At the half-way point of the season I made the following list of the best players of the campaign so far. Come the end of 2011/12 I'll update it fully. Who has impressed you? Who should come in/go out? Who needs their rating revised? Goalkeepers Samir Handanovic (Udinese and Slovenia) ** Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany) ** Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy) ** Salvatore Sirigu (Paris Saint-Germain and Italy) ** Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Borussia Moenchenglabach and Germany) * Michel Vorm (Swansea and Holland) * Victor Valdes (Barcelona and Spain) * Joe Hart (Manchester City and England) * Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany) * Roberto (Granada and Spain) * Tim Krul (Newcastle United and Holland) * Alexis Thebaux (Caen and France) * Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain) * Artur (Benfica and Brazil) * Javi Varas (Sevilla and Spain) * Full-backs Dani Alves (Barcelona and Brazil) *** Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich and Germany) ** Marcelo (Real Madrid and Brazil) ** Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus and Italy) ** Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur and England) * Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus and Switzerland) * Lukasz Piszczek (Borrusia Dortmund and Poland) * Micah Richards (Manchester City and England) * Mathieu Debuchy (Lille and France) * Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund and Germany) * Jordi Alba (Valencia and Spain) * Yuto Nagatomo (Internazionale and Japan) * Henri Bedimo (Montpellier and Cameroon) * Jose Enrique (Liverpool and Spain) * Christian Fuchs (Schalke and Austria) * Centre-backs Thiago Silva (AC Milan and Brazil) *** Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund and Germany) *** Vincent Kompany (Manchester City and Belgium) *** Lucio (Internazionale and Brazil) ** Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur and England) ** Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich and Belgium) ** Javier Mascherano (Barcelona and Argentina) ** Andrea Barzagli (Juventus and Italy) ** Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain) * Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich and Germany) * Joleon Lescott (Manchester City and England) * Mehdi Benatia (Udinese and Morocco) * Adil Rami (Valencia and France) * Hugo Campagnaro (Napoli and Argentina) * Jonathan Zebina (Brest and France) * Sergio Ballesteros (Levante and Spain) * Nicolas N’Koulou (Marseille and Cameroon) * Dante (Borussia Moenchengladbach and Brazil) * Javi Martinez (Atletic Bilbao and Spain) * Ezequiel Garay (Benfica and Argentina) * Jan Vertonghen (Ajax and Belgium) * Defensive Midfielders Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur and England) ** Daniele De Rossi (Roma and Italy) ** Sergio Busquets (Barcelona and Spain) ** Jeremy Toulalan (Malaga and France) * Lucas Leiva (Liverpool and Brazil) * Alex Song (Arsenal and Cameroon) * Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund and Germany) * Phil Jones (Manchester United and England) * Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany) * Central Midfielders Xavi (Barcelona and Spain) *** Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich and Germany) *** Andrea Pirlo (Juventus and Italy) ** Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur and Croatia) ** Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid and Spain) ** Claudio Marchisio (Juventus and Italy) * Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast) * Gokhan Inler (Napoli and Switzerland) * Rasmus Elm (AZ Alkmaar and Sweden) * Yoann Cabaye (Newcastle United and France) * Antonio Nocerino (AC Milan and Italy) * Alain Traore (Auxerre and Burkina Faso) * Stijn Schaars (Sporting Lisbon and Holland) * Attacking Midfielders David Silva (Manchester City and Spain) *** Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona and Spain) *** Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich and Germany) ** Mario Goetze (Borussia Dortmund and Germany) * Miralem Pjanic (Roma and Bosnia and Herzegovina) * Kevin-Prince Boateng (AC Milan and Ghana) * Christian Eriksen (Ajax and Denmark) * Mikel Arteta (Arsenal and Spain) * Andre Ayew (Marseille and Ghana) * Pablo Aimar (Benfica and Argentina) * Andres Iniesta (Barcelona and Spain) * Rafael Van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur and Holland) * Frank Lampard (Chelsea and England) * Javier Pastore (Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina) * Wingers Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich and France) *** Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur and Wales) ** Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid and Argentina) ** Eden Hazard (Lille and Belgium) * Juan Mata (Chelsea and Spain) * Dries Mertens (PSV Eindhoven and Belgium) * Nani (Manchester United and Portugal) * Santi Cazorla (Malaga and Spain) * Nene (Paris-Saint Germain and Brazil) * Juan Arango (Borussia Moenchengladbach and Venezuela) * Cedric Barbosa (Evian and France) * Jonathan Biabiany (Parma and France) * Arda Turan (Atletico Madrid and Turkey) * Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille and France) * Alessio Cerci (Fiorentina and Italy) * Forwards Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina) *** Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal) *** Wayne Rooney (Manchester United and England) *** Marco Reus (Borussia Moenchengladbach and Germany) *** Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina and Montenegro) ** Raul (Schalke