300: Julian Draxler Germany - Schalke 04
299: Marcel Schmelzer - Germany - Dortmund
298: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - England - Arsenal
297: Juan Arango - Venezuela - Borussia Mönchengladbach
296: Nolito - Spain - Benfica
295: Deco - Portugal - Fluminense
294: Maxime Gonalons - France - Lyon
293: Gastón Ramírez - Uruguay - Bologna
292: Gary Medel - Chile - Sevilla
291: Jose Callejon - Spain - Real Madrid
290: Felipe Melo - Brazil - Galatasaray

289: Rafael - Brazil - Manchester United
288: Chris Smalling - England - Manchester United
287: Gabi - Spain - Atletico Madrid
286: Michu - Spain - Rayo Vallecano
285: Younes Kaboul - France - Tottenham
284: Roman Shirokov - Russia - Zenit
283: Isaac Cuenca - Spain - Barcelona
282: Yuto Nagatomo - Japan - Inter
281: Lukasz Piszcek - Poland - Dortmund
280: Mathieu Debuchy - France - Lille

279: Hugo Campagnaro - Argentina - Napoli
278: Luuk de Jong - Netherlands - Twente
277: Granit Xhaka - Switzerland - Basel
276: Kwadwo Asamoah - Ghana - Udinese
275: Fabrizio Miccoli - Italy - Palermo
274: Bobby Zamora - England - QPR
273: Andrés D'Alessandro - Argentina - Internacional
272: Giovani Dos Santos - Mexico - Tottenham
271: Isco - Spain - Malaga
270: Aaron Lennon - England - Tottenham

269: Antonio Nocerino - Italy - Milan
268: Ola Toivonen - Sweden - PSV
267: Dries Mertens - Belgium - PSV
266: Bryan Ruiz - Costa Rica - Fulham
265: Oriol Romeu - Spain - Chelsea
264: Darren Bent - England - Aston Villa
263: Michael Dawson - England - Tottenham
262: Douglas - Netherlands - Twente
261: Fabricio Coloccini - Argentina - Newcastle
260: Clint Dempsey - USA - Fulham

259: Pablo Aimar - Argentina - Benfica
258: Leandro Damiao - Brazil - Internacional
257: Fred - Brazil - Fluminense
256: Seydou Doumbia - Côte d'Ivoire - CSKA Moscow
255: Moussa Sow - Senegal - Fenerbahce
254: Rodrigo Palacio - Argentina - Genoa
253: Diego Lugano - Uruguay - PSG
252: Ledley King - England - Tottenham
251: Cristian Ledesma - Italy - Lazio
250: Jose Antonio Reyes - Spain - Sevilla

249: Alberto Aquilani - Italy- Milan
248: Phil Jones - England - Manchester United
247: Konstantin Zyryanov - Russia -Zenit
246: Sven Bender - Germany - Dortmund
245: Lars Bender - Germany - Bayer Leverkusen
244: Esteban Granero - Spain - Real Madrid
243: Senad Lulic -Bosnia and Herzegovina - Lazio
242: Eduardo Vargas - Chile - Napoli
241: Milos Krasic - Serbia - Juventus
240: Jon Obi Mikel - Nigeria - Chelsea

239: Theo Janssen - Netherlands - Ajax
238: Balázs Dzsudzsák - Hungary - Dynamo Moscow
237: Marko Marin - Germany - Werder Bremen
236: Papiss Cisse - Senegal - Newcastle
235: Ibrahim Afellay - Netherlands - Barcelona
234: Dejan Stankovic - Serbia - Inter
233: Juan Manuel Vargas - Peru - Fiorentina

That's the correct numbers so far then.

A couple of fullbacks with really good, and for me quite eye opening, seasons:

232 (new)



Benoit Assou-Ekotto - Tottenham

Left-back (age 27) - Cameroon

Very good athlete. Very good technique. So what's not to like then? In previous seasons he had kind of a goof-ball tag following him. Most of that was probably unfair, but he was seen as someone not really reliable, error prone, bad decisionmaker, lack of teamwork perhaps. Overly keen on attacking (where he does look very good). How much of that was myth or fact I'm not sure. It could simply just be some bad performances in some of the more high profile games, and that's enough to haunt a player for a while.

