Since the Ballon d'Or nominations have come out: Sadio Mane, Sergio Aguero, Dusan Tadic, Hugo Lloris, Frenkie de Jong, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kylian Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Donny van de Beek, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Karim Benzema, Georginio Wijnaldum, Cristiano Ronaldo, Alisson Becker, Matthijs de Ligt, Virgil van Dijk, Heung-min Son, Robert Lewandowski, Roberto Firmino, Bernardo Silva, Lionel Messi, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne, Kalidou Koulibaly, Antoine Griezmann, Eden Hazard, Mohamed Salah, Marquinhos, Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling. ----------------------- On some major omissions: Only two Real Madrid representatives. That is maybe a novelty? Very often they are in regardless of form. Still the 4th most represented club behind Liverpool, Man City and Barcelona. Robertson might feel hard done by. His defensive ability is one of the reasons why Liverpool didn't feel Allison his absence so much (also in the 2nd half of 2017-18) and has the best defensive record still. TAA is the better footballer overall but Robertson the better defender. With so many Dutchmen already in (compensation for previous years? Sponsor trick to dilute the voting for VvD?) I'd have him instead of Georginio although I generally like his subtleties and occasional goals. Oblak was clearly the best shot stopper last season. Here it is all explained very well. Ziyech another big omission. Although Vd Beek his position and role goes along with more responsibilities (not the luxury to switch of the mind) he isn't even a starter for the orange national team, and Ziyech his skills and production are self-evident. Just recently away against Valencia he had a terrific goal. Shame he doesn't play for Holland, he was once called up but dropped out midway of the training camp with injury (this will give good documentary material decades later; is it true Morocco - and possibly other competitors - bribed some intermediaries etc. to pressure him? Koeman said recently literally "what if Morocco pays 100000 euros"). Strangely, Ziyech is emotionally tied to his home and country of birth (also per his own commentary). Maybe Kimmich and Neymar need to be in as well. Instead of Marquinhos for example. ------------------------ As for this season, leaving Messi and Ronaldo aside, I'm most impressed by Lewandowski (not only because of his goals, despite his 0 assists so far) and De Bruyne. Van Dijk has taken more of a backseat overall, think he can use some rest (has played a huge amount of minutes), but can understand Klopp feels he cannot do without his communication and presence and only rests him for the League Cup.
This is illustrative, the attack and defense quality of teams as a whole: Premier League Expected Goals numbers from @fbref Man City attack still ridiculous. Defence not looking as strong though. #MCFC pic.twitter.com/zseIyldjQL— JP Quinn (@AttackingCB) October 21, 2019
Agree re Ziyech, I think he has a stronger case than perhaps 6 or 7 players in the list. Others that jump out as fortunate to be in are Lloris, I feel they put him on as a captain of a CL finalist not on performance, he had received a lot of criticism last season at points and had a series of mistakes, being the French captain probaly helps too! Other that jumped at were first, Mahrez but then I must admit I had overlooked ANC so that is enough perhaps to move him up. I also feel KDB and Griezmann were included more on name more than performances as the former missed a lot of last season, he has been fantastic the start of this season for City so that may have edged him in, did Griezmann do enough to get in over others who missed out? Totally agree re Lewandowski, we discussed earlier in the post he was top 10 just about but given this his calendar year and his amazing start I can see him as top 5 quite comfortably for this vote, I really hope he can keep up the form over the whole season, would be great to see him on a 50 goal campaign for club after four 40 plus seasons in a row, aware that's a hell of a jump but 18 in 13 games by mid October shows it is doable.
