This is where it will happen:
300bestplayersintheworld.blogspot.com/
First installment of the list is now up.
mandag den 27. december 2010
torsdag den 18. november 2010
The 200 best players in the world
LATEST UPDATE:
9. December:
Well I'm getting closer.
I have the 300 best players in the world ordered and ready to go. Every player profile has been "transfered" to their new home. That took way longer than I had expected, but now many of them have been updated as well.
Once everyone have been updated The 300 is ready to go and I'll provide the final details. Including some (hopefully nice) surprises.
Thanks for the interest.
---------------------------------
I shouldn't say that the list as we have come to know it is dead, but it kind of is sadly...
The good news is though, that it will be replaced. Expanded if you will.
I'm actually not sure what the most accurate description is, just that it has been taken over by something else. Conquered! By something hopefully better. Not least longterm. Something I call The 300.
Well, that's the working title anyway, and it should be just around the corner.
It will definitely be a monster, an almost immortal one even, and I hope to have it up and running in a few days.
And for the faithfuls out there, don't worry The 300 will provide some closure in the form of a full ranking of the best players in the world. It just won't be what I would call final...
Anyway, there will be more details once the whole thing is done.
Therefore stay tuned!
9. December:
Well I'm getting closer.
I have the 300 best players in the world ordered and ready to go. Every player profile has been "transfered" to their new home. That took way longer than I had expected, but now many of them have been updated as well.
Once everyone have been updated The 300 is ready to go and I'll provide the final details. Including some (hopefully nice) surprises.
Thanks for the interest.
---------------------------------
I shouldn't say that the list as we have come to know it is dead, but it kind of is sadly...
The good news is though, that it will be replaced. Expanded if you will.
I'm actually not sure what the most accurate description is, just that it has been taken over by something else. Conquered! By something hopefully better. Not least longterm. Something I call The 300.
Well, that's the working title anyway, and it should be just around the corner.
It will definitely be a monster, an almost immortal one even, and I hope to have it up and running in a few days.
And for the faithfuls out there, don't worry The 300 will provide some closure in the form of a full ranking of the best players in the world. It just won't be what I would call final...
Anyway, there will be more details once the whole thing is done.
Therefore stay tuned!
tirsdag den 7. september 2010
2010/11 Team previews: Chelsea
2010/2011 team previews:
Milan
Next we have:
Chelsea
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.
Milan
Next we have:
Chelsea
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.
2010/11 Team previews: AC Milan
Delayed, but better late than never, here the first of my early season fashionable late team previews/reports and it is none other than AC Milan.
Next should be either Chelsea or Roma. Maybe Real Madrid! Whatever gets me going I guess...
Will also take suggestions. Preferably from these though (my list):
Bayern München
Napoli
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Roma
Parma
Leverkusen
Valencia
Atletico Madrid
Sevilla
Tottenham
Manchester United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
Lyon (only maybe)
Marseille (only maybe)
Dortmund (only maybe)
Wolfsburg
Juventus
Hamburg
Werder Bremen (only maybe)
Udinese
Schalke (only maybe)
Palermo
Sampdoria (only maybe)
Genoa
Manchester City
Inter
Aston Villa (only maybe)
AC Milan
For most of the off-season it looked to be the same old of modest renewal of the aging Milan squad that their fans have had to endure in recent years. But then just before the end of the deadline they signed, first Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in a deal that made huge news mostly described as a steal from Barcelona, and then as an extra bonus unsettled Brazilian trickster Robinho from Manchester City.
The formerly oh so dynamic duo of Galliani and Berlusconi truly turning back the years.
And just like that in a matter of very few days the whole mood surrounding the club turned around and there is now as much excitement as there have been in years.
Like last year with Leonardo there is also a new coach in town, this time it's Massimiliano Allegri who impressed everyone at Cagliari but who also face enough of last season's challenges for me (before we really get going with the current) to quote something I wrote in last year's preview:
Berlusconi:
Some things just never change and while the coach is new there is still the same old challenge of channeling Berlusconi's "insight" into something workable on the pitch.
The people who did this most successfully was of course legendary coaches Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello. They both stayed strong to their particular formulas of winning and off the pitch Berlusconi could use that succes to build his career in politics.
Even now somewhat forgotten star coach Alberto Zaccheroni, stayed true to his unique 3-4-3 system and secured a scudetto.
At the first sign of things going bad Zaccheroni was sacked though. Following a 2001 Champions League quaterfinal knockout against Deportivo La Coruna, Berlusconi in the middle of a busy election campaign took time to make it very clear on live tv afterwards that he didn't agree with many of the tactical choices that were made. "Tonight we saw that I was not wrong" was his quote, and that Zaccheroni's days as the Milan coach were numbered.
A couple of years before that, even Fabio Capello had felt Berlusconi's wrath as soon as things weren't going well and ended his second spell with the club getting sacked.
Granted things were very ugly at that point but this was the most succesful coach in the world who after winning everything with Milan had gone to Spain and just won La Liga in his first spell there with Real Madrid.
A couple of years later Capello in perhaps his finest achievement lead Roma to the title. Then Juventus. Then Madrid again. This man was far from done and obviously a great coach but also someone probably not very likely to implement Berlusconi's tactical input on to the pitch.
Sure finishing with a goalscore of 36-15 in 34 games (drawing 12-losing 3) as Capello's Milan team amazingly did in 1993-1994 was acceptable when also winning the title, but the first sign of that kind of football not transformed into great results, surely Berlusconi himself will have the best ideas of what to do instead!
Capello however I'm sure would not feel that way. Zaccheroni didn't.
Sacchi actually was also sacked, probably doing exactly what he had done before just not with the same results, ending his brief second spell with club.
One man who kept lasting though was of course Carlo Ancelotti. He won (just) one Scudetto in 8 years.
Of course his great succes in the Champions League where the team should have won 3 trophies instead of the two they did win helped a lot, but with plenty of dry spells during his long run as the coach, I strongly suspect that an important part of his quite remarkable staying power had to do with his willingness to listen to Berlusconi's insight when things weren't going well.
So with that, enter rookie coach Leonardo and his already shown willingness to play Ronaldinho where Silvio feels it's right. That's encouraging right? Well for Leonardo's staying power it is.
Of course the last two sentences proved incorrect. As described plenty in both the Pirlo writeup and the Ronaldinho one on my list, Leonardo (now without a job) quickly moved away from playing Ronaldinho in a forward role central (from what I remember he only really did it in that Berlusconi Trophy game which I had just watched when writing that) and instead parked him way out left. From my Ronaldinho entry on the best players in the world list:
In short the Ronaldinho of the last 3-4 years simply hasn't had either the strength, acceleration or most importantly the needed off the ball movement to be able to function central where space is tightest.
Then with almost all his value being when he has the ball, in order for him to get it enough to justify him even playing, he has been placed way out left, beyond normal marking where the other players can find him with relative ease. Then hope for the best.
Make no mistake about it Allegri now has a better team than what Leonardo had but how he solves the Ronaldinho question and how it relates to the rest of the lineup+Berlusconi's enjoyment voyering the whole thing, I still think is the most important challenge he faces.
What has made the situation even more tricky is the extra bonus gift from Silvio in the form of Robinho. One Allegri admits that he didn't expect but of course now has to deal with.
Him and Ronaldinho has played the same position for years. It was Robinho who took over there on the Brazil national team.
Is getting Robinho a sneaky Silvio ploy to get Ronaldinho where he wants him on the field, in the middle behind the huge striker upgrade that is Ibrahimovic, both scoring goals?
That extremely attacking lineup which I don't think there is any doubt Allegri is under pressure to showcase sooner rather than later, would have Robinho on the left, Ibrahimovic in the center, Pato as right forward and right behind them (I'm sure switching a lot with Robinho which would be a must I think) the clown prince, Ronaldinho himself.
The two midfielders that leaves room for would then I'm guessing be Pirlo and Ambrosini.
Last year under Leonardo we often saw a very unbalanced Milan side with 3 forwards that didn't participate in defensive play and a midfield then, when not ran over, standing very deep to avoid just that, getting run over. A lot of teams then basically had a acres of space on their way to the Milan final third.
Some opponents took advantage of that better than others. In many games I found myself surprised it didn't end worse for Milan and I clearly expected more games like the ones against Manchester United in the Champions League and the defeats not least against Palermo in Serie A. But no matter what though, I have little doubt it was that very unbalance that was the main contributor stopping Milan from being enough of a consistent winner to compete all the way for the title.
And what would this Allegri extreme attacking lineup part II be then?
For starters it's even more attacking than Leonardo's and it's clearly also more talented.
Ronaldinho for all his flaws is a genius with a football. Robinho is one of the most talented attacking players in the world and Ibrahimovic and Pato are two of the best. Few teams will be able to stop that kind of talent from scoring.
There is obviously very little defending though and the team is likely to find itself in situations with not enough men behind the ball too often to not concede.
Allegri of course knows this perfectly well and one early sign of change that he has implemented (mind you this is with the 4-3-3 without either of Robinho and Ibrahimovic) to try and create more cohesion and balance is that he has moved the back four up the pitch which is a clear change from Leonardo's very deep defending.
That of course has its own risks and is clearly gambling but I think it's better than what clearly isn't gonna cut it in the long run, playing without people in midfield, either deep in the opponent half or deep in your own. He is simply making the pitch smaller. Something that of course has a rich AC Milan tradition where Arrigo Sacchi build his success on that working to perfection.
For Allegri's Milan I can't see it working that well at all, you just have to look at the characteristics of the current players and compare them to a team like Sacchi's that was build for it with not least Rijkaard's physicality in the pressure game but runners like Ancelotti and Evani as well. Even Gullit (when healthy) and Donadoni played their important parts. Then behind the midfield Baresi was the revolutionary master at pushing the back four up in essential support.
On the current team, when the attacking player I see as most likely to put in a decent defensive effort that includes ball pressure is Robinho, then I don't think that is something which bodes very well.
Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic will do nothing. Pato has the physique and it is possible that in lineups this year not as heavily dependent on his fantastic presence in the final third as they were at times last season, that he can bring an effort as well with at least some burden there lifted from his shoulders.
In a way replace that now gone burden with a new defensive one so to speak. It's hardly given it's something that could be relied on though.
In midfield players like Ambrosini, Flamini, Gattuso and interesting newcomer Kevin Prince Boateng can all to various extents do the needed job. Like midfielders should. But there are only two midfield spots left and one of those must be Pirlo's right? A player not build for Sacchi ball pressure at all but who can at least get by defensively with his positioning when playing deep.
Even if Allegri did the in my opinion criminal (and I'll get to why in a bit) and sacrificed Pirlo for one of the midfielders capable of the defensive effort, I still have my serious doubts if it would be enough and Allegri's team still not be one too often defending with only 6 or less players. It's not like fullbacks always stay back either (those orders couldn't even save Maradona's actually less attacking Argentina lineup).
No, then keeping orchestrator Pirlo in the lineup and go for that other, "even-maker" when it comes to making up for lack of defensive players, overwhelming possession=less defending to do, might be a better gamble. Even if I still suspect it's one (unlike prime attacking example Barcelona with their great immediate pressure on the ballholder) that will be countered too often to be truly successful. Interestingly enough not dissimilar to the last Barcelona side that had Ronaldinho starting.
For me the strongest Milan lineup is very obvious and one only made more so because of the early encouraging signs of the 4-3-3 tactically playing higher up and the addition of Robinho.
Stay away from the insane 4-2-3-1 that has all of the stars (Robinho,Ibra,Pato,Dinho) in one giant dysfunctional attacking basket and keep with the 4-3-3 significantly upgraded tactically, balance-wise with the arrival of Allegri on the bench and upgraded on the player front massively with Ibrahimovic over Borriello and yes also (the one thing that really amazes me that I don't see talked about anywhere and there is plenty of discussion and articles on this new Milan everywhere) with Robinho over Ronaldinho on the left.
That to me is the logical step but signals from everywhere, the club, its fans and journalists, seems to be either all four of them playing or Robinho, not Ronaldinho, as kind of a supersub joker coming from the bench.
While I do think that's the lesser evil of the two and might work very well with the upgrade that's Ibrahimovic and a healthy Pato (healthy Nesta in back would really help too) it's still a team I have my doubts if really, to use sporting director's Galliani's own words, can compete with anyone and be one of the very best teams in Europe. Challenging both for the Scudetto and the Champions League.
The team I think has a better chance of that has younger, potentially harder working, faster and (despite flaws of his own and lack of true genius) overall better Robinho playing instead of Ronaldinho. As an extra bonus, Robinho for Dunga's Brazil, even showed, what he never really did in club football, a certain defensive effort which while maybe not looking like all that much coming from a skinny Brazilian, is more than a fat Ronaldinho could ever do, and potentially even assist Allegri's tactical defensive rescue plan for the 4-3-3 tremendously.
This in my opinion is the strongest Milan lineup:
With that world class front three, Pirlo will finally have have other options than to just seek out Ronaldinho on the left. There is actual pace and movement around him. Something he has been severely lacking the last couple of years.
Deep down I still think over a season Flamini playing the majority of games instead of Ambrosini would be best but while not even realistic in the first place, Ambrosini captain and all, Flamini did actually get more chances last season and with Ambrosini still going strong there wasn't all that much difference between them I don't think.
Gattuso almost left the club but after some reportedly emotional face to face meetings with Galliani decided to stay after all, and with that a reality he is of course as always an alternative as well.
In the last few years a very bad one since he has struggled severely with injuries and form, but with a good healthy spell leading up to the World Cup and then a long rest
there might just be enough of a bounce back from him this season to at least occasionally justifying reliving the legendary Rhino/Pirlo/Ambrosini midfield trio.
The generous gift from Genoa, Kevin Prince Boateng, should get a midfield spot though I think. He isn't always the most reliable in his actions on the field but there is plenty of talent and he brings some impressive athleticism that's been really lacking from the Milan midfield in recent years.
Good old Seedorf will probably be his main obstacle and in many ways that he still performs at a good level is impressive, but by now his starts should be diagnosed more carefully I think, and with the new arrivals the team is much less dependent on him as one of the first alternatives to make creative things happen as well. Which is a very good thing.
The young talented Greek with the cool name Sokratis Papastathopoulos (another generous gift to Berlusconi from Genoa president Preziosi who just keeps giving - Bocchetti actually was almost another hmm) seems equally adept at central defense and right-back and is therefore a very good signing for depth. That he is young and less injury prone doesn't hurt either.
He probably won't win the right-back spot right way, especially not at notoriously hierarchical Milan, he might not even be first alternative to Zambrotta then, that could (wrongly) go to classy looking but usually lets you down Bonera, but with plenty of injury problems both central and right, his services should be needed and they're good upgrade over the likes of hopeless Oddo and Abate who just wasn't comfortable playing fullback.
The left-back clearly belongs to Antonini with the only washed up alternative now being Jankulowski.
The other, Kaladze and his high salary, is finally offloaded, to guess where? Yes Genoa once again!
In central defense Nesta despite the unavoidable injury problems had a very good season where he saved the unbalanced team on more than one occasion. After all his horrific injury trouble him actually managing coming back and playing regularly was great news not just for the club but for football. He isn't the unbelievable and unbeatable defender he used to be but in glimpses at least it's still there.
Beside him Thiago Silva has all the gifts needed to be a top defender for years and with more and more experience he should only get better.
