The 200 best players in the world: 109-101

With this entry I've finally reached the top 100 and when I look at all the players to come all I see are writeups that I can't wait to write and individual rankings that I'm mostly pretty happy with.

The last thing is the most important. Countless of times this has been delayed by me instead of doing writeups preferring to waste hours messing with the order. No more of that!

Surely this will be smooth sailing from here with entries at least every other day? Right? Right...

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
116-110
116: Carlos Puyol - Barcelona - Spain
115: Alou Diarra - Bordeaux - France
114: Antonio Cassano - Sampdoria - Italy
113: Deco - Chelsea - Portugal
112: Ryan Giggs - Manchester United - Wales
111: Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal - Belgium
110: Gareth Barry - Manchester City - England

109:

Wilson Palacios

Tottenham

Midfielder - Honduras



Palacios has quickly established himself as one of the most reliable midfielders in the world.

Defensively in many ways I think he is comparable to previously ranked Nigel De Jong.

Palacios like De Jong has a great work rate and at least comparable tackling ability where De Jong of course is a master, but what puts Palacios just ahead is that both athletically and when it comes to overall technical ability he has a bit more to offer.

Something that I don't think should be underrated as a deciding matter in what team is winning the midfield battle on the given day.
If a player like Palacios not only defends well but through running (especially that) or passing (he does actually have a tendency to lose the ball at times which is his one weakness I guess) can add some pressure coming from the primarily defensive players also, then it's just even more to deal with for the opposition and slowly but surely the midfield that does the best, or most it can, on the attacking front while not making mistakes defensively can gradually, or very quickly sometimes, take over the game. Make it one way traffic instead of back and forth. A certain Scottish Manchester United enforcer is a very good example of this currently.

Perhaps especially in England where it still isn't always given what team goes out there with the defensive mindset and who's looking to attack in numbers. Perhaps both sides are looking to attack in numbers! Then we have the battle, and while Palacios isn't one of those players I'll call a great two-way player, for Tottenham he hasn't been much of a factor further upfield and is first and foremost at his best defensively, his good work with at least constructiveness both ways (well one way it's supposedly destructiveness) is something opponents consistently have to deal with both when they try to attack and when they defend.

On second thought I should probably simply have said that Palacios has great midfield presence.


108:

Gabriel Agbonlahor

Aston Villa

Striker - England



For me the second best English striker after Wayne Rooney and I think it's only a matter of time before that also becomes the popular view.

The way Aston Villa plays he doesn't get nearly the number of goal scoring chances that some other strikers enjoy the luxury of and therefore there hasn't been that breakout goalscoring season just yet. But his outstanding pace, work-rate plus underrated power and technical ability (control and shooting) in my opinion puts him ahead of the pack.

If he is a good enough tactical fit compared to the various rivals in order to earn a World Cup place is an interesting question though.

Some forwards automatically will get selected ahead of him because of what their size brings to the table and then there are some who are still a little bit better in and around the box in tight space including with their back to the goal and are perhaps more proven finishers (even if I think that's somewhat dubious), where Agbonlahor is at his very best running into space.

How much of that Capello thinks England will need from a reserve, with the main guy being better at that and everything else, will make or break Agbonlahor's World Cup hopes.

107:

Ashley Young

Aston Villa

Winger/Forward - England



Ashley Young made the PFA team of the year both in 2008 and 2009 but after an inconsistent 2010 wasn't particular close this time around.

Just like the many previously ranked players of his type, difference making speed is his main weapon and he has good dribbling ability.

He is ranked ahead of all of them so far cause I feel he is a little bit more of a complete player or with a better trackrecord.
He is good in second-striker type of roles as well, and at least until this season, was a very consistent weapon creating and scoring goals through effective crossing and shooting. Better (even much better) than most of the wingers ranked so far.

In true Martin O'Neill Aston Villa style he also has a good work-rate but could improve creativity and short passing.

106:

Giampaolo Pazzini

Sampdoria

Striker - Italy



This was one of the quotes from Pazzini's coach at Sampdoria Luigi Del Neri in my Antonio Cassano writeup:

“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?

With Pazzini on the other hand that's a question that doesn't even have to be asked.

