Do I need to state the obvious?

re: Arteta, I wrote a long reply about his play this year than lost it. But, he was never speedy but has lost at least a full step this year. He has a lot of trouble shielding the defense or breaking up counters. Just really poor when not in possession and if we misplace a pass we are super, super vulnerable to counters due to this. Without someone like Ramsey/Wilshere beside him who can run all day, he's a pylon right now.

I wonder if you can make a leap to say that having three of your core players down the middle (Mert, Arteta, Giroud) being in the bottom ~5% in the league for pace is probably not a good thing in general either.

Yeah I don't give Lampard defensive credit like Carrick. Like you say his work is in a defensive midfield duo of two and very little is proactive but instead reactive deep positioning. In fact Chelsea this season is the team with the least interceptions in the league. This is a blog post on the defensive metrics in general from earlier this year where the Chelsea-thing was already a trend. Even Ramires who in my mind would seem suited for intercepting "achieve" almost nothing (he is down to 0.9) but interestingly is still one of the most dribbled players in the league with 2 per game. Is he simply failing tactically? That's the same number as Fernandinho which I find much less surprising with the style and dynamic on that team, not least with Yaya, but at least Fernandinho has 2.2 interceptions to his name.

Arteta is getting dribbled at 1.7 and Lampard tellingly with his conservative positioning this season only at 0.8 the same as Carrick which I find impressive but of course also rooted in style of defending. But credit to his defensive decision-making of when to fall back and when he can be more aggressive without being costly.

For Chelsea it will be interesting if Matic arrival, even within Mourinho's tactics, will change things at least somewhat. Here early he is at 2.2 interceptions per game.

But yes it's also what remaining of Lampard's offensive game that still keeps him ahead of Carrick. Being a good ball-striker on set pieces also matter some and I don't really doubt that he can still be a force with that and off-ball where it's most dangerous. Carrick has never had hint of that so that's still a factor even if what Lampard does nowadays is only hinting.

Still if Carrick on a pure subjective level had had a season to his usual standards Lampard was definitely there for the taking more than ever. Without even looking I'm fairly sure Carrick's numbers are what they usually are, I haven't really spotted any slowing down like aoFrantic also noted with Arteta, but Manchester United have mostly been awful both in possession, attacking and far removed from acceptable defensive standards. Carrick even though he is tackling, intercepting and barely getting dribbled like Man U were still out there winning, is in my view still the one supposedly who has the job of holding that together with IMO a huge stake in the Rio/Vidic successes over the years. Maybe much of that fail is on Moyes. Attacking and defending. I think so and also some of it on weaker defenders. But marginally (maybe so much so that I just wasted a lot of words) I'm not finding enough to drive Carrick ahead of the players I've always had him behind.

Lampard, granted much less relied on, has at least been successful within the more successful team concept at Chelsea. I put that on top of his in my view Carrick-like intelligence moving the ball in midfield and of course whatever remains of what was one of the most effective players in recent times because he scored so much while defending.

All that is not to say that Carrick can't be incredibly important, also over more talented players and to take the obvious example I definitely think he should have played a much bigger role for England likely at the expense of Lampard or Gerrard.


I'm sure I'll talk plenty about this come World Cup. Italy is my team after all. But yeah like will also be indicated on these rankings I do think midfield is the one place where they're special with a lot of quality and depth. Relying on that as much as possible doesn't seem like a bad idea and I guess basically what Prandelli did at EURO12. Other than that I'm disappointed Verratti hasn't already featured more whenever Pirlo hasn't.

My big hope is El Shaarawy somehow proving himself fit and being part.

One big concern is that I don't think much of Buffon these days. I mean there have been periods where seemingly every shot on goal goes in. See CL this season. I think Sirigu is better and it's a joke that he hasn't even always been the automatic number 2.

Overall in this selection thing come world cup, whatever players are in the best physical state should be close to auto-picks I suspect.

Since we're talking tackling and interceptions, before I start the rundown again here is another thing from the StatsBomb blog that I came across:

The table is at the bottom of the article here:

http://www.statsbomb.com/2014/04/eng...pril-1st-2014/

39 28 15 Frank Lampard - England - Chelsea
38 16 45 Jack Wilshere - England - Arsenal
37 36 21 Steven Gerrard - England – Liverpool

Plenty of Lampard already so see above postings.