Final Verdict:
While possibly making great progress solving the balance issues of the Ronaldinho 4-3-3 that had plagued Leonardo, promising coach Allegri was suddenly gifted the keys to an incredible attack presenting new dreams but also more challenges. And more pressure.
The huge positives are both more depth and much more talent in the squad but truly deciding just how well the club will compete with the very best in the Champions League and Inter in Serie A, will be if Allegri can find that elusive right balance.
My guess is, that has to be done avoiding consistently playing the 4-2-3-1 with all four attacking stars and instead stick with the tactical and talent-wise improved 4-3-3 benching preferably, not Robinho but rather Ronaldinho.
Will Silvio even allow such a thing? If they win he'll live with it. Otherwise it's his way, or eventually goodbye Allegri.
Next should be either Chelsea or Roma. Maybe Real Madrid! Whatever gets me going I guess...
Will also take suggestions. Preferably from these though (my list):
Bayern München
Napoli
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Roma
Parma
Leverkusen
Valencia
Atletico Madrid
Sevilla
Tottenham
Manchester United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
Lyon (only maybe)
Marseille (only maybe)
Dortmund (only maybe)
Wolfsburg
Juventus
Hamburg
Werder Bremen (only maybe)
Udinese
Schalke (only maybe)
Palermo
Sampdoria (only maybe)
Genoa
Manchester City
Inter
Aston Villa (only maybe)
AC Milan
For most of the off-season it looked to be the same old of modest renewal of the aging Milan squad that their fans have had to endure in recent years. But then just before the end of the deadline they signed, first Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in a deal that made huge news mostly described as a steal from Barcelona, and then as an extra bonus unsettled Brazilian trickster Robinho from Manchester City.
The formerly oh so dynamic duo of Galliani and Berlusconi truly turning back the years.
And just like that in a matter of very few days the whole mood surrounding the club turned around and there is now as much excitement as there have been in years.
Like last year with Leonardo there is also a new coach in town, this time it's Massimiliano Allegri who impressed everyone at Cagliari but who also face enough of last season's challenges for me (before we really get going with the current) to quote something I wrote in last year's preview:
Berlusconi:
Ronaldinho is the number one in the world, in midfield (wing) he is totally wasted," he suggested.Me:
"If he was playing on the edge of the area, he would be able to punish the opposition more and score more goals. It is the most intelligent solution from a tactical point of view."
Some things just never change and while the coach is new there is still the same old challenge of channeling Berlusconi's "insight" into something workable on the pitch.
The people who did this most successfully was of course legendary coaches Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello. They both stayed strong to their particular formulas of winning and off the pitch Berlusconi could use that succes to build his career in politics.
Even now somewhat forgotten star coach Alberto Zaccheroni, stayed true to his unique 3-4-3 system and secured a scudetto.
At the first sign of things going bad Zaccheroni was sacked though. Following a 2001 Champions League quaterfinal knockout against Deportivo La Coruna, Berlusconi in the middle of a busy election campaign took time to make it very clear on live tv afterwards that he didn't agree with many of the tactical choices that were made. "Tonight we saw that I was not wrong" was his quote, and that Zaccheroni's days as the Milan coach were numbered.
A couple of years before that, even Fabio Capello had felt Berlusconi's wrath as soon as things weren't going well and ended his second spell with the club getting sacked.
Granted things were very ugly at that point but this was the most succesful coach in the world who after winning everything with Milan had gone to Spain and just won La Liga in his first spell there with Real Madrid.
A couple of years later Capello in perhaps his finest achievement lead Roma to the title. Then Juventus. Then Madrid again. This man was far from done and obviously a great coach but also someone probably not very likely to implement Berlusconi's tactical input on to the pitch.
Sure finishing with a goalscore of 36-15 in 34 games (drawing 12-losing 3) as Capello's Milan team amazingly did in 1993-1994 was acceptable when also winning the title, but the first sign of that kind of football not transformed into great results, surely Berlusconi himself will have the best ideas of what to do instead!
Capello however I'm sure would not feel that way. Zaccheroni didn't.
Sacchi actually was also sacked, probably doing exactly what he had done before just not with the same results, ending his brief second spell with club.
One man who kept lasting though was of course Carlo Ancelotti. He won (just) one Scudetto in 8 years.
Of course his great succes in the Champions League where the team should have won 3 trophies instead of the two they did win helped a lot, but with plenty of dry spells during his long run as the coach, I strongly suspect that an important part of his quite remarkable staying power had to do with his willingness to listen to Berlusconi's insight when things weren't going well.
So with that, enter rookie coach Leonardo and his already shown willingness to play Ronaldinho where Silvio feels it's right. That's encouraging right? Well for Leonardo's staying power it is.
Of course the last two sentences proved incorrect. As described plenty in both the Pirlo writeup and the Ronaldinho one on my list, Leonardo (now without a job) quickly moved away from playing Ronaldinho in a forward role central (from what I remember he only really did it in that Berlusconi Trophy game which I had just watched when writing that) and instead parked him way out left. From my Ronaldinho entry on the best players in the world list:
While he is still a supremely skilled player he has been something of a team killer in recent years. Killer of his own teams that is.
Because of what I presume must be poor physical condition, cause he is still only 29 which is a decent football age, he just doesn't have any movement without the ball anymore.
That he doesn't work when his team isn't in possession is not anything new of course. That's never been his role in the first place. But when he never makes runs or has movement off the ball he is generally just too easy to mark.
Then when he 4 or 5 times a game he will make a run he will often be too out of breath to do anything effectively once he gets the ball.
Too often it has seemed like he wasn't able to keep up with the tempo at the highest level anymore, which when you think about it is pretty sad for a 29 year old who among millions of people is still one of the utmost talented this game.
Personally I'm convinced that a significant part of Barcelona's historic improvement from the last season under Rijkaard to first season under Guardiola was the black hole that had become Ronaldinho wherever he was on the pitch now being gone from the lineup.
His extreme case of non work simply limited the team in too many ways. With the ball he reduced the movement of the whole team and without it, for starters, something like effective pressure on opponent possession could never be very effective.
Even last season in what was his debut season for Milan it was when Ancelotti started benching him that results finally improved for Milan and they started a rapid climb up the table. Coincidence? I think not!
So why is this clown even on the list? Why is this season different?
It really isn't that much different from what I can tell. I still see many of the same negative things from him and him now being given a whole left-wing to occupy in a 4-3-3 by new Milan coach Leonardo, where he can then mostly stand still or sometimes go for walks, he still hurts his team's balance consistently throughout games.
But what can't be denied is that he is an extraordinary playmaker when he gets the ball out there.
He doesn't really have the energy/pace/whatever to dribble much anymore, but he'll make great passes that very few can even think of. Short, forward, long, diagonal or cross, he'll do it all and with two other forwards to look for and a player like Seedorf coming from behind often ending up somewhere near him, he's been quite effective lately and he leads Serie A in assists. It's when Milan doesn't have the ball where the real trouble starts but with it and Ronaldinho, parked out on the wing, he has actually become value.
Leonardo seems to have just accepted that off the ball Ronaldinho just isn't good enough anymore in order to not be, a way too easy mark so to speak, so he has placed him so far out left field that he really is beyond normal marking unless you wanna man mark him for some reason.
For long periods of the game he is just out there almost glued to the sideline and yeah most players wouldn't be able do much of anything from out there especially not when they're slow and not much of a threat to cut well inside, but Ronaldinho he'll somehow make things happen from out there.
Say one great first touch, follow it up with some genius pass and the man (the clown) has created a dangerous situation, and that without much effort at all.
He is too skilled not to be on the list :(
In short the Ronaldinho of the last 3-4 years simply hasn't had either the strength, acceleration or most importantly the needed off the ball movement to be able to function central where space is tightest.
Then with almost all his value being when he has the ball, in order for him to get it enough to justify him even playing, he has been placed way out left, beyond normal marking where the other players can find him with relative ease. Then hope for the best.
Make no mistake about it Allegri now has a better team than what Leonardo had but how he solves the Ronaldinho question and how it relates to the rest of the lineup+Berlusconi's enjoyment voyering the whole thing, I still think is the most important challenge he faces.
What has made the situation even more tricky is the extra bonus gift from Silvio in the form of Robinho. One Allegri admits that he didn't expect but of course now has to deal with.
Him and Ronaldinho has played the same position for years. It was Robinho who took over there on the Brazil national team.
Is getting Robinho a sneaky Silvio ploy to get Ronaldinho where he wants him on the field, in the middle behind the huge striker upgrade that is Ibrahimovic, both scoring goals?
That extremely attacking lineup which I don't think there is any doubt Allegri is under pressure to showcase sooner rather than later, would have Robinho on the left, Ibrahimovic in the center, Pato as right forward and right behind them (I'm sure switching a lot with Robinho which would be a must I think) the clown prince, Ronaldinho himself.
The two midfielders that leaves room for would then I'm guessing be Pirlo and Ambrosini.
Last year under Leonardo we often saw a very unbalanced Milan side with 3 forwards that didn't participate in defensive play and a midfield then, when not ran over, standing very deep to avoid just that, getting run over. A lot of teams then basically had a acres of space on their way to the Milan final third.
Some opponents took advantage of that better than others. In many games I found myself surprised it didn't end worse for Milan and I clearly expected more games like the ones against Manchester United in the Champions League and the defeats not least against Palermo in Serie A. But no matter what though, I have little doubt it was that very unbalance that was the main contributor stopping Milan from being enough of a consistent winner to compete all the way for the title.
And what would this Allegri extreme attacking lineup part II be then?
For starters it's even more attacking than Leonardo's and it's clearly also more talented.
Ronaldinho for all his flaws is a genius with a football. Robinho is one of the most talented attacking players in the world and Ibrahimovic and Pato are two of the best. Few teams will be able to stop that kind of talent from scoring.
There is obviously very little defending though and the team is likely to find itself in situations with not enough men behind the ball too often to not concede.
Allegri of course knows this perfectly well and one early sign of change that he has implemented (mind you this is with the 4-3-3 without either of Robinho and Ibrahimovic) to try and create more cohesion and balance is that he has moved the back four up the pitch which is a clear change from Leonardo's very deep defending.
That of course has its own risks and is clearly gambling but I think it's better than what clearly isn't gonna cut it in the long run, playing without people in midfield, either deep in the opponent half or deep in your own. He is simply making the pitch smaller. Something that of course has a rich AC Milan tradition where Arrigo Sacchi build his success on that working to perfection.
For Allegri's Milan I can't see it working that well at all, you just have to look at the characteristics of the current players and compare them to a team like Sacchi's that was build for it with not least Rijkaard's physicality in the pressure game but runners like Ancelotti and Evani as well. Even Gullit (when healthy) and Donadoni played their important parts. Then behind the midfield Baresi was the revolutionary master at pushing the back four up in essential support.
On the current team, when the attacking player I see as most likely to put in a decent defensive effort that includes ball pressure is Robinho, then I don't think that is something which bodes very well.
Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic will do nothing. Pato has the physique and it is possible that in lineups this year not as heavily dependent on his fantastic presence in the final third as they were at times last season, that he can bring an effort as well with at least some burden there lifted from his shoulders.
In a way replace that now gone burden with a new defensive one so to speak. It's hardly given it's something that could be relied on though.
In midfield players like Ambrosini, Flamini, Gattuso and interesting newcomer Kevin Prince Boateng can all to various extents do the needed job. Like midfielders should. But there are only two midfield spots left and one of those must be Pirlo's right? A player not build for Sacchi ball pressure at all but who can at least get by defensively with his positioning when playing deep.
Even if Allegri did the in my opinion criminal (and I'll get to why in a bit) and sacrificed Pirlo for one of the midfielders capable of the defensive effort, I still have my serious doubts if it would be enough and Allegri's team still not be one too often defending with only 6 or less players. It's not like fullbacks always stay back either (those orders couldn't even save Maradona's actually less attacking Argentina lineup).
No, then keeping orchestrator Pirlo in the lineup and go for that other, "even-maker" when it comes to making up for lack of defensive players, overwhelming possession=less defending to do, might be a better gamble. Even if I still suspect it's one (unlike prime attacking example Barcelona with their great immediate pressure on the ballholder) that will be countered too often to be truly successful. Interestingly enough not dissimilar to the last Barcelona side that had Ronaldinho starting.
For me the strongest Milan lineup is very obvious and one only made more so because of the early encouraging signs of the 4-3-3 tactically playing higher up and the addition of Robinho.
Stay away from the insane 4-2-3-1 that has all of the stars (Robinho,Ibra,Pato,Dinho) in one giant dysfunctional attacking basket and keep with the 4-3-3 significantly upgraded tactically, balance-wise with the arrival of Allegri on the bench and upgraded on the player front massively with Ibrahimovic over Borriello and yes also (the one thing that really amazes me that I don't see talked about anywhere and there is plenty of discussion and articles on this new Milan everywhere) with Robinho over Ronaldinho on the left.
That to me is the logical step but signals from everywhere, the club, its fans and journalists, seems to be either all four of them playing or Robinho, not Ronaldinho, as kind of a supersub joker coming from the bench.
While I do think that's the lesser evil of the two and might work very well with the upgrade that's Ibrahimovic and a healthy Pato (healthy Nesta in back would really help too) it's still a team I have my doubts if really, to use sporting director's Galliani's own words, can compete with anyone and be one of the very best teams in Europe. Challenging both for the Scudetto and the Champions League.
The team I think has a better chance of that has younger, potentially harder working, faster and (despite flaws of his own and lack of true genius) overall better Robinho playing instead of Ronaldinho. As an extra bonus, Robinho for Dunga's Brazil, even showed, what he never really did in club football, a certain defensive effort which while maybe not looking like all that much coming from a skinny Brazilian, is more than a fat Ronaldinho could ever do, and potentially even assist Allegri's tactical defensive rescue plan for the 4-3-3 tremendously.
This in my opinion is the strongest Milan lineup:
With that world class front three, Pirlo will finally have have other options than to just seek out Ronaldinho on the left. There is actual pace and movement around him. Something he has been severely lacking the last couple of years.
Deep down I still think over a season Flamini playing the majority of games instead of Ambrosini would be best but while not even realistic in the first place, Ambrosini captain and all, Flamini did actually get more chances last season and with Ambrosini still going strong there wasn't all that much difference between them I don't think.
Gattuso almost left the club but after some reportedly emotional face to face meetings with Galliani decided to stay after all, and with that a reality he is of course as always an alternative as well.
In the last few years a very bad one since he has struggled severely with injuries and form, but with a good healthy spell leading up to the World Cup and then a long rest
there might just be enough of a bounce back from him this season to at least occasionally justifying reliving the legendary Rhino/Pirlo/Ambrosini midfield trio.
The generous gift from Genoa, Kevin Prince Boateng, should get a midfield spot though I think. He isn't always the most reliable in his actions on the field but there is plenty of talent and he brings some impressive athleticism that's been really lacking from the Milan midfield in recent years.
Good old Seedorf will probably be his main obstacle and in many ways that he still performs at a good level is impressive, but by now his starts should be diagnosed more carefully I think, and with the new arrivals the team is much less dependent on him as one of the first alternatives to make creative things happen as well. Which is a very good thing.
The young talented Greek with the cool name Sokratis Papastathopoulos (another generous gift to Berlusconi from Genoa president Preziosi who just keeps giving - Bocchetti actually was almost another hmm) seems equally adept at central defense and right-back and is therefore a very good signing for depth. That he is young and less injury prone doesn't hurt either.
