Best players of 18/19 season

Let's say it's more like my personal criteria.

 

Fair enough. Wasn't commenting on it's merit. Just wanted to know if you wrote it or took it from a different source.

 

What is the thinking behind this list? I dont understand a criteria

 

Hazard was amongst the top 3 best players in EPL last season. It was probably his best season at Chelsea as well

Also Gabriel Jesus was easily the second best player in Copa America. Watch his exploits against Argentina and Peru for more details

 

Alisson - Powerful season presence from a goalkeeper and praiseworthy it could be described as the best keeper performance since the Manuel Neuer 2014. He did his job fairly well in the top flight of English football but OVERALL he made a superb debut season for Liverpool, his second successive but far greater than last year with Roma (which was also a success). An equally important as Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane for Liverpool in the Champions League, hardly anyone can forget the SAVE OF THE SEASON (in terms of importance) at the point of no return he made a heroic crucial save to deny Arkadiusz Milik from scoring in the dying seconds helped Liverpool by defending a narrow lead against Napoli (direct competitor for qualify), that like a defining moment and helped pave the way for the giant club to conquered Europe once again. Solid performances generally depending on big amount of competitive appearances as he was playing this season for the biggest challengers side in both domestically and in Europe. In the most valued international tournament of the year, he won the best goalkeeper award at Copa America, kept an impressive five consecutive clean sheets and only conceding in the final.
Notable
***** NapoliH
**** TottenhamU, BarcelonaH, PSGA, NapoliA, UnitedA, WolvesH, EvertonH
*** PortoH, PortoA, PSGH, CityH, ChelseaA, ChelseaH, ArsenalH, WolvesA, PeruG, Paraguay, Argentina

Hakim Ziyech - A brilliantly technically gifted, came out on top over the course of the Champions League only bested by his fellow teammate the competition's most valuable player this season Dusan Tadic. One of the tournament's major stars, his campaign could be regarded as one of the most outstanding performances in the history of such tournaments, he was consistently excellent against the European giants, a constant menace who went toe to toe combat literally as nearly every opposition who turns up against the team in the competition, has only seen glimpses of his talent in the CL but he had an amazing work-rates and grades in the Dutch league against the better half of the table. Not physically anyways but skillful and versatile, a great engine and his role in the moves was superb, frequently can't finish some offensive plays or does difficult things but miss the final touch. The main responsible for Morocco's elimination from the Africa Cup.
Notable
***** GroningenH, CameroonH
**** TottenhamA, TottenhamH, JuventusH, JuventusA, MadridH, MadridA, BayernA, BayernH, BenficaH, AZH, VitesseA, VitesseH, UtrechtH, FeyenoordC, WillemIIC
*** BenficaA, AEKH, PSVH, FeyenoordH, FeyenoordA, UtrechtA, Namibia, Ivory Coast

Robert Lewandowski - Bundesliga icon and one of greatest strikers to have played in the German league, the most consistent player for much of this decade not named Messi and Ronaldo where he deserve credit for keep playing at top level but hardly had an average season in long term career. A highly prolific from any generation considering his records, he have made a history when it comes to the football competition in Germany as his goals tally places him fifth in the all-time highest goalscorer out of just nine seasons (goals per game). He had been largely impressive through the entire domestic season plus the CL group stage, there is also a number of true masterclass performances 'in between' listed as the top second this season behind Messi (even though mostly domestically). Led the line magnificently, both goal-scoring prowess and creating opportunities for teammates, almost the perfect season for any striker. Nevertheless, he showed his strength multiple times against top domestic opposition but failed his major task against a very high caliber team and a solid backline Liverpool, has finished the competition as the UEFA Champions League's second top scorer, the best player at DFB-Pokal & DFL-Supercup as well. His best season to date Individually.
Notable
***** BenficaA, BenficaH, AEKH, DortmundA, DortmundH, WolfsburgA, WolfsburgH, Heidenheim, LeipzigC, FrankfurtS
**** AjaxA, AEKA, MGladbachA, FrankfurtA, FrankfurtH, HoffenheimA, BremenC, Israel, ItalyA
*** LeipzigA, LeverkusenA, BremenH, HoffenheimH, DuesseldorfA, Latvia

