The 200 best players in the world: 154-152

This update has the final couple of South American central defenders to even make the list and then another South American to whom defending doesn't even exist. Or shouldn't exist perhaps.

Interestingly there aren't even that many central defenders left to come and I have the usual trouble seeing significant difference in quality when comparing them so the inevitable gaps between them occupied by other positions can look a little strange. At least to me!

So because it just looks better, this is how the central defender position has ranked so far (with not THAT many still to come):

1. Diego Lugano (write up below)
2. Walter Samuel (write up below)
3. Alessandro Nesta
4. Daniel Agger
5. Simon Kjaer
6. Bruno Alves
7. William Gallas
8. Christian Zapata
9. Martin Demichelis
10. Kolo Toure
11. Pepe
12. Lucio

There were some dubious bonus points for Demichelis cause of his versatility. Pepe if not for his injury probably would have to be higher. Possibly all the way up just behind Nesta and then Kjaer and Agger should be a little lower. Lucio also up some spots.


The actual list so far:

200-195
200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain
199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia
198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain
197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil
196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria
195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain
194-193
194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine
192-189
192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England
191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales
190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal
189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia
188
188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy
187-185
187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland
186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain
185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel
184-182
184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy
183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire
182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia
181-177
181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina
180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium
179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia
178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia
177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England
176-173
176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey
175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina
174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands
173-170
173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France
172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England
171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia
170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia
169-167
169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain
168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil
167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland
166-163
166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria
165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil
164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands
163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal
162-160
162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania
161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England
160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany
159-155
159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil
158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales
157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark
156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy
155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France

154:

Walter Samuel

Defender - Inter

Argentina



Samuel is another central defender who has struggled with injuries in recent years but ever since his Roma days where he was a key player in winning a historic Scudetto I've always felt he was one of the best defenders in the world.
He is still plagued by nagging injuries here and there but when he plays, and certainly this season it's been at a consistently high level and I think he deserves to be the highest central defender so far on the list.

In my eyes - ability wise (unlike Nesta) he's seen very little decline, if any at all, other than health, and while not as talented an all around player as some of the earlier ranked defenders, his actual defensive attributes are right up there with the best and it's my impression that there just isn't the occasional mistakes that you see from some of the other excellent defenders ranked so far. He is just a little bit more solid and that's what has put him ahead of the pack, though it's obviously very close.

He is less talented than the likes of Mexes, Pepe, Kolo Toure, Gallas and Zapata but perhaps stronger than all of them, even better or their equal in the air and he makes less mistakes.

His current Inter partner Lucio is at least as strong and better technically (it's very possible he was ranked too low and more or less a victim of Pepe being ranked as low who I definitely felt was ahead of him) but I think Samuel is the better pure defender with more secure marking and no risk taking. Plus more agile and even though he certainly isn't fast not as painfully slow as Lucio is these days on the first meters.

The most comparable central defender in many ways so far is Bruno Alves but here I give the edge to Samuel based on the level of competition faced in Italy and Spain over the years versus the Portuguese league.

So for the time being Walter Samuel is the best central defender on the list. We'll see how long that lasts.

Not very long is my not so bold prediction...

153:

Diego Lugano

Defender - Fenerbahce

Uruguay





Hey what would the list be without a super intense aggressive Uruguayan defender good at making opponents, teammates and referees, not only watch what the **** they're doing, but make strange faces while doing it??





Diego Lugano is the captain of Uruguay with a reputation as perhaps the best defender coming out of South America currently. At least when we're talking central defenders, and yes to my great surprise he really will be the highest ranked South American central defender on this list, according to me resulting in this top 5 right here:

1. Diego Lugano
2. Walter Samuel
3. Christian Zapata
4. Martin Demichelis
5. Lucio

Hmm so just 5?

I would say there is a whole bunch of Brazilian central defenders arguably in that 200-180 range. Juan from Roma when on form is a very classy defender. Alex and Luisao are technically sound powerhouses and Thiago Silva from Milan is very talented.
Lyon captain Cris is the proven veteran while Naldo from Werder Bremen certainly does look the part of a great defender, at times, but also someone that all in all I remain unconvinced by.

