The 200 best players in the world: 116 -110

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah and I had such a good run going, maybe even good enough to finish before the World Cup, then things not entirely inexplicable came to a halt and now I'm way late. I just can't give up though!

Must keep going...

MUST!

Anyway don't call it a comeback, but here is another cool entry:





Introduction to the list

The list:

New order

200-195
200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain
199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia
198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain
197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil
196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria
195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain
194-193
194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine
192-189
192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England
191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales
190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal
189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia
188
188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy
187-185
187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland
186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain
185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel
184-182
184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy
183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire
182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia
181-177
181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina
180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium
179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia
178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia
177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England
176-173
176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey
175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina
174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands
173-170
173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France
172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England
171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia
170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia
169-167
169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain
168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil
167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland
166-163
166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria
165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil
164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands
163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal
162-160
162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania
161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England
160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany
159-155
159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil
158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales
157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark
156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy
155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France
154-152
154: Walter Samuel - Inter - Argentina
153: Diego Lugano - Fenerbahce - Uruguay
152: Mauro Zarate - Lazio - Argentina
151-148
151: Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus and Luca Cigarini - Napoli - Italy
150: Taye Taiwo - Marseille - Nigeria, Rod Fanni - Rennes and Benoit Tremoulinas - Bordeaux - France
149: Domenico Criscito - Genoa - Italy
148: Fernando Llorente - Atletic Bilbao - Spain
147-144
147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Marseille, Benfica and Palermo - Argentina
146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile
145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England
144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain
143-139
143: Raul Meireles, Porto - Joao Moutinho - Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lissabon - Portugal
142: Bacary Sagna - Arsenal - France
141: Eljero Elia - Hamburger SV - Netherlands
140: Marko Marin - Werder Bremen - Germany
139: Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal - Italy
138-135
138: Raul - Real Madrid-Spain and Ruud Van Nistelrooy - Hamburger SV-Netherlands
137: Konstantin Zyryanov - Zenit Saint Petersburg - Russia
136: Simon Rolfes - Bayern Leverkusen - Germany
135: Ze Roberto - Hamburger SV - Brazil
134 - 129
134: Mauro Camoranesi - Juventus - Italy
133: Simone Perrotta - Roma - Italy
132: Marcelo - Real Madrid - Brazil
131: Christian Chivu - Inter - Romania
130: Simäo - Atletico Madrid - Portugal
129: Marcell Jansen - Hamburger SV - Germany
128 - 122
128: Hatem Ben Arfa - Marseille - France and Goran Pandev - Inter - Macedonia
127: Rafael Marquez - Barcelona - Mexico
126: Nigel De Jong - Manchester City - Netherlands
125: Grafite - Wolfsburg - Brazil
124: Pablo Hernandez - Valencia - Spain
123: Daniel Guiza - Fenerbahce - Spain
122: Ramires - Benfica - Brazil
121-117
121: Mohamed Sissoko - Juventus - Mali
120: Dejan Stankovic - Inter - Serbia
119: Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen - Germany
118: Frederic Kanoute - Sevilla - Mali
117: Jermain Defoe - Tottenham - England

116:

Carlos Puyol

Barcelona

Central defender/Right-back - Spain



Inspirational warrior captain leader of the best club and country in the world, Puyol always defends with great intensity and possesses a knack for last ditch tackles preventing goals for the opposition.

In reality he probably gets a little too much credit for all things like the above and he probably hasn't been as good this season as previously.

In fact he probably isn't even the best central defender so far. But of course this isn't position by position rankings and like some other players previously on the list, Puyol also receives credit for being a very good right-back and with that mastering two positions.

115:

Alou Diarra

Bordeaux

Midfielder/Defender - France



It's tempting to write a lot about Bordeaux, the soon to be not champions of France anymore (edit: actually Marseille clinched the title last night and my first thought is regretting lumping Lucho Gonzales with the other Argie playmakers thereby hurting his ranking). The good and the bad, the rise and the fall - since they've been one of the most interesting teams the last couple of years, but I'll save it for when I get to their highest ranked players which both the rise and the fall have a lot more to do with than Diarra.

Alou Diarra while also able in central defense (earning him the usual bonus points on this list) is primarily a very good defensive midfielder.
Athletic with great stamina he rarely misses a beat when it comes to defensive assignments, whether it's applying pressure or covering his position, and I'm guessing it has to do with his central defender ability that he is also one of the best midfielders at helping out the defenders in the box itself when necessary.

With the ball, and I could be wrong here since it's possible he was never bad at all, it's my impression that he has improved quite a bit in recent years, and passing or controlling the ball, where he can also put his athletic ability to use meaning great balance, aren't weaknesses anymore.

With likely the biggest stars for Bordeaux. including coach Blanc, jumping sinking ship it will be interesting to see if Diarra stays. I think Bordeaux if they can manage to keep Gourcuff still has a great centerpiece to build from and add needed depth around, but if they aren't even making the Champions League, and it doesn't look like they will after leading most of the year, then hanging on to anyone good will be very tough.

114:

Antonio Cassano

Sampdoria

Forward - Italy




The clown prince and enfant terrible of Calcio has had another tumultuous season of ups and downs, on and off the field.

Amidst a massive media campaign trying to get him called up to the national team Cassano started the season well showing trademark brilliant attacking flair, passes and dribbles, making those voices even stronger, only to, as usual, at the first sign of adversity, self destruct, threaten to quit, and fall out with both fans and coach resulting in him being excluded from the squad and once again the team starting to do better without him.