Thanks for your reply. Good thoughts. I'd probably drop the word 'perhaps'. Ziyech was consistently good and productive in the KO stages last season, including clearly good & clever performances (and productive) in both Tottenham games. Then this season he has also started very well. Domestically he has been productive against Feyenoord, PSV and AZ. Furthermore, none of his goals are penalties, except one penalty vs Zambia. We all know penalty taking can bump up the count with 10 goals (sometimes even more) across all competitions. The only negative is (by his own admission) the performances for his national team. So with his consistent effectiveness against the big boys (Real Madrid, Juventus, Tottenham, Valencia) and his general ability at the highest levels I think there is enough. Last season he had 5 goals in 8 games for his national team; 16 goals and 13 assists in the league (no penalties) and 3 goals and 2 assists in the CL KO stages. The main thing in VdBeek (mentored by The Iceman!) his favor is the national team (though he isn't a sure starter) and that he is generally more focused on his role with greater tactical responsibility, and also a defensive job to play.
The "perhaps" was not the reason to be in the 30 but to be in but the 6 or 7 players number, i.e it could have been more ! Edit: Just did a quick re count and I make it more like 10 Others I question re their inclusion are Marquinhos and also Joao Felix...
Might be possible, after checking some data. It's of course possible he is in a purple patch like the start of 2015-16 which bumped him up to 4th in the BdO (he is now outperforming his expected goals though not at really 'suspicious' levels) but if you look a bit more in the data at SofaScore and WhoScored you see his shots per game and big chances taken/missed have gone up, while the defensive statistics and creative statistics like key passes are down (0 assists so far, 1 big chance created, only 6 key passes). With dribbling remaining the same, and doing it - if anything - at more advanced areas it looks possible he might go for 50 goals. Of course, some media and people are so shallow in their analysis that automatically 'more goals = better season'.
Ziyech was admittedly very bad yesterday, however involved in the most prominent moment of the evening.
An odd list in a bit of an odd year where very few players really had their best campaign. Lots not at their best or not yet at the level we expect they will get to. Lloris stands out as a Spurs fan as someone who's got no business being there. Not even one of the best keepers in the PL last season and someone who has made a lot of mistakes. Clearly being France's captain helps. Was Mahrez that good at AfCon? He's shown quality in flashes this season but last season was largely absent. Is he better than Sancho say, or Reus? Joao Felix feels very premature, think Bruno Fernandes would be a better Portuguese inclusion. De Bruyne was not close to his best (though terrific at the start of this season) last year because of injury. Griezmann hasn't been great. Edit: I'd like to have seen Parejo included. And Ziyech as you say. Absence of Quagliarella seems harsh given what he achieved relative to other strikers. Was Marquinhos better than Pique (who has started this season really badly) or Laporte?
Whether Mahrez was the clear-cut best player of the Africa Cup winners is not obvious, but he was the team captain for the winners through-out, had some crafty moments when it mattered (injury time winner in semi final against one of the better opponents they faced). His WhoScored rating is pressed down by playing only 16 minutes in the last group stage match, and missing the last 35 minutes of the quarter final (which they won on penalties). What value and level has to be ascribed to the Africa Cup is not certain either, but it has been an important event for the Francophone nations and France Football has always given attention to this. With in the past a seperate Ballon d'Or for Africa itself. Algeria is a francophone country, Mahrez born in France itself. Mahrez was fairly productive when he played last season (see his CL stats) and also this one. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/riy...in//liga//wettbewerb//pos//trainer_id//plus/0 https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/riy...19&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id= If that's enough for a nomination I'm not sure either but from a French/Francophone view it is understandable and at a stretch people might argue Mahrez would be a starter for a team like Dortmund or Valencia. Dortmund might be 'punished' for their haphazard form since last winter and then also at the start of the season now. From February to the end of 2018-19 they won less than half of their games (44%).
Back to FF list, interesting Kane cannot make top 30 by calendar year but does make FIFA top ten for season. As I stated before Kane made the top 10 FIFA list because of last years exploits not this years, whilst not making a top 30 is slightly controversial for a calendar year it is much less controversial than making it for a 18/19 season. Back to Lewandowski....the electric run continues !