Maybe too big a drop for Wilshere, especially since I'm seeing a few good signs for him this season. For starters he's at least finally shooting around once per game! That's actually progress from previous non-existence. This is one player who I can finally call out as definitely not being a good ball-striker but with his acceleration and control skills he should still be able to net some goals.

He is still gifted enough to dribble and get fouled at impressive rates. His decision-making isn't as sharp as it could be to go along with his high degree of difficulty but that's the kind of thing that has the chance to improve with prolonged periods of playing, building form and being important. This season every time it seemed that now he was really getting going or on the verge at least and delivering on his immense promise, injuries happened and he has to start over.

Gerrard passed Lampard!

His problems is his old legs but that he now gets to move the ball a lot more over a lot more distance consistently than he has to move his legs now more or less locked in deep-lying, it used to be both Gerrard and the ball who were dynamic, works wonders currently for Liverpool particularly when it comes to attacking where his Hollywood-famous range of passing is surrounded by mobile pieces, some of them very fast, some of them very talented, some of them elite match-winners, some of them some of everything.

In theory some of those mobile pieces, the harder working kind the better, are also supposed to protect Gerrard and the dm-less team-defense. That doesn't always happen but that Gerrard is often as deeply positioned as he is means we're at least seeing less of the hopeless old man lost somewhere behind that was starting happening too much. I can think of few deeper midfielders who it would seem easier to dribble than Gerrard yet his total is even lower than Carrick and Lampard at 0.7 per game.

I want to say that some of the goals conceded where the Liverpool defense takes a lot of blame, is them falling falling back expecting help from midfielders in the zones in front of them instead getting overloaded by opponents and Gerrard especially blatantly just can't do it sometimes.

It's more than made up for by Liverpool's attacking though and Gerrard is a part of that. One of the greatest ball-strikers in recent he makes his influence seen with shooting, passing and not least excellent deliveries including of course on set pieces meaning goals for Liverpool.

not quite understand the (huge)wilshere drop considering that like you noted in your post he was basically on the verge of "WOW" before his injuries and generally started to really look like he is living up to his promise and showed versatility too when playing very good games at RW(much closer to goal linking up w/ giroud and making lots of good runs into the box)

Agree with the point about part of this just being him getting overloaded and not being able to cover the ground. He's also a big fan of shamelessly scything down players about to beat him: 7 yellows in 15 overall matches since the Stevie P experiment begun, and the 7 were actually bunched within 10. (He clearly wants to play vs. City, because he hasn't committed a single foul in the three matches since his last booking.)

His booking for celebrating his penalty goal away vs Fulham seems extra stupid in this "gotta alter my play so I won't miss the big City match" context.

Haha that is interesting!

I have to admit I'm kind of rooting for Liverpool since I just think it would a great story, and love Suarez, but usually, and for most of the season (once it didn't have to be the usual anyone but Manchester United) I'm simply on the side of the team that I think is the best, therefore Manchester City.

Their first meeting also helped build my Liverpool sympathies for this season.

Not loading here for some reason. Is it the goal against Barca?

That was actually a much needed salvation for Diego so far in his return since he hasn't really been getting it going yet this time around. To quite worrying degrees even if expecting him to come in the middle of everything and somehow improve what is working so amazing was a bit steep.

But I will be talking about (maybe grading!) players individual seasons on the overall ranking.

36 65 53 Kevin Strootman - Netherlands - PSV/Roma
35 39 46 Ander Herrera - Spain - Athletic Bilbao
34 57 64 Ivan Rakitić - Croatia – Sevilla
33 35 79 Gabi - Spain - Atletico Madrid
32 51 84 Luiz Gustavo - Brazil - Bayern München/Wolfsburg
31 17 10 Javier Mascherano - Argentina - Barcelona

Strootman was in his own unspectacular ways a big hit and key reason for Roma's surprisingly excellent season.

Very solid midfielder who's comfortable contributing everywhere on the pitch with fine passing, strong physical work whether offensive or defensive and generally very good decisions in all involvement.

My favorite boy genius midfielder Ander Herrera who will actually be 25 soon... Maybe the collapsing Manchester United transfer will always haunt him. Given Moyes gonna Moyes I'm far from certain it would have even worked very well and generally maybe he isn't someone so obviously excellent in any imaginable settings away from best suitable comfort zones that a big money move to a top club is guaranteed. Especially given the unique club that he plays for which automatically makes any transfer a highly complicated affair.