and Spain) * Hulk (Porto and Brazil) * Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea and England) * Luis Suarez (Liverpool and Uruguay) * Andriy Voronin (Dynamo Moscow and Ukraine) * Maxi Moralez (Atalanta and Argentina) * Strikers Robin Van Persie (Arsenal and Holland) *** Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich and Germany) *** Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan and Sweden) *** Edinson Cavani (Napoli and Uruguay) ** Roberto Soldado (Valencia and Spain) ** Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow and Ivory Coast) ** Demba Ba (Newcastle United and Senegal) * Klaas Jan-Huntelaar (Schalke and Holland) * Olivier Giroud (Montpellier and France) * Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen and Peru) * Lukas Podolski (Cologne and Germany) * Antonio Di Natale (Udinese and Italy) * Yakubu (Blackburn Rovers and Nigeria) * Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund and Poland) * German Denis (Atalanta and Argentina) * Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid and Argentina) * Alexander Frei (Basel and Switzerland) * Sergio Aguero (Manchester City and Argentina) * Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and France) * Jeremy Perbet (Mons and France) *
It's difficult without watching a lot of games but I'd suggest Mesut Ozil (not completely sure which category he should belong to for this season either). And actually I wonder whether Kaka has shown enough in the latter part of the season to get a * mention too. It might be worth looking into how Newcastle's Cisse was doing before he signed for them as he seems like a shoe-in based on his time on Tyneside. Those are my initial ideas and I'll return if I have any more brainwaves.
Based on the end of the season and comparing his big-game performances to previous years I could see Xavi being knocked down to a ** perhaps (I think he's scored a lot of goals this season though hasn't he? - Think a TV commentator said so but haven't checked his total on Wikipedia or a more official source today).
If you have Benfica's Artur in there you should also have Sporting's Rui Patrício, imo, the best goalkeeper in Portugal this season.
Well out of Bundesliga I think you missed David Alaba and Shinji Kagawa and Xherdan Shaqiri from Basel
He isn't even better than Jerome Boateng and for sure not a ** , also Badstuber should be at least **. Also I don't see Falcao or Szczęsny in the list
Plays more CB than FB, and although he has been better than last year is not worthy of a two star performance here. DDR has not been on as much as normal for him, * maybe. Song has been absolutely vital to Arsenal's resergence and has served brilliant balls for RVP in addition to his defensive duties. ** for sure. Bale, like Tottenham's season of late, has been getting burned. He has had good patches but ** for him is a stretch imho. Hazard continues to be amazing, and Chelsea's season would have been far worse than it has been without him. He has been amazing. Both deserving of ** Seriously?? Sturridge has been crap of late and can't buy a game, and Suarez has singlehandedly been the poster boy of the abortion that is Liverpool's season. Those are just a few of the most glaring issues with your list that caught my eye. Also, I am sure that there are others who were not listed who could have a beef but there are three glaring ommissions that catch my eye right off the bat - Tim Howard gk - Everton/USA only three PL teams have given up fewer goals than Everton. Howard has been a rock like normal in an up and down season this year for Everton. Arturo Vidal - dm/cm - Juve/Chile - He has probably been Juve's best or at least most consistent player this season. Great in the tackle, a tireless engine, some both vital and beautiful goals ... the biggest, most glaring miss from the list he is ** at least on your scale. Clint Dempsey - forward/wing/whatever - fulham/USA - 16 goals in the premier league, 20+ overall, he has had a massive season and is extremely deserving of mention just as he is now being courted by many bigger clubs.
Phil jones doesn't belong anywhere near that list. Jonny Evans does however. He has been great the second half of the season. After a shak start, de gea has been great since early february. Michael carrick has been immense since november as well. Easily our player of the season. Top 3 dm in the game.
Dempsey has been mentioned, but I'd certainly agree with his inclusion with his form in the second half of the season very impressive. Another from the Premier League whose performances might be worth a * but is a similar case to Cisse in terms of arriving mid-way (so I'd understand if the criteria excludes him especially if he wasn't playing much in Germany - I haven't looked into that either) is Gyulfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City. EDIT I'd probably go with attacking midfielder for Dempsey personally, but I'm sure comme's well aware of his displays being English too and would choose a suitable role if he does decide to include him.
Goalkeepers Sven Ulreich* Full-backs Tony Jantschke** Center-midfielders Lars Bender** Attacking-midfielders Shinji Kagawa*** Wingers Arjen Robben** (his game to goal ratio is phenomenal) Forwards Martin Harnik *
I will give this more thought later on, but for now I'll say that Papisse Cisse and Carrick should be added as ** players. Pienaar, Siggurdsson and Jelevic perhaps * players. I would downgrade Alonso and drop Van der Vaart entirely. Balotelli is an idiot, but he should be there ahead of some players on the list. Just off the top of my head.