Yesterday this article appeared on the Daily Telegraph, on the best Premier League players of the months september and october. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...yers-premier-league-september-october-ranked/ I know this is hard to assess (see their introduction) but surprised at Rodri his high ranking. I don't have the idea he has fully molded into the team and his positioning has been suspect for Spain and City alike. Can understand how Matip becomes the only center back in the top 20, but it is interesting to notice here his (more error-prone) understudy Lovren has similar scores and the same WhoScored rating so far (7.51 vs 7.52). As if it is just by team design and set-up that VvDs partner take center stage and get highlighted by the metrics. https://www.footballfancast.com/pre...-for-abject-display-vs-arsenal-in-carabao-cup Personally I'd say KDB has the best case for #1 although he has missed games of course. Still, a good enough article to share I thought.
Agree re Rodri review and him being too high, lots of thoughts on pundits how he has settled well in the league and Man City style but that is not enough to warrant a place that high. KDB has been amazing when he has played, 9 assists already, including some spectacular ones and like you said has missed some games, 3 I believe, which is basically, a third of the PL season so given that Sterling at number one is fair enough. I also think Mane and David Silva are too low.
Interesting tweet by stat cruncher Duncan Alexander (OPTA) this Liverpool have let in 14 goals in their last 28 league games at Anfield. Have run some analytics which reveal that Virgil van Dijk is effective.— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) October 30, 2019
Do you agree with the #EarlyKickOff Team of the Season so far? pic.twitter.com/jRUAJ704wS— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 2, 2019 Seems that this team was made by Savage, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Jenas. Does anyone knows for certainty who made or selected this?
Hi, Football fans. I invite you to come and vote for the 10 greatest club teams forever and ever. Here- http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark?pollID=1147489&sparkKey=fa57ff24aeffc72ddcd8df248e168944b0
Absolutely scandalous how Ajax got robbed in this game (with VAR) and also the previous game against Chelsea with the fake offside and deliberately doctored images (UEFA admitting they showed the 'wrong' images on purpose). The UEFA Corruption League. No doubt about it. But the rest of the world doesn't care, because no English or Spanish media machinery this time. Corrupt UEFA, corrupt Italians, always the same. Last season five times a german referee team in must win matches, unbelievable. Daley Blind get’s taken down, referee doesn’t blow the whistle. After that Veltman & Blind both get send off. He should have already blew the whistle for the foul on Blind.Massive massive robbery. I am f*cking done. pic.twitter.com/Tvscxbw28c— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) November 5, 2019 An absolute disgrace.
I wouldn't put it down to corruption when incompetence can easily what happened. Even in the EPL, there is no proof that the big teams are favored with VAR decisions. Both Pep and Klopp, the two top managers, have been on the wrong end and have criticized the implementation. My team has been on the wrong end of two very very decisions, yet no one is jumping to conspiracy theory just yet.
Because that is a single decision rather than a string of decisions. It are not three strange decisions. Furthermore, the financial incentives are different. It is not a financial or marketing disaster if Liverpool or Arsenal progress far. It is a financial disaster (for UEFA) if a club as Ajax goes far ('small' club from a small country with a small language). This has even been admitted by Platini a few times and also the European Commission where they say themselves a euro final between Czech Republic and Denmark would be a financial disaster for the stakeholders. Let's sum it up: Valencia game: Ajax receives six light yellow cards by the trigger happy referee, gets an additional fine for this by UEFA (what? can show countless recent games where teams get 6+ yellow cards) and a supporter ban while nothing serious happened. Suddenly UEFA bans all supporters of foreign clubs from London. Chelsea game at home: handball in the Chelsea penalty area not punished. Wrongly cancelled offside goal, with doctored images by the UEFA. UEFA said themselves what they showed on TV (with the shot already underway for a few frames), was not the correct frame. If this doesn't smell conspiracy then I don't know what is. A system that is supposed to be transparent for the viewers is turned into the opposite by them, and they show fabricated images to convince the public it was offside. Robbery! Chelsea game away: again many strange moves by the referee (the Italian cartel referee), including whistling for half-time too early during an promising attack of Ajax (30 seconds too early). Chelsea his goal for the 2-4 was undoubtedly offside, but no VAR intervention. Followed by two ludicrous red cards in the same scene, after a foul on Ajax players. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/sustain-the-excellence-ajax-2019-20.2103882/page-24#post-38283757 I have no doubt it is fixed, and the assignment of many munich referees for must win games is also a sign of the power by the cartel. The conspiracy is real. The fact UEFA goes at length to show doctored images should be a massive alarm and red flag. The media, the coach, the players now all come to the same conclusion. In visible and invisible ways those matches are steered in the right direction. On YouTube and Twitter I have seen some English commenters saying 'dutch teams very often screwed with bogus penalties' - quite right.
