The traditional kicker rankings started today. Evaluated are the mere performances in Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League, UEFA-Cup, UI-Cup and national teams after the World Cup. As always they started with goalies and defenders: GOALIES: World Class: - International Class: 1 Jens Lehmann, 32, Dortmund 2 Oliver Kahn, 33, Bayern 3 Simon Jentzsch, 26, 1860 4 Frank Rost, 29, Schalke Further Circle: 5 Darius Kampa, 25, Nürnberg 6 Rein van Duijnhoven, 35, Bochum 7 Jörg Stiel, 34, Gladbach 8 Claus Reitmaier, 38, Wolfsburg 9 Timo Hildebrand, 23, Stuttgart 10 Matthias Hain, 29, Bielefeld Also in the focus: Jörg Butt, 28, Leverkusen; Gabor Kiraly, 26, Berlin; Andre Lenz, 27, Cottbus; Martin Pieckenhagen, 31, Hamburg; Matthias Schober, 26, Rostock Most improved: Simon Jentzsch Most worsened: Jörg Butt CENTRAL DEFENDER World Class: - International Class: - Further Circle: 1 Thomas Linke, 32, Bayern 2 Frank Verlaat, 34, Bremen 3 Arne Friedrich, 23, Berlin 4 Christoph Metzelder, 22, Dortmund 5 Marco van Hoogdalem, 30, Schalke 6 Christian Wörns, 30, Dortmund 7 Marcelo Bordon, 26, Stuttgart 8 Lucio, 24, Leverkusen Also in the focus: Rodrigo Costa, 27, 1860; Frank Fahrenhorst, 25, Bochum; Raymond Kalla, 27, Bochum; Robert Kovac, 28, Bayern; Mladen Kristajic, 28, Bremen; Sammy Kuffour, 25, Bayern; Fernando Meira, 24, Stuttgart; Bastian Reinhardt, 27, Bielefeld; Stefan Schnoor, 31, Wolfsburg; Jeff Strasser, 28, Gladbach
Didn't I put in the backers and wingers? I would have sworn I did. DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD: World Class: - International Class: 1 Michael Ballack, 26, Bayern 2 Torsten Frings, 26, Dortmund Further Circle: 3 Fabian Ernst, 23, Bremen 4 Stefan Reuter, 36, Dortmund 5 Jens Jeremies, 28, Bayern 6 Zvonimir Soldo, 35, Stuttgart 7 Peer Kluge, 22, Gladbach 8 Sebastian Schindzielorz, 23, Bochum 9 Godfried Aduobe, 27, Rostock 10 Christian Poulsen, 22, Schalke 11 Jaime, 29, Hannover In the Focus: Hanno Balitsch, 21, Leverkusen; Daniel Borimirov, 32, 1860; Thordur Gudjonsson, 29, Bochum; Pal Dardai, 26, Berlin; Miroslav Karhan, 26, Wolfsburg; Rüdiger Kauf, 27, Bielefeld; Sebastian Kehl, 22, Dortmund; Marcus Lantz, 27, Rostock; Tommy Svindal Larsen, 29, Nürnberg; Silvio Meißner, 29, Stuttgart; Remo Meyer, 22, 1860; Thomas Riedl, 26, Kaiserslautern; Hans Sarpei, 26, Wolfsburg; Raphael Wicky, 25, Hamburg. Most improved: Peer Kluger Most worsened: Sebastian Kehl A remark in between: So far I was positive surprised by kicker doing a very realistic check and not exaggerating with listing way too many players. This changes here: I absolutely agree that (maybe unfortunately) the defensive midfield is the strong part of German teams. Half of the listed players should not even be in the focus though. And among the players who really should be in, they should switch Balitsch into the further circle, while Kluge, Schindzielorz and Jaime can be rated worse; Reuter does not even belong to the focus IMO. OFFENSIVE MIDFIELD World Class: - International Class: 1 Tomas Rosicky, 22, Dortmund 2 Johan Micoud, 29, Bremen Further Circle: 3 Marcelinho, 27, Berlin 4 Stefan Effenberg, 34, Wolfsburg 5 Aliaksandr Hleb, 21, Stuttgart 6 Dariusz Wosz, 33, Bochum 7 David Jarolim, 23, Nürnberg Focus: Krassimir Balakov, 36, Stuttgart; Thomas Häßler, 36, 1860; Nebosja Krupnikovic, 29, Hannover; Krisztian Lisztes, 26, Bremen; Andreas Möller, 35, Schalke Most improved: Stefan Effenberg Most worsened: Yildiray Bastürk My clear opinion: Rosicky is overrated, would be my number 3 or 4 in the further circle. Micoud is number 1, but I’m not sure about the international class. Numbers 5 to 7 should better be put in the focus, where I would drop all of the listed players and add Bastürk instead.
This is the link for backers: http://www.kicker.de/content/news/artikel.asp?folder=3100&object=277095 This is the link for wingers: http://www.kicker.de/content/news/artikel.asp?folder=3100&object=277094
Interesting. So according to Kicker, besides possibly strikers, the Bundesliga has no World Class players?
