fuck he was saying (from his book). Delneri has played the same formation from his miracle Chievo days. A straight, rigid 4-4-2 that relies heavily on the wing play of the two outside midfielders and the hard work of the two defensive midfielders in the center of the pitch. The two strikers are generally just two out of and out strikers. Seems like no room for a fantasista. However when Delneri was in charge of Atalanta the past two seasons, he had a fantasista on the roster: Cristiano Doni. So Delneri’s 4-4-2 was more of a 4-4-1-1 with Doni supporting Sergio Floccari. But Doni is different from Cassano. Doni is more of a true attacking midfielder that plays in the center. Cassano isn’t this kind of player. So questions arose how Cassano would fit into Delneri’s plans.
Cassano started the season perfectly, showing all of his talent and climbing up the assist charts. However he wasn’t scoring. As much as he was helping others to score goals, he only scored 3 goals up until he was frozen out of the squad back in January. Cassano still attacked from the left flank, and he would always have the ball very far from goal, so he would always pass instead of trying a shot. When Samp started to struggle, Delneri thought it was time to drop Cassano for a while and partner Pazzini with Nicola Pozzi, an out and out striker who would pressure the opposing defense and provide a physical presence.
With Cassano the team won, but slowly realized that they needed quality up front. Cassano was re-integrated into the side and with Pozzi’s injury it meant Delneri was kind of forced to use him. However, if you’ve been watching Sampdoria in recent weeks, you’ll notice that Cassano has been playing in a somewhat new position. He is now more of a striker. He is no longer hanging out on the left flank waiting for the ball. Delneri said in a recent interview that Cassano has excellent scoring abilities but most of the time he is too far away from goal to use them, so he wanted to push Cassano forward and allow him to play closer to goal where he could finish off chances rather than create them. Delneri’s decision has been working. Cassano has scored in 4 of Samp’s last 5 games, and all but one of them (the midfield volley vs. Juve) have been inside the area and very opportunistic, Pippo Inzaghi-like goals.
If you watched the Samp-Genoa derby this past weekend, you could have noticed the changes to Cassano’s positioning. For the 55 minutes he was on the pitch (he had to be subbed due to injury), Cassano was more advanced than Pazzini on the pitch. Pazzini was more withdrawn and doing a lot of dirty work opening up spaces and such. Cassano was advanced and when Samp attacked you could notice that Cassano was much higher up the pitch than Pazzini. His goal is a prime example of the new position change. The old Cassano would’ve been outside the area on a set play like that. But the new Cassano was positioned at the far post perfectly, waiting for Guberti’s header and positioning himself excellently in the space next to Moretti where he beat him to the ball. A real goal poacher-like goal.
If Cassano can continue to have good enough off the ball movement and sheer work, adding a striker element to his trequartista/lazy winger game, he will have a good case for a much higher ranking, but for the time being with his history of unmatched unprofessionalim in mind, I remain skeptic. When reading Del Neri's comments, Cassano doesn't really sound like a striker to his liking after all but more of a desperate measure and trouble can definitely still appear if the differences between the two men, as I suspect, are just too deeply rooted.
Ideally of course Cassano wouldn't be in stringent 4-4-2s at all but the paradox is that Cassano's weaknesses in many ways invite such tactics for his team. But really he should just be on a better team with better players (right?) in well working fluid systems suiting his attacking strengths but that's another chance he has also blown again and again, for club and for country, on and off the field, the question is will he ever get another?
How he does in Del Neri's exact opposite to all of that, ironically could be the ultimate decider.
Good luck Antonio.
113:
Deco
Chelsea
Attacking midfielder - Portugal
The above picture just to prove there actually were good times for Deco at Chelsea!
Of course that player of the month award was in the opening month of last season where then manager Felipe Scolari, in the long run ill advisedly, had made Deco something of a centerpiece in a very unMourinho like blue brazil version of Chelsea.
That didn't end all too well but looking back now it's a nice illustration of the kind of style where Brazilian born and bred Deco almost couldn't help himself but thrive, and how basically ever since that was aborted, he hasn't been able to help himself from under-performing.
It was therefore tempting to drop Deco even further but for the time being, he is a dangerous 32 where things can go downhill fast, he isn't really much worse I don't think than when he was considered one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe.
He has that great attacking midfield off the ball movement where he is consistently able to make himself a passing option and of course when he gets the ball his ability with it is well known making him for the better part of his career something of an ideal passing partner where space is tight central in the final third - but further back too Deco's good work rate ensures that he can contribute there as well.
One problem is that at Chelsea exploring that passing option isn't really all that optimal for the players around him a lot of the time or sometimes not even possible for what, if you compare to other teams where Deco has featured, is rather average ability to participate in an effective short passing game.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, on the contrary, Chelsea and most of their players are still at their best when it's a lot more Mourinho than it's Scolari. Something Hiddink understood and practiced to perfection but an area where current manager Ancelotti constantly struggles to maneuver in one direction or the other mostly ending somwhere in between the two. Not bad certainly but not quite great enough to have cemented the title win that the superior squad he has to work with suggests that he should have.