He probably won't win the right-back spot right way, especially not at notoriously hierarchical Milan, he might not even be first alternative to Zambrotta then, that could (wrongly) go to classy looking but usually lets you down Bonera, but with plenty of injury problems both central and right, his services should be needed and they're good upgrade over the likes of hopeless Oddo and Abate who just wasn't comfortable playing fullback.
The left-back clearly belongs to Antonini with the only washed up alternative now being Jankulowski.
The other, Kaladze and his high salary, is finally offloaded, to guess where? Yes Genoa once again!
In central defense Nesta despite the unavoidable injury problems had a very good season where he saved the unbalanced team on more than one occasion. After all his horrific injury trouble him actually managing coming back and playing regularly was great news not just for the club but for football. He isn't the unbelievable and unbeatable defender he used to be but in glimpses at least it's still there.
Beside him Thiago Silva has all the gifts needed to be a top defender for years and with more and more experience he should only get better.
Final Verdict:
While possibly making great progress solving the balance issues of the Ronaldinho 4-3-3 that had plagued Leonardo, promising coach Allegri was suddenly gifted the keys to an incredible attack presenting new dreams but also more challenges. And more pressure.
The huge positives are both more depth and much more talent in the squad but truly deciding just how well the club will compete with the very best in the Champions League and Inter in Serie A, will be if Allegri can find that elusive right balance.
My guess is, that has to be done avoiding consistently playing the 4-2-3-1 with all four attacking stars and instead stick with the tactical and talent-wise improved 4-3-3 benching preferably, not Robinho but rather Ronaldinho.
Will Silvio even allow such a thing? If they win he'll live with it. Otherwise it's his way, or eventually goodbye Allegri.
torsdag den 2. september 2010
The 200 best players in the world: 55 - 51
At last I reach the top 50.
Unfortunately as announced earlier I didn't have any much time to update the list during August and the time I have now as I've also said I want to use instead (transfer window closed and all) writing some fashionable late team reports/previews on what's still the new season.
So definitely not a massive Serie A preview team by team report like last year but rather do several interesting (mostly top I guess) teams from different leagues. Mainly Italy, England, Spain and Germany.
Right now there is an international break of course (where I'm personally looking forward to talented Belgium against Germany tomorrow) and I think it's a good time then to try and squeeze as many club previews in as possible (which as these things go could end up being not many at all - we shall see) before the leagues get started again and/or I get tired of it, where I'll then immediately will seek to continue and (finally) finish the list.
Right now I have to say though that the new season is a lot more interesting for me than the good old list anyway (I hardly even do changes any more either which is a massive change from earlier) which hopefully will also result in some decent productivity.
Which teams will be first? I have no idea!
Good suggestions are welcome.
Introduction to the list
200 - 101 (and every writeup+honorary mentions)
100 - 95
100: Jose Bosingwa - Chelsea - Portugal
99: André-Pierre Gignac - Toulouse - France
98: Andrés Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna - Mexico
97: Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea - Portugal and Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United - England
96: John Terry - Chelsea - England
95: Mark Van Bommel - Bayern München - The Netherlands
94-83
94: Alejandro "Chori" Dominguez - Valencia - Argentina
93: Claudio Marchisio - Juventus - Italy
92: Michael Carrick - Manchester United - England
91: Darren Fletcher - Manchester United - Scotland
90: Miralem Pjanic - Lyon - Bosnia-Herzegovina
89: Santi Cazorla - Villarreal - Spain
88: Samir Nasri - Arsenal - France
87: Luis Suarez - Ajax - Uruguay
86: Mario Balotelli - Inter - Italy
85: Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina - Italy
84: James Milner - Aston Villa - England
83: Mikel Arteta - Everton - Spain
82-77
82: Thierry Henry - Barcelona - France
81: Thomas Müller - Bayern München - Germany
80: Ivica Olic - Bayern München - Croatia
79: Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea - Serbia
78: Nemanja Vidić - Manchester United - Serbia
77: Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus - Italy
76-68
76: Marcos Senna - Villarreal - Spain
75: Lass Diarra - Real Madrid - France
74: Francesco Totti - Roma - Italy
73: Antonio Di Natale - Udinese - Italy
72: Emmanuel Adebayor - Manchester City - Togo
71: Mirko Vucinic - Roma - Montenegro
70: Antonio Valencia - Manchester United - Ecuador
69: David Pizarro - Roma - Chile
68: Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United - Bulgaria
67-62
67: Juan Manuel Vargas - Fiorentina - Peru
66: Robinho - Manchester City - Brazil
65: Patrice Evra - Manchester United - France
64: Michel Bastos - Lyon - Brazil
63: Seydou Keita - Barcelona - Mali
62: Javier Zanetti - Inter - Argentina
61-56
61: Ashley Cole - Chelsea - England
60: Andrea Pirlo - Milan - Italy
59: Mario Gomez - Bayern München - Germany
58: Karim Benzema - Real Madrid - France
57: Zvjezdan Misimovic - Wolfsburg - Bosnia Herzegovina
56: Rafael Van der Vaart - Real Madrid - The Netherlands
55:
Michael Ballack
Bayer Leverkusen
Midfielder - Germany
One of the best midfielders in the world for the last decade is back at Leverkusen where he got his big breakthrough more than 10 years ago.
Ballack even at his best was never flashy but as effective a player as almost any. His power, stamina combined with intelligence, considerable skills (passing, first touch as well as shooting) plus aerial ability made him able to excel anywhere from commanding play in central midfield to provide bundles of goals in the final third.
With great consistency that was all showcased time and time again in Germany. Whether for Leverkusen, Bayern or the Nationalmannschaft, Ballack was the unquestionable leader and mostly the best player too, and with a big ego to go along with all the ability he was in many ways yet another traditional almost imperious German football Kapitän. Just the way they seem to like them.
Then when Ballack moved to Chelsea as a 29 year old veteran much of the same was expected but never quite materialized itself with the same consistency. First of all there were injuries, second there were other midfielders so excellent that Ballack wasn't the talisman, more like a very good role player in fact, and that one of those midfielders Frank Lampard shared many of Ballack's characteristics while almost never missing a game, meant that Ballack for Chelsea never became the dominant midfielder everyone had grown used to.
It's interesting I think, that at least before physical decline really set in for Ballack, that Chelsea had perhaps the 3 most effective midfielders in the world at their disposal, Lampard, Essien and Ballack but in a classic case of there can only be so many chefs, some saw their roles reduced on a regular basis.
For Essien - at least when he wasn't totally wasted playing defender (ugh) - that wasn't a problem because even though the two-way ability has always been there clear as a bright day, he is of course as everyone knows superb and fully comfortable, indeed one of the very best defensive midfielders in the world, fully fine with being more selective with his powerful forward runs.
For Ballack however, at least in the early Chelsea days, still with so much to offer in and around the box, not being the key part of the attacking game that he always had been, must have been some adjustment.
Maybe you could even say that it was when the adjustment took place naturally, Ballack losing the power to be dominant at the highest level, that he was at his best for Chelsea. Providing the most value. With Essien desperately unlucky with injuries and Mikel with moments of liability never quite taking command of defensive midfield, it was Ballack who with good distribution and intelligent defending (and some attacking too at times) in a deeper role provided much needed consistency from there on the way to his first league title in England, enjoying what I thought was a very good season.
For the national team during World Cup qualification similar took place. Gone was the box to box goalscoring talisman and instead we saw a defensive controlling midfielder fulfilling his role very well. Particularly impressive was his performances in what I think counts as only two or three games in the last four years where I've seen Germany play defensive, the games against Hiddink's Russia, eeking out a couple of close victories.
Injury of course put a stop to that and with an even stronger defensive midfield emergence coming from younger countryman Bastian Schweinsteiger last season, performing brilliantly, it will be interesting if there is still room for the self proclaimed STILL captain on the German national team.
Even if different because the emergence of an actual German number 10 playmaker in Mesut Özil has made the old Ballack role sort of go away, there is of course even a new superb German two-way, box to box player really coming into his own in Sami Khedira (who I now would rank just inside the top 50 I think), so it's not like that position is anything near being a clear pathway back into the team for Ballack either.
At Leverkusen the early perhaps too ambitious signaled intent is not to put a straitjacket on Ballack and play him in his recent holding role but rather wish for the old Ballack being a key player, in attack as well.
There is no doubt Ballack is still skilled and strong but whether he still (maybe in the Bundesliga?) will have the engine for box to box play with real impact definitely remains to be seen.
54:
Aaron Lennon
Tottenham
Winger - England
Still only 23 Lennon began last season sensationally, showing I thought, consistently a higher level than ever before and in full flow fully delivering on the great promise he had shown years earlier.
His great pace and skill with the ball meant games where he was almost unstoppable to the point where was actually one of the best players in the league, game in and game out providing high class differencemaking, and when Tottenham's best player Luka Modric got injured already in August, not least Lennon (while not forgetting the other Spurs players who made the list or Bale the notable) helped carry the team to impressive victories.
Also very impressive to me nowadays is when a winger is comfortable in a 4-4-2 rather than the mostly more modern winger friendly 4-2-3-1.
For Tottenham when it's mostly playing with two outright strikers not helping out defensively to any great effect, it's good to see a smaller not very strong but very much fast and skilled type of player like Lennon mostly very comfortable, working hard, both when his team is in possession and when it's time to defend and cover his wing position making up/playing his part in the two defensive chains of four in the 4-4-2.
A lot of wing type of players would not be comfortable in a 4-4-2 with the defensive requirements of the current day player and in order to line up well defensively without the ball need the extra midfielder (over a striker) for protection and for the team to make up the needed defensive numbers. Contrary to formations with the extra striker on board where it's the opposite with the real danger there of actually taking away from the defensive numbers and potentially, if not very rigid (where it can still be a very effective defensive system) or with strong defensive play in positions where it perhaps isn't common, run the great risk of getting outnumbered when up against the very common five man midfield formations.
I can only really remember one game last season where Lennon in the Spurs 4-4-2 (Redknapp did actually change systems against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea) were given a runaround by a more flexible system. It was against Manchester United who with a curious almost wingless lineup and a midfield of Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher and Anderson, then Rooney as usual being everywhere, with outnumbering then fully in place made it very easy, for not least Giggs and Scholes with their quality passing, to make the Spurs midfielders resemble, at times, yes headless chickens.
Tottenham of course still do face plenty of 4-4-2s in England and in a battle of those, with their quality (not least superior two-way play from Modric, Palacios and Bale) will mostly prevail, but as already speculated heavily on by many people, what is going to happen in the Champions League when instead mostly up against different systems, not least the 4-4-2-unfriendly 4-2-3-1. That of the extra midfielder.
Of course numbers on their own don't say a whole lot necessarily and everything depends on different player characteristics making up those very numbers but any two of the Defoe/Crouch/Pavluchenko three starting, could make Spurs vulnerable against the typical 4-2-3-1s and it will be very interesting how well they (and Lennon facing this challenge) deals with it.
Ideally a striker upgrade fully able to spearhead a 4-2-3-1 and make the people around him better would have been brought in by now (say Fabiano who instead renewed his contract at Sevilla) but another option could actually be another very good attacking midfielder, one so good that he and what is already in place, will give a lone Spurs striker such good working conditions that the job just might end up being one that can be overcome.
Currently there are rumors of Rafael Van der Vaart in what would be a very late (maybe too late!) transfer deadline deal.
Could formations with both him and Modric + the impressive supporting cast in what has to be said is just a very strong midfield, be so good that one of the aforementioned Spurs striker trio could do, what's not really obvious capabilities when looking at them, a good enough job as a lone striker?
Crouch to me doesn't bring enough goalscoring, let alone when alone, and while I like his play together with a co striker I'm not sure his play working with midfielders is good enough. Defoe certainly brings the goalscoring but teamwork isn't good enough if we're talking the highest level and he just needs someone consistently close to him to find the space near goal that he then is really good at taking advantage of sniper style.
All in all Spurs current best bet might just be Pavluchenko then. I'm not sure that's entirely positive, again someone like Fabiano undoubtedly would have been much better, but he does have the physicality that Defore doesn't and a drive that Crouch can only dream of.
For the completeness that's actually there in the Pavluchenko body he could still just not be quite good enough in all his positive areas when at the highest level, but an excellent midfield might just lift him. Just enough. I definitely think it's worth a try (it's not easy to imagine VdV in a 4-4-2 anyway). At least in the Champions League.
For Lennon (yes back to him) a late December injury put a stop to his excellence and when he eventually came back he never really found the great form again. Including like many others at the World Cup.
I suppose there is a danger that I've been too quick to forget less good Lennon spells, including curiously enough under ex Spurs manager Ramos in systems on paper at least more suited for a modern winger, and that I became more than a bit blinded by a great spell of Lennon magic in the more traditional fast paced British 4-4-2 under Redknapp and his positive impact (in contrast to Ramos) with a more (much more) classic British style of football managing. On and off the field.
This season should tell a lot. Not just whether if Lennon can keep it up, but the club as well on two fronts, and the new physical, mental and tactical challenges that comes with it.
Will be interesting to watch.
53:
Andrei Arshavin
Arsenal
Attacking midfielder/Forward - Russia
An enigmatic player if there ever was one who's incredible attacking talent (control, dribbling, pace, balance, shooting, passing) suggests an even higher ranking but who's actual performances (especially last season) too often could justify a lower one.
He has supreme technical skills and explosive pace. And even if pictures such as the one below would suggest an athlete perhaps not always in the greatest physical shape when compared to others at this level he does have this mysterious often phenomenal but of course also undefinable 'Russia strength' and his balance for an example is very impressive.
But is Arshavin an intelligent man or football player I should say since that is what's more relevant here?
For both Arsenal (before that Zenit) and the Russian national team he would be a part of, even instigate, whether through clever movement delicate touches, passing combinations at such a high level that without to some extent great vision and football intelligence you wouldn't think it possible, yet his decision making at times is horrid and perhaps at best very erratic. He will create a shot for himself when it's the worst option or simply, as has become quite the worrying trend, the wrong kind of shot. For an example the most difficult option always. Like top corner always, MUST
HIT IT!
So to the disappointment of many (including me) after some scintillating displays early in his Arsenal career, last season was too hit and miss from Arshavin.
It's difficult to say if it's mental or tactical. Tactically I think he is someone who needs a good centre-forward in the middle to work with from out left and in key moments of faltering last season Arsenal (and Arshavin) didn't have that with neither Van Persie, or Bendtner for that matter starting, in the 2-0 and 3-0 defeats against Chelsea or the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United. In fact in two of those games it was Arshavin who found himself playing a middle striker role on right top, where he just isn't at his best.
In contrast compare Arsenal's (and Arshavin's I think as well) performances in the earlier 2-1 defeat to Manchester United with Van Persie in the middle and Arshavin to the left, and it was much better in what was a game they could actually have won versus the complete opposite during the course of the 3-1 defeat where they were completely outplayed and outrun.
Signing someone like Marouane Chamakh therefore was a must and with both Bendtner and Van Persie in early season injury trouble, to keep the consistent point collecting going, he is already very needed.
Arshavin is someone who clearly needs good company.
52:
Juan Manuel Mata
Valencia
Winger/Attacking midfielder - Spain
In a long line of young skilled attacking Spanish players to emerge in recent years Mata is good enough to be a standout.
On the wing of course he has plenty of pace, that's just a must, and especially with the ball and the pace his control enables him to maintain with it is impressive.