Here is what I wrote about Cassano in the Sampdoria part of my Serie A preview (one I'd like to improve immensely next time around) before this season:

He is a talented attacking player who is creative with a lot of flair, but also someone who through sheer unprofessionalism throughout his career has been unwilling to even try and improve other areas of his game.
That's why he is playing for a midtable Serie A club and not a big one. European or Italian.

27 years old now having wasted many years of his talent, he does still have time to improve, or mature if you will, but even last season while being praised by the media, there were many games, especially early on, where he didn't even seem fit, slightly overweight like in the Madrid days and when without the ball was probably consistently the worst player on the pitch, hurting his team with his lack of work/movement/effort.

As absurd as it is, while hysterical voices for Cassano being selected for the national team grew louder and louder, his team where he had been made the most important player, was slumping and slumping, flirting with relegation!

This season it looked like deja-vu. After a bright start once again Cassano was bringing the team down with him but Del Neri took the brave decision, left him out and suddenly Sampdoria couldn't stop winning and have been putting my midtable-tag fully to shame and are currently challenging for a Champions League spot.

To both men's credit though, after Del Neri was sort of forced to include Cassano again when striker Pozzi got injured, Sampdoria arguably became even better and has duly continued their winning ways.

Here are some interesting comments from Del Neri on Cassano when he was recalled to the squad and the style of play:

Sampdoria boss Gigi Del Neri claims to have re-built Antonio Cassano after dropping him earlier in the spring.

Cassano has started producing world-class performances again, scoring winning goals against Genoa and Juventus.

Interviewed in La Gazzetta dello Sport, Del Neri was asked if it was courageous of him to drop Cassano.

“No, because before I took the decision I thought about it 100 times. We had a problem in attack. We needed more substance and less technique, Pozzi instead of Cassano, someone who helped the team move up the pitch, someone who pressed the opponent.

“Now, things are going better, even if it's not ideal. But in one move of his during the derby I saw the right level of anger. He'll be great when he can move like that more.

“Before Cassano couldn't manage many 30m sprints. When he plays further forward he has to sprint 10m so it's different. The question is: when will he do 30 separate 10m sprints?

To get the full picture here is what I think is a very comprehensive blog entry from Francesco on the Italian Offside page, where I'm not sure I have much to add at all:

There is little doubt that when Antonio Cassano is in form, he is right up there with Francesco Totti as the most talented player in Italy. His technique and skill is just so sublime at times and he can really give defenders headaches. However, would you say that Cassano is the hardest working player on the pitch? In a short answer: Hell no.

Cassano himself has stated many times that he hates tactics and training and learning tactical schemes and such. He just wants to go on the field and play. Cassano is practically one of those players that is very difficult to place in a restricted tactical scheme, because he is a classic fantasista who just roams the pitch and creates.

In the past Roberto Baggio had trouble with coaches because of this exact reason. Many coaches like Sacchi and Capello didn’t know where to place Baggio in rigid formations like a 4-4-2, because he was neither really a midfielder or a striker, a “9.5″ like some coaches called him (a mix between an traditional number 9 and a traditional number 10).

If you’ve watched Cassano over the past three years, you’ll notice the same thing. While technically he’s a striker, he hasn’t really been a true striker. At Sampdoria he has always played next to another striker (from Montella to Bellucci to Pazzini etc) but placed himself on the left wing and started from there. Very rarely was he anywhere else on the pitch. He would hang out on the left flank, receive the ball, and try and make something happen. That’s basically how he’s been playing the past three years. Added to that, he wouldn’t pressure the defense, and he would never come back and help defend. A real tactician’s nightmare.

Enter into the fold Mr. Luigi Delneri. The same guy that Cassano said he couldn’t understand what the fuck he was saying (from his book). Delneri has played the same formation from his miracle Chievo days. A straight, rigid 4-4-2 that relies heavily on the wing play of the two outside midfielders and the hard work of the two defensive midfielders in the center of the pitch. The two strikers are generally just two out of and out strikers. Seems like no room for a fantasista. However when Delneri was in charge of Atalanta the past two seasons, he had a fantasista on the roster: Cristiano Doni. So Delneri’s 4-4-2 was more of a 4-4-1-1 with Doni supporting Sergio Floccari. But Doni is different from Cassano. Doni is more of a true attacking midfielder that plays in the center. Cassano isn’t this kind of player. So questions arose how Cassano would fit into Delneri’s plans.

Cassano started the season perfectly, showing all of his talent and climbing up the assist charts. However he wasn’t scoring. As much as he was helping others to score goals, he only scored 3 goals up until he was frozen out of the squad back in January. Cassano still attacked from the left flank, and he would always have the ball very far from goal, so he would always pass instead of trying a shot. When Samp started to struggle, Delneri thought it was time to drop Cassano for a while and partner Pazzini with Nicola Pozzi, an out and out striker who would pressure the opposing defense and provide a physical presence.