Pazzini does those sprints in between opposing defenders tirelessly throughout every game. He has both the work-rate, the acceleration and off the ball movement to be very effective at it.

On top of that he has good ball-control and even some decent dribbling ability that he can use to make way for his very good shooting. In many ways then, a classic Italian dangerman!


At Fiorentina Pazzini was behind in the pecking order to Gilardino and Mutu. With Mutu's career pretty much destroyed this season, Fiorentina could have really used him, but Pazzini moved to Sampdoria instead where, with apologies to Cassano and Palombo, he has been the best player ever since and a big part of their great results lately.

If I had to point out a non strong point it would be that even though he is certainly an option in the middle (if anything) he perhaps isn't the greatest fit in the more and more popular Italian 3 forward lines, at least if you compare to some of his Azzurri World Cup rivals, but he is so good in other areas that he should make the final squad anyway.


105:

Toni Kroos

Bayer Leverkusen (on loan from Bayern Munich)

Attacking midfielder/Winger - Germany



That photo of Kroos the young sensation and the legendary Kaiser himself was taken back in 2007 at the U-17 World Cup where Kroos was awarded the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.

As a 16 year old he had already been signed by Bayern Munich and done so well for their youth team that as a 17 year old he was promoted to their senior squad. There he showed great things as well, for starters he set up two goals in his 2008 debut, but appearances predictably were very limited and he was sent to Leverkusen on loan.

A loan-deal that was then extended into this season in what turned out to be a great move not just for Leverkusen where Kroos played a big part in taking them straight to the top of the table with one brilliant display after another, but for Kroos himself who got the stage where at a young age he could take the Bundesliga and the Germans so much by storm that he'll be very hard to avoid for the World Cup.

When I first saw Kroos he kind of reminded me of young Steven Gerrard. Build and appearance seemed similar and there was that striking ability when kicking a football to have it do whatever he wanted. Especially when it came to shooting.



Now this was a sketchy first impression and Kroos doesn't have that freak athletic ability and unique drive of Gerrard when Gerrard is at his best, making Kroos a less dynamic player, but what he does have is a silky touch when it comes to ballcontrol and the more delicate passes, he even has vision, and then, again like Gerrard, when it comes to crosses, for an example on set pieces, he can really put force into the ball and be accurate at the same time. Or he can just elect to put the ball into the back of the net!

Kroos quite simply has excellent technique involving anything that has to do with kicking a football and that's not a bad thing at all.

104:

Alexandre Song

Arsenal

Midfielder/Defender - Cameroon



Song really started to come into his own last season and has uninterruptedly ever since been a model of consistency. He is also yet another player who has earned a ranking boost through great functionality in two different positions, defensive midfielder as well as sometimes a very capable central defender.

Where Song looks most impressive is man to man duels where he becomes an almost immovable object winning the ball the vast majority of the time. He has great strength and balance in those situations.

While he is not the quickest and doesn't offer much forward I have been impressed with his passing game. He has good distribution and doesn't subtract but definitely adds to Arsenal's possession game.

So does midfield partner Denilson you could say, who often has some of the best passing completion rates out of anyone, but unlike him Song has that clear physical defensive presence and doesn't make the downright gross mistakes without the ball that Denilson continues to do, at times costing Arsenal dearly.
Despite all that secure passing it isn't even given that Denilson is in fact positive value for Arsenal, while in Song's case there is no doubt whatsoever that he is indeed.

Another interesting comparison is much lower ranked Chelsea midfielder Mikel.
For my first few versions of this list Mikel was one the major stumbling blocks obstructing Song's entrance. I couldn't really see Song being much better, or worse for that matter, but it's now clear to me that Song's better passing game and ability to play two positions has him ahead of someone like Mikel by a good margin.

103:

Jérémy Toulalan

Lyon

Midfielder/Defender - France




The least I could do for what is surely one of the most boring players on this list was to find a funny picture...

Toulalan is another defensive midfielder specialist who doesn't offer much the other way and who has received at least somewhat of a ranking boost cause he is a capable central defender as well.

He has a great work rate and is forever harassing the ball holder, is very consistent and doesn't seem to ever make major mistakes.

