Thanks for your hard work! Just a slight nitpick though, I'm not sure how Zidane got ranked 3rd in 1999. Wasn't his 98/99 season one of his poorest? He was trophyless, Juve finished 7th and Zidane himself scored only 2 goals. Even Supreme International class seems exceedingly generous for his domestic performances. And I don't think performances in a CL which he didn't win and in Euro Qualifiers make up for that. Also, as pointed out in one of the comments, your Best XI for 2017 has only 10 players.
Well, 1999 lacks of competitive candidates. The obvious contenders are ; Batistuta was in one of his greatest seasons but he didn't make any distinguishing profile in international football, playing only 2 caps for Argentina and unfortunately Fiorentina was penalized in UEFA cup second round. Figo : Look at his assisting record in UCL and Euro qualifying against team goals is disappointed. In UCL he made only 1 goal and 1 assist on 6 games and he produced nothing in the second half 1998 euro qualifying. Raul : I reviews his performance again and now I agree he could be superior to Zidane as he is qualified in world-class on both domestic and Euro qualfiication. Note that I've just applied the effect from annual ranking modification to annual XI.
World Record & Statistics Update 1) The most decorated players of all-time : I adjust scoring criteria of each competition and update it the first time in the last 4 years. C.Ronaldo has become 5th and Pele tied with Messi in scoring at 8th and 9th, respectively. 2) The most decorated clubs players of all-time : C.Ronaldo is at 4th place of all-time. 3) The most prolific scorers of all-time : C.Ronaldo became the most prolific scorer in history several months ago. Messi has ascended to 4th equalizing Romario in total goalscoring number but get better place for standard of competition. Ibrahimovic is now at 11th. 4) All-Time most top scorers : This is also based on criteria of scoring in each competition level shown in the table. G.Muller, Messi and C.Ronaldo is very nail-biting for the best ever in this status. 5) All-Time Longest treak without conceding a goal : Zoff is famous for holding the longest streak but I really don't find the record for the descending ranks. Anyway, I assume Donnarumma 1077 miniutes with Italy may have been the second to Zoff. 6) All-Time highest goals difference ratio in an int. club season : Bayern in 2019 - 2021 UCL has made the second best ever in this record. 7) All-Time lowest goals conceding ratio in an int. club season : Chelsea in the last season has made 5th best ever.
@Dearman Separating the myth from non fiction 2006 calendar year Top 5 European leagues+ champions league Cristiano ronaldo 2006 21 years old 18 goals+12 assists 0 penalties 3451 minutes played(38.3 matches played) 0.78 non penalty goals+assists per 90 The likelihood is he combined this with approx 4.5 dribbles per 90 In the 2005/06 premier league he had 4.2 dribbles completed per 90(some indications point towards him dribbling even more in the 2nd half of the campaign) and in the 2006/07 champions league he had 4.47 dribbles completed per 90(in the groupstage vs benfica and celtic he turned them into mince meat with 10+ dribbles) November 2006 1:50 2:04 2:40 3:31 Peak R9 levels of raw athleticism and close control playing in a position comparable to the ones of Luis figo Something like this in March 2006 is a contender for the most dribbles ever completed in a single match at any level vs any opponent Comparable to Neymar vs Bolivia with 16-17 completed dribbles You can cross check it with the footage Prime Ricardo Kaka 23 years old 2006 calender year 21 goals+13 assists in 4057 minutes 7 penalties 0.60 non penalty goals+assists per 90 Prime Ronaldinho 26 years old 2006 calender year League+CL 23 goals+18 assists in 3482 minutes 9 penalties 0.83 non penalty goals+assists per 90 Prime Thierry Henry 2006 28 years old 26 goals+10 assists in 3526 minutes 3 penalties 0.84 goals+assists per 90 At this stage nobody can claim Cristiano was playing further afield then either one of kaka or Ronaldinho https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/jahrestorschuetzen
