I'm convinced Walker is under-rated, even by Spurs fans. Spurs looked much better with him in the team, apart from his last couple of matches where he was really awful. Once he got match fit, he looked for me like he was getting back to the kind of form he showed a couple of years ago.

Spurs ran 10-2-3 with him in the side, and 9-5-9 when he was out injured, and while stats can obviously be deceptive I think they tell a story in this instance.

I agree walker is much better than a CB at RB.

That is all there was solid evidence for. Good thing we have two Kyle walkers. Maybe the other one will be PL ready in a year.

The final deadline is now on. I have until Monday finishing this. That or never.

I'll conclude the right and left-backs later today or tomorrow and then start the best 125 forwards which I finished yesterday.

Also made good progress on the midfielders which is the one list that kept scarring me away but still some serious work to do there with many many new candidates since I last touched it.

How many categories will Der Übermensch top?

Always a pleasure to see this on the front page!

Maybe one spot is suddenly under pressure from a former number 1 I know who zeestein would have on top.

Here we go. This is not exactly how I left it but edited here and there ever since.

To single one out Fabinho I'm really high on and I guess I could have moved him higher and probably will but didn't wanna mess with announced earlier 30 players remaining:

Bellerin it also feels like could move up with every game where he proves himself. Very likely on the rise.

Moreno I agree with voices from everywhere was a letdown considering just how good he looked early for Liverpool and his already high level previously in Spain. I also understand that he has serious competition for his spot right now but let's see him play in what hopefully for Liverpool will be a better balanced lineup this season.

Not sure how far I'll get today but I definitely want to get to the strikers tomorrow so I might wrap this position up quickly tomorrow.

30 Marquinhos - Brazil - PSG
29 14 16 22 Stephan Lichtsteiner - Switzerland - Juventus
28 11 13 26 Adriano - Brazil - Barcelona
27 13 10 09 Fabio Coentrao - Portugal - Real Madrid
26 28 Marcos Rojo - Argentina - Manchester United
25 51 Daley blind - Netherlands - Manchester United
24 12 17 27 Filipe Luís - Brazil - Chelsea/Atletico Madrid
23 16 49 César Azpilicueta - Spain - Chelsea
22 48 Daryl Janmaat - Netherlands - Newcastle
21 Matteo Darmian - Italy - Torino/Manchester United
20 Jose Gaya - Spain - Valencia

Some players here aren't even natural sidebacks and/or are players who are not even likely to play the position much going forward. They're just good enough all-round players to still rank well here and have of course shown some quality whether right or left.

Adriano and Coentrao are more the leftovers so to speak. Especially Coentrao has not played the much the last couple of seasons and maybe should get moved down further.

I've said it before about Janmaat but he can easily play right-back for one of the best clubs in England. With years on his contract maybe they're sometimes hesitating spending a lot on this position. I guess he should let his contract run out then! He has the size to contribute defensively in ways that a lot of left-right backs can't and he doesn't really miss a beat in the necessary right-back elements.

Darmian and Gaya are easily the most interesting here.

What looks to set Gaya apart is the playmaker-like elements of his game and how good he also is passing-moving away from typical left-back positions or in general their very decisions so to spek (what to do). He seems unusually skilled and intelligent for a left-back. Quite simply he looks to and seems capable of doing much more than normal when his team has the ball.

It's a real possibility there is some Marcelo to Gaya's overall attacking game but with a bit more control not least tactically and the potential to be quite a bit better defensively.

Darmian has been consistently excellent the last couple of seasons or so.

My only skepticism is basically that his very best games whether left or right (versatility that helps his ranking) has been wing-back in 352.

He's also been very good in 4 man defenses and he actually has centreback background so he is not some defensive weakling who needs extra protection but coming forward he has been awesome when playing as a wingback.

But Darmian is overall dynamic, very good tactically making runs forward both on and off-ball, making good passes or doing capable defending, exemplary workrate also and then there is the solid two foot skill (from one touch passing to deliveries) and I really hope that pretty rare ability to do something both directions for a left or right back is brought into play and taken advantage of at his new big club.

