For what it's worth, this is my list. Based on the last 2 and a half years with greater value placed on more recent performances. In doing it you realise what a hard exercise it is. 100. Thomas Meunier 99. Tanguy Ndombele 98. Kieran Trippier 97. Koke 96. Mesut Ozil 95. Keylor Navas 94. Stefan De Vrij 93. Marco Reus 92. Joao Cancelo 91. Hakim Ziyech 90. Romelu Lukaku 89. Milan Skriniar 88. Geoffrey Kondogbia 87. Hirving Lozano 86. Axel Witsel 85. Arthur 84. Aymeric Laporte 83. Heung-Min Son 82. Riyad Mahrez 81. Filipe Luis 80. Memphis Depay 79. Thiago Silva 78. Douglas Costa 77. David Alaba 76. Ivan Perisic 75. Iago Aspas 74. Cesar Azpilicueta 73. Hugo Lloris 72. Ben Mendy 71. Roberto Firmino 70. Nabil Fekir 69. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic 68. Florian Thauvin 67. Alex Sandro 66. Saul Niguez 65. Kyle Walker 64. Thiago Alcantara 63. Mario Mandzukic 62. Gerard Pique 61. Jan Vertonghen 60. Bernardo Silva 59. Ciro Immobile 58. Dele Alli 57. Dries Mertens 56. Fernandinho 55. James Rodriguez 54. Gareth Bale 53. Thibaut Courtois 52. Ivan Rakitic 51. Philippe Coutinho 50. Ederson 49. Jorginho 48. Virgil Van Dijk 47. Marco Verratti 46. Joshua Kimmich 45. Dani Carvajal 44. Raphael Varane 43. Giorgio Chiellini 42. Gianluigi Buffon 41. Leroy Sane 40. Jordi Alba 39. Alisson 38. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen 37. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 36. Samuel Umtiti 35. Paul Pogba 34. Lorenzo Insigne 33. Sadio Mane 32. Kalidou Koulibaly 31. Mats Hummels 30. Casemiro 29. Toni Kroos 28. Miralem Pjanic 27. Jan Oblak 26. Raheem Sterling 25. Mauro Icardi 24. Christian Eriksen 23. Sergio Busquets 22. Sergio Aguero 21. Sergio Ramos 20. Luis Suarez 19. David De Gea 18. Paulo Dybala 17. Edinson Cavani 16. Isco 15. Marcelo 14. Diego Godin 13. Antoine Griezmann 12. Robert Lewandowski 11. David Silva 10. Mo Salah 9. Kylian Mbappe 8. N'Golo Kante 7. Eden Hazard 6. Kevin De Bruyne 5. Neymar 4. Harry Kane 3. Luka Modric 2. Cristiano Ronaldo 1. Lionel Messi
I put them all together and allocated points for each: Rafael Marquez 1 Sancho 1 Tanguy Ndombele 2 Exequiel Palacios 2 Thorgan Hazard 2 Artem Dzyuba 4 Romagnoli 5 Giroud 5 Santiago Arias 6 Stefan De Vrij 7 Kostas Manolas 7 Rabiot 7 Gonzalo Martinez 7 Pablo Sarabia 8 Vidal 9 Werner 9 Hakim Ziyech 10 Ochoa 11 Lingard 11 Zaha 12 Donnarumma 12 Geoffrey Kondogbia 13 Paco Alcacer 13 Diego Costa 13 Mina 14 Goretzka 14 Willian 14 Quintero 15 Arthur 16 Schmeichel 16 Aymeric Laporte 17 Kepa 18 Piatek 19 Filipe Luis 20 Robben 20 Benatia 20 Pulisic 20 Hector Herrera 21 Golovin 23 Martial 24 Cheryshev 26 Frenkie de Jong 29 Subasic 30 Kolarov 32 Marquinhos 35 Skriniar 36 Douglas Costa 39 Alex Sandro 40 Sule 40 Joao Cancelo 44 Witsel 47 Keita 48 Ben Mendy 49 Lovren 50 Son 51 Payet 51 Barella 51 De Ligt 53 Federico Chiesa 54 Leon Bailey 55 Josef Martinez 56 Robertson 59 Brozovic 59 Neuer 65 Rashford 67 Aspas 69 Torreira 71 Iniesta 72 Jose Gimenez 73 Ousmane Dembele 75 Lacazette 75 Milner 75 Ozil 77 Rebic 80 Maguire 85 Gabriel Jesus 89 Verratti 92 Trippier 98 Bonucci 99 Asensio 100 Marcos Alonso 101 Di Maria 104 Koke 105 Thiago Alcantara 107 Stones 108 Pavard 109 Alaba 116 Thiago Silva 117 Pickford 121 Milinkovic-Savic 122 Mahrez 125 Higuain 129 Fekir 131 Lucas Hernandez 132 Depay 134 Alderweireld 136 Matuidi 139 Thauvin 141 Hummels 142 Keylor Navas 145 Meunier 149 Vertonghen 158 Buffon 160 Carvajal 169 Azpilicueta 176 Lozano 185 Dele Alli 189 Bernardo Silva 203 Pique 205 Benzema 207 Reus 208 Immobile 213 Fernandinho 234 Dzeko 