@Dearman Post war 1945/46 to 1949/50 Ferenc Deak 235 goals in 147 league appearances 1.60 goals per match https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Deák_(football) Ferenc puskas 194 goals in 158 league appearances 1.23 goals per match https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Puskás That's 41 more goals in 11 less appearances puskas couldnt keep up despite playing for the regime sponsored team. Exact Same league in the exact same era Deak blows him out of the water and should probably have 5 consecutive SW seasons at the bare minimum going by your criteria Its true deak( like puskas) only won Hungarian football player of the year once but that probably had to do with a rule that stipulates a player cannot win the award more then once https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Football_Federation# It was changed after this with multiple winners like florian albert playing in a less competitive era for Hungarian talent Puskas won the European golden boot of the world in 1948 scoring 50 league goals So why is he only SW here and a phenomenon for(half of)1950 lol Deak is one of the forgotten names in football history Even for that era he truly stands out as something out of the ordinary Either ferenc Puskas is part legend/part myth or Ferenc deak is firmly in the conversation as to who is the games greatest ever goalscorer
@Dearman Could you give public explanations of the reason why you have displaced Johan Cruyff for Cristiano Ronaldo in position four of the best footballers in history? http://xtrahistory.blogspot.com/2013/01/Greatest-Ever.html
Sorry for no feedback for a long time. I admit that my passion in football history has been declined after era of Messi and CR7 and I think it is common that passion is up and down along the variable circumstances of football. Now I just return from my second trip in Europe. I visited Cologne, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and Paris where I had a chance to tour Stade de France. I remain feel it is my obligation to update rating in my blog but I have to admit I didn't watch any match in the last season ! and just deploy my skill of research and evaluation so I am ready to open for limitless criticism on the results. World All Time Greatest Footballer No change although I’ve downgraded some rating for Messi’s international performance, total score between him and Pele has come to be equal. I readjusted minor criteria on international competition in more strictly way, setting criteria of limited performance level for each stage of competition. For example, If Barcelona was beaten in quarter-final and Messi failed to achieve world-class this stage, his performance in group stage will be standardized and is limited to ordinary world-class. Positional Hall of Fame – Main Hall Forward : Salah replaces Sanfilippo Winger : Mane replaces Skoglund Goalkeeper : Courtois replaces Tomazewski De Bruyne and Kroos has an advancement in ranking of offensive midfielders as well. World Annual Awards of The Century I rate Salah in 1st place. As I check rating of Benzema in Spanish La Liga and his productivity against standard of the league. It is not really convincing that he was in world-class. Salah are the main engine for Liverpool to come close in Treble. For PHF Minor Hall and International Legendary Museum will be taken in the weekend.
Bro Salahs whoscored rating(7.54) in the 2021/22 PL is lower then Eden Hazard 2013/14 2014/15 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Kevin De bruyne 2017/18 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 Sergio aguero 2013/14 2014/15 2017/18 Salah 2017/18 2018/19 Mahrez 2015/16 Harry kane 17/18 20/21 Van persie 2011/12 2012/13 Gareth bale 2012/13 Luis Suarez 2012/13 2013/14 Wayne rooney 2009/10 2011/12 Etc..........................................................................
If whoscored ratings could be relied on for its standardized consistent accuracy, it would be grateful for me to have a doddle work in my evaluation and I would just take the entire set of raw data into my formula. Unfortunately, I never see any source of rating define quality level of performance criteria in explicit way so there is no way to have all of their evaluators calibrated and standardized. Therefore, it needs complementary sources to review. Benzema won La Liga player of the months twice times but when you see the winners in other months, they all were not a world-class candidates. I can imagine how would Benzema struggle to win FWA footballer of the year likes Salah made. In UCL, final, I check in many sources of rating and found that he was rated in one of the lowest points in his team. I see his two hat-tricks against PSG and Chelsea but no goal are spectacular. Most of them are succeeded as a result from his great positioning and finishing and often the opponent's defenders made a mistake in marking him. Considering the whole career, I see Benzema played along with one of the best teammates but he didn't get to be top-class players in many seasons.