With the ball he actually has good control and very secure distribution. Again no mistakes but again very little going forward.

Just a very unspectacular solid player doing good things defensively to help his team.

102:

Alvaro Negredo

Sevilla

Striker - Spain



Negredo started this season as he finished the last one, looking like the next superstar striker coming out of Spain.

Relative quick, strong and with excellent technique again and again he showed exquisite finishing scoring goal after goal.

Then things came to a sudden halt and he has spent most of the time since struggling for his new team Sevilla, and as touched upon in the Frederic Kanoute writeup , just hasn't been able to fill the shoes of either Kanoute or Luis Fabiano, in what's been a poor season for the whole team.

As Sevilla's terrible record without that duo starting suggests I think a lot of it is just how much of the Sevilla style and tactics were based on what those two could do, and while Negredo is very good in his own right, he is a different type and less of the supreme athletic box presence that those two together virtually guaranteed.

Sevilla for the last many years have always had great creativity and pace coming from the wings.
Negredo to really shine it's possible needs a whole different kind of buildup, passes coming more from central, so he can be at his best just inside and around the area where his great technique poses much more of a dangerous threat than trying to meet any kind of passing off the ground whether it's a cross or a target-man type of feed with his back to the goal.
It's possible Negredo can develop those things to his game also but so far I haven't really seen it.

His mostly great play the last two years has also put him in the Spain World Cup picture where there is a never ending battle to be first (and maybe second) reserve to the superstars Fernando Torres and David Villa.

On my ranking Negredo is the highest ranked of the bunch and the one who at his best I think is ahead of the others but certainly Athletic Bilbao powerhouse Llorente who I regret not ranking higher and is playing great this season with his size and strength offer something that the others don't and if only one gets to go (Pedro with his versatility has become pretty much certain) then I think it should be him.

101:

Walter Gargano

Napoli

Midfielder - Uruguay



Small in stature but with a big heart Gargano could be one of the most underrated players in the world.

Despite his size this is a midfielder who can command. Defensively with his great work rate and ball winning ability where he is surprisingly strong and in possession where he doesn't just have good technique but a very impressive passing range.

The only weakness I can come up with (and it might be wrong) is that in a tactical demanding environment he perhaps hasn't adjusted a 100 percent yet. On pure talent he blows most of the defensive midfielders he face every week well away, he is just a much better player, but perhaps just perhaps if we're talking defensive positioning alone he isn't quite up there with your good/standard Serie A defensive midfielder.

With my limited knowledge of the Uruguay national team, on paper their World Cup squad has good talent defensively, I chose to rate Diego Lugano pretty high, and not least up front with players still to come on this list, but in midfield I only really see Gargano. It will be interesting what kind of quality they have around him and if not much, if Gargano can carry them on his back.

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: 121 - 117

Another day another update.


Introduction to the list

The list:

Introduction to the list

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:

Mohamed Sissoko

Juventus

Central midfielder - Mali



Sissoko might just be the most physical imposing midfielder in the world and on top of that was Juventus best player in the 2008/2009 season.

I really did want to rank him higher and more than most he has taken a nosedive down the rankings.

Partly due to continued bad luck with injuries that has seen him miss a lot of time and naturally partly as well due to spending too much time for me to ignore (albeit like everyone else) looking really bad on a team that's mighty struggling.

Mischaracterized and often misused when he is playing primarily as a defensive midfielder where it's really important to also have a sound passing game, which even with signs of improvement he just hasn't yet, Sissoko is much better as a two-way player going forward also part of his role, where his powerful running can benefit the team greatly.

Last season as part of Ranieri's solid mainly four man midfields there was a lot of that dynamic play taking place. This season however when not injured and part of mostly 3 man experiments gone wrong, sometimes even spending (wasting) time more wide where it isn't power that's integral but pace, it just hasn't been happening for Sissoko.

If playing him mainly as a holding midfielder limiting that running tactically and giving him the ball in costly places if you don't do decent things with it, just isn't getting the best out of him. Have Sissoko cover as much ground as possible so he can really put those incredible physical talents to use as many places as possible. That's what I would love to see.