While Mata has very good technical skills, including dribbling, he first and foremost make the right decisions. That's far from always looking for a dribble, a shot or flashy trickery so he is not one to constantly try to beat his man or go for crosses. Rather he participates very well in attacks and often it's him in the end who with a great run into the box with or without the ball is the recipient of a scoring chance where he is a good finisher.
That's another impressive thing, he is effective both in the wing role and when central whether more as an attacking midfielder or almost second striker at times.
Both places with hard work, skills, movement and exemplary team work, knowing his role and the others.
I have a feeling he is complete enough to maybe even deserve a higher ranking but this season should tell us a lot about how good at 22 years of age that he really is. With Valencia's two biggest stars, Villa and Silva, gone, it's now Mata who looks to become the attacking center piece. Perhaps not even on the wing but in Silva's old more or less free playmaker role with a lot of the attack going through him.
I'm actually not sure Mata has the creativity and excellent passing to do that on the highest level, if I thought that, he should probably be ranked many places higher. Higher than Silva still to come on the list for starters, since Mata is more consistent, versatile, has better teamwork, defensively as well, and it will be very interesting to see if he can rise to the challenge.
No matter if he reaches that next level (this season) or not, Mata is already an excellent skilled versatile intelligent team player who will be great for many years to come. Fully worthy of a very good ranking.
51:
Javier Mascherano
Barcelona
Defensive midfielder - Argentina
Defensive master like few others. Mascherano has great work rate and tackling ability and during his time at Liverpool was a key player in some of the best defensive performances in recent years.
With his excellent defensive qualities but limitations in contributing going forward in almost any way, he in many ways embodied a Liverpool team that especially in the Champions League against good technical sides gained the reputation of maybe the toughest matchup around.
In the Premier League it was often similar, and at least (to some extent) until Xabi Alonso especially in his final year took his play to another level, it was a side you'd often see struggling to get enough going in attack to put away the same smaller sides the other top teams took care of mostly with ease, while against the very top teams you could see Benitez Liverpool compete at a very high level.
It's really no secret what Mascherano does well. He is an enforcer or spoiler if you will who knows every trick in the book (who won't hesitate to use them either) and whether his defensive job, and it is always a defensive job for Mascherano, is tight tactical defending holding together the midfield chains (straight lines Benitez style, notice his obsessive hand gestures signaling this to his players constantly throughout every game) and defending his zone or if it's more aggressive pressure, battling to win the midfield, winning tackles in the process, Mascherano will do as great a job as anyone out there.
What's most impressive about his work is his range of defending I think. Not meant like he gets out of position, that would be as bad for him as it would a centre-back, but in the concentrated area that is central midfield he really does seem to be able to do more defensively in more places more often than perhaps anyone else out there.
On this list in many ways (like on the pitch actually) Mascherano where he ended up (fitting I think right before the top 50) became sort of the ultimate defensive block for the attacking players. Or for that matter the best players with something to offer both defensively and going forward. The one defensive specialist that only the most special players would be able to go past up the list. The one excellent defensive player, providing us with one final defensive stand where even small chinks in the (attacking player's) armor, or a few questionmarks here and there, like with Arshavin and his consistency, would be enough to stop the rise up the list and instead get to be - ranked behind
Mascherano.
Unfortunately as announced earlier I didn't have any much time to update the list during August and the time I have now as I've also said I want to use instead (transfer window closed and all) writing some fashionable late team reports/previews on what's still the new season.
So definitely not a massive Serie A preview team by team report like last year but rather do several interesting (mostly top I guess) teams from different leagues. Mainly Italy, England, Spain and Germany.
Right now there is an international break of course (where I'm personally looking forward to talented Belgium against Germany tomorrow) and I think it's a good time then to try and squeeze as many club previews in as possible (which as these things go could end up being not many at all - we shall see) before the leagues get started again and/or I get tired of it, where I'll then immediately will seek to continue and (finally) finish the list.
Right now I have to say though that the new season is a lot more interesting for me than the good old list anyway (I hardly even do changes any more either which is a massive change from earlier) which hopefully will also result in some decent productivity.
Which teams will be first? I have no idea!
Good suggestions are welcome.
Introduction to the list
200 - 101 (and every writeup+honorary mentions)
100 - 95
100: Jose Bosingwa - Chelsea - Portugal
99: André-Pierre Gignac - Toulouse - France
98: Andrés Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna - Mexico
97: Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea - Portugal and Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United - England
96: John Terry - Chelsea - England
95: Mark Van Bommel - Bayern München - The Netherlands
94-83
94: Alejandro "Chori" Dominguez - Valencia - Argentina
93: Claudio Marchisio - Juventus - Italy
92: Michael Carrick - Manchester United - England
91: Darren Fletcher - Manchester United - Scotland
90: Miralem Pjanic - Lyon - Bosnia-Herzegovina
89: Santi Cazorla - Villarreal - Spain
88: Samir Nasri - Arsenal - France
87: Luis Suarez - Ajax - Uruguay
86: Mario Balotelli - Inter - Italy
85: Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina - Italy
84: James Milner - Aston Villa - England
83: Mikel Arteta - Everton - Spain
82-77
82: Thierry Henry - Barcelona - France
81: Thomas Müller - Bayern München - Germany
80: Ivica Olic - Bayern München - Croatia
79: Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea - Serbia
78: Nemanja Vidić - Manchester United - Serbia
77: Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus - Italy
76-68
76: Marcos Senna - Villarreal - Spain
75: Lass Diarra - Real Madrid - France
74: Francesco Totti - Roma - Italy
73: Antonio Di Natale - Udinese - Italy
72: Emmanuel Adebayor - Manchester City - Togo
71: Mirko Vucinic - Roma - Montenegro
70: Antonio Valencia - Manchester United - Ecuador
69: David Pizarro - Roma - Chile
68: Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United - Bulgaria
67-62
67: Juan Manuel Vargas - Fiorentina - Peru
66: Robinho - Manchester City - Brazil
65: Patrice Evra - Manchester United - France
64: Michel Bastos - Lyon - Brazil
63: Seydou Keita - Barcelona - Mali
62: Javier Zanetti - Inter - Argentina
61-56
61: Ashley Cole - Chelsea - England
60: Andrea Pirlo - Milan - Italy
59: Mario Gomez - Bayern München - Germany
58: Karim Benzema - Real Madrid - France
57: Zvjezdan Misimovic - Wolfsburg - Bosnia Herzegovina
56: Rafael Van der Vaart - Real Madrid - The Netherlands
55:
Michael Ballack
Bayer Leverkusen
Midfielder - Germany
One of the best midfielders in the world for the last decade is back at Leverkusen where he got his big breakthrough more than 10 years ago.
Ballack even at his best was never flashy but as effective a player as almost any. His power, stamina combined with intelligence, considerable skills (passing, first touch as well as shooting) plus aerial ability made him able to excel anywhere from commanding play in central midfield to provide bundles of goals in the final third.
With great consistency that was all showcased time and time again in Germany. Whether for Leverkusen, Bayern or the Nationalmannschaft, Ballack was the unquestionable leader and mostly the best player too, and with a big ego to go along with all the ability he was in many ways yet another traditional almost imperious German football Kapitän. Just the way they seem to like them.
Then when Ballack moved to Chelsea as a 29 year old veteran much of the same was expected but never quite materialized itself with the same consistency. First of all there were injuries, second there were other midfielders so excellent that Ballack wasn't the talisman, more like a very good role player in fact, and that one of those midfielders Frank Lampard shared many of Ballack's characteristics while almost never missing a game, meant that Ballack for Chelsea never became the dominant midfielder everyone had grown used to.
It's interesting I think, that at least before physical decline really set in for Ballack, that Chelsea had perhaps the 3 most effective midfielders in the world at their disposal, Lampard, Essien and Ballack but in a classic case of there can only be so many chefs, some saw their roles reduced on a regular basis.
For Essien - at least when he wasn't totally wasted playing defender (ugh) - that wasn't a problem because even though the two-way ability has always been there clear as a bright day, he is of course as everyone knows superb and fully comfortable, indeed one of the very best defensive midfielders in the world, fully fine with being more selective with his powerful forward runs.
For Ballack however, at least in the early Chelsea days, still with so much to offer in and around the box, not being the key part of the attacking game that he always had been, must have been some adjustment.
Maybe you could even say that it was when the adjustment took place naturally, Ballack losing the power to be dominant at the highest level, that he was at his best for Chelsea. Providing the most value. With Essien desperately unlucky with injuries and Mikel with moments of liability never quite taking command of defensive midfield, it was Ballack who with good distribution and intelligent defending (and some attacking too at times) in a deeper role provided much needed consistency from there on the way to his first league title in England, enjoying what I thought was a very good season.
For the national team during World Cup qualification similar took place. Gone was the box to box goalscoring talisman and instead we saw a defensive controlling midfielder fulfilling his role very well. Particularly impressive was his performances in what I think counts as only two or three games in the last four years where I've seen Germany play defensive, the games against Hiddink's Russia, eeking out a couple of close victories.
Injury of course put a stop to that and with an even stronger defensive midfield emergence coming from younger countryman Bastian Schweinsteiger last season, performing brilliantly, it will be interesting if there is still room for the self proclaimed STILL captain on the German national team.
Even if different because the emergence of an actual German number 10 playmaker in Mesut Özil has made the old Ballack role sort of go away, there is of course even a new superb German two-way, box to box player really coming into his own in Sami Khedira (who I now would rank just inside the top 50 I think), so it's not like that position is anything near being a clear pathway back into the team for Ballack either.
At Leverkusen the early perhaps too ambitious signaled intent is not to put a straitjacket on Ballack and play him in his recent holding role but rather wish for the old Ballack being a key player, in attack as well.
There is no doubt Ballack is still skilled and strong but whether he still (maybe in the Bundesliga?) will have the engine for box to box play with real impact definitely remains to be seen.
54:
Aaron Lennon
Tottenham
Winger - England
Still only 23 Lennon began last season sensationally, showing I thought, consistently a higher level than ever before and in full flow fully delivering on the great promise he had shown years earlier.
His great pace and skill with the ball meant games where he was almost unstoppable to the point where was actually one of the best players in the league, game in and game out providing high class differencemaking, and when Tottenham's best player Luka Modric got injured already in August, not least Lennon (while not forgetting the other Spurs players who made the list or Bale the notable) helped carry the team to impressive victories.
Also very impressive to me nowadays is when a winger is comfortable in a 4-4-2 rather than the mostly more modern winger friendly 4-2-3-1.
For Tottenham when it's mostly playing with two outright strikers not helping out defensively to any great effect, it's good to see a smaller not very strong but very much fast and skilled type of player like Lennon mostly very comfortable, working hard, both when his team is in possession and when it's time to defend and cover his wing position making up/playing his part in the two defensive chains of four in the 4-4-2.
A lot of wing type of players would not be comfortable in a 4-4-2 with the defensive requirements of the current day player and in order to line up well defensively without the ball need the extra midfielder (over a striker) for protection and for the team to make up the needed defensive numbers. Contrary to formations with the extra striker on board where it's the opposite with the real danger there of actually taking away from the defensive numbers and potentially, if not very rigid (where it can still be a very effective defensive system) or with strong defensive play in positions where it perhaps isn't common, run the great risk of getting outnumbered when up against the very common five man midfield formations.
I can only really remember one game last season where Lennon in the Spurs 4-4-2 (Redknapp did actually change systems against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea) were given a runaround by a more flexible system. It was against Manchester United who with a curious almost wingless lineup and a midfield of Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher and Anderson, then Rooney as usual being everywhere, with outnumbering then fully in place made it very easy, for not least Giggs and Scholes with their quality passing, to make the Spurs midfielders resemble, at times, yes headless chickens.
Tottenham of course still do face plenty of 4-4-2s in England and in a battle of those, with their quality (not least superior two-way play from Modric, Palacios and Bale) will mostly prevail, but as already speculated heavily on by many people, what is going to happen in the Champions League when instead mostly up against different systems, not least the 4-4-2-unfriendly 4-2-3-1. That of the extra midfielder.
Of course numbers on their own don't say a whole lot necessarily and everything depends on different player characteristics making up those very numbers but any two of the Defoe/Crouch/Pavluchenko three starting, could make Spurs vulnerable against the typical 4-2-3-1s and it will be very interesting how well they (and Lennon facing this challenge) deals with it.
Ideally a striker upgrade fully able to spearhead a 4-2-3-1 and make the people around him better would have been brought in by now (say Fabiano who instead renewed his contract at Sevilla) but another option could actually be another very good attacking midfielder, one so good that he and what is already in place, will give a lone Spurs striker such good working conditions that the job just might end up being one that can be overcome.
Currently there are rumors of Rafael Van der Vaart in what would be a very late (maybe too late!) transfer deadline deal.
Could formations with both him and Modric + the impressive supporting cast in what has to be said is just a very strong midfield, be so good that one of the aforementioned Spurs striker trio could do, what's not really obvious capabilities when looking at them, a good enough job as a lone striker?
Crouch to me doesn't bring enough goalscoring, let alone when alone, and while I like his play together with a co striker I'm not sure his play working with midfielders is good enough. Defoe certainly brings the goalscoring but teamwork isn't good enough if we're talking the highest level and he just needs someone consistently close to him to find the space near goal that he then is really good at taking advantage of sniper style.
All in all Spurs current best bet might just be Pavluchenko then. I'm not sure that's entirely positive, again someone like Fabiano undoubtedly would have been much better, but he does have the physicality that Defore doesn't and a drive that Crouch can only dream of.
For the completeness that's actually there in the Pavluchenko body he could still just not be quite good enough in all his positive areas when at the highest level, but an excellent midfield might just lift him. Just enough. I definitely think it's worth a try (it's not easy to imagine VdV in a 4-4-2 anyway). At least in the Champions League.
For Lennon (yes back to him) a late December injury put a stop to his excellence and when he eventually came back he never really found the great form again. Including like many others at the World Cup.
I suppose there is a danger that I've been too quick to forget less good Lennon spells, including curiously enough under ex Spurs manager Ramos in systems on paper at least more suited for a modern winger, and that I became more than a bit blinded by a great spell of Lennon magic in the more traditional fast paced British 4-4-2 under Redknapp and his positive impact (in contrast to Ramos) with a more (much more) classic British style of football managing. On and off the field.
This season should tell a lot. Not just whether if Lennon can keep it up, but the club as well on two fronts, and the new physical, mental and tactical challenges that comes with it.
Will be interesting to watch.
53:
Andrei Arshavin
Arsenal
Attacking midfielder/Forward - Russia
An enigmatic player if there ever was one who's incredible attacking talent (control, dribbling, pace, balance, shooting, passing) suggests an even higher ranking but who's actual performances (especially last season) too often could justify a lower one.
He has supreme technical skills and explosive pace. And even if pictures such as the one below would suggest an athlete perhaps not always in the greatest physical shape when compared to others at this level he does have this mysterious often phenomenal but of course also undefinable 'Russia strength' and his balance for an example is very impressive.
But is Arshavin an intelligent man or football player I should say since that is what's more relevant here?
For both Arsenal (before that Zenit) and the Russian national team he would be a part of, even instigate, whether through clever movement delicate touches, passing combinations at such a high level that without to some extent great vision and football intelligence you wouldn't think it possible, yet his decision making at times is horrid and perhaps at best very erratic. He will create a shot for himself when it's the worst option or simply, as has become quite the worrying trend, the wrong kind of shot. For an example the most difficult option always. Like top corner always, MUST
HIT IT!