With Cassano the team won, but slowly realized that they needed quality up front. Cassano was re-integrated into the side and with Pozzi’s injury it meant Delneri was kind of forced to use him. However, if you’ve been watching Sampdoria in recent weeks, you’ll notice that Cassano has been playing in a somewhat new position. He is now more of a striker. He is no longer hanging out on the left flank waiting for the ball. Delneri said in a recent interview that Cassano has excellent scoring abilities but most of the time he is too far away from goal to use them, so he wanted to push Cassano forward and allow him to play closer to goal where he could finish off chances rather than create them. Delneri’s decision has been working. Cassano has scored in 4 of Samp’s last 5 games, and all but one of them (the midfield volley vs. Juve) have been inside the area and very opportunistic, Pippo Inzaghi-like goals.

If you watched the Samp-Genoa derby this past weekend, you could have noticed the changes to Cassano’s positioning. For the 55 minutes he was on the pitch (he had to be subbed due to injury), Cassano was more advanced than Pazzini on the pitch. Pazzini was more withdrawn and doing a lot of dirty work opening up spaces and such. Cassano was advanced and when Samp attacked you could notice that Cassano was much higher up the pitch than Pazzini. His goal is a prime example of the new position change. The old Cassano would’ve been outside the area on a set play like that. But the new Cassano was positioned at the far post perfectly, waiting for Guberti’s header and positioning himself excellently in the space next to Moretti where he beat him to the ball. A real goal poacher-like goal.

If Cassano can continue to have good enough off the ball movement and sheer work, adding a striker element to his trequartista/lazy winger game, he will have a good case for a much higher ranking, but for the time being with his history of unmatched unprofessionalim in mind, I remain skeptic.
When reading Del Neri's comments, Cassano doesn't really sound like a striker to his liking after all but more of a desperate measure and trouble can definitely still appear if the differences between the two men, as I suspect, are just too deeply rooted.

Ideally of course Cassano wouldn't be in stringent 4-4-2s at all but the paradox is that Cassano's weaknesses in many ways invite such tactics for his team.
But really he should just be on a better team with better players (right?) in well working fluid systems suiting his attacking strengths but that's another chance he has also blown again and again, for club and for country, on and off the field, the question is will he ever get another?

How he does in Del Neri's exact opposite to all of that, ironically could be the ultimate decider.

Good luck Antonio.




113:

Deco

Chelsea

Attacking midfielder - Portugal



The above picture just to prove there actually were good times for Deco at Chelsea!

Of course that player of the month award was in the opening month of last season where then manager Felipe Scolari, in the long run ill advisedly, had made Deco something of a centerpiece in a very unMourinho like blue brazil version of Chelsea.

That didn't end all too well but looking back now it's a nice illustration of the kind of style where Brazilian born and bred Deco almost couldn't help himself but thrive, and how basically ever since that was aborted, he hasn't been able to help himself from under-performing.

It was therefore tempting to drop Deco even further but for the time being, he is a dangerous 32 where things can go downhill fast, he isn't really much worse I don't think than when he was considered one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe.

He has that great attacking midfield off the ball movement where he is consistently able to make himself a passing option and of course when he gets the ball his ability with it is well known making him for the better part of his career something of an ideal passing partner where space is tight central in the final third - but further back too Deco's good work rate ensures that he can contribute there as well.

One problem is that at Chelsea exploring that passing option isn't really all that optimal for the players around him a lot of the time or sometimes not even possible for what, if you compare to other teams where Deco has featured, is rather average ability to participate in an effective short passing game.

Not that there is anything wrong with that, on the contrary, Chelsea and most of their players are still at their best when it's a lot more Mourinho than it's Scolari. Something Hiddink understood and practiced to perfection but an area where current manager Ancelotti constantly struggles to maneuver in one direction or the other mostly ending somwhere in between the two. Not bad certainly but not quite great enough to have cemented the title win that the superior squad he has to work with suggests that he should have.

For Portugal Deco is still an important player and at 32 with an uncertain future the World Cup could be the last time we see Deco at his playmaking best.

112:

Ryan Giggs

Manchester United

Attacking midfielder/Winger - Wales







Almost 20 years at the highest level, especially for an attacking player you could say, is nothing short of astounding but that's what Ryan Giggs is closing in on.

When he first broke through he was an explosive almost unstoppable left-winger who's pace made the opposing fullbacks look silly several times, every single game.
That continued on a consistent level for many years where he was always one of the best in the world but sometime already during those years for tactical reasons that right now escape me but I'm sure is related to Ferguson's eternal love for the 4-4-1-1 in a move that likely tremendously helped prolonging his career years later, Giggs began to also play games in central roles, improving him as a player in almost every area where his blinding speed couldn't carry him. I won't claim to know if that's where he developed vision but it's where he first got the opportunity to really showcase it, not just blast into space past a poor fullback, but to pass the ball under pressure. Become an intelligent footballer. Make plays.

It's also where I think he first really learned to contribute to team defense removing liabilities there which even if the attacking player never becomes a great defender still is of huge value to his team.

So once Giggs step by step started losing his pace, a critical time where most winger's careers start to dwindle, Giggs had already become a complete player with many other facets to his game than just speed and could continue at a high level for years to come.

Now it has to be said, a high level, definitely having reached a low point. Earlier in the season when I first started this list Giggs had some immaculate performances featuring great playmaking from mainly the left wing, not with pace but intelligence and passing, kind of current Ronaldinho-like, but with actual team work, and I moved Giggs up very high in the rankings, but following that not much happened and he hasn't really been involved in that many games and when he has it's often been quite underwhelming.

That's definitely to be expected at age 36 but also what makes it very hard to rank him above players to come who can contribute at a high level in game after game.