In Serie A at times Sissoko is almost too strong a tackler for his own good and I'm guessing more than anyone else finds himself booked for perfect challenges where even all ball impact is just too great for a weak referee to control that irresistible urge to caution.

120:

Dejan Stankovic

Inter

Midfielder - Serbia



Deki for the last 10 years has been one of the better two-way players in the world.

From his early days as a skillful dynamic attacking midfielder, sometimes left-wing, transforming into a hard working aggressive allround midfielder ready to do anything to win, including of course putting the needed effort in defensively.

Up until recently when at his best I would say he spent quite a few years where he was kind of both at the same time making him extremely valuable, but for most of this season, hurting his ranking, I would say Stankovic has only been a little of both and sometimes not even enough to do the sufficient job, neither when going forward or when defending.

In both ends it has looked liked like the work rate hasn't quite been there resulting in less dynamic runs forward where his great shot is always a threat and when defending at times his pressure hasn't been good enough and other periods he's been caught out of position looking tired meaning less balance for the team.

Whether it's age catching up to him or rather what's recently been discussed in Italy, where Inter at the time of writing sensationally has been overtaken by Roma at the top of the standings, Mourinho failing to rotate the squad well enough, is a good question. Could of course easily be a combination of both.

Not the fastest, strongest or even most technical Stankovic strength have been good ability in all areas + the great work rate making him able to contribute game in and game out, box to box.

He can't afford to continue losing ability in any of those areas or he'll soon turn into a much lesser player. Perhaps starting less games can delay that and he'll continue to be a valuable, but not absolute key, player for quite a few years still.

119:

Stefan Kiessling

Bayer Leverkusen

Striker - Germany



Patrick Helmes, Leverkusen's top scorer last season has missed most of the season recovering from knee surgery and instead it's been Kiessling who has managed to step into that role, make it his own and become the team's main goal scoring threat. So much so that he is a good candidate to finish as the Bundesliga top scorer.

He is a tall striker who is good in the box and air but also very lanky with good pace.

Most impressive is his Dirk Kuyt like work-rate, he kind of looks like him too, and he offers his teammates constant movement throughout a game anywhere really in the final third.

There is a danger he's being ranked a little too high too early. This is the first season where he has been a consistent goal scoring threat anyway and it's possible he'll revert back to more of a second striker/forward role if Helmes ever finds his form again (very impressive/promising looking Derdiyok will be another obstacle for Helmes) , but still a tall striker with that kind of work-rate and generally impressive team work coupled with decent pace and technical skills I just can't see, in whatever role, not being a very valuable player for years to come.

He only has 3 caps for Germany but been in the squad recently and should make it to the World Cup I think.


118:

Frederic Kanoute

Sevilla

Striker - Mali



Very impressive looking and highly gifted striker who with his athleticism, size and considerable skill has tormented La Liga defenses for years.

He is likely on the decline though and at 32 years of age has started just 15 league games this season struggling to find his top fitness thereby hurting his ranking.

But when at his best he remains a graceful player who not only has size but the agility, pace and ball control to go along with it enabling him to be effective anywhere in the final third. From making runs from outside the box to inside it being a strong skillful presence.

Kanoute finally found his consistency in Spain and over this period really has been a striker close to having it all and that he hasn't been able to contribute nearly as much this season for the first time in years has to be one of the main reasons for Sevilla's very unexpected bad season.

With various Sevilla attacking players still to come on the list you'd think they had enough depth to withstand that decline but the Kanoute partnership with Luis Fabiano (and Fabiano has started even less La Liga games this season) and what they brought together specifically seems like it has been a very big part of what Sevilla did so well in recent years and even with many other good players, including another excellent striker in Negredo, it suggests that they just haven't been able to find their way when without that duo up front.

In fact they've rarely started together this year (if at all actually) and in none of Sevilla's 12 defeats this season (counting both La Liga and Champions League) the starters have been Fabiano and Kanoute.

117:

Jermain Defoe

Tottenham

Striker - England



Old school sniper who is one of the most reliable goal scorers in the game.

Defoe has great quickness and finishing skills in and around the box. His shooting especially has always been impressive.