Frenkie de Jong - A few of individuals of each decade can make it the global phenomenon level performer all season at the unusually young age. He was voted player of the year in the Eredivisie, but he had his greatest success in the CL, were he got everyone's attention and proved himself to be world class creative midfielder. A real force and one of key members who designed Ajax on achieving ultra-success playing some good football in the so competitive Champions League knockout stages. His huge breakout performance began in the latter stages as a difference-maker and helped change the complexion of the game, bringing back for some shade the days of the club's success since the mid-90s. One of the biggest influence behind Netherlands's run to the final at the Nations League also one of the two who played an important role with the team comeback against Germany's Euro qualifiers before losing at the last minute. Sensational season in all competitions, the only real criticism/observation that he played in a very low rating league but the other parts is too great otherwise like Ziyech he wouldn't have ranked this highly.
Notable
***** ADOA, England
**** TottenhamA, JuventusH, MadridA, BenficaH, PSVH, VitesseA, UtrechtH, FeyenoordC, WillemIIC, Belarus, FranceH
*** TottenhamH, JuventusA, BenficaA, AEKH, AEKA, FeyenoordH, VitesseH, UtrechtA, HeraclesHs, GroningenH, GroningenA, ADOH, Germany, GermanyHN, GermanyAN

Luis Suarez - Great season, one of his better seasons overall but nothing spectacular still doesn't look like the legendary and memorable 2015/2016 club season by comparison. At this season he showed his true worth and linked up well with everyone for the most part. Domestically had some lacklustre games but made up for it with the range of his impact in many other good/great matches including twice in El Clasico. At the Champions League thoroughly he was fantastic produced some of the best moments but the level of determination and aggression of his former club at Anfield was too much for him. His attacking partnership with Cavani easily was seen as the best at the Copa America starting from the group stage until the very last breath when he missed the decisive penalty that put Uruguay out of the tournament.
Notable
***** MadridH, SevillaH, MadridAC
**** LiverpoolH, LyonH, InterH, AtleticoH, EspanyolA, BetisA, SevillaHC, Ecuador, Japan
*** UnitedA, UnitedH, TottenhamA, InterA, PSVH, GetafeA, AthleticA, SociedadA


Overall

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
2. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Netherlands)
3. Sadio Mane (Liverpool and Senegal)
4. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City and Portugal)
5. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City and England)
6. Alisson (Liverpool and Brazil)
7. Hakim Ziyech (Ajax and Morocco)
8. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland)
9. Frenkie de Jong (Ajax and Netherlands)
10. Luis Suarez (Barcelona and Uruguay)
11. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal)
12. Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax and Netherlands)
13. Dusan Tadic (Ajax and Serbia)
14. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich and Germany)
15. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain and France)
16. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt)
17. Gerard Pique (Barcelona and Spain)
18. Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona and Croatia)
19. Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City and France)
20. Jordi Alba (Barcelona and Spain)
21. Daniel Parejo (Valencia and Spain)
22. Andrew Robertson (Liverpool and Scotland)
23. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool and Brazil)
24. Daley Blind (Ajax and Netherlands)
25. Angel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina)
26. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur and England)
27. Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli and Senegal)
28. Memphis Depay (Lyon and Netherlands)
29. Sergio Busquets (Barcelona and Spain)
30. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea)

Honorable Mention

Fernandinho
Christian Eriksen
Marco Verratti
Eden Hazard
Donny van de Beek
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Sergio Aguero
Georginio Wijnaldum
Nicolas Tagliafico
Karim Benzema

 

Marc-Andre ter Stegen - Most notably who could easily be right up there (if it was for club competition only) just drops out of the rankings due to zero appearances at international level which has hurt his image for the 2nd season in a row to be a yearly at the front of the headline.
By now, he and Jan Oblak are the goalkeepers role model whom performed extremely well and consistently on both the biggest stages La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.
Although he in particular the standout performer on numerous occasions for the past three years especially when he tested by the opposition that seemed dominant remain calm under pressure on a big occasion and produced significant record of memorable vital saves.

 

Special HM: Samir Handanovic
Remarkable consistency, ironically I had him on the list four times selecting between 11-15 in different domestic seasons, arguably one of the most underrated this era in terms of best players who never displayed on a far greater and wider stage except the 2010 World Cup (was excellent against England). In his best days, Inter were unable to qualify for Champions League a team hardly replete with stars, one of the very best in Serie A and among the world best goalkeepers of 2010s.

Should be a good example it's all about chances in playing for a great side/a member of the successful team in a great competition to stay connected otherwise might be overlooked in the conversation for the best players overall.