234 Lloris 243 Saul Niguez 245 Walker 252 Mertens 283 Ederson 289 Casemiro 290 Chiellini 292 Insigne 304 Ter Stegen 305 Alba 316 Perisic 323 Jorginho 331 Lukaku 351 Aubameyang 363 Pjanic 365 Mandzukic 365 Sane 374 James Rodriguez 374 Kimmich 421 Busquets 422 Koulibaly 434 Umtiti 450 Courtois 473 Van Dijk 479 Icardi 492 Isco 499 De Gea 500 Bale 507 Rakitic 510 Dybala 513 Kroos 516 Coutinho 516 Mane 530 Firmino 536 Eriksen 539 Alisson 540 Godin 547 Varane 571 Sterling 590 Lewandowski 599 Suarez 608 Ramos 616 Pogba 620 Oblak 623 Cavani 625 David Silva 628 Kante 633 Marcelo 645 Griezmann 654 Aguero 658 Neymar 719 Kane 735 De Bruyne 745 Eden Hazard 748 Salah 760 Mbappe 765 Messi 788 Cristiano Ronaldo 790 Modric 791
Other one, David Silva: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/sports/manchester-city-liverpool-david-silva.html Is there actually something to back up his supposed importance? Or is it, as the article hints it, that Iniesta is now semi-retired? That KDB is missed is now obvious, esp. in the CL and the bigger domestic games. As I said before I'm sure this is an important aspect of the entertainment industry as a whole, at many levels and dimensions. From the 80 million Koreans to the Francophonie. It influences transfer fees and wages as well. Meanwhile, you rate Belgian and Dutch players lower than where they generally are on those very same 'mainstream' lists (I'll not rant again about your general historiography). Your own created overview proves so, pretty much all of these players. This is a market of only 20-25 million. So is Marca's list worse? I don't know. PDG also showed me some of his ideas (he asked for mine) and with him the pendulum swung to the other end. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler One specific example of an agenda driven media narrative is the nonsense that the Brazilian (!!) Allison Becker changed Liverpool's defense. Not true, this almost immediately happened halfway past season (0.63 goals per match against in the league after 4 February). That then a top class goalkeeper adds a few more goals improvement above a below-par goalkeeper is unsurprising. This reminds me of how VdS perennially got the short end of the stick because there was Ferdinand (and Vidic) playing ahead of him, but another part of that truth is he was nevertheless way more frequently tested as Buffon during his undefeated runs. Luckily, there are also corners of the 'serious' media now recognizing/storying NED has a tradition of players/figures helping to kickstart eras and 'dynasties'. I can see there is some minor truth in the theory that a 'neutral', half-decent, opinionated and slight anti-authoritarian image can strike the right chord among journalists, in particular if they are 'journalists' and not reporters.
That's not entirely true. Of the "consensus" 100 (based on points from the others put together). I rate: De Bruyne 1 place higher Hazard 1 place lower Van Dijk 12 places lower Courtois 16 places lower Lukaku 43 places lower Mertens 1 place lower Vertonghen 11 places higher Meunier 27 places lower Alderweireld not at all Depay 1 place lower Meanwhile I include De Vrij, Witsel and Ziyech, none of whom make the consensus list. By and large that reflects the fact that my list is covering a longer period, as opposed to just 2018. Also of the players I omit, Alderweireld basically didn't play last year (I rated him 43rd in 2017), Meunier wouldn't have got in at all if Marca hadn't placed him 33rd! and Lukaku has been (World Cup aside) very poor in 2018.