But yeah, with the ball at his very few has his vision, his brilliant simple or complicated ideas about what to do and then execute it beautifully with his outstanding technique. When it comes to those aspects he is one of the very closest things to the great Iniesta. He is less athletic though (and I always think Iniesta has been a very underrated athlete) and lesser ball-striker.

He continues to tackle like a kid possessed to prove that he isn't as weak as he looks.

Ivan Rakitić is having a breakthrough season moving from attacking to central and deeper-lying midfielder with his intelligence and very good distributing. I think his attacking midfielder elements and I shouldn't undersell that he is actually producing so well that we can throw the playmaker-tag at him, will put him ahead of some of the defensive midfielders overall, his elite ball-striking has been amazing on deliveries and set-pieces, but when it comes to let's say pure central midfield play he has to take a backseat to Gabi who is Diego Simeone's leader and hand out there on the pitch for Atletico.

Gabi is also a quality distributor in his own right with excellent ball-striking (him or Koke on the Atletico set-pieces means goals) and impressive passing range.

But biggest thing probably, he is the key player maintaining that best balance in football currently (?)switching without missing a beat between best aggressive pressing in football or falling back strangling available space for opponents. The kind of stranglehold that has extreme cases where on 40 pct possession they still outshoot an opponent 21-0 OMG I just can't get over that (it was a game against Bielsa's Bilbao which couldn't be more perfect or evil depending on your allegiance).

Shouldn't Gabi be even better ranked then?

I have Luiz Gustavo just ahead of him and really do think this is closer to his real place on the list compared to where I used to have him for a while unimpressed with passing and decisions among the Bayern Meistern and their impeccable standards. He is skilled though both in passing and ball-control. More athletic than Gabi which I think, rightly or wrongly, is the main thing in his favor here. That and in my view now being a proven single midfield anchor (6 if you will) in a 433 midfield able to more than hang with his athletic defensive work, quality ball movement and tactical intelligence.


When it comes to Mascherano I guess I'm just being conservative and has him holding on to his pure defensive midfielder status doing all the things talked about with Gabi and Gustavo even better or close enough to still come out on top there even if he doesn't get to play it much anymore which to be fair definitely has hurt him quite a bit in the rankings, it's just that the dropping stops here.

He has some of the best football-instincts around.

He will probably play the DCM for Argentina at the WC, so that will give us a chance to see how he performs at that spot. Another thing is that even if Barcelona were to use him at DCM (which is very rarely, partly due to the lack of defenders in the squad), his play here would be noticeably different than his play for a more "back-and-forth" team.

I don't think I agree completely with that final statement. There have been almost countless incidents this season, where he chose the aggressive, and probably wrong decision of diving into a tackle during the opponents' counter attack rather than being a bit more passive.

Dinner break is just around the corner.

30 21 Hernanes - Brazil - Lazio/Inter
29 NR 70 Aaron Ramsey - Wales – Arsenal
28 50 47 Christian Eriksen - Denmark - Ajax/Tottenham
27 Angel Di Maria - Argentina - Real Madrid

I'm fairly confident that I want Hernanes the midfielder for all his beautiful skill (all three has much better teamwork than him not least defensively in their own different ways) at the bottom here but other than that it's very tricky and all three has a case for even better rankings. That one got abruptly injured during a shocking upgrade in play and production and that the two others have very good attacking midfielder rankings with those qualities being a big part the picture here also, complicate matters even worse.

Ramsey was even better ranked before his injury but unfairly or not I'm kind of in a position where I want him to prove himself again. I know he is a very good midfielder but his rise from being at a point where he had been ordinary enough that you'd kind of given up on him as an impact player for a top team, was so dramatic (both the attacking and defending which means great rankings) that I want something at least close to a repeat and sustained before ranking him as a top 20 midfielder or even better.

Eriksen the attacking midfielder (+ new input) where he is now ranked 28 and not that far removed it feels like from many players ahead of him:

Eriksen in many ways is an exemplary modern attacking midfielder.