Only Modric (Parker is tied with Ekotto) at the moment sees more touches per game for Tottenham, and maybe his 80 percent completion rate is a little low. On the other hand he also hits a lot of long balls, over the season more than anyone else at the team, which perhaps is not ideal either, even if he has the range and show good accuracy. It also shows that he is someone looked upon to bring the ball out of defense. That he then hits the ball long a lot, I don't think reflects negative on his technique, on the contrary it (and the clip rate) looks great and his teammates obviously look to him. More likely it's related within the team, tactically or the chemistry of all the player characteristics.

231 (new)



Stephan Lichtsteiner - Juventus

Right-back (age 28) - Switzerland

Of course shame on me for not giving Lichtsteiner more credit until he arrived at my favorite team.

I will say though, that the added spotlight so to speak, isn't always positive for Juventus players on this list, far from it...

But Lichtsteiner has been extremely solid and being the huge upgrade over what had been treading the position in recent years, seriously improved the team and helped it to the top of the table.

Coming forward he has that seemingly unlimited fullback (up and down the line all game) stamina, surprisingly good ball control that enables him to probably being the best "handler" of all those long Pirlo diagonal balls that he has to deal with during a game. That's been very impressive, and for better or worse a big part of the Juventus attack. He has good acceleration and is a secure passer of the ball.

Looking at his stats searching for some weakness I've overlooked, his interception rate seems low for his position, and I would guess it means lack of higher ball pressure from him (which the team does do in periods) so he must be making tracking back into position his priority and I do think overall that he is very responsible defensively. Tactically good. Not many errors and a good marker quite simply which is what keeps a lot of fullbacks out of the list and even hurt a lot of those on it.

Edit:

And I will say that this reminds of Piszczek again. His relative low ranking has/had a lot to do with me questioning his overall technique. Not giving him credit for such. I'll be looking very closely asap if I've seriously underrated or overlooked that and if I have, he is definitely deserving of a boost. It's what means he is behind Debuchy right now and further up (whether mistakenly or not) percieved as less complete than Ekotto or Lichtsteiner.

But yes, almost from the start, my gut screamed he could be the most underrated of the lower ranks. Though tough to compare he is probably also as seen as better than Bender anyway.

Actually this whole group is starting to look better and better:

281: Lukasz Piszcek - Poland - Dortmund
280: Mathieu Debuchy - France - Lille
279: Hugo Campagnaro - Argentina - Napoli
278: Luuk de Jong - Netherlands - Twente
277: Granit Xhaka - Switzerland - Basel

Just wanted to say that I liked the Medel write up.

Good to see a couple Zenit players on the list so far. I'm thinking there is surely at least one more coming.

Excellent.

Any thoughts on Eduardo Vargas?

And yup there will be more Zenit players.

I just don't know how likely we were at getting varane. IIRC his business was done very quick with madrid and it seemed that it was the only place he was really heading.

That said, both of us agree with jones not belonging on this list currently (maybe if ever). He has a great motor and all, but it doesn't make up for his lack of tactical awareness

bjorn you rock

check out the goal around the 1 min mark of this video, from yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I142xQNH-4

How did I only notice this now? well, guess better late than never. Great job Björn.

Just wanted to say that Lugano kinda reminds me of Puyol for some reason. Might just be the curls though.

There is some of the same warrior mentality constantly at display and of course both have been strong leaders on their teams.

Lugano has struggled mightily in PSG though, like touched upon in his writeup, and I doubt he'll ever be a success there. That unless he becomes a tremendous bait for star country-mates, who think the world of him, like Cavani or Suarez.

Will start re-start this marathon in not too long, and hopefully continue throughout the day.

230 (new)



Adrián - Atletico Madrid

Forward/Winger (age 24) - Spain

His attacking versatility and perhaps surprising experience and age (January born) assist in keeping him ahead of the young players so far. Then it's a tricky judgment-call if he should also be ahead of various proven veterans with more or less bad seasons, or if he should also really be ahead of some defenders and fullbacks enjoying very good seasons. I won't rule out pulling him back a little now that I think about it.

What I do like is that Adrian has enough excellent technique and acceleration to make him a weapon in just about any attacking role. He is extremely comfortable with the ball, it sticks to his feet and he loves being part of slick one touch passing combinations.

For Atletico we're mostly seeing him wide at the moment. Adrian was one reason Reyes was sent to the bench and then to Sevilla. Falcao is of course the main man as the striker, but they had enough confidence in Adrian as a backup there to send Diego Costa out on loan, who had actually been showing good signs following the departures of Forlan and Aguero.

