As the 2010s come to a close, is it safe to say that this is universally accepted as the best eleven of this decade? In terms of peak, longevity and career achievements, I find it hard to argue for anything but the above eleven. Thoughts?
------------Suarez Ronaldo-Messi-Robben ------Vidal--Busquets Alba-Chiellini-Godin-Lahm --------------Neuer Not disputing your choices, but including different names where I feel it was close and there's a decent enough argument. -Lahm until his retirement was very consistent. Alves between the CL in 2011 and the one in 2015 was on and off. I seem to remember Barca fans complaining a out him quite a bit before he rolled back the years. Lahm has a world cup, a CL and some domestic titles which isn't shabby. -Chiellini & Godin were better defenders than Ramos and Pique. Again, the Spain duo have been questioned a lot throughout this decade. Pique is probably having his best season, but he wasn't always convincing. Ramos defensive moments are well known. - Marcelo wasn't undisputed starter for the first third of the decade, if I remember correctly, and even in his best times hasn't always shown his best. Alba was only ever towards the end of Enrique's time. - Vidal been really consistent, and has 8 consecutive titles plus two Copa America titles in the time period. - Robben has WC 10, 14 and the treble in 2013. I always felt he was Bayern's best player for the first half of the decade, and he remained dangerous even afterwards. I'd be inclined to pick him. Aguero, Lewandowski and perhaps Ibra could run Suarez close. The other two have to be in there
1 Navas 2 Alves 3 Lahm/Marcelo 4 Ramos/Thiago Silva 5 Godín/Chiellini 6 Modric/Lahm/Vidal 7 Robben 8 Neymar 9 Müller/Zlatan 10 Messi 11 CR7
Was neuer really more impressive than cassilas 10-12 who only started becoming more error prone in 12/13 but before looked as good as any shot stopper ive ever seen (just ask robben 2010) A clear cut tier above navas IMO Robben of course but I think ribery was more consistent in the early part of the decade(up to mid 2013 perhaps) From then till 2015 (his injury)robben looked to be the closest to Ronaldo and messi Lewandowski/suarez are top 2 strikers sealed Aguero can compete with edison cavani,ibrahimovic or di natale who were only great league scorers ( not too long ago di natale had the highest gpg in top 5 european leagues after messi and ronaldo which was no mean feat especially for a "pensioner")
I think Neuer was better for longer in this decade, had a higher peak, and just overall a better goalkeeper than Casillas. Robben I felt was always superior to Ribery, perhaps apart from the first half of 2012/13 where Robben was sometimes on the bench. Aguero = Di Natale? Lol.
https://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/388...ronaldo-have-scored-more-league-goals-than-di 5 best consecutive league scoring seasons Antonio Di natale 120 goal in 172 games:0.70 Sergio Aguero 111 goals in 150 games:0.74 Now imagine Aguero was playing for mid table udinese and di natale for 1 billion dollar squad In late 90s serie A he would look less than crespo Let alone batigol Very overrated IMO considering the support cast
My team would be roughly the same. Maybe that I change Suarez for Lewandowski but the lack of national team performances or doing it in the KO stages of the CL counts against the latter. Suarez probably is also remembered as the player with the higher peak. Maybe Dani Alves in the team instead of Alba. Lahm goes to the left. Godin is a lock for me. Plenty to back it up, argue his MOTM pedigree and impact. Footballing alternatives are Pique, Hummels and Thiago Silva (in that order). I am leaning to Vidal as well although not sure he has been as good after his injuries and he can lose his brain at times. I don't see markedly better alternatives though. I would find space for Modric. Either for Vidal or for Busquets. Overall I agree with your team.
Thread here on Vidal et al: Barca v Inter was very good. First half Inter performance was remisncient of Conte’s Italy v Spain in 2016. Front two so dangerous. But then Vidal and Dembele coming off the bench really upped the tempo for Barca. And the winner was incredible. Great assist. Better first touch.— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) October 2, 2019
This team is very good. I would only suggest a few changes so that Neymar had a place. Maybe a tactical madness ... but how appealing this team would be! Neuer; Dani Alves, Ramos, Lahm; Modric, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar; Luis Suarez On the bench: Buffon, Marcelo, Piqué, Hazard and Agüero.