So to the disappointment of many (including me) after some scintillating displays early in his Arsenal career, last season was too hit and miss from Arshavin.
It's difficult to say if it's mental or tactical. Tactically I think he is someone who needs a good centre-forward in the middle to work with from out left and in key moments of faltering last season Arsenal (and Arshavin) didn't have that with neither Van Persie, or Bendtner for that matter starting, in the 2-0 and 3-0 defeats against Chelsea or the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United. In fact in two of those games it was Arshavin who found himself playing a middle striker role on right top, where he just isn't at his best.
In contrast compare Arsenal's (and Arshavin's I think as well) performances in the earlier 2-1 defeat to Manchester United with Van Persie in the middle and Arshavin to the left, and it was much better in what was a game they could actually have won versus the complete opposite during the course of the 3-1 defeat where they were completely outplayed and outrun.
Signing someone like Marouane Chamakh therefore was a must and with both Bendtner and Van Persie in early season injury trouble, to keep the consistent point collecting going, he is already very needed.
Arshavin is someone who clearly needs good company.
52:
Juan Manuel Mata
Valencia
Winger/Attacking midfielder - Spain
In a long line of young skilled attacking Spanish players to emerge in recent years Mata is good enough to be a standout.
On the wing of course he has plenty of pace, that's just a must, and especially with the ball and the pace his control enables him to maintain with it is impressive.
While Mata has very good technical skills, including dribbling, he first and foremost make the right decisions. That's far from always looking for a dribble, a shot or flashy trickery so he is not one to constantly try to beat his man or go for crosses. Rather he participates very well in attacks and often it's him in the end who with a great run into the box with or without the ball is the recipient of a scoring chance where he is a good finisher.
That's another impressive thing, he is effective both in the wing role and when central whether more as an attacking midfielder or almost second striker at times.
Both places with hard work, skills, movement and exemplary team work, knowing his role and the others.
I have a feeling he is complete enough to maybe even deserve a higher ranking but this season should tell us a lot about how good at 22 years of age that he really is. With Valencia's two biggest stars, Villa and Silva, gone, it's now Mata who looks to become the attacking center piece. Perhaps not even on the wing but in Silva's old more or less free playmaker role with a lot of the attack going through him.
I'm actually not sure Mata has the creativity and excellent passing to do that on the highest level, if I thought that, he should probably be ranked many places higher. Higher than Silva still to come on the list for starters, since Mata is more consistent, versatile, has better teamwork, defensively as well, and it will be very interesting to see if he can rise to the challenge.
No matter if he reaches that next level (this season) or not, Mata is already an excellent skilled versatile intelligent team player who will be great for many years to come. Fully worthy of a very good ranking.
51:
Javier Mascherano
Barcelona
Defensive midfielder - Argentina
Defensive master like few others. Mascherano has great work rate and tackling ability and during his time at Liverpool was a key player in some of the best defensive performances in recent years.
With his excellent defensive qualities but limitations in contributing going forward in almost any way, he in many ways embodied a Liverpool team that especially in the Champions League against good technical sides gained the reputation of maybe the toughest matchup around.
In the Premier League it was often similar, and at least (to some extent) until Xabi Alonso especially in his final year took his play to another level, it was a side you'd often see struggling to get enough going in attack to put away the same smaller sides the other top teams took care of mostly with ease, while against the very top teams you could see Benitez Liverpool compete at a very high level.
It's really no secret what Mascherano does well. He is an enforcer or spoiler if you will who knows every trick in the book (who won't hesitate to use them either) and whether his defensive job, and it is always a defensive job for Mascherano, is tight tactical defending holding together the midfield chains (straight lines Benitez style, notice his obsessive hand gestures signaling this to his players constantly throughout every game) and defending his zone or if it's more aggressive pressure, battling to win the midfield, winning tackles in the process, Mascherano will do as great a job as anyone out there.
What's most impressive about his work is his range of defending I think. Not meant like he gets out of position, that would be as bad for him as it would a centre-back, but in the concentrated area that is central midfield he really does seem to be able to do more defensively in more places more often than perhaps anyone else out there.
On this list in many ways (like on the pitch actually) Mascherano where he ended up (fitting I think right before the top 50) became sort of the ultimate defensive block for the attacking players. Or for that matter the best players with something to offer both defensively and going forward. The one defensive specialist that only the most special players would be able to go past up the list. The one excellent defensive player, providing us with one final defensive stand where even small chinks in the (attacking player's) armor, or a few questionmarks here and there, like with Arshavin and his consistency, would be enough to stop the rise up the list and instead get to be - ranked behind
Mascherano.
mandag den 30. august 2010
The 200 best players in the world: Transfer updates
I'm currently writing on an entry that will be the last one before some different entries with the aforementioned promised team reports/previews of the new season.
In the meantime though, with the transfer deadline closing in fast, here is a list of all the players on my list (so far) who have since changed clubs:
Alberto Zapater from Genoa to Sporting Lissabon
Nicola Zigic from Valencia to Birmingham
Sergei Semak from Rubin Kazan to Zenit Saint Petersburg
Alberto Aquilani from Liverpool to Juventus
Yossi Benayoun from Liverpool to Chelsea
William Gallas from Arsenal to Tottenham
Bruno Alves from Porto to Zenit Saint Petersburg
Craig Bellamy from Manchester City to Cardiff
Simon Kjaer from Palermo to Wolfsburg
Luca Cigarini from Napoli to Sevilla
Sebastian Giovinco from Juventus to Parma
Raul Meireles from Porto to Liverpool
Joao Moutinho from Sporting Lissabon to Porto
Miguel Veloso from Sporting Lissabon to Genoa
Raul from Real Madrid to Schalke 04
Hatem Ben Arfa from Marseille to Newcastle
Rafael Marquez from Barcelona to New York Red Bulls
Ramires from Benfica to Chelsea
Deco from Chelsea to Fluminense
Toni Kroos from Bayer Leverkusen to Bayern München
Andre Pierre Gignac from Toulouse to Marseille
Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea to Real Madrid
Mario Balotelli from Inter to Manchester City
James Milner from Aston Villa to Manchester City
Thierry Henry from Barcelona to New York Red Bulls
Robinho from Manchester City to AC Milan
Klaas Jan Huntelaar from AC Milan to Schalke 04
Mauro Camoranesi from Juventus to Stuttgart
Rafael Van der Vaart from Real Madrid to Tottenham?
Even among the notables there were plenty of movement:
Joe Cole to Liverpool
Milos Krasic to Juventus
Stephen Ireland to Aston Villa
Mamadou Niang to Fenerbahce
Leonardo Bonucci to Juventus
Andres Ranocchia to Inter on loan at Genoa
Aleksandar Kolarov to Manchester City
Sami Khedira to Real Madrid
Christian Poulsen to Liverpool
Carlos Eduardo to Rubin Kazan
Filipe Luis to Atletico Madrid
Hernanes to Lazio
In the meantime though, with the transfer deadline closing in fast, here is a list of all the players on my list (so far) who have since changed clubs:
Alberto Zapater from Genoa to Sporting Lissabon
Nicola Zigic from Valencia to Birmingham
Sergei Semak from Rubin Kazan to Zenit Saint Petersburg
Alberto Aquilani from Liverpool to Juventus
Yossi Benayoun from Liverpool to Chelsea
William Gallas from Arsenal to Tottenham
Bruno Alves from Porto to Zenit Saint Petersburg
Craig Bellamy from Manchester City to Cardiff
Simon Kjaer from Palermo to Wolfsburg
Luca Cigarini from Napoli to Sevilla
Sebastian Giovinco from Juventus to Parma
Raul Meireles from Porto to Liverpool
Joao Moutinho from Sporting Lissabon to Porto
Miguel Veloso from Sporting Lissabon to Genoa
Raul from Real Madrid to Schalke 04
Hatem Ben Arfa from Marseille to Newcastle
Rafael Marquez from Barcelona to New York Red Bulls
Ramires from Benfica to Chelsea
Deco from Chelsea to Fluminense
Toni Kroos from Bayer Leverkusen to Bayern München
Andre Pierre Gignac from Toulouse to Marseille
Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea to Real Madrid
Mario Balotelli from Inter to Manchester City
James Milner from Aston Villa to Manchester City
Thierry Henry from Barcelona to New York Red Bulls
Robinho from Manchester City to AC Milan
Klaas Jan Huntelaar from AC Milan to Schalke 04
Mauro Camoranesi from Juventus to Stuttgart
Rafael Van der Vaart from Real Madrid to Tottenham?
Even among the notables there were plenty of movement:
Joe Cole to Liverpool
Milos Krasic to Juventus
Stephen Ireland to Aston Villa
Mamadou Niang to Fenerbahce
Leonardo Bonucci to Juventus
Andres Ranocchia to Inter on loan at Genoa
Aleksandar Kolarov to Manchester City
Sami Khedira to Real Madrid
Christian Poulsen to Liverpool
Carlos Eduardo to Rubin Kazan
Filipe Luis to Atletico Madrid
Hernanes to Lazio
mandag den 9. august 2010
The 200 best players in the world: 61 - 56
I'm tempted to write some team reports with thoughts about various clubs for the upcoming season instead... but yes I should wait and I will until the transfer window is closed. Even if that means clubs will have played already. That should only improve the reports anyway.
So on with the list instead we go and this did get pretty long rather than my original intent of getting down the list maybe even in a hurry:
Introduction to the list
200 - 101 (and every writeup+honorary mentions)
100 - 95
100: Jose Bosingwa - Chelsea - Portugal
99: André-Pierre Gignac - Toulouse - France
98: Andrés Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna - Mexico
97: Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea - Portugal and Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United - England
96: John Terry - Chelsea - England
95: Mark Van Bommel - Bayern München - The Netherlands
94-83
94: Alejandro "Chori" Dominguez - Valencia - Argentina
93: Claudio Marchisio - Juventus - Italy
92: Michael Carrick - Manchester United - England
91: Darren Fletcher - Manchester United - Scotland
90: Miralem Pjanic - Lyon - Bosnia-Herzegovina
89: Santi Cazorla - Villarreal - Spain
88: Samir Nasri - Arsenal - France
87: Luis Suarez - Ajax - Uruguay
86: Mario Balotelli - Inter - Italy
85: Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina - Italy
84: James Milner - Aston Villa - England
83: Mikel Arteta - Everton - Spain
82-77
82: Thierry Henry - Barcelona - France
81: Thomas Müller - Bayern München - Germany
80: Ivica Olic - Bayern München - Croatia
79: Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea - Serbia
78: Nemanja Vidić - Manchester United - Serbia
77: Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus - Italy
76-68
76: Marcos Senna - Villarreal - Spain
75: Lass Diarra - Real Madrid - France
74: Francesco Totti - Roma - Italy
73: Antonio Di Natale - Udinese - Italy
72: Emmanuel Adebayor - Manchester City - Togo
71: Mirko Vucinic - Roma - Montenegro
70: Antonio Valencia - Manchester United - Ecuador
69: David Pizarro - Roma - Chile
68: Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United - Bulgaria
67-62
67: Juan Manuel Vargas - Fiorentina - Peru
66: Robinho - Manchester City - Brazil
65: Patrice Evra - Manchester United - France
64: Michel Bastos - Lyon - Brazil
63: Seydou Keita - Barcelona - Mali
62: Javier Zanetti - Inter - Argentina
61:
Ashley Cole
Chelsea
Left-back - England
Cashley to say the least isn't the most popular player but he is an excellent left-back nonetheless.
He has great fullback stamina. Times his forward runs very well and has the necessary skills to be comfortable in the opponent half when doing it. There are definitely even more talented fullbacks at attacking out there than Cole but he is effective (his crossing especially is good, as well as his control) and he has great physical tools.
He is fast and strong. Both characteristics put well to use when it comes to tackling, and I think generally when it comes to his significant completeness at the position, it's his defending that sets him apart from most others.
One on one which is always a common situation out wide, he is great and his team defending is very good as well. You don't find him caught out of position and his strength, pace and timing makes him good at participating in back-four play, marking and defending in the box (and whereever next cause he has great range) when opponent possession for an example is on the opposite wing.
At 29 he does have some injury history (but of course also seasons of not missing a single beat) and is definitely a player depending heavily on athleticism, so it will be interesting to see how long he can stay on top.
Generally for fullbacks on this list, the gaps between them aren't as large as all the players in other positions packed in would suggest.
There are even fullbacks outside the list that I don't think are that far off, and who should probably have been included, since after all this is an important position.
But while ignoring left and right, with just three rather obvious fullbacks left to go - let's take a look at their internal order using new order as well as the honorary mentions :
1.
2.
3.
4. Ashley Cole
5. Javier Zanetti (his midfield play a significant part of his ranking of course. While very good I don't think he is a better left-back than Evra for an example)
6. Patrice Evra
7. Branislav Ivanovic (his centre-back credentials also playing in but not as much as Zanetti's midfield play. He really impressed me at right-back)
8. Jose Bosingwa
9. Marcell Jansen (I haven't included Vargas, Marcelo and Bastos since their fullback play isn't that big part of their rankings. Jansen is trickier since it's clearly bigger but he is playing more and more wing instead it seems and that of course is a big part of his ranking)
10. Bacary Sagna
11. Domenico Criscito
12. Benoit Tremoulinas
13. Taye Taiwo
14. Rod Fanni
15. Aly Cissokho (actually I probably got carried away and overrated Cissokho overall here but then again the same can be said about at least the two above (or moreso even) so now I'd put him over those two)
16. Darijo Srna
17. Yuri Shirkov
Some notable omissions (where I'm sure I'm forgetting some people):
Fabio Coentrao
Joan Capdevilla
Alexandr Kolarov
Gareth Bale
Alvaro Arbeloa
Gael Clichy
Eric Abidal
Filipe Luis
Well all of those to various extents definitely belong on the list (making me look dumb) I think with perhaps the first real stumbling block for many of them, if we're talking the fullback position only, being Sagna at number 10.
Clichy I think still has the most upside if he'll defend reasonably. He is just pure speed and athleticism going forward.
Bale and Kolarov would have their rankings helped by their wing play but may just be the "worst" fullbacks. Very good players though.
Filipe Luis I'll reserve judgment on till I've seen him some more. I suspect he is very good though.
Coentrao to some extent the same, even if he had close to flawless periods for everyone to see during the World Cup.
Arbeloa I feel is underrated and would actually put him ahead of both Abidal and Capdevilla who could be on the down, meaning I'd probably put them at the bottom but ahead of Taiwo and Fanni at least. Abidal helped along by some versatility.
All in all then (and this is tough - more putting in order - just what I don't need):
Gael Clichy at 11 behind Sagna but with a good chance to surpass him in my book with an impressive season.
Kolarov who I'm a little skeptical about when it comes to playing in a back-four at 13 behind Tremoulinas
Coentrao just behind Kolarov
Then Bale who still has to prove some in the longterm and possibly not even at this position...
Then Arbeloa. Him also ahead of the Ligue 1 guys.
Filipe Luis the same and probably it will turn out that he is ranked too low.
And finally
Capdevilla
and Abidal
60:
Andrea Pirlo
Milan
Midfielder - Italy
One of the best and most valuable players of his generation, being the most important contributor to both Champions League triumphs as well of course a World Cup win.