Its strange you made this point seeing as Mohammed Salah won Premier league player of the month only once in 2021/22 Which is literally the same amount of times as mikel Antonio of west ham https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League_Player_of_the_Month#2021–22 I wondered this too despite scoring 10 goals in 6 CL KO matches he was only officially awarded 2 MOTM awards in the knockout rounds https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsl...ry-uefa-champions-league-player-of-the-match/ Karim Benzema won his official man of the match awards in the R16 and QF While Thibaut courtois won his 2 official MOTM awards in the SF and final For reference Cristiano Ronaldo was the official MOTM in the SF and final of the 2016/17 CL As was Lionel Messi in 2010/11 in the SF and final against Real Madrid and Manchester United To play devils advocate if karim Benzema hadn't capitalised on the goalkeeping errors/defensive mistakes of the opposition teams then Real Madrid arguably had no plan B to get back into the games they won Its ok focusing on the nature of his finishes but not at the expense of denying their decisiveness I have a strong suspicion that you are building a narrative for Benzema not qualifying for supreme world class in the 2021/22 CL edition I could buy this but just not from you Robert lewandowski 19/20 qualified for SW and he was conspicuously absent from the QF onwards Bayern Munich 19/20 scored 12 goals in the QF,SF and final(3 matches) vs Barcelona,Lyon and PSG Lewandowski scored 2 of those goals How do you average below 1 GPG when your team is averaging 4 goals per game? Something for you to think about 10 of benzemas 15 CL goals in 2021/22 were against chelsea,PSG and Manchester City 10 of Robert lewandowskis 15 CL goals were against red star belgrade,olympiacos and 9th place Tottenham Hotspur(EPL positon in early October 2019) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/pre...ettbewerb/GB1/plus/?saison_id=2019&spieltag=8 4 days after Bayern Munich beat Tottenham 7-2 with lewandowski scoring 2 goals https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tottenham-hotspur_bayern-munich/index/spielbericht/3252165 Brighton beat Tottenham 3-0 with 2 goals by Connelly(is he even in your database) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/spielbericht/index/spielbericht/3219402 I smell double standards being employed here Karim Benzema was SW in the CL and OW in the league This is simply inarguably If you want there should be a spectrum for SW,OW and SI with various sub categories within those categories Lewandowski CL 19/20 i feel should be at the highest level of OW while Karim Benzema 21/22 CL should be at the lowest level of SW
I think the hypothesis that Benzema scores against bigger clubs must achieve at least the same performance level as Lewandowski who scored against the lower ranking clubs is just in the first stage of hypothesis and it has been too early to draw a conclusion if the hypothesis is acceptable. As I gave example, the defenders of Chelsea and Man City were often leak so any form of statures and credentials of the clubs cannot help anything at the failure of their defenders particularly when discussing about degree of difficulty to score against not degree of difficulty to beat them. Considering quality of playing not only goals statistical analysis, Lewandowski scored more spectacular goals and he has another dimension in setting the navigation by himself lead to the scores finally. Likes the manufacturing processes, Lewandowski do it very well by himself in some of sub-processes before getting to final delivery while Benzema in this UCL season is more a specialist in finishing products. Remark* : I have compromised to have Benzema in 1st place in 2022 not because I underrated him but I found more details that I overrated Salah in UCL.