111:

Thomas Vermaelen

Arsenal

Defender - Belgium



Despite coming under scrutiny here Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the revelations of the season and perhaps the best defender in England since joining from Ajax.

Other than being an excellent defender he is also a complete player with good technical abilities that he can put to use starting possession. Something very important for a team with Arsenal's style.

He is strong in the air whether it's defending someone like Peter Crouch or when he is in the opponent box on set pieces.

Man to man he is one of those defenders that can really outmaneuver opponents off the ball but he is even more impressive when almost expanding what's a normal central defender zone and commanding great areas with great effectiveness. He is a prime example of one of those defenders with a great defensive range.

Now at times that means we'll see stuff like what ZonalMarking points out in the article above but in at least some of those examples, there is already allowed too much space by poor positioning from other players and Vermaelen is the kind of defender with enough talent to try and save those situations. Overall that's not a bad thing as long as he isn't overestimating his ability resulting in a negative success rate. See Cannavaro these days. As long as it doesn't become negative gambling it's great to have a defender like that. The real problem is if there is a consistent lack of good team defending, whether pressing or covering, then even a defender as good as Vermaelen will get to "look bad" at times. But at least Arsenal, in all honesty a bad team when not in possession, with Vermaelen has a defender good enough to at least try, and often succeeding cleaning up the mess.

110:

Gareth Barry

Manchester City

Midfielder - England



One of the toughest players to rank in a while. My brain is screaming that he should be higher but my instincts demand the exact opposite. He's been high, he's been low, he's been sorta everywhere really.

There are a quite a few things to like about Barry, even if few people seem to. He is physically very good and rarely injured. He is consistent. He is versatile and has functioned in a number of different roles and positions during his career.

It's when thinking about just how exactly does he function that all the doubts I have really start appearing, even when it comes to his main responsibility in recent years, operating the defensive midfield.
I'm just not fully convinced that Barry is a really good defensive midfielder but more of an all round midfielder almost trapped in that role. Yes he works hard and is strong. There is no problem with his positional discipline either. So much so that time and time again you find yourself missing the younger Barry who made great forwards runs playing for Aston Villa.
Then to make that aspect even more confusing, even if it seems he does very little, his offensive numbers for whatever they are worth in this sport are actually really good even at this (defensive) stage of his career. There is definitely contribution from him there, one way or the other, and it's a big part of why my brain wants him higher, and that he is where he is even, for someone I see, maybe wrongly, losing the midfield battles to the opposition (defensive midfield specialists overcoming the allrounder you could say) a little too often to be considered elite.

That Barry is slow and uncreative wouldn't really mean much if I was sure he was very good defensively. That added with his goal and assist tally + versatility would suggest a very high ranking, despite nothing flashy.
For now though he is a complete midfielder putting only some of that completeness to use in a defensive role where he works well defensively and distributes the ball safely, just not as good as the specialists and even though the naked attacking numbers are there (from set pieces?) and that certainly has put him ahead of quite a few of those specialists, it isn't enough to have him up there with the very best.
In the final third, with apologies to his certainly capable left foot, I'm just not seeing quite enough talent coming from him. Not enough to put him ahead of the best defensive midfielders, overcome the defensive deficit so to speak, or the more complete midfielders, which most will be, other than the true elite defensive ones, when we get to the top ranks.

The 200 best players in the world: 192-189

The list so far:

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: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine

And it continues with:

192:

Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England

Wing - Forward



Like Ramos, Walcott is another player who had a rollercoaster ride up and down the positions of this list.

At 20 he is a player who definitely can still improve in a lot of areas.

Actually in a lot of those areas he might be one of the worst players on the list! However as everyone knows he has that great gift of speed and in the end I just didn't feel comfortable leaving someone so elite in that important differencemaking area off the list.

I think it's clear that when he has space available to him he is right up there in effectiveness with players ranked much higher.

With injury problems lately (and that counts against him too), a very good indication of exactly how good he is just now, will be to what extent he gets a run in Arsenal's new 4-3-3 this season and how well he performs. Will be interesting to watch!

191:

Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales

Midfielder



UPSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No I haven't seen a lot of him but I'm confident that what I've seen is good enough.

Actually having seen him so little is probably what stops me from putting him even higher!
I'm being a little (too) careful. This is after all a player who is yet to play a whole lot on the highest level.
Sure, I suppose there is a chance that I'm overrating him. That it's ALL TOO SOON.
But what I seriously think I've seen would fully justify including him. Just because it's so rare and so few players got it. Ramsey he's got it!

He has that superb vision and playmaking ability that you only see from very few players and there is great technique too.

Ability, and this is where almost every talent of this type fails/develops into something else in the current game, on a high enough level to survive, to thrive in a climate of tight opposition team defense.

In fact on this whole list you only see it from a very small handful of players so what I think we have with Ramsey is a truly unique talent and possibly the most interesting talent to come out of the UK since Joe Cole (someone like Rooney was a bigger talent but of a nature that at least at the time was less interesting).
AND I do think Ramsey's playmaking ability is a level above what Joe Cole's was and the sick thing is, his technique is at least comparable too!

Even if somehow everything else about him is way below average I'd say that it's okay to include him here.

But let's take a look at some of the other things. Something like how good his movement is I'm not sure of yet and then there is his whole physical ability where there easily could be some way to go.
At least when he is on a team like Arsenal where coincidentally exactly the things Ramsey could bring, that some teams would die for him to bring, on his team IS one of those small handful of unique players who also just happens to be one of the best in the world, AT bringing those things.