While his technical skills such as ball-control and passing definitely are strengths rather than weaknesses he really isn't someone who offers much more than goalscoring to his team meaning this is probably as far up the list he can go.
Actually that he is even up this relatively high is a testament of just how impressive I think that goalscoring ability of his is.

Defoe probably couldn't function all that well without a strike partner who he can work together with to create space central to take advantage of in the final third, so tactically he is rather limited (and not least limit his teams) and that way he is a dying breed of strikers and not really the type (die poachers die) that you'll see on most top teams these days.

Which is probably why he has never received the chance on one of the top teams and also why I wouldn't be surprised if Tottenham as they continue to develop into that will look for someone who will bring more to the team than Defoe does.

Then again Defoe is a Harry Redknapp favorite and I would also guess Redknapp in his managerial career has mostly played with two strikers typically in some kind of 4-4-2 variant.

Now ordinarily I would just have to think that there was a clear limit to how far that can go when the competition will be more flexible systems featuring strikers (Rooney,Drogba,Tevez, Van Persie and yeah Torres too) who do so much more than just score goals and who make people around them much better.

It should be said though that Tottenham has at least one and maybe even two players who much of this season has made up for that, lets say "stationary weakness" with extraordinary attacking play while at least holding their own defensively. First and foremost Luka Modric but to my great surprise Aaron Lennon as well before his injury. And if his play was a real improvement and the level he showed is here to stay, then perhaps mainly those two can lift a 4-4-2 with a couple of outright strikers in the lineup to heights that I didn't really think was possible in the current football environment.

We shall see.

The 200 best players in the world: 128 - 122

For once these writeups were done pretty quickly and I can just about smell the top 100 now.

I haven't even done any real adjustments to the list in a while so no hours wasted on that either.

Expect another update tomorrow.

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:

Hatem Ben Arfa

Marseille

Attacking midfielder/winger/forward - France



and

Goran Pandev

Inter

Attacking midfielder/Forward - Macedonia



Ben Arfa, right from a very early age compared to none other than Zinedine Zidane, a supremely gifted 23 year old started the season mostly coming on from the bench but during Marseille's recent title challenge surge in Ligue 1 thankfully coach Deschamp has had him featuring more, including starting resulting in a player of the month award, giving me all the excuse I needed to include one of the best dribblers in the world.

Ben Arfa has speed, agility and ball control in abundance. So much so that he is second to only very few players when it comes to those kind of difference-making skills.

What he hasn't had so much is consistency and his history already in his young career of various trouble with teammates and not least coaches haven't helped either when it comes to fulfilling his enormous potential.

If something like his team work will ever improve is doubtful since he has already had every chance to improve both for Lyon and Marseille yet failed, but the individual difference-maker he can be in attack, at a level probably higher than anyone on the list so far not named Ronaldinho (and no even Arfa is not as bad as Ronaldinho when it comes to hurting his own team) I think justifies putting him ahead of many more complete players ranked so far.

I feel Ben Arfa with the kind of attacking skill-set he has is someone who "just" needs the right setting suiting his strengths and then we will really see him explode to a point where I'm sure lots of people will be calling him one of the best in the world. Then perhaps it will be me only having him in the top 60 or so while he'll be in the top 30 or whatever for everyone else.

Well who knows but he is another player who's star I could see really rise for an attacking team in the Bundesliga, La Liga or EPL.

On to Pandev who missed most of the season forced to sit out when he was involved in a contract dispute with his club at the time Lazio and their boorish president Claudio Lotito.

Lotito getting so worked up that Pandev refused to extend his contract that he ordered him isolated from the first team.

That went on for months and mainly resulted, in one: Lazio's attacking game without Pandev stagnating to such an extent that they spent much of the season battling relegation, and two: Pandev taking the matter to the courts eventually winning his freedom and being free to go (for free!) to whatever club interested in his services.

He went to Inter of course where he quickly became another piece in getting the passing game working that the Ibrahimovic-less Inter so desperately needs.

With his fine technical ability and final third movement he is someone very suited to complement Wesley Sneijder the new Inter centerpiece, as well as strikers Milito and Eto'o, both unlike Ibrahimvic dependent on good short passing surrounding them.