Like it or not but Netherlands is the #4 country of this decade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Football_Elo_Ratings Always giving them a snub...
Also: Ramos won a lot (except league titles, for his era) but he isn't a better defender than Chiellini. The difference in footballing ability is marginal. Other defenders have had more good national team tournaments than Ramos as well.
Maybe Robben could be there too, but there would be a lot of competition from the center of the field forward. Ibrahimovic is another that could have a place in the super team of the decade. Regarding Sergio Ramos, despite being a fan of Barcelona, I have to admit that Ramos seems to me to be the best center in the world in the decade, well ahead of Piqué and also Chiellini. It is a matter of taste, but also of its enormous palmarés ...
Neymar did little that was relevant in the first half of the decade, at the highest levels and against the biggest teams. He got it going from 2014 onward. Neymar is more someone for 2015-2025. Ibrahimovic is more someone for 2005-2015. This is also true for Robben, but he had also a great season in the second half of the decade (2016-17) and some clutch moments in other seasons (the winner vs #2 Dortmund in 2018, two goals against Sweden in qualifier etc.). He is a better fit than Ibrahimovic imho. It's always the same. For the 2000s we are the #3 by Elo (and in many years players active in CL finals and semis) but we were widely ignored for that one too at the time. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/world-team-of-the-decade.1110568/page-4#post-18371306 The only player to receive a mention (one) by BS users is Van Nistelrooy. Thus the player who had more UCL topscorer titles and CL goals than anyone that decade (RvN) and scored big goals at the major tournaments against Germany and Italy (the continents premier superpowers), scored in must-win games vs Juventus, Real Madrid, Bayern is widely ignored. Whatever the yardstick is, the snubbing remains. https://www.si.com/more-sports/2010/12/30/realmadrid-alltimexi https://www.malagacf.com/en/news/va...t-goal-scorer-of-the-last-decade-by-the-iffhs So that is the annoying thing of it all. It doesn't matter how many Champions Leagues, how many goals, topscorer titles or what more. The complete snubbing by the internet and corporate media remains. The non-seeding at major tournaments too. The agenda and 'conspiracy' is real. You with your placing of Muller ahead of Cruijff for 1969 (among all the rest of your calls, not even a spot on the bench here) are a part of these centrifugal forces.
At first I thought he miscontrolled the ball, but Suarez had every intention to direct it where he wanted.
Neymar is a better fit than Robben for the 2010-2020 imo. He has ~19700minutes rated in Whoscored since mid 2013 (8.22 rating) against ~20100minutes rated since mid 2009 for the Dutch player (7.68 rating), that is quite small difference (like ~4 matches less in minutes). And Neymar had still a lot of more minutes before 2013 that is being terribly underlooked (MVP Libertadores 2011, 3x Bola de Prata, 2x Bola de Ouro, 2x South American Player of the years, MVP Confederations Cup 2013 etc), since 2011 onwards, he was probably already the best Brazilian attacker/player. Definitely the main name of a Brazil that maintained its first position in the decade according to the Elo method. Robben deserves perhaps more than someone like Hazard..... or even Ribery. Ribery has the same Goals+Assist per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga, ~ the same whoscored rating as a starter and ~ the same DBS Calcio ratings too than Robben, being a elite carrier/dribbler himself too with more ~900 minutes rated. G+A-PK per 90 Robben (Bundesliga) 0.90 https://fbref.com/en/players/09586899/Arjen-Robben Ribery (Bundesliga) 0.85 (a bit more since 2009/2010) https://fbref.com/en/players/f61c7c4e/Franck-Ribery I know you had reasons to rate Robben ahead of Ribery, OK whatsoever I think they are part of the same group. Back to the point Neymar had much more minutes in the 2010-2020 than Robben since he has played around 200 matches for Santos too, normally as a starter.
I repeat: Neymar did little of relevance at the highest levels before 2014. That point stands. He is possibly/probably a better player (aided, by the powerful Brazil political benefits, high up in the power circles to compensate for the lack of innovation and R&D) with still years to come to work on his resume as main star in trophies. Meanwhile, Ribery has not nearly the same G+A record vs the top teams as Robben (Dortmund post-2010); not nearly the same tournament record (vs top teams, too); not nearly the same CL KO record; not the same win percentages either (there is a similar difference to not playing). Eight times world class vs three times when they were in the same team. Ribery his assist record is helped by that the recipients are right footed and the right back more attacking/progressive than the left back. I have mentioned this before to you but you have to be a dishonest latin like you to keep on repeating these false equivalences.