I first remember seeing him for Inter (don't have any memories of him from even earlier than that for Brescia) when in a game as a young attacking midfielder he came off the bench to replace Roberto Baggio.
With his supreme technique in all actions with the ball he immediately stood out and I was convinced right from his very first touches that this was the next great Italian number 10.
He didn't look particularly fast back then either, a little fragile too, but his first touches standing out in a game even more back then than it would now and then his godsend passing seemed levels above everyone else.
I didn't quite understand why Inter sent him out on loan back then but it was a time where they had several highly paid star forwards in their squad making playing time a challenge for everyone.
Indeed an aging Baggio was soon forced out as well only to end up having several impressive seasons, being the (divine pony tail) man again, at Pirlo's former club Brescia.
But to name some of the rich Inter attacking talent at the time. They had:
Ronaldo, Vieri, Zamorano, Djorkaeff, Baggio, very promising at the time Nicola Ventola and the year(s) Pirlo was loaned out the likes of young stars Recoba, Seedorf and Mutu had joined as well.
I'm not exactly sure how Pirlo did in those loan spells at Reggiana and then back to Brescia again for the 2000/2001 season meeting up once more with the legend Baggio but it did make me remember and search for this in retrospect fascinating goal against Juventus where as a clear sign of things to come Pirlo number 5 on his shirt regista style from deep central midfield with a trademark deep through ball finds Baggio who with his usual elegance turns it into a goal behind a perplexed Van der Sar in the Juve goal.
Elsewhere in the year 2000, Pirlo lead the azzurrini to the European Championship picking up the player of the tournament award in the process.
However the real breakthrough came when AC Milan decided it was a good idea to invest in the obvious young talent (imagine that!) and secured him for maybe, maybe not €18 million in one of those not uncommon Serie A deals at the time involving many players back and forth at strange prices, maybe or maybe not, to create some nice false profit in the books...
He started out in the attacking midfielder role but at some point came the important change into a deep-lying playmaker. A historic change that helped pave the way for the major successes mentioned in the opening lines of this writeup. European Cups. The World Cup.
It was a move I have always hailed Ancelotti for making but I recently learned that he doesn't even (to his credit I guess! Most coaches I'm guessing would love that on their cv) take credit for it himself.
This is from his autobiography:
"Pirlo really helped me out. He approached me one day and suggested that he could play in a deep position, just in front of the back four. I was extremely sceptical. He was an attacking midfielder, his tendency was to run with the ball. And yet, it worked. He became one of the best in the world in that role. I stuck Seedorf out wide, with Rui Costa and Rivaldo behind the lone striker and - presto! - there was my 4-3-2-1, or Christmas Tree."
All the more reason to hail the great player then which suits me just fine.
Pirlo would probably have become a very good trequartista too. Even with the complications involved of being such in this era of football. And while he isn't fast or strong enough to be a great goal scoring threat up there, it's not like he didn't consistently with technique and vision do great things in the final third too, it's just that the one area where he is truly unique, and still best in the world, the accurate passing, through balls even from sometimes way deep would largely be taken out of his game. There are others with tremendous range of passing and its always valuable, but Pirlo combines it with great vision and superb ball control.
It was incredibly valuable to have a player who even from deep in midfield would be a threat in attack. A threat to create a chance or a dangerous situation out of , or from rather, nowhere almost.
For Italy in 2006 it meant the team could attack with pinpoint effectiveness and be dangerous with only few players coming forward. Many teams nowadays playing defensive will attack with only few players to keep their defensive shape and men behind the ball when possession is lost again, but even in transition it will often be difficult to be dangerous cause you're sitting deep a long way from goal and maybe doesn't have enough individual quality to erase that deficit so to speak and manage to be a threat with only so few people attacking.
The team we saw do it best last season was Inter in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona where sitting deep they made minimal possession extremely effective by as often and quickly as possible seeking out their one skilled passer, Sneijder who would then make excellent quick one touch passes of many ranges to one of only 2-3 players making runs forward ahead of him. The rest of the team behind could then comfortably concentrate on keeping their defensive shape. They were already managing to be dangerous attacking with only 3-4 players.
Pirlo at important times for Italy and Milan was in the unique position rarely matched by anyone else that the very next second after having created something in attack he would be in position to defend. Simply cause he hadn't moved! That simple. That true. He was back in or near his own half ready to defend having created from deep.
It's very hard to do effectively even remotely consistently and needs a unique player to pull it off but when realized I almost can't emphasize enough the value I think it has, or imagine even a greater risk reward scenario for your team.
This is also why I've struggled finding the right ranking for him and I'm still not sure. One thing is comparing him to the players he is just ahead of, Ashley Cole, Vargas or Zanetti. They're so different it's almost impossible, but also when looking at Pirlo isolated it is very tricky. Because in theory despite whatever athletic decline he has seen, and it can look serious at times, somewhere on some team, he could still have that value. Those skills are still there.
Is he by now just a specialist then needing the perfect conditions but then if that's in place can be the most valuable player putting the team over the top, on to glory?
And should that mean an even lower ranking then or how about much higher, since in some ways you could say that's also at least one mark of an elite impact player...
The 2009/10 season for Pirlo despite difficult conditions, that I shall touch upon soon, was actually better I thought than the previous one. Mainly he stayed healthy (well until it really mattered at the World Cup SIGH) and I found myself impressed with his work rate and durability game in and game out.
The surroundings weren't kind to him though.
Around him there was less defensive protection than ever. One Veteran Ambrosini did his best but other than that I don't think there were many teams in Europe defending with less players than Milan consistently found themselves doing.
Opponents often had a free pass to the Milan penalty area and I'm still surprised the consequences suffered, in the form of more embarrassing defeats, weren't worse.
In attack they had very little movement in front of Pirlo. Attacking fullbacks who he has always had radar-like connections with when coming forward, think prime Zambrotta, Cafu or Grosso, were a clear weakness for the team and there wasn't much there for him to work with.
Of the front three the only one with good movement and not least pace was Pato and he struggled with health, so for good and bad, Pirlo in many ways, as the rest of the team, was reduced to hand the ball over to Ronaldinho, permanently parked on the left-wing, no need (or conditions you could say) for Pirlo to make special passes at all, and then just see what the Brazilian's genius could create.
Quite a lot actually if you had people up there near him. Something Pirlo was also forced to at times, and while that did mean goals and a team usually dangerous, it resulted in a very unbalanced team and generally very bad conditions for Pirlo who is so good in a team attack that has pace and movement. But for Milan found himself on a team where it was much more about individuals. Either up front trying to create on their own or in the back among the unfortunate few (not uncommonly including Pirlo somewhere) forced to defend on their own.
There simply was no team for Pirlo to put over the top.
Current Andrea Pirlo is still an excellent passer, Short and long with vision. His first touch is great and his skills at times means he can still go past people without pace. I also think he has good stamina and he continues to be an expert on set pieces.
He is very slow though and at times to such an extent it's possible to mistake him for a zombie out there slowly wandering around with an empty stare just lusting for some ball.
This also has made him easier to mark and he is still very much a target for the opposition. Then with so little movement around him he can be made to look pretty bad at times losing the ball in costly areas.
Defensively like already talked about his greatest value has always been that he is there back in position behind the ball ready to defend his zone and that actually is more important than tackling anyway but by no means is he a good defensive player (especially not now) and he needs protection in the form of defensive midfielders around him as his slowness duly prevents him from having any kind of range to his defending and if he is forced to press will look completely out of place.
All in all I'm still not sure where to rank him but for Milan and Pirlo's sake I hope their coach Allegri (one of Italy's most promising) will find a way around Ronaldinho (and indirectly Berlusconi perhaps) and create a more balanced side than what we saw from Leonardo.
59:
Mario Gomez
Bayern München
Striker - Germany
Gomez needs to think of happier times:
Okay so it really hurt he claims, and that does make sense of course, but a goal is a goal and lately Gomez is in another harmful situation (possibly here hurting his behind in the process) sitting on the bench not able to score the goals he loves so much and which over his still young career he has netted at a fantastic rate.
A year ago it was 24 in 30 league starts (37 in all). Then 23 in 28 across all competitions. In 06/07 there was 14 in 22 and even when still finding his feet in the Bundesliga the year before that, amidst many substitution appearances, it was for what its worth 7 goals in 6 starts.
But here he is at Bayern, their best striker by some margin I still believe, on the bench.
For starters you can only have so many attackers in a lineup and Bayern have two excellent ones in the form of Ribery and Robben both somewhere higher up the list.
Then there were the impressive form of two of my favorites (and I can definitely see why any coach would feel similar!) Olic and Müller who both contribute, as talked about in their writeups of course, in different ways with different things than Gomez does. Then if the coach in connection with all the other players in the lineup, feels that's what makes the team better, then it doesn't really matter if another player isolated on his own is better individually ( not least if those other things are deemed less important on this particular team with their specific players).
Even Klose. Himself with a history sitting on the Bayern bench brings different movement and dynamics (in the form of his remaining pace) to the team than Gomez.
I would though, even if he returns to good form, have a harder time understanding him playing over Gomez than I would Olic or Müller.
Then again if as some reports on and off during the season suggested are correct, that Gomez (Luca Toni style? Maybe not quite but still) have practiced feuding with Van Gaal, then that's not something that will provide the greatest outlook for more starting time.
If he were to get the chance again what Gomez does brings of course is a very impactful around and inside the box presence. He is very strong, good in the air and while at times can look underwhelming still with good and definitely underrated technique. Both when it comes to control and finishing.
I still think a large part of the under appreciation or denial even of any Gomez skill at all come from his high profile failure at Euro 2008 where he just didn't put a foot right.
With great performances in the Bundesliga naturally getting much less attention internationally, those things can haunt a player.
But Gomez from the starts that he actually DID get last season (and in all competitions he did score 19 goals) I thought both when it came to movement other places than in the box (maybe even more pace) and general ball skills as well that he looked better even than at times for Stuttgart during his scoring goals for fun (even using penis) glory days of the previous seasons.
In many ways that's what this good (even if too good according to some) ranking is based on.
Rightly or wrongly I thought he looked very good when I saw him and while as the season progressed getting to see that less and less certainly hasn't boosted his ranking, I'm not willing to dismiss my impression totally on a 25 year old, at his club in competition with excellent players, when I have no reason to suspect he is suddenly a worse player than the free scoring one of a year ago or the one I was very impressed with this season while he was still getting the chance.
58:
Karim Benzema
Real Madrid
Striker - France
Benzema is one of the most naturally gifted strikers in the world. Strength combined with pace and considerable skills with upside.
So much so that I think he is someone who with a good next season under his belt could jump as much as 20 something places up the list. If not more.
However apart from very few exceptions (exceptions mostly having in common being universally recognized top 10-15 players in the world not long ago) almost everyone still to go on the list will be coming of either one outstanding season (in my eyes at least) or at least two very good ones playing at a very high level.
And for Benzema, despite all the tools being in place, last season did just abruptly put a stop sign to that.
Now I'm sure that's only in place temporarily and in just a matter of time with force he will run that sign over.
In many ways like with Gomez there is no shame either in losing playing time when the competition consists of other excellent players. One of them even, Higuain who with his finesse contra Benzema's physicality, had every condition in place for a great breakthrough season, both in terms of strength of teammates around him compared to the general opposition faced, and coach Manuel Pelligrini's tactics suiting finesse rather than power.
But who is to say that at some point that won't be reversed under new coach Mourinho?
They're definitely two completely different coaches and even if that reversal of fortunes doesn't materialize exactly, I will be very surprised if Benzema won't be much more of a factor this season under Mourinho than he was for Pelligrini.
57:
Zvjezdan Misimovic
Wolfsburg
Attacking midfielder - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Old school number 10 who's playmaking in the Bundesliga has just been too astounding to ignore.
Athletically speaking he is behind the large majority of players on this list but he makes up for it by being extremely gifted in everything that involves touching the football.
He was (and still is) the brains and conductor of the great Wolfsburg attack that took the Bundesliga by storm and won the league 2008/2009. That season he amassed an amazing 23 assists.
If the simple plan was to score plenty of goals by mixing a passing (and set piece) maestro like Misimovic with a couple of very good strikers then it certainly proved successful as Grafite and Dzeko finished one and two on the scoring charts with 28 and 26 apiece.
Helping their rankings Dzeko and Misimovic continued to shine last season where Wolfsburg both scoring less goals and letting in more stumbled to an 8th place finish.
Those two actually managed to more or less contribute at a similar impressive rate as in the glory year while Grafite on the other hand struggled to find consistency and in that kind of attack only netted what's a modest 11.
Don't blame it all on Grafite though because the real reason should probably be found with coach Felix Magath leaving the club.
Magath who, with a serious risk of entering into blasphemy, kind of like Alex Ferguson in England, just seems to somehow know exactly what it will take and how to execute it in order to do well in the Bundesliga.
Once again exemplified last season where it was Schalke's turn to feel his heavy handed magic touch impressively finishing second in the league behind much more talented Bayern.
Wolfsburg on the other hand without Magath just couldn't find the right balance and if you consider they're playing with two centre-forwards and then an old school "non factor defensively" (lazy) number 10 around them, it's really more remarkable that they ever did. Even in a league, especially that year it seemed, erupting into almost reckless emphasis on back and forth attacking football.
But he isn't called "Quälix Magath" for nothing of course (a mash of his first name Felix and the German verb “quälen”( to torture!) and through stern discipline and demands of hard work he made it all come together.
Looking to get back on track then, before the upcoming season, wealthy Wolfsburg has been one of the most frequent teams in the transfer headlines. Not least with constant rumors surrounding star striker Dzeko going or staying but also reinforcements coming in, not least in the form of a new good looking central defense with the signings of Simon Kjaer and Arne Friedrich.
They should improve things in the back definitely, but defensively just how much, if Wolfsburg under new coach Steve McClaren still plays that same attacking trio up front, is a good question and perhaps also an interesting little test on the (oh so much rambled about on this list) importance of central defenders.
Of course if Dzeko gets sold the whole picture changes completely but even if that doesn't happen (and for now it probably won't) some other interesting signings they've made could change the balance as well if those newcomers can steal playing time from Grafite.
I'm thinking of forward/winger Mario Mandzukic who I suspect is much more of a hard worker than Grafite and then interestingly, if he can break through already, young Swiss recent U-17 World Champion Nassim Ben Khalifa who at 18 years of age now isn't just already on the Swiss U-21 team but in contention for the senior team as well. No matter what happens he is definitely one from that team to at least keep an eye on.
56:
Rafael Van der Vaart
Real Madrid
Attacking midfielder - The Netherlands
It's possible that he is ranked too low.
The tricky thing is that just ahead of him on the list are some players I know that I want to have him behind, but then a little further up there is especially one young similar player you could say to Van der Vaart (who compared to this player in many ways is been there done that) that I feel uneasy about ranking quite a few places above him.
And of course as this list goes, I then have little doubt that I want to rank that same young playmaker (who I'm not sure should be above VdV!) ahead of the same people I think Van der Vaart should be behind. Go figure! I know I have spent many hours on this list trying myself.
Well, with VdV we have another playmaker type of player on our hands but overall a more complete one than Misimovic who's game looks more like he belongs in the late 80s/early 90s battling for playmaking duties with the likes of Dragan Stojkovic or Gheorge Hagi than in the current game where everyone works for the team. Including of course without the ball.