I really have a feeling that Ramsey would start on most teams right now and it's really only a team who has someone like Fabregas already who can afford to hold such a gifted player back a little and instead fill the midfield around the big star with more primarely physically talented players.

Players who I might add arguably to some extent has been underachieving quite a bit, and I think Wenger's recent comments about how it's getting more and more difficult not to play Ramsey, is an indication that physically he is getting there too. And I hope so! Cause he will really need to.

With both him and Fabregas playing, even with such a team likely dominating possession, his workrate would have to be very high and he would have to be able to defend his midfield position reasonable well. Whether that would be putting on high pressure on the ball holder Barca style or tracking back transforming the 4-3-3 to more defensive formations when not in possession.

And last but not least here is an interesting article on him that I found:

When Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd was an 18-year-old coming through the youth system at Arsenal, his reaction to being substituted in the final of the Premier League Youth Cup immediately cost him his future at the club. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it scornfully at the coaches in the dugout. He was, literally, sent to Coventry, to restart his career.

In the hotly competitive world of youth football, where the most promising players are hunted by a pack of ­ravenous agents, scouts, and managers, it is rare to find the perfect combination of talent and temperament. Terry Burton, Cardiff's assistant manager, remembers the moment he clapped eyes on a boy called Aaron Ramsey, who immediately impressed on both counts.

"He had just left school and was only two weeks into his career and we drafted him into the team for a friendly at Merthyr Tydfil. He was excellent. He had this maturity and vision above his years." Burton got straight on the phone to the manager, Dave Jones, and told him Ramsey had to be included in the first-team squad for their pre-season trip to Portugal. The boy never looked back. His first full season, which began at the age of 16, ended with an appearance in the FA Cup final last May. "In a very short space of time he added to the small list of folk heroes at Cardiff," Burton adds. "Everyone loves their own, don't they?"

He was the one to tip off Arsène Wenger about this special kid at Ninian Park. Burton's connections go back to his time as an apprentice at Highbury, where he went on to coach and help bring through players such as Tony Adams. "I have been 20 years away from the Arsenal and I never really knocked on the door to recommend someone," he says. "But I did with Aaron. That's how impressive his qualities are.

"I spoke to Arsène just before they signed him. I was sitting with him in his office at the training ground and said: 'I'd really like to find something negative to say, but I can't.'" The worst he could come up with was that he was exceptionally quiet – ­surprisingly so for a lad nicknamed Rambo who wrote on his social networking ­webpage that he was scared of "nuffin".

As Burton explains: "Having come across a lot of London boys who obviously have a ­different type of personality, you didn't really know Aaron was about the place. Not on the pitch, though. As a character, that's where he comes to life. That's the best way, really."

Burton was also important in swinging Ramsey's decision away from Old Trafford and towards north London. "Manchester United were in, just after we had played in the Cup final. I said to Aaron: 'I don't know what is going to happen, but if you get the chance, ­consider Arsenal because of the way they play and the way you play.'"

Burton is sure there will be no resentment from Cardiff's vociferous fans this afternoon and says they are all very proud of him and how he is pushing on. It is easy to detect the improvements that come from working with, and against, faster technicians. "It is not very often that young players move up and get straight into the team," Burton says, smiling. "He did that at Cardiff and again with ­Arsenal. He'll be thinking the game is easy."

Not quite. Even though Wenger describes Ramsey, who was 18 on Boxing Day, as "ahead of schedule", he still has to take on board some valuable lessons. While he has caught the eye with some of his cameo appearances this season, a splendid first goal in the Champions League at Fenerbahce being the best example, on other occasions he has been guilty of preferring the flash over the safe option in the closing stages of nervily tight games. Nobody doubts that he will soon learn.

At the rate he is progressing, his home town of Caerphilly will soon no longer be famous just for producing cheese and Tommy Cooper.

190:

Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal

Defender



Even more so than Mexes earlier Pepe is incredibly naturally gifted.

Whatever the sum may be of his great athleticism and excellent technical ability, it's probably higher than for any other central defender on the list, or out there anywhere, I think quite similar to the young Lucio, so despite all the well known flaws, some seen on the picture above, leaving him off the list entirely I just didn't think was the correct choice.

Yeah he is a total nutcase and in the midst of any run of good form, sometimes looking dominant, he is capable of both defensive and epic mental breakdowns.

Hopefully he'll get his act together eventually. Based on talent alone he really should be up there with the very best central defenders.

189:

Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia

Central midfielder



Captain of the excellent Russian national team as well as the champions Rubin Kazan, this inclusion is somewhat of a tribute to the almost impossible win that Kazan secured over Barcelona.

There was definitely luck involved and Barcelona mostly dominated but Kazan still managed to do what teams astonishingly seldom have succeeded in doing against this historically great Barcelona team, and actually executed their defensive game plan close to perfection.

Under, what of course is, which is why so many teams fail, the most difficult of conditions.

I think sometimes it's a more than a little neglecting of the work that goes into good defense when people talk about a team "just" "parking the bus".
Certainly against Barcelona facing that incredible attack it would never be enough or as simple as to just have the whole team back and kick the ball away, or whatever it is "parking the bus" implies you do exactly.

Some teams are perhaps reduced to that when playing Barcelona but as we see all those teams end up suffering heavy defeats too.
If it was in any way simple or easy to get a result against a team like Barcelona that way then everyone would do it (and maybe not lose all the time!).