In recent times both for Italy and Torino (including great performances in the Europa League) he has been his team's main attacking weapon. That won't do for Manchester United of course but he can be a good weapon even if running inside is something he mostly does on the left, while on the right he plays more classical, his left-foot is good enough though for more dimensions on the right as well.

Tells you everything you need to know about the Bundesliga when Bayern have 4 of the 5 best FBs.

2014/15 Season Rankings: The 100 Best Left and Right-backs in the World

19-11


19 15 Séamus Coleman - Ireland - Everton
18 20 Maxwell - Brazil - PSG
17 08 15 Leighton Baines - England - Everton
16 10 06 14 Darijo Srna - Croatia - Shakthar Donetsk
15 25 Ricardo Rodriguez - Switzerland - Wolfsburg
14 27 39 Juan Guillermo Cuadrado - Colombia - Fiorentina/Chelsea
13 18 25 Alex Sandro - Brazil - FC Porto
12 Serge Aurier - Cote d'Ivoire - PSG
11 19 18 11 Branislav Ivanovic - Serbia - Chelsea

Coleman is one of the few right-backs who can take over a game. When he does he is like one of those old school very good impact wingers. Very dynamic, pacy with the ball at his feet showing impressive control and a strong right foot. But in slower periods he could still improve and add different tempo and solutions to his overall game both when Everton is in possession and when has to defend.

What am I talking about? I think Maxvell is a great example of someone mastering sideback play in ways that Coleman isn't really. Extremely intelligent and well-rounded. Strong overall technique. Until he seriously becomes slow he'll be really good.

I guess there were some fears of some Leighton Baines decline but I think he started playing more to his usual standards eventually. We all know about his excellent left-foot and he is a good overall technician and intelligent on and off ball.

Srna still got the power and great impact coming forward and in that extremely forceful right leg of his. Very few left or right-backs has a stronger arsenal of impressive deliveries into the box.

Ricardo Rodriguez with his fantastic left-leg might just be one of them though. He can seemingly hit good ones from all kinds of positions and never stops coming forward in order to do just that. At this point he might also be better than Srna in smaller spaces and generally need to be set up less. With his extreme attacking focus he can still improve defensively especially the positioning if that's possible for someone so attack-minded but for sure there must be some unfulfilled 1v1 defensive potential here.

Cuadrado still hasn't played a lot of minutes for Chelsea. Less than 400 in the league and there aren't any prospects of right-back or wingback action of any kind. If he'll at any point find himself a Chelsea break trough it will be as an attacking winger.

His time on this particular ranking might very well be limited then but the devastating impact he did have especially at wing-back position for both club and country I think made him a natural near the top of this list.

Alex Sandro is good enough to be one of the premier players on the market but Porto and interested parties hasn't been able to agree on a deal. It's been under the radar too and this window Porto (and whoever else have special interests in the player) has resisted low-ball offers trying to take advantage of Sandro's contract running after next season. Now they're desperately trying to get him to extend.

His Porto colleague on the right suddenly put it all together, got better and is now at Real Madrid, but while Alex Sandro still has a few defensive weaknesses where he isn't always a natural, he has so much athleticism, pace and fine skill that he seems tailor-made for an elite club.

Serge Aurier looks to have almost everything you could wish for and more as a right-back he just needs prove it a little longer. Very strong athlete both defending and coming forward and I don't really see any weaknesses technically (even if not full of flair) where he seems like he is in good control of everything that he wants/needs to do or defensively helping or winning duels. I'm unclear about his ball-striking but he has enough strong points and dimensions that it's not something he has to depend on.

Ivanovic was a force of nature last season and made his power-based right-back style work maybe better than ever.

He is so strong (including sprinting you can't forget) that he is a tough matchup in the opponent final third both on ground and in air (he is vital part of Chelsea's formidable set-piece threat). He will pretty much always be stronger than left-back opponent and as long as he can more than handle himself both ways both when it comes to pace and ball-control he should be very effective.

You will still sometimes see Ivanovic get criticized defending right-back spaces/situations on the wing which for a centreback will never be completely natural but against attacking whether athletic or technical challenges he still does better than most natural right-backs - let alone most centrebacks who would be totally lost in the Ivanovic zones.

