A good comparaison is Japan. Some good players, but not as good as Uruguay a midfielder in Real Madrid staring 11, and a center back in Barcelona staring 11. With similar talent level and player pool, Japan plays like a good team, while USNMT plays like bunch of individuals.
Japan has also never been past the round of 16 at the World Cup. That's because it's the same problem. They have good players and a good team, but not as good as the top 10 in the world. They played Colombia and Uruguay at home in 2023. Won neither game. They've played two semi-good teams in 2024 and lost both games. Iran and Iraq in the AFC Championship. The rest of 2024 has been beating up on CONCACAF-like minnows in earlly WCQing. Just the Asian versions.
Lennard Maloney is listed as one of the top defensive midfielders in the Bundesliga by kicker.10 of the 14 listed are from Stuttgart, Leverkusen, Bayern, and Leipzig.https://t.co/OVT3WDIHFq— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) July 25, 2024 Do we underrate Maloney?
A lot has been made about Maloney's passing, which I agree, some is very much deserved.But Maloney pinging a switch to Beste, Dinkçi, or Kleindienst was pretty darn successful given their counterattack style. https://t.co/TEyJdM9ADO pic.twitter.com/ae8t4au8Dr— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) July 25, 2024
Yea so it’s not like 1 guy per team in the rankings. So he’s essentially in the top 4 defensive midfielders outside of the champions league teams. Thats not nothing.
I agree it is not nothing but those are Kicker rankings. Maloney is a competent BuLi DM. He is big, strong, has a high work rate, and is tactically very sound. He also plays on a team which is very defensively sound. He does not win a lot of balls or make a lot of interceptions. He is just very solid. Not clear why he would be ranked above sat Emre Can (BVB) , Anton Stach (Hoffenheim), Eric Martel (Koln) or a host of others but by the time you get to #14 why not.