The most up-voted comments here think the same as me: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/05/chelsea-ajax-champions-league-match-report Meanwhile, where would Guardiola be without the consistent tactical fouling of his teams. His teams get away with relentless and obvious tactical fouling, others do not and are loaded with yellow cards in no time. Although it seems he's now experiencing some drawbacks with injuries and suspensions piling up.
I didn't watch the whole game live so can't comment with certainty but the tweet is clearly off base. Blind barged into Pulisic and knocked him over. Blind then slipped as the player he barged over fell down. Blind then got up and was clearly late in his tackle on Abraham. The Veltman one is more questionable but he knows what he's doing. Although his arm is at his side he leans his body in a way to cause the handball. It's not just a random arm out high up. I can see that one either way and it is obviously very rare for there to be two reds in a single play but both were second yellows. I wasn't sure last night if Veltman was booked for the handball or for the long and vociferous protests to the officials. If UEFA really wanted to rig it, I'd imagine there would have been a bit more than 4 minutes of added time. Should have been more like 8. Credit to Ajax though as they kept going even with 9 men. Once again clear what a superb player Ziyech is.
What Blind did was a perfectly legal shoulder charge, then Pulisic tripped him and hit Blind his leg with his studs. Most of the times this is a foul. If it is not a legal shoulder charge the referee should whistle for that one, the initial foul. There were several of those scenes in the Brazil vs Holland 2014 match for instance, this time a couple times called in Thiago Silva his favor. It is already questionable to punish both in a single play. In the Amsterdam game potential yellow cards for Chelsea were waved away with the excuse there was already (wrongly!) flagged for offside. Secondly, Veltman is not Dele Alli here who as a volleyballer holds his arms above shoulder height. It was deflected from a close range. Without that deflection it hits his body and not arm. Yes I'm familiar with those pontemkin calls. By that time the damage was already done with several yellows and reds for the remainder of the group stage and Ajax not running away in the table with superior head-to-head. The job was already done. Next match vs Lille I expect some convenient 2nd yellow suspensions for the decisive Valencia game. The doctored VAR images show it is rigged. Instead of showing transparancy (an 'automatic' feature of the technology) they show a still without the ball being kicked. Then some smart people (not only in Holland) decipher the full scene, the full photograph, and UEFA comes with the nonsense that what they show on TV is merely window dressing and perception management. It are their own words they show the 'wrong' angles and stills on TV! Rigged, but of course the modernists and anglogerman axis, the latin cabal will not admit it. You were annoyed by the one or two calls against Tottenham in the 2019 CL final (of course a post that's many times repped by the lemmings) - this is way, way beyond that and not for the first time recently. Many, many people in this country are now convinced there are things going on, but hey, the big clubs are now officially the owner of this whole Champions League! They are recognized as co-owner by UEFA. Also imagine an Argentina referee multiple times appointed for a must win game of England. There is a lot at stake, and it's about time we start to ruin some projects and sacred cows again. Let's make some FIFA officials sad again. Case in point: 2014 World Cup Early Exits Could Imperil Bottom Line For FIFA, Advertisers, Retailers https://www.ibtimes.com/2014-world-...ottom-line-fifa-advertisers-retailers-1606600
Blind put his arm across the chest/neck of Pulisic and knocked him over. I think it's a stretch to say that's legal, but regardless, his tripping of Blind was caused by Blind knocking him over. The referee was trying to play advantage which was the right thing to do and then played another advantage for his late tackle on Abraham. There is a difference there. Once the game has stopped then fouls typically aren't called. Rightly or wrongly. Just because the ref plays on though doesn't then give you the right to do anything you want. Ajax don't then get a free hit because a referee is playing advantage. I was annoyed at the handball award yes. But I don't think I was saying the game was rigged. I am though fairly fed up with new interpretations of handball and I also think VAR has been pretty poorly introduced. A lot of people have been saying it but the rugby World Cup has shown how well video technology can be used. At the same time, I did think VAR worked pretty well at the World Cup last year. It has been awful in the Premier League.
