top five players

[Hendrixforpope]

Both of you are including the summer and pre-season? Hilarious.

He played at the Olympics over the summer you know (in which he outshined Aguero) :rolleyes:

[Moishe]

Only the op 3 or so were in order.



Strongly disagree here Moishe. I've watched every Barca match this season and Messi and Xavi have been Barca's most important players so far. Between Messi and Xavi they have 14 assists and 11 goals in all competitions. That's 25 goals either scored or set up by those two players alone. In Messi's case it's 8 goals and 7 assists in 10 matches.

Messi's form has been ridiculous and better than Aguero so far this season. And even a bit further back is we want to include the Olympics where Aguero was mediocre and Messi shined.

If were going on last season alone then yes Aguero had a better season overall than Messi. But Messi was injured a lot so it's not a completely fair to compare them.



You know I'm a huge fan of Aguero and right now there's probably no team in La Liga that depends on someone as much as Atletico depends on Aguero but Messi is simply a more dangerous player and creatively he's better.

Of course there's the injury problem so we'll have to see what happens.

Dr. Know expressed my same feelings much better than I could have myself. :D

I've got no problem with Dr's post. I do admit though that I didn't factor stats as I believe they can sometimes be deceiving or manipulated but those combined numbers are pretty impressive. I also have a tendency to look at supporting casts which can make some players jobs easier while others harder. Oh well opinions are opinions and I've got some major drinking to do, it appears Maradona will be our coach:eek:

[Teso Dos Bichos]

He played at the Olympics over the summer you know (in which he outshined Aguero) :rolleyes:

What a stunning level of play.

[phil80]

Both of you are including the summer and pre-season? Hilarious.
It's injuries in general you were so foolishly complaining about, not injuries against top competition.

[KumarsS]

Xavi would be one of my main choices. His form right now is ridiculous. He's easily one of the top 5 best midfielders in the world right now.

1) Messi
2) Casillas
3) Xavi
4) Villa
5) Senna
6) Iniesta
7) Cazorla
8) Eto'o
9) Sneijder
10) Ruud
11) Aguero

No wonder all of these strikers and attacking mids look so impressive, there isn't a single defender in La Liga worthy of a mention in the top 10 :rolleyes:

[gmonn]

No wonder all of these strikers and attacking mids look so impressive, there isn't a single defender in La Liga worthy of a mention in the top 10 :rolleyes:

And in the Euros? :)

[erick]

No wonder all of these strikers and attacking mids look so impressive, there isn't a single defender in La Liga worthy of a mention in the top 10 :rolleyes:

puyol...marquez...cannavaro.....alves

[Dr. Know]

No wonder all of these strikers and attacking mids look so impressive, there isn't a single defender in La Liga worthy of a mention in the top 10 :rolleyes:

It's hard to include them though since the attacking talent in La Liga is so great. 3 of the top 5 strikers in the world imo are in la Liga (Eto'o, Villa, and Ruud). Same applies to midfielders.

Anyway if I had to include defenders based on performance so far this season from what I've seen I'd have Marquez, Capdevila, Gonzalo, and probably Bruno.

[erick]

It's hard to include them though since the attacking talent in La Liga is so great. 3 of the top 5 strikers in the world imo are in la Liga (Eto'o, Villa, and Ruud). Same applies to midfielders.

Anyway if I had to include defenders based on performance so far this season from what I've seen I'd have Marquez, Capdevila, Gonzalo, and probably Bruno.

rep for that :D

[Teso Dos Bichos]

It's injuries in general you were so foolishly complaining about, not injuries against top competition.

Yet you were happy to include the summer (even when he was not playing), a minor tournament and then pre-season. His injury issues are the result of his body not being able to cope with playing football over a prolonged period of time. It is why he has never made it through a full season to date. You claim of 6+ months remains dishonest because he has not been playing 6+ months of football.

No wonder all of these strikers and attacking mids look so impressive, there isn't a single defender in La Liga worthy of a mention in the top 10 :rolleyes:

Indeed. There are a few kicking around but creative players love La Liga for a reason...

puyol...marquez...cannavaro.....alves

If that is the standard then I'm frankly not surprised...

[phil80]

I am including whatever games there are from mid April til now, as that is what I posted originally, proving my point he has done well with injuries in the past 6+ months (and that is on top of his form, which for the last few months have not been matched by any other player). I would look up stats to how many games he's played during that stretch but even then it wouldnt matter because logic and reason holds no weight in your arguement.

[KumarsS]

It's hard to include them though since the attacking talent in La Liga is so great. 3 of the top 5 strikers in the world imo are in la Liga (Eto'o, Villa, and Ruud). Same applies to midfielders.

Anyway if I had to include defenders based on performance so far this season from what I've seen I'd have Marquez, Capdevila, Gonzalo, and probably Bruno.

I'm a big fan of Capdevila, I think he's one of the 5 best fullbacks in the world right now. Marquez might not make it into my La Liga top 10 but clearly there are indeed defenders in La Liga who deserve a shout - no matter how many different forwards are exposing Sergio Ramos at any given time.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

I am including whatever games there are from mid April til now, as that is what I posted originally, proving my point he has done well with injuries in the past 6+ months (and that is on top of his form, which for the last few months have not been matched by any other player). I would look up stats to how many games he's played during that stretch but even then it wouldnt matter because logic and reason holds no weight in your arguement.

You are being dishonest by doing so.

[Dr. Know]

I'm a big fan of Capdevila, I think he's one of the 5 best fullbacks in the world right now. Marquez might not make it into my La Liga top 10 but clearly there are indeed defenders in La Liga who deserve a shout - no matter how many different forwards are exposing Sergio Ramos at any given time.

Marquez was mediocre for the past couple of seasons. He suffered a dip in form but this season he's back to his best. He's been Barca's best defender so far imo.

Capdevila is great and definitely underrated. He has a knack for scoring some great goals. I guess I could add him to my list instead of Cazorla but Cazorla has been playing very well for a while now. He's also underrated as is Gonzalo (who I believe should be starting CB for Argentina along with Demi) yet another Villarreal player. They didn't make it to second place last season in La Liga for no reason. They have some good players that might not be superstars but work well as a team.

[erick]

Marquez was mediocre for the past couple of seasons. He suffered a dip in form but this season he's back to his best. He's been Barca's best defender so far imo.
.

last year he didnt play that good but he played good the seasons before

[ChelseaForTheCup(s)]

Marquez isn't and never was anything special.

[KumarsS]

Marquez isn't and never was anything special.

If so, neither is anyone else in the Barca backline, because he's the best defender they've got.

[Hendrixforpope]

If so, neither is anyone else in the Barca backline, because he's the best defender they've got.

Agreed. Barca's defensive strength doesn't come from individual skill, rather, it comes from everyone working together as a collective unit.

[erick]

If so, neither is anyone else in the Barca backline, because he's the best defender they've got.

rep :D

[phil80]

top 5 this season

messi, ibra, xavi, etoo, ribery
honorable mentions: iniesta, lampard, maicon, rooney, de rossi, del piero, and ronaldinho