No what everyone are trying to do is to play a good defensive game with all that comes with it. Work very hard defending space. Marking zones. Close down at exactly the right times and back off exactly at the right times. This has to go on all over the pitch from almost every player and against a team as good as Barcelona it requires not just very hard work but really wise tactical sense. A lot of that can be prepared by the coach of course, and absolutely have to, but the execution of course is still up to the players.

Chelsea last season in the Champions League was the team, maybe the only team all season who was able to do it. They had a great coach in Hiddink to organize things to perfection and they had the right players to execute (not just by parking the bus) but team defense at a high enough level to give themselves a great chance to win.

Now I wouldn't say Rubin Kazan was on that level defensively, that Chelsea showed in that game. Not even close. Barcelona created a lot of chances, but still they did do a good job and their players executed very well under great pressure.

And not just out of the blue either. Apparently Kazan has only lost once away from home in over a year.
That's pretty remarkable in itself and that (finally) brings me to their captain, the currently ranked 189 player in the world, Sergei Semak who quite simply embodies these things. All these things talked about above!

He is a veteran leader for club and country who basically does all the right things in his defensive midfield position. Both with and without the ball.
Obviously he is far from the most talented so far on this list, he is in fact the least talented, but he could very well be the smartest (his teachers wanted him to become a mathematician!) And if you combine that with what is still a very impressive workrate for a 33 year old then you have one very effective football player. One I think worthy of a spot on this list.

The season so far. Part 1: The big 4 or 5

Time to take an in depth look at what I've watched so far of football this season.

After the very very time consuming Serie A preview I don't think it' a bad idea to start somwhere else entirely. So let's start in Engerland (england engerland)!

Top of the table we find Chelsea who is off to an impressive start.
I already wrote quite a bit about Chelsea after the first few games I watched them play this season and I think it's safe to say they've improved some since then.

In those entries I was quite critical at what I saw as some flaws that could prevent what is an excellent opportunity this year to win the title.
Much of that was some bad often slow passing distribution in central midfield when Mikel was playing the "bottom" of the Ancelotti diamond, and that resulting in the team having more difficulty than they should defending width.
Even against a team like Hull. Against Manchester United in the Charity Shield it's more understandable.

But since then it's mainly been the excellent Essien playing that role and the passing game has been quite fluent and more direct.
The ball gets to the opponent's penalty area mostly with relative ease and that's where I think Chelsea with a number of the players they have are a more dangerous team than possibly anyone in the world.
Quite simply if they consistently get the ball up there, either through someone in the diamond making a run forward, Drogba going a little back irresistibly seeking the ball or through their great fullbacks, they're very hard to stop and in the Premier League it's difficult to see who should actually.

And even when/if the notorious slow Mikel is in midfield (and he is a great physical talent who should get playing time) Ancelotti can still put someone like Deco at the top of the diamond and ensure quality distribution that way. Lampard and Ballack given certain roles can make quality contributions there as well though with a price to pay when it comes to their consistent excellent play in the final third.
A price that Hiddink for an example interestingly enough was willing to pay in some of his use of Ballack.

Now I will still maintain that Ancelotti's team is more vulnerable defensively than what we saw under Mourinho and also when Hiddink had them organized very well towards the end of last season, but the EPL is overall still by large (even with some recent examples and trends signalling some change) a league where it isn't "just" the most well balanced team that ends up winning but a great dominating attack too.

Yeah they give away quite a few quality chances these days but they're creating themselves in abundance and as long as that all important distribution to the final third is working smoothly that will continue, and they'll be a decent favorite over their on paper weaker this season, top four rivals.

Two of those rivals faced each other in one of the more interesting games of the EPL season so far.
Manchester United against Arsenal.

Unfortunately for Arsenal in that game they were missing Fabregas who isn't just their best player but one who much of the play is build around and the only one who can take it to a level high enough where the team can be consistently successful. Without him it's just a different team. Interesting then that if you compare to how they looked against United in some of the games last season, that they looked quite a bit better here.
One clear plus for Arsenal here that they didn't have when they faced eachother in the Champions League and United proved clearly the better team, was the addition of Arshavin who is an elite attacking talent, but alot of it, sadly for fans of the gunners, I'd definitely put down to what it was that United was missing compared to those games last year.
More on that later when we get to Manchester United.

It's positive though for Arsenal that their central midfielders weren't outworked and outrun like they were in some of those games last year and I think both Denilson and Song have shown improvements in their play this season.
Diaby too, eventhough he had his own personal disaster in this particular game looks like a better player than last year.
Something of course which simply is a must for a club like Arsenal heavily counting on young talent. They have to live up to their upside or it's just a waste.

In a way Arsenal have been unlucky or if you're a more mean spirited person you could say simply inadequate for not having more depth. Either way in their two toughest games of the season against the two Manchester teams they've been without first Fabregas against United and then Arshavin against City.

Personally I thought it was a real lack of flexibility to continue with the 4-3-3 against City if the two wide forwards were going to be Diaby and Bendtner.
That's bordering on simply ignoring your player's characteristics over the system. Conventional coaching wisdom would say that it's the players and their characteristics dictating what system to play and not the system the players.
It's nothing new of course, to do it like Wenger did this game. Countless of coaches have done the same and for one match only I'm sure there can be found arguments not to change things around.
Still, as the match showed. As a look at the City team sheet SHOULD show. This was a match against a world class opponent where things had to be optimal. BOTH Diaby and Bendtner on the wings in a 4-3-3 is hardly optimal.
And whether it was there specifically the match was lost or not, the result was City being the overall better balanced team on the day. That showed. On a more positive note, individually in central defense William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen are playing great, so right there is all the foundation Arsenal need for an excellent central defense partnership.