This is just not true in my eyes. Pulisic deliberately lifts his feet way above his hip to floor Blind. It is a deliberate and unnatural move by him. And the referee found that shoulder charge okay. He even makes the signal it is a correct challenge. It is very visible. If it is not an okay charge (makes sense) then punish that one. Then later on he even touches the ball at the same time Abraham reaches it, but it was an inconsiderate challenge and that's not debated very much (except that in England they are more lenient with this). But there isn't some serious foul play. There is not a karate kick, punching away with an outstretched arm, spitting or whatever. There is only a late challenge on Abraham (Blind did play the ball by the way, but yes also former referees here say it was a yellow because of the nature of the challenge) and then a 'handball' where the ball is deflected and the arm low and tight to the body. I see now even on BTSport they are not convinced it is a handball, given similar incidents elsewhere (again: it is deflected and the ball travels fast). A team like Manchester City has done things like double tactical fouls without both getting punished either. Repeatedly. Repeatedly we have seen City making a tactical foul, advantage, another tactical foul. Or with Barcelona: Busquets makes a tactical foul (generally he is on time and doesn't need it), advantage, second foul by Mascherano/Alves further near the penalty area. It's ridiculous. Like the comment here: "Ref was really outrageously bad. If you have 1 minute extra time in the first half and then decide to close at the 40th second while Ajax had a corner, you know that Chelsea is not allowed to lose if the possibility arises." That while Ajax can be dangerous with corners (one on the post the previous game) even with MdL gone, the more so later in a half/match when there is more of a chance confusion creeps in. You are a Lampard fan but he was very, very lucky here - arguably more extreme than what Real Madrid can show. It's not even a conspiracy UEFA fabricates VAR images, they explicitly admit this! They explicitly admitted they picked other stills than the decision was based on. ------------------------- One vintage example is Kurt Rothlisberger at the 1994 World Cup for the Belgium vs Germany match. The media was outraged (in Holland! read this link). Not much later he was banned for life, and oh he also whistled the Marseille vs Milan 1993 final where Basile Boli could do whatever he liked (on camera and outside the sights of camera). Imho VAR (the Argentina referee team) disadvantaged Croatia in the final against France and I was not the only one to think that. In more than one scene Croatia could feel hard done by although fatigue was a just as big/bigger variable in the match. Generally it worked well at the World Cup but hey, in an unusually high number of matches there was a Dutch team behind the screens It corrected many more wrongs than the other way round (there were numbers about that). ---------------- Ziyech is a fantastic player and it's a shame he doesn't play for Holland (while he shows/admitted signs of homesickness; has rejected offers from Roma, Sevilla, Dortmund, Valencia the last four years). The last word is not said about it. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/09/1...arokkaanse-voetballers-ronald-koeman-a3973313 https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/11/0...se-bond-kon-ihattaren-niet-overhalen-a3978976 Hicham Ziyech: "The KNVB ignored my brother." Hakim Ziyech may receive a small a statue in his birthplace Dronten. Residents are allowed to think along about the redesign of the town hall, and a small sculpture of the Moroccan-Dutch soccer player is one of the options they can choose from, was announced earlier this week. But to say that Ziyech has been praised outside his birthplace since he chose the Moroccan team over the Orange in 2015 - no. "People no longer see him here as a Dutchman," says his older brother Hicham. "In Morocco he is a hero, in the Netherlands he is approached negatively." Moroccan boys are not always sweeties, he admits. But as long as they are treated differently than their native Dutch peers, they will - literally and figuratively - not choose the Netherlands quickly. "If Hakim criticizes something and has an opinion, it becomes a riot. This is much less the case with non-Moroccan football players. And I notice it myself too. People in general often look surprised that I have my own