Salah is also overrated in the premier league 7.54 is the lowest score by a 'premier league MVP' since 2009/10 2009/10 Whoscored PL MVP Didier drogba Rating:8.32 There were FIFTEEN different PL players (including Drogba) rated higher then Salah 2021/22 A tangent perhaps but Ive mentioned this point previously regarding 2009/10 It was arguably the single season with highest level of performers ever 5 players across Europe's top 5 leagues namely Messi,Cristiano,Robben,Fabregas and Drogba were all rated above 8 at domestic level A dozen or so players were rated between 7.70 and 7.95 aswell across Europes top 5 leagues which is a really high level(OW for sure) You should look into it and maybe review your rankings https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2009-2010 2010/11 whoscored PL MVP Nani(Manchester United) Rating:7.71 5 different PL players including Nani were rated higher then Salah 21/22 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2010-2011 2011/12 Whoscored PL MVP Robin van persie(Arsenal) Rating:7.80 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2011-2012 5 different PL players including RVP were rated higher than Salah 21/22 2012/13 whoscored PL MVP Gareth bale(Tottenham) Rating:7.92 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2012-2013 7 different PL players including Gareth bale were rated higher then Salah 21/22 2013/14 whoscored PL MVP Luis Suarez(Liverpool) Rating:8.43 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014 9 different PL players including Luis Suarez were rated higher then Salah 21/22 2014/15 whoscored PL MVP Eden hazard(Chelsea) Rating:7.96 7 different PL players including Eden hazard were rated higher than Salah 21/22 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2014-2015 2015/16 whoscored PL MVP Riyad mahrez(Leicester city) Rating:7.84 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2015-2016 7 different PL players including Mahrez were rated higher than Salah 21/22 2016/17 whoscored PL MVP Eden hazard(Chelsea) Rating:7.81 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2016-2017 6 different PL players including Eden hazard were rated higher than Salah 21/22 2017/18 whoscored PL MVP Sergio aguero(Manchester city) Rating:7.81 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2017-2018 7 different PL players including Sergio aguero were rated higher than Salah 21/22 2018/19 whoscored PL MVP Eden hazard(Chelsea) Rating:7.81 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2018-2019 3 different PL players including Eden hazard were rated higher than Salah 21/22 2019/20 whoscored PL MVP Kevin de bruyne(Manchester city) Rating:7.91 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2019-2020 1 PL player namely Kevin de bruyne was rated higher than Salah 21/22 2020/21 whoscored PL MVP Harry kane(Tottenham) Rating 7.78 3 different PL players including Harry kane were rated higher than Salah 21/22 2021/22 whoscored PL MVP Kevin de bruyne(Manchester city) Rating 7.64 https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2021-2022 1 different player namely Kevin de bruyne was rated higher last season then Salah Since 2018/19 there has been a major drop off in high level individual performances in the premier league . A major drop off that has facilitated Salahs positon as arguably the current best performer in the league Before 2018/19 hed be nowhere near Matter of fact between 2009/10 and 2017/18 there were 73 individual PL seasons rated higher than Salah 2021/22 If you look to Benzema and im saying this without the data in front of my face You take out Messi,Cristiano and Neymar and there's only been a dozen or so seasons rated higher then his 21/22 la liga form This with prime level versions of Xavi,iniesta,Suarez,higuain 2009/10,Radamel falcao,Diego Costa,griezmann etc playing in la liga since 2009/10 Are you suggesting the talent pool in la liga pales in comparison to that of the premier league I'm talking about high quality performers regardless of their transfer fees or social media presence Your premise is faulty Premise 1 Salah is the best player in the premier league Answer He wasnt neither officially or non officially https://www.whoscored.com/Articles/...ol-dominate-Premier-League-Team-of-the-Season https://www.mancity.com/news/mens/kevin-de-bruyne-premier-league-player-of-the-season-2022-63788715 Faulty Premise 2 Benzema with only 2 player of the month awards in the 'vastly inferior la liga' would struggle to complete for best player in the premier league Response That is an assumption and mere speculation Salah 21/22 had only one premier league player of the month award which is the same number of awards as mikel Antonio this season Mikel Antonio was neither a ballon dor contender,nor a contender for the ballon dor 23 man shortlist,nor a contender for the best player in his league and he didn't even clinch the award for best player on his own team(that went to the vastly overrated Declan Rice) If player of the month awards is no longer the argument then what is? Overall I think this season has been fairly competitive but at a lower level as far as the top tier performers are concerned The clear front runner is Benzema OW in the league and SW in maybe 2-3 champions league KO matches the second leg of the R16 and the same stage of the QF Salah was SW for one month(October 2021) After AFCON he was supreme international class at best but never OW
Premise I : Actually is not a premise but reference of official status of awards to his double individual awards - FWA and PFA Player of the year. Premise II : You try to select the month with lowest profile of player although the most months were awarded to top-class players. The only sampling you've demonstrated is not enough to represent the whole season.