It's there in his numbers (9 goals, 11 assists last season and already 6 goals this season), but it's also there in his play. I don't know if it's late recognition or if he's genuinely playing better than he has previously. He is though a superb player and absolutely central to everything that City do. He knits things together and is willing to make the more risky and telling pass, rather than just keeping it simple. At the same time, City are undoubtedly missing De Bruyne who was absolutely vital to their season last year and also Ben Mendy who provides a big threat down the left. Delph has been underwhelming this season and Zinchenko is not a left back.
The L'Equipe teams of 2018 (3 January 2019). For those who do not have the paid version, TYPE TEAM: Oblak - arnold vdjik varane Marcelo - modric kante - mbappe messi hazard cristiano ... TEAM B (according to the votes): lloris - kimmich ramos silva lucas - pogba debruyne - salah neymar griezmann kane .... TEAM C: courtois - carvajal godin koulibaly (umtiti) sandro - rakitic matuidi coutinho - mane cavani firmino https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Article/L-equipe-type-monde-2018-de-l-equipe/973562 They have muted down the number of French players (the world champion) in the team... (also only one German in all the teams) This from the readers of 'Algemeen Dagblad' in Netherlands (41000 votes)
Interestingly from a statistical perspective the top ten across four of the bigger name awards had almost identical top ten's which is pretty unusual, ignoring the places which is very subjective and just looking at names (equally subjective I know). FIFA award was by season and the earliest and had the following: Modric, Ronaldo, Salah, Mbappe, Messi, Griezmann, Hazard, De Bruyne, Varane, Kane UEFA Award again by season had same list with the exception of Ramos in for Kane. The last two awards that were by calendar year, namely the Ballon d'or and World Soccer award and had the same top ten as the FIFA, basically meaning that bar Ramos / Kane swap in the UEFA award the top tens were identical, that is the closest I have seen the lists ever. I did my top ten a week before FIFA annoucned thier list and had the same as the FIFA list so maybe this year a top ten was the clearest its been? Also the fact the Ballon d'or and World Soccer award by calendar had same top ten as UEFA award was indication that no one had an electric start to 2018-19 season and entered the top for WS/B D'or.
To me, that smacks of group think more than anything and a snowballing effect. Once one award has come, the others follow in from it.
Maybe, but that hasn't happened pretty much every other year where there has been a fair few differences...as I said, I did my list, which is always pretty different but this time was exactly the same....I can see your point though.
I have made a particular ranking based on: • Ballon d'Or. • The Best. • FIFPro. • UEFA Awards. • World Soccer best player of the year. • Top 100 FourFourTwo. • Top 100 The Guardian. • ESM 2017-18 Season (team of the year, teams of the month, total votes). • Whoscored and Sofascore ratings (national leagues 2017-18, Champions League 2017-18, Europa League 2017-18 and World Cup 2018) with corrections for collective classifications, matches and minutes played. The top 100 that results from the combination of these data is the following: 1.- Modric. 2.- Cristiano Ronaldo. 3.- Messi. 4.- Salah. 5.- Griezmann. 6.- Mbappé. 7.- De Bruyne. 8.- Hazard. 9.- Varane. 10.- Neymar. 11.- Kane. 12.- Marcelo. 13.- Ramos. 14.- Kanté. 15.- Cavani. 16.- De Gea. 17.- Luis Suárez. 18.- Rakitic. 19.- Umtiti. 20. David Silva. 21.- Coutinho. 22.- Agüero. 23.- Kroos. 24.- Mané. 25.- Pogba. 26.- Dybala. 27.- Godín. 28.- Casemiro. 29.- Jordi Alba. 30.- Kimmich. 31.- Ter Stegen. 32.- Firmino. 33.- Lewandowski. 34.- Oblak. 35.- Walker. 36.- Isco. 37.- Carvajal. 38.- Dani Alves. 39.- Van Dijk. 40.- Lukaku. 41.- Mandzukic. 42.- Piqué. 43.- Sterling. 44.- Keylor Navas. 45.- Courtois. 46.- Busquets. 47.- Eriksen. 48.- Chiellini. 49.- Icardi. 50.- Allison. 51.- Iniesta. 52.- Otamendi. 53.- Hummels. 54.- Thiago Silva. 55.- James Rodríguez. 56.- Tripper. 57.- Mertens. 58.- Koulibaly. 59.- Pjanic. 60.- Ederson. 61.- Bale. 62.- Persisic. 63.- Fekir. 64.- Reus. 65.- Lovren. 66.- Thauvin. 67.- Giménez. 68.- Stones. 69.- Buffon. 70.- Lloris. 71.- Benzema. 72.- Tadic. 73.- Insigne. 74.- Lucas Hernández. 75.- Fernandinho. 76.- Pavard. 77.- Leroy Sané. 78.- Higuaín. 79.- Immobile. 80.- Aubameyang. 81.- Meunier. 82.- Saúl. 83.- Kolarov. 84.- Payet. 85.- Dele Alli. 86.- Ozil. 87.- Jorginho. 88.- Banega. 89.- Azpilicueta. 90.- Filipe Luis. 91.- Bernardo Silva. 92.- Verthongen. 93.- Skriniar. 94.- Arturo Vidal. 95.- Di María. 96.- Koke. 97.- Vrsaljko 98.- Mina. 99.- Dzeko. 100.- Depay.