brickwork company. A Moroccan who lays bricks? So hey. " Has the stigmatization of Moroccan Dutch people played a role in Hakim's choice for Morocco? "Maybe. Such a choice involves small things. Does something feel good or not? In Hakim's case, the feeling for the Orange was missing. " Why? "If you go round for 'that Moroccan', why would you choose the Netherlands? The football federation ignored Hakim. He was really great at the time that he chose Morocco. Thirteen goals in his first Eredivisie season, 21 assists, then you expect you to be seen? " A missed opportunity? "That is possible, but it is still too early to say that. I do expect that there will be much more discussion about footballers with a double passport. The Dutch youth teams are full of top talents of Moroccan descent. Many of them feel that they are not considered to be full Moroccans either. While they have a Dutch passport, right. " Did your brother feel that he received insufficient respect from the KNVB? "He is the only one of his cohort who still plays top football. Doesn't that say enough? " But would he have made a different choice if he had been treated differently? "I will not comment on that. It is certain that the KNVB did not do its best. If you want someone, you show it with conviction. It was missing. Why do you think Hakim chose Twente instead of Feyenoord? Because Twente had a more convincing and warm story than Feyenoord. Twente believed in him. " How can the KNVB prevent football players from choosing countries like Morocco and Turkey after training in the Netherlands? "By giving those soccer players more attention. If the Netherlands were to treat Moroccan footballers as the Moroccan association treats them, then something might change. ” Because footballers of Moroccan origin do not receive the same treatment? "The union will never recognize it, but look at Otman Bakkal. He opted for the Netherlands instead of Morocco, but only played one game in the shirt of Oranje. ” Has your brother gained a lot of flak after choosing the Moroccan team? He starts to laugh loudly. "Like this! First he was a great football player, then he was a good-for-nothing. Even Marco van Basten was involved. My brother was a special footballer, Van Basten said, "but how stupid can you be to choose Morocco if you qualify for the Dutch national team". Painful? "For the Netherlands!" Not for Hakim? "It was the confirmation that he had made the right choice." ---------------- It's easy to play the racism card, but what those articles also show is the difference between the business minded and rational approach of the KNVB (full with protocols and good governance codes) and the more emotional approach of Morocco. ------------------------- "The approach of football associations plays a crucial role in that discussion. The KNVB, the Dutch association, is often criticized because it would approach players too businesslike. The Moroccan association responds more to the feeling, family members of football players who chose Morocco recently told NRC. If players are very young, family members are already approached by the Moroccan association. Among other things, they are offered air travel and hotel stays, young players are painted a great future." ---------------------------- I do think his brother has a bit of a point on that strong opinions are maybe accepted less easily, or taken serious. When it makes the newspaper that our racing drivers accuse Ferrari of being over-priviliged cheaters it is like "good that the truth is said; they receive more money than a much better performing Mercedes" but with Ziyech and so there is also the sound of "first win a league or Champions League, then you can talk". edit: why was the foul of Azpilicueta for the free kick to the 0-1 not a yellow? Yes I know it was very early in the match but that shows the point. He was clearly way too late and uncontrolled.
I have looked back at it and that's right. That while Tottenham is not among those teams that have devised legacy payments for themselves (despite the status as one of the 10-15 richest teams in the world). This looks a reasonable take to me: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2019-2020-uefa-referee-discussion-rs.2104167/page-22#post-38284821 IFAB wanted to clamp down the so called 'triple punishment' and made likewise changes for it. Instead, we saw a quintuple punishment yesterday. Many Feyenoord and PSV supporters have been mad as well. Some like it but the UEFA maffia sentiment prevails.