With 4 league games remaining, Junior has virtually relinquished his fight for the top spot, while Maradona has consistently put solid performances to land the number 1 position.
The podium of the final top 3 best rated players in 1984-85 1. Maradona 2. Junior 3. Garella Top 3 foreigners 1. Maradona 2. Junior 3. Hateley 4 combined sources have been used to reach the winner (GS, Gazzetta, Corriere and Tuttosport)
1981 Calendar Year average ratings for Falcao from Guerin Sportivo: 1980/81 (January to end of season) Juventus (home) 6.5 Avellino (home) 5.5 Brescia (away) 5.5 Bologna (home) 7.5 Torino (away) 7 Napoli (home) 7.5 Cagliari (home) 8 Udinese (away) 8 Fiorentina (home) 6.5 Ascoli (away) 7 Perugia (away) 7.5 Juventus (away) 7.5 Pistolese (home) 7 Avellino (away) 7.5 1981/82 (Start of season to December) Avellino (home) 6 Cesena (away) 5.5 Cagliari (home) 8 Torino (away) 7 Fiorentina (home) 9 Juventus (away) 8 Bologna (home) 7 Inter (away) 6 Milan (home) 6 Como (home) 6 = 6.96 I might try to do the same for Scirea (1982), Platini (1983) and then Maradona (1985). Possibly Krol (1981). By the looks of it, Platini for 1985 won't be scoring so high given some low grades in late 84/85, even if as I assume will be the case to an extent his first half of 85/86 is great. And I'll see if a good estimate can be made for combined sources for these players calendar year wise too, as opposed to just Guerin Sportivo as above.
1983 Calendar Year for Platini, with Guerin Sportivo grades: 1982/83 (January to end of season) Cagliari (home) 5 Genoa (away) 5 Sampdoria (home) 5 Cesena (away) 7 Verona (home) 6 Napoli (away) 6.5 Fiorentina (home) 7.5 Udinese (home) 8.5 Roma (away) 8 Avellino (home) 8 Pisa (away) 6 Torino (away) 6 Ascoli (home) 8 Catanzaro (away) 8 Inter (home) 8.5 Cagliari (away) 7.5 Genoa (home) 9 1983/84 (Start of season to December)Ascoli (home) 7 Pisa (away) 6 Napoli (home) 7 Lazio (away) 7 Milan (home) 7 Torino (away) 6.5Sampdoria (home) 5.5 Verona (home) 6.5 Catania (away) 6.5 Fiorentina (away) 7 Roma (home) 7 Udinese (away) 8 Avellino (away) 7 = 6.67 6 more games than Falcao played in 1981, and the earliest ones bringing his score down, but nevertheless not so high an average overall from GS, and I wouldn't be sure how it will compare to Platini's own average for 1984 or 1985 (but still not sure I'll calculate those). Maybe the combined sources average for 1983 will be higher though (given GDS gave him such a high average for 83/84 overall).
I think 1981 calendar year might be worth looking into for Krol too, so I'll do that and Scirea for 1982. F.Baresi is surely already an impressive player of high class, but he hasn't been appearing (except in Serie B) on top of the seasonal averages and I guess wouldn't for any particular calendar year. Then I'll look at Maradona for 1985, when Vegan has posted enough of 85/86 articles. Zico's 1984 I guess wouldn't match his 83/84 average, since his start to 84/85 wasn't really exceptional and he wasn't so high in the ratings table mid-way through it, as he had been for 83/84. I think it's kind of interesting to see the calendar year averages anyway, to help understand the spells of form people might have been looking at when it did come to annual awards and accolades, as well as to see if 12 month calendar year periods for any players even exceed the best Serie A season averages. All the players seem to have some lesser (below average) games within any given 12 months but I guess that's to be expected. Just like, in seasons/years they weren't at their best, some quality displays and high ratings will occur too. I'm wondering if sometimes if a highly regarded star, or skilful player, has a bad game or doesn't do much, the newspapers might even look on that more harshly than if it was a more regular player too....(although in some big defeats most of the players in an underdog team will be given low ratings too for example).
Krol for 1981: 1980/81 (January to end of season) Como (home) 7 Juventus (away) 8 Udinese (home) 8 Catanzaro (away) 7 Pistoiese (away) 8 Inter (home) 8 Roma (away) 7 Cagliari (home) 8 Avellino (away) 6.5 Bologna (home) 7 Brescia (away) 7.5 Torino (away) 7 Perugia (home) 6.5 Fiorentina (home) 7 Como (away) 7 Juventus (home) 7 Udinese (away) 7 1981/82 (Start of season to December) Catanzaro (home) 7 Como (home) 7 Cesena (away) 7.5 Avellino (home) 7 Torino (away) 7.5 Udinese (home) 7 Bologna (away) 6.5 Inter (home) 7.5 Fiorentina (away) 6.5 = 7.19! New Guerin Sportivo benchmark for 12 months then, and maybe the 3rd/4th place votes for Ballon d'Or here become easily understandable, and even seem too few: http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy81.html Not that Serie A is everything, and maybe the standards for rating defenders differ a bit and obviously Krol is one who has good consistency throughout the period in question without bad ratings. I guess in this whole early 80s period, Platini might have the most notable and best performances to add in other competitions, out of the players I'm picking out, although for France of course he didn't play qualifiers between 1982 and 1984.
Scirea for 1982 (Guerin Sportivo ratings again, as with Krol): 1981/82 (January to end of season) Udinese (home) 6.5 Napoli (away) 6.5 Catanzaro (home) 6 Cesena (away) 6.5 Avellino (home) 7 Como (away) 7 Milan (home) 6 Cagliari (away) 7 Torino (home) 7.5 Roma (away) 6 Genoa (home) 7 Bologna (away) 7 Fiorentina (away) 6 Ascoli (home) 6.5 Inter (home) 6.5 Udinese (away) 6.5 (Round 29 missing/unknown for Scirea) Catanzaro (away) 6 1982/83 (Start of season to December) Sampdoria (away) 7 Cesena (home) 6.5 Verona (away) 6 Napoli (home) 6.5 Fiorentina (away) 6.5 Udinese (away) 6.5 Roma (home) 7.5 Avellino (away) 8 Pisa (home) 6 Torino (home) 6 Catanzaro (home) 7 Inter (away) 6 = 6.59
Baresi seems to being one of the very top defenders finishing the 1970s, specially the 1978-78 season. Then, with the Tottonero ban, just as AC Milan, Baresi was up and down in his level in the fist half of the 1980s. And since the 1985-86 season, seem to raised his level to being a sure pick for the NT.
Krol is in the all-star team of the year for 1981 but not in the top 5 most selected in the Guerin Sportivo player of the year. It could be that Italian football was not the top brass league at that time considering how very few foreigners featured in that league. What is surprising is Falcao was not in the list. I think there’s little doubt that the most spectacular year from a player in the first half of the decade was Platini in 1984, because of the consistent solid performances in a league that was on the rise, plus the Euro. But then I think about it and wonder what about Rummenigge or Maradona in 1980 ? Or Zico 1981 ? But then logically the Euro of 1984 should have tilted the balance in Platini’s favor. It was one of the most dominating years of a player in the decade, surely.