Its not lol and to think its lol is lol.

Weeeee.

Its obvious you have no real clue about the level he is playing at.

I have to agree with CHELSEAFANS, although I'm a bit biased I've been following Cech for like 12 years and dont think he declined much since his peak. Having him below Reina or De Gea is ridiculous

He's been developping nicely since Monaco and he's been quite amazing lately ,probably the best GK in Ligue 1 this season so far,also has to be the strongest phisically of all those GKs,really intimidating

guy took a front kick from zlatan at close to full speed and just finished the game like no problem

Definitely agree. I have vague memories of him being one of my favorite underrated goalkeepers way back, and I think for most people remembering a younger version of him, see that he is not really close to what he used to be. Guy was an excellent shot-stopper.

I also tried to really make shot-stopping a top priority and of course remember the discussion and analysis earlier itt.

I think I mentioned serious mistakes a lot in my reasoning but in my head as I moved further and further down the pecking order a lot of the time serious mistakes really meant just not saving difficult shots at a rate that the best would (it was getting late and I was becoming quite immersed trying to separating these guys).

You may be right about Lindegaard's ability as a shot-stopper though for now at least I still think he compares well to most other keepers. it's just de Gea who is something really special.

Absolutely.

About Stekelenburg, there has been the odd mistake here and there, but overall I think he has been fine for a team that's so insanely attacking and has conceded so much. I know sometimes having to save all these shots can make a keeper look really impressive but for Roma the first part of the season it's rather been something like allowing one or more attackers through on goal and generally allowing the kind of chances that no keeper can do much about.

There is a current worry though, that Zeman, for all there is to love about him, is such an erratic talent evaluator (the best example being that he sees no difference between De Rossi and x other midfielder at his disposal) that he might suddenly prefer someone else.

That's great to hear. Was I right about Sirigu not being seen as any better than the best French goalkeepers? Who is widely seen as the best of those anyway?

Sirigu, pre-PSG I didn't think was all that great but from what I've seen he has really been a higher level than I thought he would remembering him from Palermo where I had him more in the category of the likes of Marchetti, Sanctis maybe Viviano who I definitely think he is better than now and it's a joke that De Sanctis is Buffon's first reserve.

Love Bjorn's dedication.

Well its hard to say,certainly every PSG fan consider him elite now.Sirigu not gettin the GK of the year award in ligue1 last year was an utter joke,he was our best player and there's a case to be made that we just wouldnt have reached a CL spot without him.
To me he is in the same category as Mandanda and Ruffier

kudos to Leonardo getting him because i'd never heard of him before we signed him,also never seen a GK as dominant for us since Bernard Lama in his best years although this year is a bit different because Thiago Silva doesnt even let anything come close to our goal and Sirigu is sort of jobless

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/i...ld-interactive

how does it compare?

and hurry up and get Victor in your lineup Bjorn!!!

That one is a nightmare to use on a tablet.

Forlan still on the list...

Naymar 13 is ridiclous.

Rooney is way too high.

Cesc is way too high.

Gotze is ranked better and nice to see Hummels at 45.

Captain, leader legend on the list is LOL

Evra shouldn't be in it either.

I couldn't see Gerrard or Lampard so that's a positive but I also can't see the top10*...

some awful rankings

The Score did the same thing last year. Obviously some panelists have terrible lists and some good, so it evens out ok. But say Forlan at 99 and Hamsik at 97 when the gap between the two is so, so, so huge. I'd bite Napoli's hands off for Hamsik at even £25 million. I wouldn't take Forlan for free.

I hadn't even heard of Mayuka before. I'd love us to take a look at Aubemeyang but he's a season or even two away from being a top 100 player. Evra might not even make a top 100 PL player list.

Villa and Vidic haven't done a thing in the past year and are over 30, way too high. I love Valbuena but he's at least 20 places too high. Oscar has been sensational this year, but is way, way, way too high. Having him near Cesc is lolbad. Some people must really dislike Rooney.