Van der Vaart as everyone knows has excellent technique. In tight space in the final third his skillful work especially can stand out among his peers. Like for an example in slick passing combinations creating for others or with his delicate footwork apply the finishing touches himself.
The 2009/10 season for VdV at Madrid started like the previous, his first one, had finished.
Not with good prospects at starting many games at all, and even though countryman Sneijder had left the building, the club had signed Kaka as the according to plan fantastic upgrade.
Cristiano Ronaldo of course had also come to town occupying another of the now more and more elusive attacking spots.
As Kaka struggled both with form and health though, suddenly things were looking brighter for Van der Vaart and filling in behind Higuain he easily had his best performances for the royal club both creating and scoring goals.
Of course as it turned out it still wasn't quite going to happen for VdV at Madrid and even with Kaka still out, as soon as club legend (legendary bad influence could be the more accurate assessment) Guti showed some flash, he too started eating minutes of VdV's playing time.
Including in my mind the perplexing decision to start him in the Champions League round of 16 second leg knockout game against Lyon:
"Guti and Granero are starting for Madrid in the absence of Marcelo and Alonso.
I can see almost no argument for Guti starting over Van der Vaart. He has played good recently but so has VdV all season. He is an excellent passer but so is VdV. And VdV is better at everything else plus he doesn't have Guti's history, perhaps especially in Europe in recent years, of utter failure and dragging the team down with him. I guess it's hierarchy at play."
That was before the game and while not really trying make this about Guti, but researching this writeup a bit however I came across it and perhaps (perhaps not) it's a nice little specific piece of perspective on many of these placings.
The Real Madrid - Lyon post game thoughts:
Real had an excellent first half against Lyon who defended deep which didn't give Real much trouble at all. They played circles around them and created many chances. Most noteworthy as I'm sure everyone saw to Higuain who had several.
Guti from mostly a deeper role did well when he wasn't under pressure and the combination of that and the excellent players making runs in front of him could have resulted in more than 1-0.
Then in the second half Lyon basically moved the whole team up starting at the back four now with Toulalan playing there.
Guti had less time on the ball and the whole Real Madrid midfield got outworked and failed to perform (literally) under pressure. This tactic worked even better for Lyon than in the first leg where there probably still was a small edge to Madrid, at worst, but here almost from the start Lyon battled their way to clearly getting the better of things.
It was obvious that for Madrid, Xabi Alonso was severely missed.
And not to make Guti a scapegoat, he isn't gonna change after all these years of being Guti, but while being heavily praised by the commentators he did do some very dumb things.
There had already been some mistimed back heels in places where you just cannot afford to lose the ball and just before the goal, maybe born out of frustration from Lyon's effective pressure preventing him playing, from his midfield role he started chasing the ball all the way back to Lloris. To no avail of course and while he was praised once again by the commentator all I could think was now it's going to be a 4 against 4 or similar the other way with people on their heels left vulnerable.
So many goals are either that or set pieces and of course it gave Lyon all the opportunity they needed and they (not least Pjanic) took advantage brilliantly and created a good goal.
I won't claim VdV would have been great in that role. The fact that he is better defensively than the likes of Misimovic or Guti far from means he is great. But him and the large majority of this list, the more common the higher we get, unless you have amazing talent, does team work.
If without the ball and opponents having possession:
Defend position/zone whether through back tracking or pressing and work hard.
Not fail to defend because of either bad stamina or bad mentality, and if great stamina or great mentality is indeed in place then don't ruin it with poor discipline and compromise the defensive shape with hopeless pressure in the final third or even the goalkeeper (especially not if a defensive midfielder like Guti was - for forwards it should be said that it's different and at times simply the defensive contribution that's right there and available) or make dumb sliding tackles in midfield that a good amount of the time will only cause holes in your team's shape.
Then without the ball and your team having possession:
Have good movement (of course a lot of that will be whatever movement in accordance to team tactics and ability of teammates) and be a passing option or create space so that it's that others get the improved conditions to be.
Guti I feel throughout his career has been bad at all of these and even in his prime, despite his skills with the ball, my suspicion of him hurting the team more than helping it would probably have prevented him from ever getting a decent ranking.
There are of course other players on the list who are bad without the ball. Quite a few only defensively which is (still!) just a natural part of the game but I think a general trend on this list has been the worse you are without the ball the better you have to be with it. And the other way around too of course.
Anyway that may or may not have been the first complete sidetrack in a while.
In the meantime Real Madrid was out of the Champions League once again and for VdV as the season rolled on (and Madrid rolling in La Liga) neither being able to secure games in the attacking midfielder role, the more central midfielder role or Marcelo's sort of left-central midfielder role, meant that when it was all said and done he had started (and played for that matter) less games than in his debut season.
We shall see if it's more of the same next season. So far Kaka has been ruled out for months and Guti has taken his act to Turkey.
Not a bad start.
So on with the list instead we go and this did get pretty long rather than my original intent of getting down the list maybe even in a hurry:
Introduction to the list
200 - 101 (and every writeup+honorary mentions)
100 - 95
100: Jose Bosingwa - Chelsea - Portugal
99: André-Pierre Gignac - Toulouse - France
98: Andrés Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna - Mexico
97: Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea - Portugal and Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United - England
96: John Terry - Chelsea - England
95: Mark Van Bommel - Bayern München - The Netherlands
94-83
94: Alejandro "Chori" Dominguez - Valencia - Argentina
93: Claudio Marchisio - Juventus - Italy
92: Michael Carrick - Manchester United - England
91: Darren Fletcher - Manchester United - Scotland
90: Miralem Pjanic - Lyon - Bosnia-Herzegovina
89: Santi Cazorla - Villarreal - Spain
88: Samir Nasri - Arsenal - France
87: Luis Suarez - Ajax - Uruguay
86: Mario Balotelli - Inter - Italy
85: Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina - Italy
84: James Milner - Aston Villa - England
83: Mikel Arteta - Everton - Spain
82-77
82: Thierry Henry - Barcelona - France
81: Thomas Müller - Bayern München - Germany
80: Ivica Olic - Bayern München - Croatia
79: Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea - Serbia
78: Nemanja Vidić - Manchester United - Serbia
77: Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus - Italy
76-68
76: Marcos Senna - Villarreal - Spain
75: Lass Diarra - Real Madrid - France
74: Francesco Totti - Roma - Italy
73: Antonio Di Natale - Udinese - Italy
72: Emmanuel Adebayor - Manchester City - Togo
71: Mirko Vucinic - Roma - Montenegro
70: Antonio Valencia - Manchester United - Ecuador
69: David Pizarro - Roma - Chile
68: Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United - Bulgaria
67-62
67: Juan Manuel Vargas - Fiorentina - Peru
66: Robinho - Manchester City - Brazil
65: Patrice Evra - Manchester United - France
64: Michel Bastos - Lyon - Brazil
63: Seydou Keita - Barcelona - Mali
62: Javier Zanetti - Inter - Argentina
61:
Ashley Cole
Chelsea
Left-back - England
Cashley to say the least isn't the most popular player but he is an excellent left-back nonetheless.
He has great fullback stamina. Times his forward runs very well and has the necessary skills to be comfortable in the opponent half when doing it. There are definitely even more talented fullbacks at attacking out there than Cole but he is effective (his crossing especially is good, as well as his control) and he has great physical tools.
He is fast and strong. Both characteristics put well to use when it comes to tackling, and I think generally when it comes to his significant completeness at the position, it's his defending that sets him apart from most others.
One on one which is always a common situation out wide, he is great and his team defending is very good as well. You don't find him caught out of position and his strength, pace and timing makes him good at participating in back-four play, marking and defending in the box (and whereever next cause he has great range) when opponent possession for an example is on the opposite wing.
At 29 he does have some injury history (but of course also seasons of not missing a single beat) and is definitely a player depending heavily on athleticism, so it will be interesting to see how long he can stay on top.
Generally for fullbacks on this list, the gaps between them aren't as large as all the players in other positions packed in would suggest.
There are even fullbacks outside the list that I don't think are that far off, and who should probably have been included, since after all this is an important position.
But while ignoring left and right, with just three rather obvious fullbacks left to go - let's take a look at their internal order using new order as well as the honorary mentions :
1.
2.
3.
4. Ashley Cole
5. Javier Zanetti (his midfield play a significant part of his ranking of course. While very good I don't think he is a better left-back than Evra for an example)
6. Patrice Evra
7. Branislav Ivanovic (his centre-back credentials also playing in but not as much as Zanetti's midfield play. He really impressed me at right-back)
8. Jose Bosingwa
9. Marcell Jansen (I haven't included Vargas, Marcelo and Bastos since their fullback play isn't that big part of their rankings. Jansen is trickier since it's clearly bigger but he is playing more and more wing instead it seems and that of course is a big part of his ranking)
10. Bacary Sagna
11. Domenico Criscito
12. Benoit Tremoulinas
13. Taye Taiwo
14. Rod Fanni
15. Aly Cissokho (actually I probably got carried away and overrated Cissokho overall here but then again the same can be said about at least the two above (or moreso even) so now I'd put him over those two)
16. Darijo Srna
17. Yuri Shirkov
Some notable omissions (where I'm sure I'm forgetting some people):
Fabio Coentrao
Joan Capdevilla
Alexandr Kolarov
Gareth Bale
Alvaro Arbeloa
Gael Clichy
Eric Abidal
Filipe Luis
Well all of those to various extents definitely belong on the list (making me look dumb) I think with perhaps the first real stumbling block for many of them, if we're talking the fullback position only, being Sagna at number 10.
Clichy I think still has the most upside if he'll defend reasonably. He is just pure speed and athleticism going forward.
Bale and Kolarov would have their rankings helped by their wing play but may just be the "worst" fullbacks. Very good players though.
Filipe Luis I'll reserve judgment on till I've seen him some more. I suspect he is very good though.
Coentrao to some extent the same, even if he had close to flawless periods for everyone to see during the World Cup.
Arbeloa I feel is underrated and would actually put him ahead of both Abidal and Capdevilla who could be on the down, meaning I'd probably put them at the bottom but ahead of Taiwo and Fanni at least. Abidal helped along by some versatility.
All in all then (and this is tough - more putting in order - just what I don't need):
Gael Clichy at 11 behind Sagna but with a good chance to surpass him in my book with an impressive season.
Kolarov who I'm a little skeptical about when it comes to playing in a back-four at 13 behind Tremoulinas
Coentrao just behind Kolarov
Then Bale who still has to prove some in the longterm and possibly not even at this position...
Then Arbeloa. Him also ahead of the Ligue 1 guys.
Filipe Luis the same and probably it will turn out that he is ranked too low.
And finally
Capdevilla
and Abidal
60:
Andrea Pirlo
Milan
Midfielder - Italy
One of the best and most valuable players of his generation, being the most important contributor to both Champions League triumphs as well of course a World Cup win.
I first remember seeing him for Inter (don't have any memories of him from even earlier than that for Brescia) when in a game as a young attacking midfielder he came off the bench to replace Roberto Baggio.
With his supreme technique in all actions with the ball he immediately stood out and I was convinced right from his very first touches that this was the next great Italian number 10.
He didn't look particularly fast back then either, a little fragile too, but his first touches standing out in a game even more back then than it would now and then his godsend passing seemed levels above everyone else.
I didn't quite understand why Inter sent him out on loan back then but it was a time where they had several highly paid star forwards in their squad making playing time a challenge for everyone.
Indeed an aging Baggio was soon forced out as well only to end up having several impressive seasons, being the (divine pony tail) man again, at Pirlo's former club Brescia.
But to name some of the rich Inter attacking talent at the time. They had:
Ronaldo, Vieri, Zamorano, Djorkaeff, Baggio, very promising at the time Nicola Ventola and the year(s) Pirlo was loaned out the likes of young stars Recoba, Seedorf and Mutu had joined as well.
I'm not exactly sure how Pirlo did in those loan spells at Reggiana and then back to Brescia again for the 2000/2001 season meeting up once more with the legend Baggio but it did make me remember and search for this in retrospect fascinating goal against Juventus where as a clear sign of things to come Pirlo number 5 on his shirt regista style from deep central midfield with a trademark deep through ball finds Baggio who with his usual elegance turns it into a goal behind a perplexed Van der Sar in the Juve goal.
Elsewhere in the year 2000, Pirlo lead the azzurrini to the European Championship picking up the player of the tournament award in the process.
However the real breakthrough came when AC Milan decided it was a good idea to invest in the obvious young talent (imagine that!) and secured him for maybe, maybe not €18 million in one of those not uncommon Serie A deals at the time involving many players back and forth at strange prices, maybe or maybe not, to create some nice false profit in the books...
He started out in the attacking midfielder role but at some point came the important change into a deep-lying playmaker. A historic change that helped pave the way for the major successes mentioned in the opening lines of this writeup. European Cups. The World Cup.
It was a move I have always hailed Ancelotti for making but I recently learned that he doesn't even (to his credit I guess! Most coaches I'm guessing would love that on their cv) take credit for it himself.
This is from his autobiography:
"Pirlo really helped me out. He approached me one day and suggested that he could play in a deep position, just in front of the back four. I was extremely sceptical. He was an attacking midfielder, his tendency was to run with the ball. And yet, it worked. He became one of the best in the world in that role. I stuck Seedorf out wide, with Rui Costa and Rivaldo behind the lone striker and - presto! - there was my 4-3-2-1, or Christmas Tree."
All the more reason to hail the great player then which suits me just fine.
Pirlo would probably have become a very good trequartista too. Even with the complications involved of being such in this era of football. And while he isn't fast or strong enough to be a great goal scoring threat up there, it's not like he didn't consistently with technique and vision do great things in the final third too, it's just that the one area where he is truly unique, and still best in the world, the accurate passing, through balls even from sometimes way deep would largely be taken out of his game. There are others with tremendous range of passing and its always valuable, but Pirlo combines it with great vision and superb ball control.
It was incredibly valuable to have a player who even from deep in midfield would be a threat in attack. A threat to create a chance or a dangerous situation out of , or from rather, nowhere almost.
For Italy in 2006 it meant the team could attack with pinpoint effectiveness and be dangerous with only few players coming forward. Many teams nowadays playing defensive will attack with only few players to keep their defensive shape and men behind the ball when possession is lost again, but even in transition it will often be difficult to be dangerous cause you're sitting deep a long way from goal and maybe doesn't have enough individual quality to erase that deficit so to speak and manage to be a threat with only so few people attacking.
The team we saw do it best last season was Inter in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona where sitting deep they made minimal possession extremely effective by as often and quickly as possible seeking out their one skilled passer, Sneijder who would then make excellent quick one touch passes of many ranges to one of only 2-3 players making runs forward ahead of him. The rest of the team behind could then comfortably concentrate on keeping their defensive shape. They were already managing to be dangerous attacking with only 3-4 players.
Pirlo at important times for Italy and Milan was in the unique position rarely matched by anyone else that the very next second after having created something in attack he would be in position to defend. Simply cause he hadn't moved! That simple. That true. He was back in or near his own half ready to defend having created from deep.
It's very hard to do effectively even remotely consistently and needs a unique player to pull it off but when realized I almost can't emphasize enough the value I think it has, or imagine even a greater risk reward scenario for your team.
This is also why I've struggled finding the right ranking for him and I'm still not sure. One thing is comparing him to the players he is just ahead of, Ashley Cole, Vargas or Zanetti. They're so different it's almost impossible, but also when looking at Pirlo isolated it is very tricky. Because in theory despite whatever athletic decline he has seen, and it can look serious at times, somewhere on some team, he could still have that value. Those skills are still there.