I also feel that three stars for Rooney and Reus, esp. the latter one, is too much. Lahm might receive an upgrade just as Mata. I'm less fond of Di Maria - doesn't impress me at all.
Rankings are always a bit tricky, I see that Roel Brouwers is among the top 10 in the kicker-rankings which seems a bit surreal to me. But anyway, these are the top players in the two most important lists over here. 1 Sno RKC Waalwijk 6,54 25 Middenveld 2 Rasmus Elm AZ 6,53 24 Middenveld 3 Guidetti Feyenoord 6,52 20 Aanval 4 El Ahmadi Feyenoord 6,51 27 Middenveld 5 Clasie Feyenoord 6,51 20 Middenveld 6 Luuk de Jong FC Twente 6,43 21 Aanval 7 Vormer Roda JC Kerkrade 6,40 24 Middenveld 8 Alderweireld Ajax 6,40 23 Verdediging 9 Zoet RKC Waalwijk 6,34 21 Doel 10 Mihaylov FC Twente 6,34 23 Doel 11 Vertonghen Ajax 6,34 25 Verdediging 12 Assaidi SC Heerenveen 6,33 23 Aanval 13 Duarte Heracles Almelo 6,30 21 Middenveld 14 Velthuizen Vitesse 6,29 25 Doel 15 Viergever AZ 6,29 22 Verdediging 16 Gentenaar VVV-Venlo 6,27 36 Doel 17 Strootman PSV 6,25 22 Middenveld 18 Douglas FC Twente 6,25 24 Verdediging 19 Asare FC Utrecht 6,23 25 Middenveld 20 Ola John FC Twente 6,23 20 Aanval This list is from before last round - in the new list Clasie is on place two. So it changes a bit and the differences aren't that big. This is of 'Voetbal International', the primary football magazine. This is the second list: 1. Vertonghen (Ajax) 194.5 2. Clasie (Feyenoord) 190 3. Eriksen (Ajax) 188.5 4. Mertens (PSV) 186.5 5. Elm (AZ) 186 6. El Ahmadi (Feyenoord) 185.5 7. Ten Rouwelaar (NAC) 184.5 8. De Jong (FC Twente) 184 Dost (SC Heerenveen) 184 10. Djuricic (SC Heerenveen) 183 11. Zoet (RKC Waalwijk) 182.5 12. Tadic (FC Groningen) 182 13. Narsingh (SC Heerenveen) 181.5 Pasveer (Heracles Almelo) 181.5 15. Vlaar (Feyenoord) 181 16. Poulsen (AZ) 180.5 17. Vermeer (Ajax) 180 18. Elm (SC Heerenveen) 179 Douglas (FC Twente) 179 20. Wijnaldum (PSV) 178.5 Kashia (Vitesse) 178.5 22. Gouweleeuw (SC Heerenveen) 177.5 Schöne (NEC) 177.5 24. Mulder (Feyenoord) 177 25. Immers (ADO Den Haag) 176.5 Schilder (NAC) 176.5 John (FC Twente) 176.5 This list is used by 'De Telegraaf', the newspaper with the biggest circulation and with a heavy focus on football (read: Ajax ) The difference is inter alia the method - in the second list players are more heavily 'punished' if they miss a game (example: Guidetti).
This is what I answered a few months ago: The biggest change is the downfall of AZ, they made an obviously fatigued impression in the past few months. Also tricky is the obvious cultural bias of countries - 'pundits' in Holland have IMO a natural soft spot for players of the Clasie/Pirlo/Xavi type (that is why Jan Wouters became once 'footballer of the year', a bit different player but performed also some of the tasks of the players mentioned above; Cocu and Van Bommel are two other fine examples).
Also a question: What do you use to keep track of Russia? I see that Voronin was included among others.
A combination of World Soccer and twitter effectively. Not that it tells you a huge amount. Not too sure how Voronin has been since January.
Glanville arrived at Euro 84 late, having been following England on their tour of South America. As a result he only got to see him in the semi-final and final, where he thought he was disappointing. Clearly ridiculous but that was his reasoning.
The note of 'disappointing in the semi-final' might be true though, that is also what I've read before in vintage reports. I had the impression he played well (esp. vs Spain) - sometimes I have the feeling that the standards are nowadays a bit lower. Anyway, it is subjective of course. I disagree with Glanville in this case but disagree with your assessment that Germany72 comes the closest to 11 world class players.