If I then look at Argentina I have much tougher time finding other candidates than the two who made it but maybe I'm overlooking someone?

Notorious head-cases Heinze and Burdisso I never really seriously considered and Daniel Diaz (Getafe) though one tough warhorse just isn't talented enough.

Then there is the unfortunate case of Gabriel Milito who I think if it wasn't for serious injury causing him to miss the whole of last season (he is only coming back just now) actually would be ranked my number one South American defender. He was excellent for Zaragoza and coming into his own at Barcelona also at a level that I'd say is even higher than Lugano's.


Looking at other candidates from Uruguay we have someone like Martin Caceres, but it's possible that he is even more wild than nutcase Heinze and from what I've seen plays with 100 percent heart and just about zero intelligence, and he hasn't had all that much playing time either.
Hopefully he'll improve his tactics and intelligence, cause he has the natural ability to both become a good central defender and a fullback.

Diego Godin from Villarreal is much more solid and a more classic central defender but still a longshot to make the list I'd say. There are tons of good central defenders around his level.

Chile had a great World Cup qualification campaign and with their non stop action attacking game as well as, almost basketball like full court pressure style defending, will be one of the most interesting teams to watch, but unfortunately I'm not all that familiar with their defenders (but there are Chile players still come on the list!).
There is Isla from Udinese who seems talented and very versatile but as far as defending goes I have no idea if he is even the best Chile has to offer.

It's the same story with Paraguay where I don't know anyone beside Sunderland's Paulo Da Silva.

For Colombia it's been a joy to watch Oscar Cordoba over the years overcome his lack of size with great agility and superb defensive instincts, but in 2010 countryman Zapata was the better candidate.

As far as Diego Lugano goes it's clear that playing in Turkey and before that at Sao Paolo in Brazil it's pretty limited what I've seen of him playing club football over the years. And for the national team it's not like Uruguay is on every week either.
But I have seen Lugano play for them quite a few times and in the Champions League for Fenerbahce I also saw quite a bit of him during their quarter final run in the 07-08 season.

Other than the the obvious intensity and leadership he is a very complete defender. Strong and agile, good in the air and a great tackler. He is also one of those very good defenders who just seem like they control or cover a greater area than most and essentially doing it without ever looking lost. Lugano's defensive work just has a great range to it.

152:

Mauro Zarate

Forward - Lazio

Argentina



The way things are going for Mauro Zarate, incredibly talented but perennial underachiever Alvaro Recoba's career (who Zarate has been compared with) isn't a worst case scenario any longer but more of an unrealistic dream scenario.

Things just aren't going well for Zarate who it needs to be said isn't nearly as talented as Recoba was anyway, but nonetheless Zarate does have that great pace and exciting dribbling ability, as well as a booming shot that can go in from almost anywhere, but any range of passing, decision making, actual creativity or vision is seriously lacking.
And then there are the attributes that he does very much share with Recoba - negative traits like lack of professionalism, below par work rate, lack of fitness and general bad attitude creating trouble on and off the pitch with his already struggling club.

He is still only 22 and the natural talent that he does have won't go away any time soon. Last season it was there for all to see and he was something of a sensation but this season after Lazio spent the big cash on him he's been disappointing and have provided more controversy than he has goals.
Obviously Lazio's various struggles on and off the field that started right from the beginning of this season hasn't helped but neither has Zarate. Quite the opposite.
But if he can improve in one or two areas where he is currently weak he can still become a star. For better team than Lazio as well.

Serie A 2009/10 preview part III (Inter/Ibrahimovic rant)

INTER:

Inter has been a very easy team to predict and break down for quite a few years now.
This year however it looks a lot more difficult and I'm not really sure what will happen which I'm sure this preview will reflect.

For starters. removing Ibrahimovic from this team spells huge change and the right tactical adjusments are very needed but what they'll actually be I'm not sure about at all.
Fortunately for Inter fans, in Jose Mourinho they have a brilliant coach with a great track record of turning teams into consistent winners.
To make it perfectly clear despite all the brutal misconception from mainly the english speaking media, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the best players in the world and quite frankly irreplaceable.