Position-wise Pandev can do a good job in all the attacking midfield positions as well as be more of a second striker. He also has a good work rate and will defend his position.

Unlike previously for Lazio and I assume unlike when he represents his country Macedonia, for Inter he is very much a tactical role player mainly present to the benefit of the even more skilled on the team, and as a result of that he might not shine as brightly there, but he has just enough skill, just enough pace, hard work and cleverness to make Mourinho prefer his contribution over for an example immensely talented Mario Balotelli. Even with Balotelli still being a total headcase often ruining his own cause, that is an achievement in itself.

127:

Rafael Marquez

Barcelona

Central defender/Midfielder - Mexico



The Mexico captain and icon (and not least U.S soccer fans number one heel) has been an excellent player for something like 10 years now and in a number of those previous years, as well as even last season, would have ranked higher.
Perhaps even much higher considering his ability in two different positions which in many ways is what saves him some spots still.
Because this season much of his central defender play has been shocking and full of mistakes and with a seemingly lack of focus often resulting in bad decisions.

I suppose he is someone who could always lose his cool but more than that this looks to me like a classic case of a player when he starts losing some of his athletic ability, mainly pace (not a strong point to begin with), isn't adjusting well and still tries to do what he can't quite do any longer, resulting in at times bad timing both when it comes to positioning and tackling.
Crucial stuff for a defensive player and normal Marquez strong points along with his very good, not least for a central defender, technical ability.
Ability over the years enabling him to also do well in midfield.

His range of passing especially, has always been very impressive and he has to be one of the best defenders in the world at that making him a great fit for the way Barcelona plays where any defender with below par technique could mess up that all important passing fluidity.

Since he was never the fastest or strongest in the first place and it's not really what his game has relied on over the years, losing some athleticism shouldn't have as many bad consequences as it has looked like it really did this season for Marquez, so I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't just early stages or decline panic and that Marquez sooner rather than later will adjust (cut down on the mistakes) and with all the non athletic class still intact, enjoy quite a few more years at a high level.

All in all though the defensive parts of his central defender play lately just hasn't been good enough to justify a much higher ranking.

126:

Nigel De Jong

Manchester City

Defensive midfielder - Netherlands



A pure defensive midfielder who doesn't offer much at all in attack.

I've noticed I've used the term two-way player quite a lot when describing various midfielders, well here finally is someone I can call a one-way player!

De Jong has one of the best work rates of everyone and his athleticism gives him good ball winning ability.

Importantly his short passing game is secure and he has good tactical movement consistently defending his position throughout a game.

He'll be a key player in Roberto Mancini's likely project of installing better defensive discipline or balance into what's mostly been a wild Manchester City side and also at the World Cup for Holland De Jong's defensive contributions will be vital playing behind plenty of attacking talent.

125:

Grafite

Wolfsburg

Striker - Brazil




The above goal wasn't only goal of the year in Germany it became kind a symbol or exclamation of Wolfsburg's incredible title run last season and the travesty that was Klinsmann's Bayern team. One team Wolfsburg had a great attack providing endless highlights. The other Bayern a defense that provided holes to whoever their opponents.

Now to be fair it should be said that in reality just about every Bundesliga defense was kind of like that last season as the league quite simply exploded with goals and attacking play.

But it was Wolfsburg through the brilliant trio of Misimovic, Dzeko and Grafite who was the best attacking team of all and provided goals galore with none less that 80 in all.

Grafite himself became league top scorer with 28, his partner Dzeko had 26 and playmaker Misimovic provided an incredible 20 assists

This season compared to all of that has been a disaster and while both Dzeko and Misimovic generally have shown good form on what's an incredibly inconsistent Felix Magath-less team, Grafite has really seen his form plummet and that he kind of came out of nowhere (or journey man career) at an advanced age to begin with could suggest a much lower ranking would be more correct.

Still, while Grafite will probably never reproduce anything like we saw last season and given that he is 31 would no doubt continue to drop in the rankings if indeed this list did become neverending (more than it is already!)he is still an impressive looking striker with excellent tools worthy I think of a spot.

