Also an interesting article from Jack Lang in which he imagined what might happen if the PL's team of the year played a potential team of the year from some other big leagues: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...t-wrong-eden-hazard-ngolo-kante-a7692836.html
Articles about a world without CR7 and LM10 http://www.espnfc.com/uefa-champion...ropean-dominance-of-barcelona-and-real-madrid https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/apr/21/messi-cr7-global-supershow-clasico
The selectors were probably high. I have to say that was one of the most entertaining matches this year. Spurs totally dominated the game imo only to be sucker punched by Hazard and Matic.
MOTM had to be Hazard. David Luiz wasn't even Chelsea's best defensive player. He had a couple of big mistakes. Matic stood out and that unlawful son of Gullit was also fine.
I was leaning towards Messi slightly overall, after last night definitely massive game, massive performance, he is in my view still head and shoulders above the rest. Lets hope awards are not totally CL centric and he can win Ballon d'or just like previous years 10 and 12 when Barca went out of CL early.
Luka Modric is the Real Madrid player with the best overall technique imho (Real Madrid players at their current state I mean, not their very best state).
Is there any doubt that Lionel Messi is the best player of this season? Has 52 goals in 51 official matches.
The UNFP nominations for players in Ligue 1 are out now. Player of the year: Cavani, Lacazette, Bernardo Silva, Verratti Young Player: Cyprien, Lemar, Rabiot, Mbappe Goalkeeper: Lopes, Reynet, Subasic, Trapp
In close control better than Modric, although the difference in effectiveness and usefulness of that close control is smaller than the difference in the control itself. I think you can say in a narrow definition Isco has a better technique. But if you make the definition of technique a bit broader, I tend to think Modric tends to be better and also tends to be more useful with his technique. With a bit better athleticism Isco could have been a top 5 player in the world. That is also a source of his inconsistency although the difference with when he was 18 is huge.
It has to be Bernado Silva (well for me but I think I'm not alone). But if PSG finally wins it, yep Cavani. Let see if Mbappe will confirm next year. Very probable but we never know. Best young player. Not sure about the keepers neither. Trapp has improved. Subasic is less imperial than some years ago, Lopes is not that good and I don't know about Reynet. I now consult the "Classement des étoiles FF" and so far it is for the field players : 1. Bernardo Silva (ASM) 6,30_2. Lemar (ASM) 6,23_3. Perrin (ASSE) 6,10_4. Verratti (PSG) 6,05_5. Boudebouz (MHSC) and Jimmy Durmaz (TFC) 6_ ...Cyprien, Mangani, Dante, Séri, Cavani 5,81, Albeid, Veretout, Balmont, Falcao, Fabinho, Diony, Eysseric, Trejo, Glik. 21. Lacazette... Gourcuff 23th, Thiago Silva 24th... Keepers : 1. Ruffier (ASSE) 5,91_2. Reynet (DFCO) and Lafont (TFC) 5,9_4. Carrasso (FCGB) 5,81_5. Trapp (PSG) 5,75)_6. Lopes (OL) 5,61)_7. Costil (REN) 5,6_8. Cardinale (OGCN) 5,57_9. Karl Johan Johnsson (EAG) 5,48_10. Subasic (ASM) 5,45... Link: https://www.francefootball.fr/ligue-1/etoiles/2016-2017/
By the way, I noticed that Cavani isn't highly rated in the rating sites (whoscored, squawks) despite being far and away the topscorer and still having a chance at a domestic treble. Bernardo isn't a bad choice, and certainly IMO the best choice for a Monaco player.
True, always felt Isco had the best technique at Madrid... Especially if by narrow definition you mean touch and close control. At the Madrid forum here many still don't understand how he isn't in the starting XI. Out of that generation of talents (Neymar, Hazard, Gotze, Thiago, Pogba, Verratti etc) Isco always was my favourite. Do you think a move away from Madrid, where he goes to be a starter for a top team even if not one of the big 3, he can still be one of the 5 best players? Thiago f.e is 3rd this season on whoscored and Isco might have a bit more to his game though it's hard to tell as he plays mostly the 'easy' games for Madrid.
I understand that your discussion is more on technique than but imo technique is only good as its effectiveness. The trick which many players have failed is to combine that technique with good decision making, consistency, and hard work. Personally I feel the likes of Iniesta, Modric, Isco, Hazard, and to lesser extent Silva/Cassano might have better technique than probably 99.9% of the players but their decision making might be letting them down. Of course with regard to Modric who's more of a central midfielder that conclusion doesn't apply. I know this might be unpopular but imo Isco is the best dribbler followed by Iniesta, Hazard, and Messi. Unfortunately dribbles that leads to sometimes somewhere and half the times nowhere will definitely lead the player to nowhere. That is the reason Isco can't even secure a spot in first eleven while I believe Iniesta is carried by his name.
Doesn't Isco also play as a centre mid these days though? At least since Ancelotti, and he still has very good end product. I don't know that he is a better dribbler than those guys, he keeps the ball just as well though and is equally press resistant, Verratti is also up there in terms of that. I think in terms of effectiveness, Puck alluded to something vital - athleticism. Messi and Hazard have more of it than say Isco, or current Iniesta. By the way, I feel Isco should be starting ahead of one of Bale or Kroos - but like Iniesta, their name or in Bale's case pricetag keeps him on the bench.
When I look at Isco I see pure dribbler who relies on his variety of skills to get himself out of any situation, unlike many other dribbler Isco's dribbling doesn't exactly depend on the speed of play. He simply uses variety of skills to get himself out of situations. In a way he is more similar to Iniesta than e.g. Messi or Hazard. On the other hand I feel the likes of Messi and Modric relies more on drop shoulder/feint, good ball protection and acceleration. The biggest problem with Isco is that he tends to hold on to the ball a bit too much. When he is on song he looks very good but can be frustrating when things aren't going his way. I also don't think he can replace Kroos as their roles aren't similar. Kroos is more on controlling the play while Isco is more on the attacking side. Bale when fit which hardly happens nowadays also offers different thing to Isco as he's more attacking and offers more threat going forward. I get the feeling that Isco can do well if he were to go to the likes of Man City or even Barca. The current Madrid approach doesn't really gets the best out of him. A case in point is Wednesday's game where they played with basically zero tactics and looked much better than the normal first eleven.
The dude I cannot believe anyone has mentioned is Kylian Mbappe Lottin from AS Monaco. 18 years old, 25 goals in 37 Matches... 6 goals in 7 UCL games.... 14 assists all year.... Talk about exploding onto the scene... Kid is gonna be a star!