It's been quite humorous if tediously predictable to observe the british media's reaction of more or less total bewilderment following the Zlatan/Eto'o deal.
What is going on these people thought? Samuel Eto'o the much better player is being swapped for someone not even that good and on top of it they give up the staggering amount of 46 million Euro + former Arsenal great Alexander Hleb, just to get him!

Even more predictable, sadly enough, the followup reaction to that, the usual combination of ignorance and arrogance from football journalists so removed from reality that they're quite certain they know better than the football mind of man just responsible for creating what last season was one of the best teams in history, and without much thought at all more than willing to call that man out on the silliness that was the thought (what thought surely?!) behind his transfer.
Overall it must be one of the most shining examples of any doubt about the utter wrongness of the collective assessment by a group of little knowing journalists, being swept away by the amazing dose of reality that was the astronomical value of a player, THAT they didn't really rate.

Did these people even watch Ibrahimovic regularly. At Ajax? In Serie A for Juventus and Inter?
Every year where he was a key player in securing the championship. Or THE key player.
Even at his so called bad year for Juve he was actually pretty good.
That the team he is on is basically winning the championship every year, shouldn't that at least appeal to what's generally very results oriented thinking.

Instead, enter the big game myth. This or that player, in this case Ibrahimovic, isn't a "big game player".
Often used as the last straw to grab onto when in denial about whatever great player's qualities, it's been wrongly used over and over.
Of the top of my head everyone of these players I remember not being so called "big game players" at various stages in their careers:
Ronaldo was not a "big game" player cause his team lost a World Cup final to a great France team?
Zidane was not a "big game" player. cause omg Juventus lost a championship league final where he was actually injured.
Christian Ronaldo was not a "big game player" cause if he was why didn't Manchester United win the Champions League every year?
And right now Zlatan definitely is NOT a "big game" player cause all he does is win one league championship after another. And you're obviously a much better player if you're good in one game instead of 38!

Of course it's all pure nonsense constructed using misconceptions and tiny sample sizes.
What makes Ibrahimovic excellent is his strenght/technique combination and when on top of that he is blessed with great vision, creativity and flair, you have a truly unique player who can both be a great striker, a great playmaker as well as an effective targeman or simply a moving-around, versatile forward.

The only things really I can see Eto'o at this point in his career doing better than Ibrahimovic is the accelaration on the first meters and that quickly released out of nowhere great shot of his, that's resulted in many goals.
Ibrahimovic however is a much better passer and more creative. To a point that could make Barca this year the best attacking team that we've ever seen. Yes I said it.
He is also stronger which really helps against teams (like against Chelsea where Eto'o was useless) with a strong physical team defense, and perhaps most importantly he is much more durable and unlike Eto'o can carry a team throughout a season.

It just wasn't for fun or out of charity they gave Eto'o plus tons of money away to secure Ibrahimovic. It's because Guardiola rightly think of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as being on a higher level than Samuel Eto'o and that Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes the team better than Samuel Eto'o does.

So with almost no hope of replacing such an elite player (the only right here, right now option I see is Mourinho darling, Didier Drogba) Inter for the first time since calciopoli crippled their nearest rivals, have some real questionmarks.

On paper they still look like the strongest and deepest team but when they can't replace the great player who in many ways carried them, they're in a situation where they are forced to try and do new things, and with that comes the uncertainty.

Not helping at all is that they'll be without, for some time, one of best central midfielders in the world, Esteban Cambiasso.

One thing that's worked great for Inter is the midfield diamond but while that midfield worked well with Ibrahimovic, more uncertain is how well it would work with a front duo of Eto'o and Milito.
Not that Milito and Eto'o are bad. Quite the opposite. They're both excellent strikers and one of the strongest duos around, easily. But they're two strikers who usually feed of a nice passing game. Providing the excellent finishing touches, TO that.
Eto'o as we all know for years now at Barcelona but Milito as well for Genoa and before that for Zaragoza.
Remember, the sadly way too short time, before it all went wrong, when Zaragoza had one of the most exciting attacks in Europe?
The coach was attacking mastermind Víctor Fernández and through dazzling passing and technical play, players like Pablo Aimar, D'Alessandro and Milito excelled.