 

Best overall player in major competitions for the 2nd half of the decade from 2014/2015 to 2018/2019

Serie A: Lorenzo Insigne
1. Lorenzo Insigne 2. Gonzalo Higuain 3. Dries Mertens
Best performance: Gonzalo Higuain 2015/2016

Bundesliga: Robert Lewandowski
1. Robert Lewandowski 2. Mats Hummels 3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Best performance: Robert Lewandowski 2017/2018

Premier League: Eden Hazard
1. Eden Hazard 2. Harry Kane 3. N'Golo Kante
Best performance: Kevin De Bruyne 2017/2018

La Liga: Lionel Messi
1. Lionel Messi 2. Luis Suarez 3. Cristiano Ronaldo
Best performance: Lionel Messi 2014/2015

UEFA Champions League: Cristiano Ronaldo
1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Lionel Messi 3. Marcelo
Best performance: Cristiano Ronaldo 2016/2017

Copa America: Alexis Sanchez
1. Alexis Sanchez 2. Lionel Messi 3. Arturo Vidal
Best performance:-
2015: Lionel Messi vs Paraguay (Semi-final)
2016: Eduardo Vargas vs Mexico (Quarter-final)
2019: Dani Alves vs Argentina (Semi-final)

Euro 2016: Pepe
1. Pepe 2. Antoine Griezmann 3. Aaron Ramsey
Best performance: Pepe vs France (Final)

World Cup 2018: Luka Modric
1. Luka Modric 2. Eden Hazard 3. Antoine Griezmann
Best performance: Eden Hazard vs Brazil (Quarter-final)

Overall: Lionel Messi
1. Lionel Messi 2. Cristiano Ronaldo 3. Antoine Griezmann
Best performance: Lionel Messi 2014/2015

 

Yes, if you ignore the international performances then that does Messi big favors (this time he was decent against Brazil though) but you can't take away that dimension for one player and not the others...

 

Sterling is one hella overrated fellow. It's unfair to put him above CR7, Mbappe or even Lewandowski

 

You put in the effort and all, but ...what the hell?

Could you explain your criteria?

 

Not really a contender for the top 30 spots or something like that, but probably the most unlikely performer of the season.

I assume not many people here follow Ligue 1 closely and certainly not a team like Nimes. Maybe you've seen his name on whoscored.

Téji Savanier

- Plays for Nimes - they just got promoted and were the #1 contender for relegation. Lowest payroll in the league
- 27 years old, his first season EVER in the top flight

- Nimes finishes in 9th place
- Most assists in the league (15)
- Savanier has the 3rd highest rating by L'Equipe (largest gap between him and the avg of his team 6,16 vs 5,16), 4th by FF
- #2 on whoscored and sofascore. The position he is listed at is far from optimal to accumulate good stats

Montepellier have signed him for €10m

 

As usual, a need to disagree.
This becomes hilarious the list wasn't even complete and there's already a couple of disagreement, out of 100 names from all competitions plus the overall list and there's not one bit of agreement. Ironic!

 

Guys, I respect everyone's passion for the game but for some need to slow down.
The whole idea just to contribute to the forum for purposive and beneficial threads like everyone else here, do not pick one player or two just for the sake of disagreeing especially when you see an extended list a posting lists of 100 players name, that's just silly, childish too (sorry for that but it's).
I am even trying to be helpful and make things easier in case someone forgot, this year I included the best matches for the best players apparently this too is still not enough here in this place!

 

Really! That one thing you focus on after putting all the positive things that said about the player season performance aside.
Do you realize Virgil van Dijk's performance has been widely overlooked three years ago and I was among the very few ones who recognized his special PL performance on that particular season before fame (now everybody knows who he is).
Do you know I had listed him as # 4 on the 2015/2016 season EPL list, you know how? A simple answer by a follow-up on the player's performance. Such a thing you will not find on any type of media form written or verbal on this planet, they just don't think much of him at the time for the simple reason he was playing for Southampton (with all respect to the club), because we all know many great defenders would gaine more recognition when they are an integral part of winning sides or excellent squads.
On the subject of UEFA Nations League choice, I said that for a reason.
UEFA Nations League - Friendly matches that happens to look like highly competitive but at the end of the day it remains FREINDLY who replaced FIFA friendly matches, so it depends on how seriously anyone take this tournament.
With me, your objection become meaningless because I already included those matches on Van Dijk, Silva and De Jong's CV of the season and giving weight value too.