Depends on formulating I think. Ballack, Kahn, Lizarazu, Schneider, Lucio or Amoroso surely have World Class potential, but kicker just rated what they performed in this season so far. Just seen over this period of time, there indeed is no player on WC standard.
But the Kicker ratings are very questionable ! Ronaldo was always world class and will always be world class, but considering his performances from the last months in Madrid, Kicker wouldn't even rate him in the international class. Besides that, they are listing Ballack as a defensive midfielder - how stupid !
Well, what they'd do with Ronaldo is grey theory I think. Of course he has the potential to be a world class player, but if he doesn't play or doesn't strike, then naturally he wasn't world class in the last six months (which is what the rating is all about) - in this aspect I couldn't agree more with kicker. What's your problem with Ballack? He's playing central mid or defensive mid. An often heard wrong opinion is that he plays offensive mid, but he never did that. This btw, is the big problem for the German NT - as kicker points out: there are (too) many good defensive mids, but we don't have a single good offensive mid.
The problem with the German national team is that their only good offensive player is their defensive mid 8) Kicker ratings are pretty interesting, thanks Olaf
Concerning Ballack i have to admit that it is very difficult to define/describe the position he plays... He's no No. 10 playmaker like Micoud, Rosicky, Cardoso, Balakov, he's no pure attacking midfielder like Scholl but imho he also isn't a defensive midfielder... But to list Ballack alongside with guys like Jeremies, Ernst, Reuter or Soldo is a bit ridiculous, isn't it ? Those guys are real dm's, Ballack isn't. Perhaps we should create a new position for him, 'scoring central midfielder' . To talk about the Kicker-ratings i must say that i don't like them at all in the way they are presented. Goalies like Kahn or Lehmann are true world class players ( and i'm not a Kahn or Lehmann fan at all...), as well as guys like Ballack or Lucio and Ronaldo. But now those typical german 'Erbsenzaehler' journalists from the Kicker come up and say 'well, Kahn was good but in 2 or 3 matches he conceded some goals on his own faults, so we must remove the world class rating ..'. IMHO it would be better if Kicker creates a top 10 or top 15 list for every position every 6 months, but they should stop those 'international class', 'world class' ... ratings. I think it isn't very convincing and realistic if a player like Lucio suddenly drops from 'world class' into the 'further circle' in just 6 months. Every player must be allowed to show some poor form from time to time, but we all know what a player like Lucio can do !
Tegtmeier: I read the kicker article meanwhile, and they also were discussing where to put Ballack. Final solution was that they called him and he himself said that he sees himself as defensive mid, who uses to turn offensive when he gets the ball. Of course Ballack is different than others in this category, but as you see the problem yourself: there are players who don't really fit into a scheme and for such a rating you got to put them in somewhere. I don't share your opinion with the ranking though. They evaluate the current performances, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't know if you're from Germany and follow soccer, but e.g. Lucio or Placente played horrible, absolutely no comparison to last year; Kahn played the worst season of his pro career until November. I think you're maybe doing the mistake to put them into a certain level before rating their performances; kicker does it the other way round and just watches the performances without caring who the player is (which IMO is the better approach).
Forward Ranking: World class: - International Class: 1 Ailton, 29, Bremen 2 Jan Koller, 29, Dortmund Further Circle: 3 Benjamin Lauth, 21, 1860 4 Kevin Kuranyi, 20, Stuttgart 5 Thomas Christiansen, 29, Bochum 6 Fredi Bobic, 31, Hannover 7 Giovane Elber, 30, Bayern 8 Markus Schroth, 27, 1860 9 Ewerthon, 20, Dortmund 10 Sasa Ciric, 35, Nürnberg 11 Bernardo Romeo, 25, Hamburg 12 Claudio Pizarro, 24, Bayern 13 Artur Wichniarek, 25, Bielefeld 14 Diego Klimowicz, 28, Wolfsburg Focus: Sergej Barbarez, 31, Hamburg; Angelos Charisteas, 22, Bremen; Mamadou Diabang, 23, Bielefeld; Bart Goor, 29, Berlin, Mohammadou Idrissou, 22, Hannover; Rade Prica, 22, Rostock; Ebbe Sand, 29, Schalke, Joris van Hout, 25, Mönchengladbach. Most improved: Benjamin Lauth Most worsened: Miroslav Klose Ranking Germans in other countries: World Class: - International Class: - Further Circle: Stefan Klos, 31, Glasgow Rangers, Goalie Dietmar Hamann, 29, Liverpool, defensive mid Focus: Dirk Heinen, 32, Denizlispor, Goalie; Mustafa Dogan, 27, Fenerbahce, Central defence; Giuseppe Gemiti, 21, Udine, defensive wing; Steffen Freund, 32, Tottenham, defensive mid; Thomas Hitzlsperger, 20, Aston Villa, defensive mid; Christian Brand, 30, Luzern, offensive mid; Simon Cziommer, 22, Enschede, offensive mid; Steffen Hoffmann, 22, Rapid Vienna, offensive mid; Oliver Bierhoff, 34, Chievo, forward; Carsten Jancker, 28, Udine, forward