For Inter, Muntari on the other hand is someone who is not a very good passer. Stankovic and the evergreen Zanetti aren't bad but not very fast anymore. The same is the case with Motta and Vieira.
The one midfield player in the diamond who is both a good passer and pretty fast is in fact Cambiasso. Mostly with a defensive role and now unfortunately for Inter out injured.

It's hard to imagine Milito and Eto'o not scoring goals but that midfield in a diamond formation will not provide them with the greatest of service.

It's not all bad of course. The midfield obviously has a lot of other qualities making it very effective and able to get the better of a lot of teams. They just can't rely on the qualities they don't have, being provided by Ibrahimovic anymore.
Enter Mourinho's (rare) call for a trequartista and the various on-going speculation surrounding players such as Deco and now Wesley Sneijder.

If that doesn't materialize putting the 4-4-2 diamond to rest looks likely and even if Sneijder in fact would join, another system might be preferred by Mourinho.

Some sort of version of his abandoned last season 4-3-3 trident attack is definitely an option and would mean the central midfielders behind could have jobs more suiting their strenghts too.
Work really hard. Make runs without the ball, play more direct and cover for the immense Maicon and his runs forward.
Have Maicon be a key to the attack instead of them.

The problem with that trident is the current characteristics of the forwards.

Both Eto'o and Milito have previously in their younger days been able to do well at times in wide-forward roles but especially with Eto'o I wonder if he is still able to do that. That was a role exclusively reserved for Henry at Barca the last few years.
Milito at least has tremendous movement and can definitely be part of a flexible forward line.
But then is whoever the third part reliable enough to maintain the right balance
Would one of Eto'o/Milito have to see the bench in this system?

Quaresma and Mancini's collective hopelessnes (drunken Adriano played his part too) was of course a main reason the system was put to bed last season, but at least one of these would have to be brought back in at least occasionaly for this system to have effective width.
Mancini I almost can't see it happening for, but for Quaresma at least there is realistic hope of a comeback. He is just too young still, and too talented not to make any positive contribution ever again.

Main candidate for the leftside would of course be Balotelli. He has all the talent and upside in the world but is still extremely erratic and immature, resulting in very up and down play.
Outsiders would be David Suazo, back from loan at Benfica (likely just a backup instead of the departed Cruz and Crespo) and talented Marko Armautovic who's playing characteristics have drawn some comparisons to a young Zlatan, and if his ability to play out wide that's been talked about in Holland is for real, plus considering his size, could be just what the doctor ordered for a Mourinho style 4-3-3.
He has struggled with injuries though, so realistically a contribution from him is not something just around the corner.

In the back goalkeeper Julio Cesar has just kept improving and last season was the best keeper in Serie A.
The back-four itself has a lot of experience and the injury concerns that comes with that.
Depth is definitely needed and all in all I think they got it.
Lucio has been brought in and should enjoy playing for a much better defensive team than where he came from, even if what he still enjoys the most is actually taking part of the attacking play! Samuel when healthy can still do a good job on a well balanced side and even though he is an idiot,to a lesser extent the same is the case for dirtiest player in the game Materazzi.
More likeable and better is Chivu, but he of course is also injured a lot.

An interesting case is Ivan Cordoba who has been one of my favorite defenders to watch for many years now.
The way he through amazing instincts and agility have overcome lack of size is something quite unique nowadays for a central defender and throughout it's been great to watch.

Worth watching: Davide Santon: The wonderboy himself has from day one looked extremely impressive and basically within minutes of watching, this was one of the best in the world at his position to me! And he wasn't even playing on what's his natural right side which of course is occupied by Maicon.
He's simply got it all at just 19, and a possible future Maldini or Bergomi is of course a must watch.
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I'm still feeling the bitterness of missing round one yesterday. Genoa-Roma especially sounded like it was a great game. But I'm of course not abandoning Serie A, so therefore more to come later.

In the EPL tonight, Liverpool against Aston Villa is an interesting game and I definitely plan to watch that.