For Portugal Deco is still an important player and at 32 with an uncertain future the World Cup could be the last time we see Deco at his playmaking best.
112:
Ryan Giggs
Manchester United
Attacking midfielder/Winger - Wales
Almost 20 years at the highest level, especially for an attacking player you could say, is nothing short of astounding but that's what Ryan Giggs is closing in on.
When he first broke through he was an explosive almost unstoppable left-winger who's pace made the opposing fullbacks look silly several times, every single game. That continued on a consistent level for many years where he was always one of the best in the world but sometime already during those years for tactical reasons that right now escape me but I'm sure is related to Ferguson's eternal love for the 4-4-1-1 in a move that likely tremendously helped prolonging his career years later, Giggs began to also play games in central roles, improving him as a player in almost every area where his blinding speed couldn't carry him. I won't claim to know if that's where he developed vision but it's where he first got the opportunity to really showcase it, not just blast into space past a poor fullback, but to pass the ball under pressure. Become an intelligent footballer. Make plays.
It's also where I think he first really learned to contribute to team defense removing liabilities there which even if the attacking player never becomes a great defender still is of huge value to his team.
So once Giggs step by step started losing his pace, a critical time where most winger's careers start to dwindle, Giggs had already become a complete player with many other facets to his game than just speed and could continue at a high level for years to come.
Now it has to be said, a high level, definitely having reached a low point. Earlier in the season when I first started this list Giggs had some immaculate performances featuring great playmaking from mainly the left wing, not with pace but intelligence and passing, kind of current Ronaldinho-like, but with actual team work, and I moved Giggs up very high in the rankings, but following that not much happened and he hasn't really been involved in that many games and when he has it's often been quite underwhelming.
That's definitely to be expected at age 36 but also what makes it very hard to rank him above players to come who can contribute at a high level in game after game.
111:
Thomas Vermaelen
Arsenal
Defender - Belgium
Despite coming under scrutiny here Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the revelations of the season and perhaps the best defender in England since joining from Ajax.
Other than being an excellent defender he is also a complete player with good technical abilities that he can put to use starting possession. Something very important for a team with Arsenal's style.
He is strong in the air whether it's defending someone like Peter Crouch or when he is in the opponent box on set pieces.
Man to man he is one of those defenders that can really outmaneuver opponents off the ball but he is even more impressive when almost expanding what's a normal central defender zone and commanding great areas with great effectiveness. He is a prime example of one of those defenders with a great defensive range.
Now at times that means we'll see stuff like what ZonalMarking points out in the article above but in at least some of those examples, there is already allowed too much space by poor positioning from other players and Vermaelen is the kind of defender with enough talent to try and save those situations. Overall that's not a bad thing as long as he isn't overestimating his ability resulting in a negative success rate. See Cannavaro these days. As long as it doesn't become negative gambling it's great to have a defender like that. The real problem is if there is a consistent lack of good team defending, whether pressing or covering, then even a defender as good as Vermaelen will get to "look bad" at times. But at least Arsenal, in all honesty a bad team when not in possession, with Vermaelen has a defender good enough to at least try, and often succeeding cleaning up the mess.
110:
Gareth Barry
Manchester City
Midfielder - England
One of the toughest players to rank in a while. My brain is screaming that he should be higher but my instincts demand the exact opposite. He's been high, he's been low, he's been sorta everywhere really.
There are a quite a few things to like about Barry, even if few people seem to. He is physically very good and rarely injured. He is consistent. He is versatile and has functioned in a number of different roles and positions during his career.
It's when thinking about just how exactly does he function that all the doubts I have really start appearing, even when it comes to his main responsibility in recent years, operating the defensive midfield. I'm just not fully convinced that Barry is a really good defensive midfielder but more of an all round midfielder almost trapped in that role. Yes he works hard and is strong. There is no problem with his positional discipline either. So much so that time and time again you find yourself missing the younger Barry who made great forwards runs playing for Aston Villa. Then to make that aspect even more confusing, even if it seems he does very little, his offensive numbers for whatever they are worth in this sport are actually really good even at this (defensive) stage of his career. There is definitely contribution from him there, one way or the other, and it's a big part of why my brain wants him higher, and that he is where he is even, for someone I see, maybe wrongly, losing the midfield battles to the opposition (defensive midfield specialists overcoming the allrounder you could say) a little too often to be considered elite.
That Barry is slow and uncreative wouldn't really mean much if I was sure he was very good defensively. That added with his goal and assist tally + versatility would suggest a very high ranking, despite nothing flashy. For now though he is a complete midfielder putting only some of that completeness to use in a defensive role where he works well defensively and distributes the ball safely, just not as good as the specialists and even though the naked attacking numbers are there (from set pieces?) and that certainly has put him ahead of quite a few of those specialists, it isn't enough to have him up there with the very best. In the final third, with apologies to his certainly capable left foot, I'm just not seeing quite enough talent coming from him. Not enough to put him ahead of the best defensive midfielders, overcome the defensive deficit so to speak, or the more complete midfielders, which most will be, other than the true elite defensive ones, when we get to the top ranks.
Opslag