#RealMadrid's loss vs #RealSociedad reflects a decline in their league underlying xG numbers.Avg xG difference (xGD) w/Zidane in 2018: 1.01Avg xGD w/Lopetegui: 0.78Avg xGD w/Solari, until Villarreal game: 0.18Data from @BetweenThePosts and @11tegen11 tweets & articles. pic.twitter.com/LW2bs4Ax3p— José C. Pérez (@jcperez_) January 6, 2019 Zidane and Ronaldo were smart enough to abondon the ship
This might be interesting from that respect (obviously still with a few caveats and heavily dependent on the model used - problem remains that individualized 'bottom-up' stats in football remain heavily interdependent, unlike baseball) Here's something I've always observed from watching Fabregas over the years: he's very good at completing difficult passes. Cesc outperforms @WillTGM's passing model the most, and attempts difficult passes for someone who isn't cross-dependent. This was his forte at Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/VhgKvwg8zp— Ashwin Raman (@AshwinRaman_) January 9, 2019 David Silva is at 1.04 (estimated) overperformance. He isn't marked in the graph but the creator has published the underlying data and numbers (click tweet).
This is also good stuff and done by someone who clearly had a really good thought about this and feel for what the visuals and data signifies. 1082906896355463169 is not a valid tweet id
Interestingly Real Madrid had the most expected point last year in La Liga and Barcelona overachieved heavily. You might remember some last second flukey wins early in the season. https://understat.com/league/La_liga/2017
OFFICIAL: The 2018 UEFA Team of the Year. pic.twitter.com/gRjF9JWOW5— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) January 11, 2019 Before confusion arises: this is a public poll, not made by 'experts', UEFA or managers as is sometimes thought (maybe a mix-up with the 'squad of the season', which is made by a technical panel). Percentages here: https://toty.uefa.com/ Not surprised by Neymar not making it and splitting votes (has made it only once in his career despite a few factors going for him), but maybe more surprising Sergio Ramos is so damn popular? On the other hand, Real Madrid has now almost as many inclusions as Bayern, Juventus and Milan combined since 2001. Spaniards in general very popular with more inclusions as Germany and France combined (and at just a half dozen distance when Italy is added to those two). Chelsea overtakes Arsenal as the English club with the most inclusions.
Yes true and that part is not surprising. It is also known they have many fans worldwide (per research), and just looking at social media followers then they have also many more as those three clubs put together (~20% more in 2014 and 2015). That's a rough indication. Looking at the number of finals played then the difference becomes 10 vs 5 in favor of 'the three'. There are years where the losing finalist has the same or more inclusions as the winner. 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012.
The team looks reasonable except for two RM players imo. Marcelo and Sergio Ramos likely didn't deserve to make it this year based on their performances.
Marcelo is arguably a deserved inclusion for what he did in the first half of the calendar year (was the standout player in his position) Ramos however has looked like one of real Madrid’s worse players since the beginning of this season (even worse than Luca modric) It’s time i think he called it a day or else he is in danger of tarnishing his legacy