How he's been better The whole season when Falcao was the top goalscorer??? The only moment Aboubakar was able to surpass Falcao was when this last month that he's been injured. Also to think he's below par, thats just your opinion; the facts says otherwise... Now if you want to say he's not the same from Atletico, obviously he's been adapting to the team and the league and still that didnt prevent him to top the goalscorer table.
Therefore, if Everton are performing above expectations (currently 2pts behind league leaders) then does that not translate to ---- certain players are performing extremely well and should be looked at being discussed for inclusion in this thread? Similarly if Spurs are currently under performing that would suggest that some Spurs players are performing below standard and this should be taken into account against their possible inclusion in this thread.
This though is really about absolutes. So it's not that player X is performing above expectations, but what level is player X at? If player X is expected to be a 6/10 and he plays at 7/10 I wouldn't rate him ahead of player Y who I expect to be 9/10 but is actually playing at 8/10. Hope that makes sense. Essentially, yes Everton are doing well, no question but they're not doing that well. They're doing really well relative to expectations rather than in absolute terms. Another key factor in doing this is timing. If Arsenal lose tonight they're 4th. A couple of weeks ago they were being touted as one of the best teams in Europe. Liverpool are top today but in 2 games time Spurs (supposedly doing disastrously) could be level on points with them.
Season-long Aboubakar was better. Falcao's top form came in August/September, while Aboubakar's came in October-December. Overall Aboubakar has had the slightly better season (even look at Whoscored season ratings to confirm) and is better in almost every possible stat (including e.g. finishing). As to Falcao being below par: Again, take a look at Whoscored ratings, where Falcao has been rated as average in most games since October. BTW: Aboubakar just moved to Lorient as well, so your 'adapting to the team' argument is even more meaningless. Fact is that no matter how you look at it Aboubakar has been at worst as good as Falcao. So either name both players or omit both. No one is claiming that Falcao is poor, I'm just saying that the initial list has PSG/Monaco/big name bias, when it comes to Ligue 1. As someone who watches Ligue 1 regularly Falcao has not been the shining star some people claim he has been.
Yes. I appreciate what you're saying. At the end of the day we're asking for a nominated list of the best players for a calendar year, of which this season so far is less than half of that. However, I think it can be seen that certain players are performing extremely well and look to have improved their game (Seamus Coleman) whereas other players are struggling to lift their games to anywhere near the standard expected (Roberto Soldado) and this should be reflected in a thread such as this. Martinez prefers his FB's to get forward more. This season Coleman is far more a wing back than a traditional fullback which suits him and is playing to his strengths. But this is part and parcel of football. It stands to reason that you're going to get the best out of someone if you play to their strengths and allow them to show that in their work. Nevertheless it all equates as to how well that player is performing in the eyes of the general public throughout the course of the season.
I agree, Coleman should be included. Has been playing well, including his goal yesterday. With Everton though I think the popular feeling is that everyone has been playing well. On MOTD2 extra yesterday they were talking about Everton players doing well and mentioned Howard, Coleman, Baines, Distin, Jagielka, Barry, Barkley, McCarthy, Deulofeu, Mirallas and Lukaku. Basically the entire team except Pienaar and Osman. Now I think comparatively Newcastle have been playing very well also (compared witn expectations/last season), but I haven't seen so much said about them.
Totally agree that the above list of Everton players is way off. Although I do think a nod should go to Howard, Barkley and possibly Jagielka as well as Coleman. As for Newcastle Debouchy is the obvious choice for consideration although I would still rate Coleman as above him at this minute in time. Cabaye has came on to a game after a sluggish start but Tiote also deserves consideration. He's gone back to what he does best and is looking every inch the midfield destroyer he was in his first season up in the north east.
Tim Krul has been excellent in goal for them, but I think a lot of their success has been down to the work rate of Sissoko and Gouffran coupled with Tiote and Cabaye. They're not flashy players, but they never seem to stop.
You can bring all the ratings that you want but reality is that Falcao has been ahead of Aboubakar for 14 games, while Aboubakar has been only for 6 games, not even half the games and those were the games Falcao got injured... Yet for some reazon you think he's been better. You can even look at it from this perspective, Falcao had 7 games without scoring while Aboubakar had 9 games... And the fact that Falcao is new to the league i didn't used as a excuse, I said he was the top goalscorer even being new to the league, thing that Aboubakar haven't managed to do...
From Liverpool, I'd include... Suarez - FW Sturridge - ST Mignolet - GK (He's saved points on numerous occasions and get far less credit than he deserves.) No more or less. Henderson, Gerrard, and Coutinho have been too inconsistent to be mentioned as top players.
Look, everyone who watches the Ligue 1 agrees with me. Aboubakar does it for a lesser club, which is always harder. The stats agree with me (higher shot accuracy, higher conversion rate, more dribbles, more key passes per game, everything apart from passing average). Even Whoscored agrees with me. You basically have no argument, just pure Colombian fanboyism, getting all riled up just because someone dared question your darling. It all good what you say, but Falcao has scored 2 goals in the last 9 games, while Aboubakar scored 8 goals in the last 10 games. Face it: Falcao has 9 goals (including 2 penalties) and 0 assists. Aboubakar has 11 goals (including 1 penalty) and 2 assists. Falcao has scored 0,66 GPG, while Aboubakar 0,61 GPG. If we exclude penalties Falcao has 0,51 GPG, while Aboubakar 0,55 GPG. The differences are marginal, and if anything they go Aboubakar's way.