Overall they "just" need the team to be more consistently well balanced. When Fabregas and Arshavin are both there. When the players for an effective 4-3-3 are all in place, there are few problems and they're a very effective team who can steamroll lesser teams and look great while doing it. On the surface, the greatest outside mighty FC Barcelona even.
Not least it has to be said, since it's a pet peeve of mine, against annoying teams like Wigan who face the big teams well bend over before the game has even begun with their terrible naive tactics.
But all in all like I talked about in an earlier entry on Arsenal I think a version of the 4-3-3 over previous years 4-4-2 IS definitely the right step when trying to create a consistently effective attack and the more they can look for inspiration at Barcelona, and what they've been doing so great, the better too.
Some might say it's bordering on crazy talk but I'd maintain that Arsenal is the only team with a chance to get close to that. And considering just getting close is enough to better almost anyone, it's certainly something that's worth a shot.
The system change was the obvious step one but let's not forget the pieces already in place.
Starting with Fabregas they have the closest thing to Xavi there is. Someone who even does some things better and who is a must for a team aspiring for overwhelming possession against their opponents.
Without a Xavi or Fabregas type of player it just has no chance of being effective with how good team defending has become.Arsenal also arguably have the poor man's Messi in Arshavin. They share quite a few characteristics and it could even be argued, though I think there is a significant gap there, that they have a poor man's Iniesta in someone like Samir Nasri.
They even have a striker in Bendtner who can do the needed non-traditional decent job on one of the wings.
Where it then really falls apart is if someone like Diaby plays there. That is just very un-Barcelona like.

That brings me to the striker. Robbie Van Persie who suprisingly, it seems doesn't see a whole lot of criticism or face many questionmarks.
People love his speed and technique. And that's understandable but let me try and throw in what's not so great if you set the bar very high which it should be for a team trying to beat what at the top of the table are still the toughest league competition in the world.
And if you compare what he is doing to the kind of things that a Samuel Eto'o and now Zlatan Ibrahimovic does for Barcelona. The kind of things that Arsenal would need as well, from their lone central striker in a possession based 4-3-3.

I really question if Van Persie has the physical attributes to be really effective there when it isn't play in transition.
And if he doesn't then it's something that even affects him negatively when it comes to his actual strenghts. Like say, combining nicely with Fabregas or Arshavin and using his acceleration to feed off that. But when playing in the center often in narrow space and no real holes to accelerate into, the physical strenght is needed to even get to that, so to speak.

To his credit, even if I think he has a negative attitude sometimes, he has started to do more traditional striker kind of work, including better movement without the ball, which is essential when not an overly powerful striker, but when playing central on top it's just not quite there yet at a high enough level.
A lot of that I think would be helped and maybe even turned into a strenght if there was more switching positions in the forward line. Not just with Bendtner who can be more a traditional lone center forward but with Arshavin too.
Again the inspiration being Barcelona where Messi is often wildly effective switching with the striker and spending some time central and on top. Van Persie is more dangerous too when he isn't restricted to near the central defenders just outside or just inside the box.

Of course, one very obvious positive I found when I first saw the new Arsenal 4-3-3 with Van Persie playing central instead of Bendtner was that it simply made sense to have Van Persie getting all the good scoring chances Arsenal usually create instead of someone like Bendtner who whether it's fair or not has become quite infamous for some poor finishing.
Van Persie being there instead, that SHOULD mean more goals coming from there! RIGHT?

It's not like Van Persie isn't getting shots at goal either. I heard of one stat (I can't find it myself) that the announcer here mentioned the last time I watched Arsenal, where Van Persie was the player with the most shots on goal out of everyone in the league.

So i ask, with just one goal so far isn't Van Persie that much a superiour finisher anyway, OR is he just not getting the really good, the realistic scoring chances?

Either way, it's obviously a problem and I call for more flexibility in the forward line to try and solve it!

Manchester United have rebounded nicely from their early shock defeat against Burnley.

That very flukish defeat actually lead some doubters going way too far, and on the usually entertaining Guardian Football Weekly podcast one of the contributors (unfortunately I don't remember who it was exactly) even forecasted that United wouldn't finish in the top 4! That's either very bold or very silly more likely.

Like with Arsenal I refuse to hand out too much credit for beating stupid Wigan, but while ignoring the controversy, as someone who usually root against United I was very annoyed too, what I can do is give them credit for the second half against City.
It was classic Ferguson Manchester United play with great wing play and fullbacks pushing forward exactly where it hurt the most.
For Manchester City that was the right side with Wright Phillips and Micah Richards who were nothing short of fully exposed by the excellent Evra pushing Phillips way way back where he wasn't comfortable and Giggs being up to his old tricks against Richards, who judging by this might still best fulfill his potential as a central defender instead.While watching I was suprised that Hughes waited and waited without doing any adjustments whatsoever while United had clearly taken over the game creating tons of dangerous situations.
He had flirted with danger in some earlier games too where opponents also too easily created chances but at least there the City forwards were being very dangerous themselves. Despite their goals that wasn't really the case for most of the second half. This was a team dominating them and Hughes failed to come up with or try even, anything.