http://www.dbscalcio.it/sn-risultatiMediaVoto.php Even if the difference is marginal it is one corroborated by 2 sources One based on objective statistical data The other the combined average score of various football journalists This leaves little room for any doubt that however marginal the difference the difference still exists Kevin de bruyne 21/22> Mohammed Salah 21/22= fact
Positional Hall of Fame : Minor Hall (9x100) Goalkeeper : David Da Gea replaces Georgi Naydenov Advanced Midfielder : Son Heung-Min replaces Uli Hoeness International Legendary Museum New Profile : David Da Gea : Spain After World Cup 2022 and a half of club season ends, I will update again.
You aided my personal discovery of this absolutely fantastic EC final goal 2:24 How does his 1973/74 EC campaign rank in your opinion Was he just as/more important as Gerd muller?
Hello, do you mean to place De Gea among the 100 best goalkeepers in history? It's possible... but it won't be because of his merits in Spain and with the national team... Out of curiosity and if possible, which Spanish goalkeepers would you have above him? Thank you.
I filter only Spanish keepers from my list of greatest Iberian goalkeepers of all-time. Top 8 are also in the 100 greatest goalkeepers of all-time as stated in the last comment. 1. Ricardo Zamora (SPA) 2. Iker Casillas (SPA) 3. Jose Angel Iribar (SPA) 4. Andoni Zubizarreta (SPA) 5. Antonio Ramallets (SPA) 6. Luis Arconada (SPA) 7. David Da Gea (SPA) 8. Paco Buyo (SPA) 9. Santiago Canizares (SPA) 10. Francisco Urruti (SPA)
Congratulations on your overall fantastic work. Only, if I may comment (I think this discussion has come up before), Zubizarreta and De Gea are too high up. Normally we tend to forget one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Spain: Ignacio Eizaguirre and another one who, despite big mistakes, was key in the best moments of Barcelona: Victor Valdes. In any case, I reiterate, great effort and great work.
@Dearman I have told you I have appreciated your efforts in the past but sincerely, you are to be highly commended for your work. It is the most systematic and detailed analysis in existence of the world's most popular sport (and most popular sport that will ever exist on this planet). That is nothing to sneeze at. I wouldn't expect less from an Argentine, Thai resident fan of Red Star You are unique in the best way and as @Titanlux said, congratulations. I have a feeling your work will last longer and be referenced much longer than you ever imagined.
Thanks for your feedback but I'd take it in conservative way as I live in an external world from civilized football in Europe and South Americas. I'm certain to have missed some unfathomable tacit knowledge which is palpable under the real atmosphere only and not from my standing point. For example, I just watch the footage of legends from only media sources and study in paper and when I did not see the real footage in stadium so there is a limitation in sharpness, angles of visibility, etc and the number of matches I watched is just a minor proportion of each players' career. I am always conscious of that and I just present my work as a proposal of hypothesis at best.
Hi, I just have an update of players rating specifically for 2022 World Cup as below summary ; Positional Hall of Fame (Main Hall) Central Midfielder : Luca Modric : He has been ranked up to 8th Offensive Lateral : Di Maria has been ranked up to 41th Forward : Benzema has appeared in top 50 and it is a high time to transfer Cantona to honorable mention. Neymar is also moved up to 14th Striker : Lewandowski has been upgraded to 5th Positional Hall of Fame (Minor Hall - 9x100 list) New comer : Ilkay Gundogan (Defensive Midfielder) : Gambetta out Bernardo Silva (Playmaker) : Balaci out Riyad Mahrez (Winger) : Arnesen out International Legendary Museum : National Team Hall of Fame Profile New comer : Bernardo Silva (Portugal) - Honorable Mention Ilkay Gundogan (Germany) : Honorable Mention Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco) : In 22-Men Squad (Tarak Dhiab out) Kylian Mbappe (France) - Honorable Mention Manager : Ange Postecoglou - Take on as all-time Oceania squad After the end of 2022 - 2023 club season, I will update again for club part.