Forgot about Krul. It seems to have been a very good year for GK's in the premiership (other than Joe Hart ironically) so far. Always thought Krul had the potential to be a top class keeper from seeing him back in the early stages of his career on loan to Falkirk.
"everyone who watches the Ligue 1 agrees with me" its not even an argument... I can basically say the same thing, all Colombians right now are watching Ligue 1 and they will agree with me and probably Monaco fans... Arguments are based on facts not opinions. The stats don't agree with you, because the stats says that Falcao has been ahead than Aboubakar for 14 games while Aboubakar has been ahead than Falcao in just 6 games and 4 of those games Falcao has been injured... and your inital argument was Aboubakar has been better this season than him. How he's been better this season when Falcao was ahead in goals than Aboubakar for more than double the games and Aboubakar just managed to pass him when he was injured for a whole month. Those are the real stats. Also we are not arguing who is the most complete forward, Falcao is known for his goalscoring ability, not if he can dribble more, make more key passes etc etc, thats why he is in the Striker category not in the foward category. now you say i have not argument, yet you say this??? how im getting all rilled up, Im defending my point just like you are defending yours, you dont have to get all defensive with me because i dont agree with you. Apparently the one getting all riled up in here is you look how you bend the information to your benefit you bring the last games argument but your main argument is Aboubakar has been better this season than him yet you compare Falcao and only count the last 9 games (which btw he scored 4 goals in his last 9 games not 2) up to now there has been 19 games and until game 14 Aboubakar started showing great form wich made him surpass falcao, we are talking about the last 6 games, while Falcao has been ahead of Aboubakar for 13 games and the rest he's been injured (thats more than double the games yet you insist in the whole season). Also i can bring the argument that is not fair to bring Aboubakar stats after game 14 because Falcao has been injured since. But thats me disregarding the fact that Aboubakar has been amazing since game 14, we are talking about 6 goals in 6 games wich is higher than Cavani and just 1 less goal than Ibra. You can totally say he's been better than Falcao since game 14 which is about a month and a half but not before and deff not the best the whole season specially when Falcao has been ahead for about 13 games while Aboubakar for 6
Do you fail to notice how absurd the argument is? Falcao had a great start to the season, Aboubakar started slowly. Of course he had to play catchup... Aboubakar has slightly better finishing stats than Falcao. Touche. But 2 in the last 8. This was to show Falcao has a recent drop in form, while Aboubakar has been excelling. Falcao drop in form is the last 8 games, Aboubakar rise in form the last 10. No. Falcao had a better August and September. Aboubakar had a better October and November. He's been playing better than Falcao since the 9th/10th game of the season, despite playing for an inferior squad. If you want objective data: Whoscored stats: Aboubakar: season average rating 7,05, GSO conversion rate: 22%, percentage of team goals: 42% Falcao: season average rating 6,94, GSO conversion rate 21%, percentage of team goals: 29%
One last thing: If there is any player from Russia that deserves to be on this list its Seydou Doumbia. 11 goals in 780 minutes of gametime (out due to injury). Whenever fit Doumbia is by far the best attacking player in the league. Messi gets excused though injury, so why shouldn't Doumbia?
the argument is not absurd, because even though Aboubakar surpass Falcao in goals at game 17, I said he's been better than Falcao since game 14, thats where he actually show better from. Before that he had 2 goals in 7 games wich was the same as Falcao but Falcao had the better start of season of the two. Before saying my argument is absurd, actually take time to read my arguments... he rise in form in the last 6 games (game 14 to game 19) because before that he scored 2 in 7 games just as much as Falcao for those games.... and like I said before 6 games is not the whole season which is what you argue you do realize that rating is based on opinion and when we are talking about 1.1% of difference is saying they are about the same.... For the conversion rate is also 1% of difference and you are getting that number by taking the # of shots... because a player shots more than another that doesnt necesarily means that the one with less shots has better finishing. Like I said before there is not an indication that Aboubakar has a better season than Falcao... he just starting playing better for the last 6 games... thats about 2 months coincidentally with the days Falcao has been injured....
Philipp Lahm isn't a central midfielder. He's still a registrated fullback. He often plays as a holding midfielder this season, but not central. If even, he should at least be the section Defensive midfielders. But that's still unofficial.
I have been thinking about it for a little while and I think that if you want to rate Koscielny you need to have Mertesacker at the same level. He has been more consistent and has not missed any time. He has not had as many eye catching performances but he is brain fart free and plays every game.
If you're going with Montero there you'll have to go with William Carvalho too. He's been the best player in the portuguese league so far.
Suarez, C. Ronaldo, Diego Costa, Fernandinho, Hazard recently, William Carvalho (Huge revelation), Ibra for PSG has been huge too.