Overall with Manchester United the only thing I'm quite sure of is that they're weaker this season than the last couple of years. The reasons for that are pretty obvious. Not only have elite players gone and not really been replaced but with them various tactical options too.
To me the Tevez- C. Ronaldo - Rooney forward line looked pretty unstoppable and down through the chains it ensured an incredibly well balanced team who both attacked, not least on the counter, but starting with Rooney and Tevez defended really well too.

Rooney I think is a top 3 player in the world. Maybe even the second best after Messi. The good news for United is that he is still around. With him there is hope. But put him with an amazing attacking talent in C. Ronaldo and a player like Tevez who to a lesser extent does some of the same things both ways that Rooney does, and you have not just hope of great results, but certainty.

As a very non United fan I don't even like to think about it, but consider how close they were to winning both their very tough league and the Champions League two years in a row.
Think about what a great job of team defending Chelsea did on Barcelona in the semis. A job so good that I think most of the time it knocks that Barcelona side out. Then think about how Manchester United throughout the season had been the best defensive team. Better than Chelsea.
Consider the speed and counter attack options they had up front that Chelsea did not.

This is a post I wrote on a sports forum before the final:

United does have great individual talent defensively but from watching Barca so much this year I really think that any team not defending as a TEAM, on a scale similar to what Chelsea did, will be an underdog. You just cannot leave them space.
Hiddink is not exactly known for playing that defensive, ever, yet this was the one time where he felt it was a must. That alone says alot.

Now ignoring the question of whether they will actually go for it or not, I think United certainly could come close to do a similar great job of TEAM defending to what Chelsea did, they certainly did well the last time they faced eachother, Barca have of course improved since then, and if they combine that with their "deadliest" transition game in the world, THEN I think they'll be favorites.

But I don't think any team not heavily geared towards defending, is a favorite to resist Barca's talent when that talent almost inevitably will have 55+ pct of possession.

Did Ferguson for once get it wrong? If he has commented on it since, I'd love to see it.What I do know is that the Tevez-C.Ronaldo-Rooney forward line didn't start and what I kinda wanted to say I guess by going back to all of this, was just how freakish good this Manchester United team were and how very close they were to become one of the best teams in history.
Something Barcelona then took from them and might very well improve upon even, this season if, they repeat.

Like I said, this season, Manchester United, I don't see them as any potential best team in history or anything like that, they do however have the best two-way player in the world, Wayne Rooney to build around, a manager who knows how to win the Premier League like no one else, and last but not least some of the rivals DO look weaker too.

There is definitely hope for Manchester United.

For Manchester City, overall I'm not sure if teamwise I have that much to add from even the last time they came up on this blog when they beat Blackburn.

Playerwise I fully expected Adebayor to score lots of goals. I tipped some people to bet on him as a topscorer even, since I thought he was at worst a top 5 favorite while the bookmakers had him quite a bit further down. Even behind Michael Owen comically enough.

A positive suprise has been Craig Bellamy who isn't just scoring but working very hard a lot of places on the pitch.

And in midfield I like Nigel De Jong who adds some balance to the side. That will be very needed when someone like Robinho is back in the lineup.

Finally in "engerland" even if we may want to we can't forget about lovely little Liverpool.

This was a team who through preseason as I watched questionmarks creeping up on virtually all the other top four sides that I was starting to lean towards making my pick for the title.

Even if, and I know some people are convinced that was the case, Liverpool did indeed run good last season with some rather fortunate results along the way, I liked how under Benitez from year to year there were clear signs of improvement.

Every year under Benitez the goals against had been around the same number. 25, 27,28 and then 27 last season. But at the same time the goals scored had been going up every single year, from 57 and 57 to 67 and last season a league best 77 goals scored.

For a team and a coach who rarely compromises defensive stability in favour of the attacking side of things, for them to get to a point where they improve what mostly has been described as a key problem holding them back, to a league leading best, I thought that was quite a dramatic sign. A very positive sign.

Enter evil evil Real Madrid and them stealing key central midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Always a good technical player, under Benitez, Alonso's physical tools and tactical awareness had improved to such a point where he was becoming one of the best central midfielders in the world and certainly with another one of those, the superb Mascherano, made up one of the best central midfield tandems around.

A tandem that not only ensured Steven Gerrard could play his best in front of them behind Torres, but who made the defensive four look good to. Made their job easier.
And in the case of someone like Jamie Carragher, who's been struggling quite a bit this season, probably a whole lot easier.

Trying to fill his shoes has been young brazilian midfielder Lucas. I think the jury is still out of him and the first indication of him doing a sufficient job will be when the Liverpool defense starts looking consistently balanced again.
So far Carragher has been on his heels way too much and even the normaly excellent Mascherano has at times struggled with the same defensive duties where he normaly has thrived. Not good signs.

Alberto Aquilani who they bought from Roma is yet to play this season. He has been a great talent for many years but has been held back by a lot injuries.
At his best he'll likely have even more to offer forward than someone like Alonso and if Benitez like I think he will, it's what he did with Alonso and others, will have him improve his physical ability and defensive play, we could, barring injuries, see a truly great player sometime in the future.

Elsewhere Liverpool has perhaps the best pure striker in the world in Fernando Torres, a great mainly attacking midfielder in Steven Gerrard and a very good two-way player in Dirk Kuyt.

Like Manchester United, Liverpool have hope.


I hope to have a part II focusing on Italy and Spain a little later.