You're a quality poster one of the most knowledgeable and a respectable around here you are a far better than on picking just a simple paragraph in a big sea-long post.

 

One of the main purpose of such lists is for those who were undervalued or overlooked otherwise why bother, I'll just continue to keep following the eyes of the media.

Memphis Depay deserve a spot. Wonderful season (among those who will be for sure criminally underrated by the media and public based on his 2018/2019 performance).

Great showings in Ligue 1. Ferland Mendy clearly the best player on the team, Depay belong to the second category with Ndombele and Fekir.
He made 'a big impact' on Lyon's CL campaign (top three/four stars in the Group F that including Manchester City players), played a pretty decent game against a great tradition team Barcelona 1st Leg.
On the international stage, the best performer on the continent if we combine the two competitions together, I would say he created a similar influence as Frenkie de Jong in the Nations League and he was truly magnificent at Euro qualifiers.

This probably surprised you on how great he was during the season, now you will think twice before judging any others players .

Memphis Depay
***** NimesH, Belarus, GermanyHN
**** CityH, HoffenheimH, LilleH, NiceA, ReimsH, NimesA, GermanyHE, FranceH
*** CityA, ShakhtarHs, ShakhtarA, HoffenheimA, PSGH, LilleA, Saint-EtienneH, Saint-EtienneA, NiceH, ReimsA, CaenC, England

This is a pivotal year for the Dutch as they were for French and Belgian players last year by picking five each on Top 30.

 

You'll probably be surprised that I actually followed Lyon closely and everything you've said is exactly the opposite.

Depay was actually worse than what his stats would suggest and those aren't something to write home about considering it's league Ligue 1.

I understand how hard it is to make a list, but ranking Depay over Hazard isn't really something that's up for debate, no matter what standards you use and I can't believe that someone who apparently actively followed football has this opinion without joking.

 

I remember this game and I recall Depay was pretty bad.

I know magazine ratings are subjective and all, but they don't look pretty across the board.
It's not even like there are mixed opinions, Depay is pretty much one of the worst-rated players on his own team by every magazine.

Same thing with his stats-based grades.

 

Depay is someone who divides opinions very much in his own country. For the reasons/perceptions schwuppe and DFTB24 say. I can add too that he's streaky, rusty at times, eccentric, but tends to work hard, holds the ball up, created more chances than anyone else in Ligue 1, and brings others in play. People struggle to pigeonhole and understand him. What his style is (is he an individualist? a team player? etc.) and what he does.

Voetbal International had a long analysis on whether he was really that bad against Barcelona (compared to his ManCity games) and the conclusion is this is not so obvious, that he diminished the odds for a good result.

I think it is pretty clear he shouldn't be ahead of Hazard, I strongly disagree with that, but on the positive side both WhoScored and SofaScore had him in the top eight of Ligue 1. Mbappe, Di Maria and Savanier are the three others.

 

4 Liverpool players in the top 6 seems a bit inflated

Historic teams as Barcelona 10/11 and real Madrid 16-18 were never over represented as this
Only van dijk and alisson is a cert
The other two are questionable (where is Robert lewandowski)


Edit:
And mbappe for crying out loud

Great to see Messi won and even the ordering of VVD and Ronaldo could've been changed
It makes no difference as for a champion being a runner up is being the best loser

 

They were quite close actually, and Bayern had even four in the top five (closely connected to the same sponsor ).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Men's_Player_of_the_Year_Award

The heavy emphasis on Champions League success is also the reason why Cristiano has won this more often than Messi.

The change in the voting method doesn't favor Van Dijk or another Liverpool player. If there was a second round voting like the initial years it would have helped his chances enormously. Likewise, imagine Kepa letting the ball through and the thing voted directly after the Super Cup (a glorified friendly, and they played the first half like that).

Instead, he is splitting the vote with the relatively error prone and sometimes shaky Allison (next to Oblak, Ter Stegen), the Brazil bonus in full glory again (one reason why e.g. Giggs was undersold indeed in his time), and his own compatriots Frenkie and MdL. He's splitting votes with 6 other players basically.

When was this voted though? In June? August?

 

I agree, but they should have 2 in the top 3. Ronaldo wasn’t better than Mane IMO.

 

Garrincha or Sadio?

Say both so I can give you another free rep