No Isco/Wilshere/Song/Reus is absurd

KW, are you getting high/low confused?

Yes I am lol

*edit*

Reus is 27 btw

Bjorn,

Obviously biased here but surely Fraser Forster deserves very strong consideration for being in your top 30 keepers list? He's been brilliant in the big European games for Celtic this year and he's forced his way into the England NT equation despite playing in a second rate league; brilliant season thus far, and he's still only 24 years old.

The problem with lists like the Guardian one is it uses a point system for rankings so you get clear situations where similar players where one is obviously better then the other but ranked lower/too close. Whole thing is a mess tbh.

So I guess the top 10 is: Ronaldo, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Schweinstegger, Falcao, Ibra, RVP, Pirlo and Cavani? Cavani seems slightly high, but there can't be any way they left him completely off?

Napoli have been my favorite non Arsenal team the past few years and I hate beIN for depriving me of seeing Cavani/Hamsik and co more often

Schweinsteiger is #19. Yaya Toure for last top 10 spot imo.

Oh and I hate everyone who puts Reus ahead of Götze.

Yeah I think one or two rotten apples really messed things up with their rankings. For me the worst was the players ahead of Modric at 80# not least Evra being one of them.

I'm also pretty sure Rooney will "finally" drop some on my list but definitely can't see it being down into the 30s. What he brings of attacking midfielder + striker quality elements is still huge and I think tough for many to compete against when it comes to value.

I finished most of my short-list for new players the other day so at least start of January for the finished article definitely looks on. I'm not sure about the presentation yet, even though I swear I'll never do it again when I'm in the middle of it a new list somehow always puts me in marathon-rundown-mode, BUT this time I'm thinking of something different like splitting it into position by position-lists, posting those first and then just the whole thing as it is right afterwards.

Its sad because Yaya was the first name I thought of outside of xavi/ronaldo/messi, but then forgot it by the time I tried to click on all the stupid images.

I did shortlist Forster but ultimately I just didn't have enough of an impression of him and he and some others just missed out on a bottom place to the Germans, where I had similar issues, but at least knew about them being seen as very good or very talented in recent periods.

Also funny that two of my top 5 keepers (Stekelenburg and Casillas) saw the bench this weekend.

Modric at #80 in that list is so ****ing atrocious

You should really just reveal at least 100-300 without making a writeup.

Really unsure about Victor Wanyama. I have nominated him but competition is fierce among central midfielders, especially among those without some good distribution skills. For an example key central midfielders of sort of that type on championship winning teams, like Rio Mavuba (Lille) and Fernando (Porto) have previously missed out and teams all over the leagues seems to have at least one very good example who is very valuable to them whether it's hard worker in a two-man or the most defensive in a three-man midfield, these players are everywhere.

I can post some of the central midfielders (of many types) not on the list already that he and others are up against and ppl can give their opinion if they want:

Sven Bender (off the list the last time but playing better, maybe than ever, again)
Paulinho (Key Corinthians midfielder who must be a lock for the list)
Paul Pogba (fantastic talent who doesn't look out of place at all when replacing one of the tree very well ranked Juve-midfielders)
Alejandro Faurlin (his club has sucked but he always impress me)
Mohamed Diamé (that he is a total impact beast becomes obvious immediately and his stats even indicate attacking contributions)
Rio Mavuba (key Lille)
Fernando (key Porto now also being pushed by Steven Defour who is also in contention)
William Kvist (all in all I don't even think it's out of place when I hear it's suggested that he is one of the very best in the Bundesliga at what he does in central midfield)
Luca Cigarini (an old favorite of mine who's all-round midfield talent has found its home)
Ignacio Camacho (very impressive and unheralded key player for amazing Malaga even making them not miss the highly ranked Toulalan when he has been out)
Blaise Matuidi (great runner and worker who won't need much technical improvements to finally make the list)
Tino Costa (Valencia midfield all-rounder who has always been very close to the list)
Marco Verratti (distributor-wonderboy)
Roman Neustädter (his best case was probably with Gladbach last season but still a very solid operator in central midfield)
Abou Diaby (injuries will hurt him again but at his best very good)
Siem de Jong (proven he can hang in the CL)
Leon Osman (very consistent Everton all-round midfield performer who maybe finally deserves a place)
Joe Allen
Leon Britton
Kevin Nolan
Antonio Candreva (don't think he'll make it but his all-round midfield play been important for a good Lazio team)
Marco Parolo (probably too unheralded Serie A performer to make it but I really like him)
Valon Behrami (just a pest)
Etienne Capoue
Mulumbu (he has been on the list before and a key player for WBA who are doing well. I've since realized he isn't good enough though)
Benoit Cheyrou (Marseille is doing well again and he is always important there. A good distributor too)
Denisov (easily the best Russian defensive midfielder but with his and his clubs problems his time was probably on the previous list instead)
Mario Suarez (always very good Atletico)
Michael Bradley (it's going to be close with Bradley once again but I do put him ahead of other Roma midfielders solid young Greek Tachsidis and talented Florenzi)
Maxime Gonalons (on the list in the past and is better for Lyon now than then)
Lucas Biglia (a complete outsider playing where he does but I really like the Anderlecht captain and he is a good example of just how many good CMs are fighting this out)
Simon Rolfes (previous stalwart on the list who I don't think will make it now but is at least playing well again)
Rômulo (if not for injuries and a slow start in Russia I think this talented Olympian would have made it)
Hector Herrera (probably too early with having seen him so little and all but no doubt his level of beasting at the Olympics winning gold for Mexico makes him a contender for the list)

There are many more. To put it in perspective the first name that comes to mind who I didn't even bother nominating, cause I kind of feel he is behind all of those I just listed, would be the forever supremely talented Fernando Gago, who is actually now starting for Argentina but who's club performances have just been too poor for a while now.

After he puts Juve out i'm sure you'll reconsider Victor.

If Wanyama was in the pl already he'd b head and shoulders above some of those listed, Ffs tiote made the list after one decent year with Newcastle in pl while victor gets considered after putting on a show in the cl. Also Kayal really isn't that far behind Victor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...ootballers-ten

That's the top 10.

Marty, we shall see! Let's just say that I liked the draw very much . I did keep underrating them in the group stages though or at least overrated both Benfica and Spartak who really disappointed me this time around.

Let's see I had 86 midfielders listed in what I called the central+other midfielders category (attacking midfielders+winger types being a separate group): the top 86 and looking at them I think quite a few of the bottom placed will actually rise on the overall list. Some quite A LOT even, but Granit Xhaka for starters not able to carry Gladbach at this point and eventually getting dropped (and them improve) could struggle to stay on the list despite that I still very much believe in his overall talent. For Dejan Stankovic it's definitely time to go. Janssen too I think. I have no idea what has been going on there.

Mauricio Isla has not been good for Juve and his versatility will not be enough to save him. For good old Park it will be very close and though I feel that he did exactly what I thought he would in a different midfield role than at United, and I mean that in a good way, maybe it's not enough considering age and injuries and he will have to compare well to other positions, which you can't rule out of course. Källström is still pretty good but Spartak has been a disaster and he will leave the list I think. It's fitting that Gonalons likely weill re-enter in his place.
Ramsey, as sad as it is, will be hard to justify as well. Nocerino could easily exit since life without Zlatan has been very difficult. Aquilani is just coming back from injury with some pretty good performances but I'm not sure it's enough to stay on the list. Some others in the middle of things will definitely drop as some of those in the bottom will rocket up the list, but they're still players I can't see exit the list entirely.

Will be interesting to see where you place Hulk, Eto'o and Witsel in the list Bjorn. I watch a lot of Russian football and my opinion of these 3 in particular has changed somewhat over the last few months.