I rate all of Ribery, Hazard, Neymar and Robben very highly but I don't think they stand a chance of making the XI, unless we're willing to play Ronaldo or Messi out of their preferred position, which we shouldn't. In fact, for such an XI, the question is really: How to maximize Ronaldo/Messi. For me, it really comes down to Suarez vs Lewandowski. I don't mind either one really. We're spoiled for choice either way. In midfield, I wonder if Iniesta early 2010s form is enough to carry him into the XI, as he wasn't as relevant post-2016. Having said that, I don't have another name to replace him, from the top of my head. His performances in the first half of the decade was probably beyond anyone to catch up with, perhaps. In defense, I think a real case can be made for Lahm over Marcelo. In central defense as well, I think Chiellini, Godin and Thiago Silva are real contenders for the XI.
Yes that makes sense. This is from halfway last season (2018-19): https://saturdaysoncouch.wordpress.com/2019/01/09/all-bundesliga-first-team/
Only just caught up on this thread, in my view Robben has a very strong case , also Lahm over Alves for me, I would also question Marcelo as a nailed on pick.
Then the South American football is being terribly underlooked by you and his status as the best Brazilian attacker/player since 2011 too. He played in the top competitions in South America (the Brazilian League and the Libertadores). Do you have any believable/clear evidence that Neymar - or the other players - is using steroids? If not, then you should stop saying things as if they were true or really happened. Anyway, you must have posted this link about ten times now, must be hard to you assume that Brazil leads the Elo Ranking for several decades now. That's a good comparison, maybe I can compare these two players against the TOP15 or 20 teams in the world, according to the whoscored metric. About the win percentages, this is a rudimentary calculation, you at least can calculate this using Elo method and according the context, for example which happens if one player played more easy matches with the starting team and another played against elite opponents with the alternates (or a mix) team? One is more likely to have a better 'win' record than the other. That's why GoalImpact is interesting, even though they have bigger database of countries like Germany or Holland than other countries (specially of South America), generating certain inconsistencies.
Messi Ronaldo Neymar Robben Ribery Hazard This is how I am currently classifying them. Messi is the most talented, Cristiano and Neymar are the second, but Ronaldo achieved much more than Neymar.
There is plenty of evidence of Havelange, Texeira et al. bending the rules and governance in Brazil's favor through the years. The power of the masses, sponsors and media. Don't be silly. The referees whistled your team to the semis in 2014, until you met another corrupt superpower. Anyway, it is a battle I can't win. No matter how many goals, CL topscorer titles, CL trophies or whatever, the double handicap and downgrade machines are too strong. This is the last time I'll respond to your deceiving posts.
------------Suarez Ronaldo-Neymar-Messi ------Iniesta--Busquets Lahm-Ramos-Silva-Alves --------------Neuer
I think you're forcing Neymar there more or less for the sake of it. He only played a few times as a #10 and he wasn't outstanding there, nor on the right wing where Tata Martino inexplicably played him at times. He is a left sided winger/forward through and through and unless you can move Ronaldo elsewhere, Neymar, Hazard & Ribery unfortunately all have to miss out. ------------Ronaldo---Messi Neymar--Vidal-----Modric--Robben Alba----Chiellini----Godin-----Lahm -------------------‐Neuer That's one way I could include Neymar, if I'm trying to create a team that could function in an actual match(es). Robben and Neymar would have to work super hard defensively. I'm not worried about Robben, and I know Neymar is capable of putting in a shift, but he is not always willing. Perhaps one of the CBs could be sacrificed for a better ball playing CB. In which case Pique, Bonucci, Ramos, Boateng, Hummels and the one who achieved the highest peak of them all and showed the most prolonged consistency - Van Dijk (only the 2nd player to make all ESM team of the months in a single season). I don't feel so sure about Alba, but I even feel less certain about Alaba and Marelo and I'm not the biggest fan of opposite foot full backs