He has the intelligence, the two-footed skill-set, the fine ball striking that can also be put to effective use on set-pieces, he has the constructive and even creative ideas in his overall game to thrive in the small spaces and overall he is incredibly well schooled in one or two-touch football, passing and movement.
Pass-move-pass move. He is one of those players who you can pass the ball to even in minimal space (that is if teammates, coaches have the skill and wavelength) and it's a safe bet that his football IQ and technique will come through. Not unlike some well known Barcelona midfielders.

Credit also to Ajax and the new modern (røde tråd) Danish football school developing talent but in many ways he just looks like a Barcelona player out there. More and more similar to Iniesta in his overall playing style.

Even though there are many many better athletes, at least Eriksen is another player with an excellent engine. He usually wins the endurance tests and logs the most kilometers per game.

It's not wasted meters either as few players look more, and the word I can't resist using once again is, exemplary in the (counter)pressing of opponents and small spaces. It's just a tactical movement and physical effort that is so natural for him. In the same second that possession is switching, Eriksen is doing his work. Fluid movements.

Basically all of that in the right setting, and we've already seen it and also more advanced stuff for Ajax, means Eriksen can be an excellent central midfielder (number 8) in a 433. My hope is that the next Tottenham manager is a coach with such ideas. It's not even that those ideas are necessarily the best, even if the teams in recent years reaching the highest level have included such ideas, but clearly not everyone is the same, Tottenham however with the players that they've heavily invested in, their most talented players, where the potential lies, is in desperate need for different direction to maximize their talents. It's very impressive that Eriksen hasn't completely wasted away in what's often been a total mess outside and on the pitch.

When it comes to central midfield Di Maria is basically limited to the role that he is currently playing. Maybe that should hurt him more here. We can't seriously throw many different roles or systems at him from say number 6 to 4 to 4231 to 442 whatever, but he can be a damn good two-way flanking midfielder in 3-man midfield combining winger and central to fantastic effects. How many out there could actually do what he is currently doing? Maybe that should speak more heavily in his favor.

Great runner and worker. He is very dynamic (even attacking if you will, to press rather than retreat) both with his relentless defensive and skilled attacking work. There is also a very impactful left-foot to boot.

Bjorn interesting your stat post about interception/tackles. Its something I have thought about too.

I think teams like Bayern/Barca lower the total number of tackles and interceptions for both teams on the field because they keep the ball for so long.
Also I think outmatched teams give the ball away a lot by just kicking it far up the field and I suppose that doesnt count as an interception?

http://afootballreport.com/post/5317...-fleetwood-one

Just a quick update and then get on with the World Cup:

It's not quite dead yet! But obv it will now mutate into a 2013/14 final ranking which I'll be finishing after the World Cup starting where I left this one with the final midfielders and then on to the 300 ranking.

DROGBA

Would love to see this come back to life. Happy new year, Bjorn

1.



amirite?

casual bump

.

After Bjørn's surprise appearance yesterday in the Euro-Footie thread, I assume it will be another three to six months till he comes back for the next time.

Seeing this way late sorry but appreciated!

This thread will indeed make one, maybe just maybe, final stand.

I posted this in another thread yesterday:


The final results of where I abandoned what turned into a 13/14 final ranking is buried in a document somewhere largely untouched but I'll post it before I start these new 14/15 rankings.

I began making some 14/15 positional rankings at the beginning of this season but I guess I wasn't fully motivated and gave up near the finish line. The always tough midfielder-ranking was my undoing.

I think I need to look at the previous ranking and feel totally disgusted with countless of placings and/or seeing some exciting player who was either unranked or is someone who should rightly jump 100+ places, before I really get motivated to rank players again.

That time has come I think with the previous actually completed list looking ancient by now.

When it comes to the format I'm definitely wary about starting more monumental one position after another marathon rundowns but I can't deny that there are enough new things when it comes to players and their rankings, that there are many things I would love to ramble about.

Still, realistically that probably won't end well and simply be too slow and time consuming so the plan is something reduced for the positional rankings and get quicker and not least safer to the actual 300 best overall players.

I finished a totally fresh midfielder-ranking yesterday and then have completed rankings of the other positions from around October-November that I will work on today. In the last few days I've already done the dirty work that is compiling fresh nominees popping up everywhere, so it's not building from the ground but I will need a more thorough look before knowing just how close or far away I am from getting started.

Apologies to any interested parties (and thank you for being interested at all!) for putting this on life-support like this. I'll keep you updated soon