I am not surer if Xavi should be in this list? He was neirther offensive midfielder at Barca nor for SPain
Barcelona usually does not start Mascherano for their bigger games. They go with the midfield three of Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta. And Iniesta is even more attacking than Xavi, so if Xavi has no defensive responsibilities, it would mean Busquets would have all the defensive burden. That is incorrect. Barcelona uses a high press and each of their midfielders have a defensive role and responsibility when they are not in possession.
Mascherano has started all games but 3 (same as Busquets)? One of those he missed just happaned to be against Real, but, so what?
Forgive me previous post. I didn't notice most of his appearances have been substitutions.... But, besides Masch, doesn't Keita also help out in the defensive duties?
I think it's easy to tell that Xavi belongs to this ranking after taking into account that for central midfielders there are only 2 cathegories: defensive or offensive, and is unquestionable he's widely regarded as one of the best footballers by his offensive skills, never by his defensive. Actually, I think it's quite clear he ever played as an offensive midfielder at Barcelona and Spain, despite his deep position that can confuse at the theoretical drawing.
Iniesta is quickly becoming one of the most overrated footballers in the modern game. Didn’t he spend most of last season injured?
Easily Xavi takes it. He was Spain's engine in the world cup... the amount of kilometers he ran was just amazing. Then a close second place I'd give it to Snejider...
And when he did play his productivity was incredibly low. It's ironic that he is being hailed as such a great player for scoring in the WC final (and was last season for scoring against Chelsea) when he basically never scores.
The bitterness must be really effecting some posters. People that obviously dont watch the player are foolishly claiming his productivity was low Ridiculous statements that can be refuted when people actually rewatch the matches. Iniesta did have a better season in 08/09 but he was still crucial for Barcelona last term, usually their best player after Messi and Xavi, and still one of the best midfielders in the game. Go back and rewatch games against Valencia, Getafe, Zaragoza, Tenerife, etc. To say his productivity was low shows plain ignorance. And for this season he has been the second best player in the world, after Messi.
First of all, we are talking about last season, making his current form completely irrelevant. I never said that Iniesta was a bad player, but him winning world player of the year makes no logical sense, when he spent half of the season injured and when he was healthy he was not even the best player on the team, which you just said yourself. Thus, this makes him overrated, NOT BAD by any means, but overrated. There is no reason why he should win the award over Sneijder.
Your first sentence was a blanket statement claiming he is becoming overrated, so I addressed that his form recently has proved otherwise. As far as I was aware, he hasnt won it yet, and yes I've always said he does not deserve it over Messi. But just because he was not the best player on his team does not make him overrated. His teammates in Messi, Xavi are two of the best players and imo should be ranked among the legends of the game, but that does not make Iniesta overrated because he is geting recognition without being better than those two. If the award does not include the beginning of this season at all, then I possibly would put Sneijder ahead of Iniesta (I would also probably put Robben and Forlan ahead as well), but Sneijder's form has mostly left him this term, while Iniesta's has been doing as well as his 08/09 season. And as for his games last term, I forgot to mention his games against Sevilla, where he was among the few that turned out good performances in those losing efforts that got them knocked out of copa del rey.
Stop trotting out this nonsense. So this season so far he has been better than Cristiano Ronaldo? The player who has scored 21 goals in 21 games so far this season, as well as 7 assists? In comparison Iniesta has 4 goals and 5 assists in 20 games. In the whole of last season he scored 1 goal for Barca, yet you think he was one of the 6 best players in the world? Take off your blinkers.
If you look at Spain's World Cup (in the knockout rounds at least) the games were typified by them dominating possession, but struggling to penetrate well organised defences. Iniesta was the one that created the breakthrough in the final, he was the one that did it against Paraguay (even if Villa scored the goal) and he was at least 50% responsible for the breakthrough against Portugal. If anything his contribution was underrated because people were too busy talking about the likes of Villa (e.g. Iniesta running through the defence against Paraguay and creating the opportunity, but Villa getting the plaudits for knocking the ball into the net from eight yards).
Him receiving the title of best offensive midfielder of 2010, over players in his own squad that were better than him, as well as players on other teams that were also better, does make him overrated. You can be amongst the best in the world and still receive praise that you are not worthy of, which is exactly what is starting to happen and has been happening since he scored that scorcher of a goal against Chelsea. Well, I was under the impression that “Best Player of 2010” meant last season, not from the new year till now. It doesn’t make sense to factor in form before and after the world cup break, in my opinion. It should be done on a season to season basis. Ok but this still doesn’t take away from my point. He spent a good portion of the year injured, was not the best player on his team, let alone the world. This makes him unworthy of the title that we are voting on.
There is no way you could say he is more worthy than Xavi or Messi and that is just in contrast to players who are on his own team.
The usual statistical fanboyism from you. Since you do not watch the matches and only look at stats it will be difficult to explain. Ronaldo started the season with several subpar performances. Since finding his form, almost half of his goal tallies have come off straight forward-mediocre difficulty strikes or penalties. For the most part he has seldom had to create a goal on his own and Ozil has been forging most of the openings. Iniesta has consistently performed for Barcelona and on several occasions looked at a different class to Ronaldo including their match against each other. That doesnt take anything away from Ronaldo as it can be argued he has been the second best player, but to dismiss the argument based on blind statistics is foolish and proves what is already known, you do not watch the matches. Who has picked him over players in his squad that were better than him? The poll allowed for three picks. And for the second statement, I have agreed with you, he was not deserving of winning the title.
I disagree with the way comme presented the statistics. Ronaldo and Iniesta aren't similar players so the comparison is futile. That and statistics don't account for everything. With that said you claim that almost half his goals were penalties or pretty simple strikes. That would surely sound unimpressive, but then again he's had 21 goals this year. That means, by your account, he's had to create, by himself, over 10 goals. That's more than 90% of the strikers in La Liga can claim so far. I wonder what your opinion on Inzaghi is. Ronaldo dominated La Liga and only a fool can say otherwise. Dominated in ways that only Messi can parallel, who has been at his club for manyyyyyyy, manyyyyy years (just like Iniesta and Xavi). I'm not going to discount those three for never having played in another league (that'd be foolish), or for even another team, but it'd be interesting to see if they'd have the same impact anywhere else that they do in the comfort of Barcelona. Fact is, Ronaldo won EVERYTHING in England (on a personal AND individual level), and left for a new team in a new league. Since then he's been able to, without the stability or cohesion that a club like Barcelona has, score 55 goals in 58 games. God only knows the lovefest that would be going on here if Messi moved somewhere else and did that.
I give Ronaldo credit for his stats, thats why i said it can be easily argued that Ronaldo has been the second best player after Messi. But imo Iniesta's consistency would have him edge him out barely. The point is it is ridiculously foolish to compare players like Ronaldo and Iniesta based on stats, just as it would be with say Inzaghi and Xavi.