Think Ivanovic is too high unless purely based on defensive work where I think he was a little unfairly criticised by some fans in second half of last season on that front. First half of last season was excellent, but my criticism of him was his attacking moments as the season dragged on and he (and the team) could become far too predictable - maybe it's an overall tactical problem at the moment.
Cuadrado hasn't impressed us as you may have seen from the other thread and I don't think we're going to see a wing back system - so if that's his most effective position then the signing is odd.

---

Will we see midfielders? I just want to know where you rank Matic.

There will be midfielder list for sure and if no time for comments before my Monday deadline then I'll just post the list and start the overall 300 ranking.

I seriously have trouble even recollecting Cuadrado in the Chelsea shirt right now. Nothing I saw left a mark and this is a player who usually always leaves a mark so I guess that's not great.

Found my comments on him from the att-mid list where he still holds a nice 42nd ranking (I can tinker with that list endlessly) but is definitely on the way down if something doesn't happen soon. So many players behind on the way up with tons of potential.

Don't think I'll really change anything comment-wise though. Most things him and Chelsea still up in the air:

Good Ivanovic comments.

10-06

10 26 50 Daniel Carvajal - Spain - Real Madrid
09 06 05 10 Jordi Alba - Spain - Barcelona
08 24 42 Juanfran - Spain - Atletico Madrid
07 35 40 Danilo - Brazil - FC Porto/Real Madrid
06 04 04 19 Pablo Zabaleta - Argentina - Manchester City

It's funny I was skeptical about Carvajal during his Leverkusen breakthrough but now it seems people (and a lot of this is the pressure that's Real Madrid) complain about him at Madrid while largely I think he is very impressive and better than I ever thought he could be.

There are no real weaknesses and that gets you a long way on this position full of flaws when it comes to all-round ability. He is solid defensively, aware tactically and pretty good in duels. He is strong coming forward with acceleration and nice fundamental technical repertoire able to at least ask questions of defenders and most importantly hang with and complement all the stars around him.

Jordi Alba has some more finesse with his touches and passing. They're both aggressive when attacking and importantly when defending seeking ball and man over I wanna say irrelevant zones when you play for these teams but Carvajal is a better 1v1 defender at least I think. It's close between these two.

Juanfran has been consistently excellent during Atletico's Simeone-resurgence and rarely does anything not good both when attacking and defending. Tactically very aware attacking and defending + fine duel-player. He is actually very skilled with his feet and has good attacking ideas even if on this particular team not able to showcase it as much as the Real and Barca boys.

Danilo put it all together. He was pretty good both defensively and coming forward but nothing truly stood out like it did when teammate Silva was bursting forward on the left.

Now, coming forward he actually does a pretty good peak-Maicon impression. Not that great of course but his power and very strong play with the ball is a real force to be reckoned with and it seems he is getting more and more confident that he can be a decisive player in the opponent half which will be interesting to see how that carries over at Real Madrid.

Defensively he has the potential to be the best right-back in the world. Maybe he is already but of course that is something that will be seriously tested at Real Madrid where at times where balance isn't great anyone can look vulnerable.

But he was positionally very aware this season in the CL and with his physical gifts at RB he could be an unrivaled defensive duel player.

Pablo Zabaleta could be slipping and many have been quick to suggest just that. His all out aggressive physical style set out to dominate both in defensive and attacking situations didn't exactly leave a lot of room for even slight error.

Any kind of physical slipping could be critical but let's see if he doesn't real quality left still.

I also thought he was mostly good still. Worthy of this kind of placing, just not one of the best players in the league anymore.

05-01

05 Juan Bernat - Spain - Bayern München
04 03 03 03 Marcelo - Brazil - Real Madrid
03 05 01 01 Dani Alves - Brazil - Barcelona
02 02 08 13 David Alaba - Austria - Bayern München
01 01 02 05 Philipp Lahm - Germany - Bayern München

Lahm hasn't even played that much right-back in the grand scheme of things since I last (?) wrote this description:

Lahm the builder is probably better as a midfielder right now than right-back where the tiny weaknesses mentioned in the bottom attacking and defending maybe just maybe are getting less tiny and these days where he can really make a difference with his intelligence and football-craftmanship is more so in midfield.

Bayern have a lot more good midfielders than right-backs though. Not that playing right or especially left-back for Bayern is easily categorized as such.