His great strength (or should I say power) technique combination made him almost impossible to stop last season, isolated 1on1 with a defender it was impossible, and even when struggling this season it's something that still gives him 1 goal about every other game and from what I can see this effective skill combination of his looks as good as intact.

124:

Pablo Hernandez

Valencia

Winger - Spain



25 year old Pablo actually had his breakthrough a couple of seasons ago for Getafe and was even a contender for Spain's EURO 2008 squad, but following that when he came back to Valencia last season, where he had originally been a youth product, the right wing was still occupied by (mostly former) star Joaquin and Pablo saw limited playing time.

This season however Pablo impressively has managed to reverse those roles and it's him who is the first choice right winger at Valencia and in the process even winning a few hotly contested Spain caps.

Pablo is in many ways a typical wing, who unlike for an example even more talented teammates Juan Mata and not least David Silva, it is hard to see really excel more central in tighter space.
While he is a good dribbler he is not David Silva good and his pace is best used when there is space to exploit on the wing. He is far from a Theo Walcott though and is a much more complete player with plenty of excellent technical skills to use whenever he gets the ball. His first touch especially is exquisite.

Without the ball he is actually a hard working player who can pull his weight defensively, really valuably for a skillful winger I think, and that little bit of more robustness in his game plus the seemingly very common theme for Spanish skill players of very good team work, make him for the time being more complete than his younger maybe even more talented winger rivals, and is what has him ahead of the pack so far.

My one concern about him would be consistency. He started this season very well and I was ready to place him even higher but being very good every single game has lately turned into something like being good every other game and with some really bad performances also thrown in, actually opening a little door for some more playing time for Joaquin.

123:

Daniel Guiza

Fenerbahce

Striker - Spain


Guiza has been Spain's third choice striker (with a big gap to the obvious two) for quite a few years now but is hard to rank because for the second season running he plays his football for Turkish giants Fenerbahce where I have close to zero idea how he is currently doing.

His numbers alone of 16 goals last season and 16 so far this one I suppose look decent enough but perhaps to Fenerbahce fans quite the contrary and very disappointing if you consider Guiza joined them as the reigning top scorer in La Liga.

Anyway, without seeing him and the team in action they're not worth much standing alone and could have to do with all sorts of things depending on his role on what kind of team, their tactics and style.

Guiza is a hard working striker who is probably best with another striker or forward he can work together with. Complement and vise versa. I don't know if he has quite enough individual quality (physical or technical) to play alone up front and be an integral part of a really good attack.

However he does have just enough size and strength to be a threat in and around the box and also just enough acceleration in order to in typical good striker fashion be able to make good runs between defenders seeking passes from behind. I wouldn't say either of those departments are elite or anything but nonetheless it's a good combination to possess.

A Guiza specialty worth noting is his chipping ability, so goalkeepers be careful to step too far out or you gonna get chipped!

It does look like Guiza will make the Spain World Cup squad but I do think he has been surpassed as the third striker option by someone still to come and I would also think the earlier ranked Llorente with the size and strength he could bring should be a tempting option to at least have in your attacking arsenal.

122:

Ramires

Benfica

Midfielder/Winger



From one tough player to rank to the next!

First time I saw Ramires for Brazil I noticed what you usually notice about Brazilian players, some nice technical skills.

Then I was impressed by his running and how it looked like he fulfilled his defensive duties on the Brazil right wing quite well. There was definitely stamina and plenty of raw athleticism as well.

In the meantime Ramires made the move to European football joining Benfica and as the hype surrounding that team and its success started spreading, with Ramires a part of that (though a smaller part than teammate Di Maria), I was pretty sure Ramires had to make the list.

Not hurting either is my growing suspicion that roughly speaking it's Ramirez physique that Dunga will prefer for the World Cup over Elano's technique for the starting Brazil right central midfielder spot, but we shall see.

Less encouraging was when I watched Ramires against Liverpool over a couple of games where he didn't really impress in either of the two.

The work rate was definitely there but the technical skills didn't look as good as my earlier impression and not all that much dynamic play came from him either.

Still the suspicion of a very good player is just too strong. I've seen physical and technical ability. Two-way play and the impressive versatility meaning he can play different midfield roles.