Is he by now just a specialist then needing the perfect conditions but then if that's in place can be the most valuable player putting the team over the top, on to glory?
And should that mean an even lower ranking then or how about much higher, since in some ways you could say that's also at least one mark of an elite impact player...
The 2009/10 season for Pirlo despite difficult conditions, that I shall touch upon soon, was actually better I thought than the previous one. Mainly he stayed healthy (well until it really mattered at the World Cup SIGH) and I found myself impressed with his work rate and durability game in and game out.
The surroundings weren't kind to him though.
Around him there was less defensive protection than ever. One Veteran Ambrosini did his best but other than that I don't think there were many teams in Europe defending with less players than Milan consistently found themselves doing.
Opponents often had a free pass to the Milan penalty area and I'm still surprised the consequences suffered, in the form of more embarrassing defeats, weren't worse.
In attack they had very little movement in front of Pirlo. Attacking fullbacks who he has always had radar-like connections with when coming forward, think prime Zambrotta, Cafu or Grosso, were a clear weakness for the team and there wasn't much there for him to work with.
Of the front three the only one with good movement and not least pace was Pato and he struggled with health, so for good and bad, Pirlo in many ways, as the rest of the team, was reduced to hand the ball over to Ronaldinho, permanently parked on the left-wing, no need (or conditions you could say) for Pirlo to make special passes at all, and then just see what the Brazilian's genius could create.
Quite a lot actually if you had people up there near him. Something Pirlo was also forced to at times, and while that did mean goals and a team usually dangerous, it resulted in a very unbalanced team and generally very bad conditions for Pirlo who is so good in a team attack that has pace and movement. But for Milan found himself on a team where it was much more about individuals. Either up front trying to create on their own or in the back among the unfortunate few (not uncommonly including Pirlo somewhere) forced to defend on their own.
There simply was no team for Pirlo to put over the top.
Current Andrea Pirlo is still an excellent passer, Short and long with vision. His first touch is great and his skills at times means he can still go past people without pace. I also think he has good stamina and he continues to be an expert on set pieces.
He is very slow though and at times to such an extent it's possible to mistake him for a zombie out there slowly wandering around with an empty stare just lusting for some ball.
This also has made him easier to mark and he is still very much a target for the opposition. Then with so little movement around him he can be made to look pretty bad at times losing the ball in costly areas.
Defensively like already talked about his greatest value has always been that he is there back in position behind the ball ready to defend his zone and that actually is more important than tackling anyway but by no means is he a good defensive player (especially not now) and he needs protection in the form of defensive midfielders around him as his slowness duly prevents him from having any kind of range to his defending and if he is forced to press will look completely out of place.
All in all I'm still not sure where to rank him but for Milan and Pirlo's sake I hope their coach Allegri (one of Italy's most promising) will find a way around Ronaldinho (and indirectly Berlusconi perhaps) and create a more balanced side than what we saw from Leonardo.
59:
Mario Gomez
Bayern München
Striker - Germany
Gomez needs to think of happier times:
Okay so it really hurt he claims, and that does make sense of course, but a goal is a goal and lately Gomez is in another harmful situation (possibly here hurting his behind in the process) sitting on the bench not able to score the goals he loves so much and which over his still young career he has netted at a fantastic rate.
A year ago it was 24 in 30 league starts (37 in all). Then 23 in 28 across all competitions. In 06/07 there was 14 in 22 and even when still finding his feet in the Bundesliga the year before that, amidst many substitution appearances, it was for what its worth 7 goals in 6 starts.
But here he is at Bayern, their best striker by some margin I still believe, on the bench.
For starters you can only have so many attackers in a lineup and Bayern have two excellent ones in the form of Ribery and Robben both somewhere higher up the list.
Then there were the impressive form of two of my favorites (and I can definitely see why any coach would feel similar!) Olic and Müller who both contribute, as talked about in their writeups of course, in different ways with different things than Gomez does. Then if the coach in connection with all the other players in the lineup, feels that's what makes the team better, then it doesn't really matter if another player isolated on his own is better individually ( not least if those other things are deemed less important on this particular team with their specific players).
Even Klose. Himself with a history sitting on the Bayern bench brings different movement and dynamics (in the form of his remaining pace) to the team than Gomez.
I would though, even if he returns to good form, have a harder time understanding him playing over Gomez than I would Olic or Müller.
Then again if as some reports on and off during the season suggested are correct, that Gomez (Luca Toni style? Maybe not quite but still) have practiced feuding with Van Gaal, then that's not something that will provide the greatest outlook for more starting time.
If he were to get the chance again what Gomez does brings of course is a very impactful around and inside the box presence. He is very strong, good in the air and while at times can look underwhelming still with good and definitely underrated technique. Both when it comes to control and finishing.
I still think a large part of the under appreciation or denial even of any Gomez skill at all come from his high profile failure at Euro 2008 where he just didn't put a foot right.
With great performances in the Bundesliga naturally getting much less attention internationally, those things can haunt a player.
But Gomez from the starts that he actually DID get last season (and in all competitions he did score 19 goals) I thought both when it came to movement other places than in the box (maybe even more pace) and general ball skills as well that he looked better even than at times for Stuttgart during his scoring goals for fun (even using penis) glory days of the previous seasons.
In many ways that's what this good (even if too good according to some) ranking is based on.
Rightly or wrongly I thought he looked very good when I saw him and while as the season progressed getting to see that less and less certainly hasn't boosted his ranking, I'm not willing to dismiss my impression totally on a 25 year old, at his club in competition with excellent players, when I have no reason to suspect he is suddenly a worse player than the free scoring one of a year ago or the one I was very impressed with this season while he was still getting the chance.
58:
Karim Benzema
Real Madrid
Striker - France
Benzema is one of the most naturally gifted strikers in the world. Strength combined with pace and considerable skills with upside.
So much so that I think he is someone who with a good next season under his belt could jump as much as 20 something places up the list. If not more.
However apart from very few exceptions (exceptions mostly having in common being universally recognized top 10-15 players in the world not long ago) almost everyone still to go on the list will be coming of either one outstanding season (in my eyes at least) or at least two very good ones playing at a very high level.
And for Benzema, despite all the tools being in place, last season did just abruptly put a stop sign to that.
Now I'm sure that's only in place temporarily and in just a matter of time with force he will run that sign over.
In many ways like with Gomez there is no shame either in losing playing time when the competition consists of other excellent players. One of them even, Higuain who with his finesse contra Benzema's physicality, had every condition in place for a great breakthrough season, both in terms of strength of teammates around him compared to the general opposition faced, and coach Manuel Pelligrini's tactics suiting finesse rather than power.
But who is to say that at some point that won't be reversed under new coach Mourinho?
They're definitely two completely different coaches and even if that reversal of fortunes doesn't materialize exactly, I will be very surprised if Benzema won't be much more of a factor this season under Mourinho than he was for Pelligrini.
57:
Zvjezdan Misimovic
Wolfsburg
Attacking midfielder - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Old school number 10 who's playmaking in the Bundesliga has just been too astounding to ignore.
Athletically speaking he is behind the large majority of players on this list but he makes up for it by being extremely gifted in everything that involves touching the football.
He was (and still is) the brains and conductor of the great Wolfsburg attack that took the Bundesliga by storm and won the league 2008/2009. That season he amassed an amazing 23 assists.
If the simple plan was to score plenty of goals by mixing a passing (and set piece) maestro like Misimovic with a couple of very good strikers then it certainly proved successful as Grafite and Dzeko finished one and two on the scoring charts with 28 and 26 apiece.
Helping their rankings Dzeko and Misimovic continued to shine last season where Wolfsburg both scoring less goals and letting in more stumbled to an 8th place finish.
Those two actually managed to more or less contribute at a similar impressive rate as in the glory year while Grafite on the other hand struggled to find consistency and in that kind of attack only netted what's a modest 11.
Don't blame it all on Grafite though because the real reason should probably be found with coach Felix Magath leaving the club.
Magath who, with a serious risk of entering into blasphemy, kind of like Alex Ferguson in England, just seems to somehow know exactly what it will take and how to execute it in order to do well in the Bundesliga.
Once again exemplified last season where it was Schalke's turn to feel his heavy handed magic touch impressively finishing second in the league behind much more talented Bayern.
Wolfsburg on the other hand without Magath just couldn't find the right balance and if you consider they're playing with two centre-forwards and then an old school "non factor defensively" (lazy) number 10 around them, it's really more remarkable that they ever did. Even in a league, especially that year it seemed, erupting into almost reckless emphasis on back and forth attacking football.
But he isn't called "Quälix Magath" for nothing of course (a mash of his first name Felix and the German verb “quälen”( to torture!) and through stern discipline and demands of hard work he made it all come together.
Looking to get back on track then, before the upcoming season, wealthy Wolfsburg has been one of the most frequent teams in the transfer headlines. Not least with constant rumors surrounding star striker Dzeko going or staying but also reinforcements coming in, not least in the form of a new good looking central defense with the signings of Simon Kjaer and Arne Friedrich.
They should improve things in the back definitely, but defensively just how much, if Wolfsburg under new coach Steve McClaren still plays that same attacking trio up front, is a good question and perhaps also an interesting little test on the (oh so much rambled about on this list) importance of central defenders.
Of course if Dzeko gets sold the whole picture changes completely but even if that doesn't happen (and for now it probably won't) some other interesting signings they've made could change the balance as well if those newcomers can steal playing time from Grafite.
I'm thinking of forward/winger Mario Mandzukic who I suspect is much more of a hard worker than Grafite and then interestingly, if he can break through already, young Swiss recent U-17 World Champion Nassim Ben Khalifa who at 18 years of age now isn't just already on the Swiss U-21 team but in contention for the senior team as well. No matter what happens he is definitely one from that team to at least keep an eye on.
56:
Rafael Van der Vaart
Real Madrid
Attacking midfielder - The Netherlands
It's possible that he is ranked too low.
The tricky thing is that just ahead of him on the list are some players I know that I want to have him behind, but then a little further up there is especially one young similar player you could say to Van der Vaart (who compared to this player in many ways is been there done that) that I feel uneasy about ranking quite a few places above him.
And of course as this list goes, I then have little doubt that I want to rank that same young playmaker (who I'm not sure should be above VdV!) ahead of the same people I think Van der Vaart should be behind. Go figure! I know I have spent many hours on this list trying myself.
Well, with VdV we have another playmaker type of player on our hands but overall a more complete one than Misimovic who's game looks more like he belongs in the late 80s/early 90s battling for playmaking duties with the likes of Dragan Stojkovic or Gheorge Hagi than in the current game where everyone works for the team. Including of course without the ball.
Van der Vaart as everyone knows has excellent technique. In tight space in the final third his skillful work especially can stand out among his peers. Like for an example in slick passing combinations creating for others or with his delicate footwork apply the finishing touches himself.
The 2009/10 season for VdV at Madrid started like the previous, his first one, had finished.
Not with good prospects at starting many games at all, and even though countryman Sneijder had left the building, the club had signed Kaka as the according to plan fantastic upgrade.
Cristiano Ronaldo of course had also come to town occupying another of the now more and more elusive attacking spots.
As Kaka struggled both with form and health though, suddenly things were looking brighter for Van der Vaart and filling in behind Higuain he easily had his best performances for the royal club both creating and scoring goals.
Of course as it turned out it still wasn't quite going to happen for VdV at Madrid and even with Kaka still out, as soon as club legend (legendary bad influence could be the more accurate assessment) Guti showed some flash, he too started eating minutes of VdV's playing time.
Including in my mind the perplexing decision to start him in the Champions League round of 16 second leg knockout game against Lyon:
"Guti and Granero are starting for Madrid in the absence of Marcelo and Alonso.
I can see almost no argument for Guti starting over Van der Vaart. He has played good recently but so has VdV all season. He is an excellent passer but so is VdV. And VdV is better at everything else plus he doesn't have Guti's history, perhaps especially in Europe in recent years, of utter failure and dragging the team down with him. I guess it's hierarchy at play."
That was before the game and while not really trying make this about Guti, but researching this writeup a bit however I came across it and perhaps (perhaps not) it's a nice little specific piece of perspective on many of these placings.
The Real Madrid - Lyon post game thoughts:
Real had an excellent first half against Lyon who defended deep which didn't give Real much trouble at all. They played circles around them and created many chances. Most noteworthy as I'm sure everyone saw to Higuain who had several.
Guti from mostly a deeper role did well when he wasn't under pressure and the combination of that and the excellent players making runs in front of him could have resulted in more than 1-0.
Then in the second half Lyon basically moved the whole team up starting at the back four now with Toulalan playing there.
Guti had less time on the ball and the whole Real Madrid midfield got outworked and failed to perform (literally) under pressure. This tactic worked even better for Lyon than in the first leg where there probably still was a small edge to Madrid, at worst, but here almost from the start Lyon battled their way to clearly getting the better of things.
It was obvious that for Madrid, Xabi Alonso was severely missed.
And not to make Guti a scapegoat, he isn't gonna change after all these years of being Guti, but while being heavily praised by the commentators he did do some very dumb things.
There had already been some mistimed back heels in places where you just cannot afford to lose the ball and just before the goal, maybe born out of frustration from Lyon's effective pressure preventing him playing, from his midfield role he started chasing the ball all the way back to Lloris. To no avail of course and while he was praised once again by the commentator all I could think was now it's going to be a 4 against 4 or similar the other way with people on their heels left vulnerable.
So many goals are either that or set pieces and of course it gave Lyon all the opportunity they needed and they (not least Pjanic) took advantage brilliantly and created a good goal.
I won't claim VdV would have been great in that role. The fact that he is better defensively than the likes of Misimovic or Guti far from means he is great. But him and the large majority of this list, the more common the higher we get, unless you have amazing talent, does team work.
If without the ball and opponents having possession:
Defend position/zone whether through back tracking or pressing and work hard.
Not fail to defend because of either bad stamina or bad mentality, and if great stamina or great mentality is indeed in place then don't ruin it with poor discipline and compromise the defensive shape with hopeless pressure in the final third or even the goalkeeper (especially not if a defensive midfielder like Guti was - for forwards it should be said that it's different and at times simply the defensive contribution that's right there and available) or make dumb sliding tackles in midfield that a good amount of the time will only cause holes in your team's shape.
Then without the ball and your team having possession:
Have good movement (of course a lot of that will be whatever movement in accordance to team tactics and ability of teammates) and be a passing option or create space so that it's that others get the improved conditions to be.
Guti I feel throughout his career has been bad at all of these and even in his prime, despite his skills with the ball, my suspicion of him hurting the team more than helping it would probably have prevented him from ever getting a decent ranking.
There are of course other players on the list who are bad without the ball. Quite a few only defensively which is (still!) just a natural part of the game but I think a general trend on this list has been the worse you are without the ball the better you have to be with it. And the other way around too of course.
Anyway that may or may not have been the first complete sidetrack in a while.
In the meantime Real Madrid was out of the Champions League once again and for VdV as the season rolled on (and Madrid rolling in La Liga) neither being able to secure games in the attacking midfielder role, the more central midfielder role or Marcelo's sort of left-central midfielder role, meant that when it was all said and done he had started (and played for that matter) less games than in his debut season.
We shall see if it's more of the same next season. So far Kaka has been ruled out for months and Guti has taken his act to Turkey.
Not a bad start.
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