That's where Bernat and Alaba do their roaming or marauding. Alaba with more than enough physical, technical and mental talent for even more in other places but when he's been there he has been excellent and is more overall talented than just about anyone on this list while Bernat more exclusively in that defined role on the left has only impressed and rarely done any kind of misstepping. Aggressive, pacy and fundamentally skilled both when defending and attacking.

Marcelo is Marcelo. Still, the most talented playmaker at left-back with abundance of quickness and flair in his actions.

What was perhaps more surprising was Dani Alves being Dani Alves rebounding from apparent decline with a very strong season looking like his old self.

Of course some of this is Barcelona improving as a team and not least through the superstars up front elevating everything in more ways than we can count but also never discount the Alves imact, he has great ideas, fantastic touches, runs and passes running through his Barca-game that you rarely see comparable at this position. That while still holding it together physically and defensively meant his best season in a while.

Will have a look right now and not sure how much I'll get through today but I've settled on top 125 Forwards.

Going for very early start tomorrow anyway.

Always enjoy reading these, thx bjorn

good job Bjørn, thanks!

Aurier too low and i'm not biased, his crossing is elite and i wouldn't be shocked if he developped more kilowatts than anyone in this list.

thx for being interested!

Interesting! Maybe it's my new sport the cricket running in the background distracting me but I suddenly blanked (I will also say not seeing all these teams for some months is annoying) on exact nature of his ball-striking (numbers look good) during writeup.

I also tend to think that he is even better than this. I just need to see it a little bit more at PSG, not least in CL, to become certain.

Bernat too low.

Ok let's get started

2014/2015 Rankings: The 125 Best Forwards in the World

125 Ivan Kalinic - Croatia - Dnipro
124 Shinji Okazaki - Japan - Mainz/Leicester
123 88 Adrian Ramos - Colombia - Dortmund
122 Jordan Ayew - Ghana - Lorient/Aston Villa
121 Alexander Meier - Germany - Frankfurt
120 NR 66 65 Nikica Jelavic - Croatia - Hull
119 77 80 Jermain Defoe - England - Toronto/Sunderland
118 36 25 21 Mario Gomez - Germany - Fiorentina
117 NR 79 Fabio Quaglliarella - Italy - Torino
116 NR 99 Léo Baptistão - Brazil - Rayo Vallecano
115 Marco Streller - Switzerland - FC Basel
114 64 16 54 Leandro Damião - Brazil - Santos/Cruzeiro
113 Aleksandr Kokorin - Russia - Dinamo Moscow
112 Divock Origi - Belgium - Lille/Liverpool
111 57 Emmanuel Emenike - Nigeria - Fenerbahce/El Ain
110 Juanmi - Spain - Malaga/Southampton
109 Andy Carroll - England - West Ham
108 Breel Embolo - Switzerland - FC Basel
107 Haris Seferovic - Switzerland - Eintracht Frankfurt
106 NR 46 54 Papiss Cisse - Senegal - Newcastle
105 91 Dieumerci Mbokani - Congo - Dynamo Kiev
104 38 53 42 Fernando Torres - Spain -Milan/Atletico Madrid
103 Leonardo Ulloa - Argentina - Leicester
102 Islam Slimani - Algeria - Sporting CP
101 28 30 24 Emmanuel Adebayor - Togo - Tottenham

Some players here where time is seriously running out turning things around.

I'm thinking Mario Gomez, Torres, Adebayor.

One who hasn't reached the heights of those players (well except kind of on my list with his astounding 16th place 3 years ago!) is Leandro Damião who actually has had a scoring start to this season in Brazil and with that saves himself from being booted into ranking-abyss completely. It's not too late Leandro, you can do it!

Marco Streller finally makes an appearance on these. Maybe just in time because Marko janko has returned to European soil and might be threatening taking over his Basel contributions I'm noticing.

For Basel there is also very talented Breel Embolo who along with Liverpool-owned Origi are the two most young and talented strikers on these parts of the list.

Origi was named among the flops of the season in France but investigating various per90 numbers he compared well with some of the highest young ultra talented entries on this ranking later to come. He just has more mistakes (bad touches, giving ball away) and still isn't producing enough. He's very gifted though and we'll just have to wait and see how well develops putting it all together.