There is no doubt Adrian has already shown he can be a dangerous striker as well, with good finishing, intelligent runs and of course his overall technique, but overall there is still some uncertainty if it would be great enough for a top club. He has been compared to David Villa, and with his second striker style that's almost how good he'd have to be to play alone up front for a top club, and I don't quite see him being that sharp.

Just gonna chime in to agree with the "Jones is too high" crowd. His best position is probably outside back where he still looks somewhat out of position (not an elite crosser, not entirely comfortable with the ball at his feet in the final third, lacks the combination of stamina and quickness that eg the twins have). He's frequently exposed at centre-back and imo has looked way out of his depth at CM (lacks the positional intelligence, close control, vision/fluidity).

He was exposed in United's brief Champions League appearance, particularly in the 2-1 loss to Basel where he was deployed at CDM, and I get the feeling that the more tactically probing battles of the knockout stages would have seen that trend continue. In contrast, his flaws are more easily hidden in the league where United rarely play teams of their caliber. He still has potential but for now his position seems way too high especially in contrast to relatively finished, effective players like Piszczek.

Afellay, Eduardo Vargas also seem somewhat high too but that's more generic impressions/nittery.

Wanted to also say thanks for doing this, this is really awesome and some of the best content out there. It tends to provoke some pretty great discussions too.

Llorente better be in this thread somewhere. Ok I just saw last season he was like 40th or something.

Also lol at John Obi Mikel being on the list.

229



2010/2011 MID-SEASON RANKING: 171
End of 2010/11 - Beginning of 2011/12: 165

Alvaro Negredo - Sevilla

Striker (born 1985) - Spain

Ever since his breakthrough a few years ago (for Almeria and early Sevilla) handed him a very good ranking, Negredo has been flirting with a big drop ever since, last season he exploded with many goals just in time to avoid such a thing, but here finally it is.

From the outside it still looks like he has a lot of talent. Great characteristics for striker. He is strong with great technique and has used that to even create wonderfully for himself as well. Maybe that's some of the problem though, he is difficult to create for, for the rest of the team. Certainly not the box presence Sevilla's effective wing-play enjoyed when they had Kanoute and Fabiano being nightmare matchups for opposing defenders. Then in a partnership Negredo has never really excelled either. The fingers point at him not having the right mentality, neither to be teamplayer or be a consistent performer.

Obviously when he is in form, scoring in bunches, this drop looks too drastic, but when he is bad he could be even worse, so it's tricky to find the right ranking for such an up and down player. All in all, I think this is more right.

228



2010/2011 MID-SEASON RANKING: 79
End of 2010/11 - Beginning of 2011/12: 166

Andrei Arshavin - Arsenal/Zenit

Forward/Attacking midfielder/Winger (born 1981) - Russia

I'll move Arshavin behind Negredo now that I think about it. No logical reason that order has changed.

But poor Arshavin. If last season was bad, it was at least up to some debate just how bad (remember all those assists?), this one for Arsenal, I'm sure, was indisputably terrible.

For starters his playing time dropped with new boy Gervinho being the first choice out left, but whenever Arshavin came on as a sub, or Gervinho was in Africa, his impact seemed to be almost nothing but negative.

Arshavin just doesn't seem effective attacking space (where there is most) out wide anymore. One thing is the eye test, telling you how his pace has dropped, another is (once again this season) the lack of successful dribbles compared to many of his teammates, and that he was somehow only fouled 3 times all season in the league (0.2 per game), tells you all you need to know about the overall insignificant trouble he caused opponents from the wing.

What saves him a little bit, were the reminders of his talent I got whenever watching Russia in qualification. For that team he isn't more or less locked out wide but has a focus point either central or sometimes even a free-role, and in it I thought still playing at a high level with great movements and general actions in small spaces both with and without ball. Not one as far removed from his break through years that you would think.

That he is back in Zenit seems like the best for everyone. They lost playmaker Danny to a season ending injury and Arshavin seems almost a natural fit to take over moving with great freedom across the final third behind and around false-nine always on the move Kerzhakov.

Jones seems like the typical "British player -> overrated" kind of guy but I haven't seen him play that much so I may be totally wrong.

Bender twin rankings and description seems accurate. I think Lars is slightly better technically and Sven has a slightly better understanding of the game and motor.