Ulloa I think is underrated. A strong dependable weapon in the box.

New Leicester rival Okazaki is also a weapon in the box but not as strong and his quickness need more assistance.

Seferovic remains the Swiss Bendtner but has at least been flirting with real breakthrough.

Let's just go 100-51 also and get somewhere.

Will do thoughts tomorrow.

100 Jonathas - Brazil - Elche/Real Sociedad
99 Bas Dost - Netherlands - Wolfsburg
98 55 57 51 Oscar Cardozo - Paraguay - Trabzonspor
97 47 49 Pablo Osvaldo - Italy - Southampton/Juventus/Inter/Boca Juniors/Porto (LOL)
96 92 74 Bafétimbi Gomis - France - Swansea
95 Charlie Austin - England - QPR
94 70 55 61 Seydou Doumbia - Côte d'Ivoire - CSKA Moscow/Roma
93 56 Rodrigo Palacio - Argentina - Inter
92 75 Jay Rodriguez - England - Southampton
91 Wissam Ben Yedder - France - Toulouse

90 Alberto Bueno - Spain - Rayo Vallecano/FC Porto
89 Jonathan Soriano - Spain - Red Bull Salzburg
88 Diego Rolan - Uruguay - Bordeaux
87 67 63 Oribe Peralta - Mexico - Santos Laguna/America
86 Franco Di Santo - Argentina - Werder Bremen/Schalke 04
85 Alan - Brazil - Red Bull Salzburg/Guangzhou Evergrande
84 32 85 32 Giuseppe Rossi - Italy - Fiorentina
83 46 37 30 Antonio Di Natale - Italy - Udinese
82 41 56 Stefan Kießling - Germany - Bayer Leverkusen
81 23 47 39 Mario Balotelli - Italy - Liverpool

80 54 100 Asamoah Gyan - Ghana - El Ain
79 58 71 Burak Yilmaz - Turkey - Galatasaray
78 40 19 33 Dimitar Berbatov - Bulgaria - Monaco
77 60 62 69 Fred - Brazil - Fluminense
76 48 46 49 Mirko Vucinic - Montenegro - Al Jazira
75 45 34 20 Klaas Jan Huntelaar - Netherlands - Schalke 04
74 Graziano Pelle - Italy - Southampton
73 78 67 55 Jonas - Brazil - Benfica
72 Danny Ings - England - Burnley/Liverpool
71 69 50 Sebastian Giovinco - Italy - Juventus/Toronto (also on attmid list)

70 79 Jese - Spain - Real Madrid
69 Clinton N'jie - Cameroon - Lyon
68 87 92 Aritz Aduriz - Spain - Athletic Bilbao
67 72 84 34 Alexandre Pato - Brazil - Corinthians/Sao Paolo
66 Vincent Aboubakar - Cameroon - Porto
65 39 35 37 Miroslav Klose - Germany - Lazio
64 94 Ciro Immobile - Italy - Dortmund/Sevilla (Destro and Immobile obv look weird but jumps more due to time of the last list where they had done very little - I know they had bad seasons)
63 86 Mattia Destro - Italy - Milan
62 80 Josip Drmic - Switzerland - Bayer Leverkusen
61 30 28 22 David Villa - Spain - Atletico Madrid/New York City

60 Enner Valencia - Ecuador - Pachuca/West Ham
59 Simone Zaza - Italy - Sassuolo/Juventus
58 85 83 André-Pierre Gignac - France - Marseille/Tigres UANL
57 Davie Selke - Germany - Werder Bremen/RB Leipzig
56 Aleksandar Mitrovic - Serbia - Anderlecht/Newcastle
55 33 24 16 Fernando Llorente - Spain - Juventus
54 31 33 60 Francesco Totti - Italy - Roma
53 Diafra Sakho - Senegal - West Ham
52 Saido Berahino - England - WBA
51 Pablo Alcácer - Spain - Valencia

10 new entires in the top 50! Though a couple are well known from att-mid list making the forward jump to excellent rankings.

But not really having ranked strikers in a while (football moves really fast) I was surprised just how good rankings some of the new young players ended up with not really based on all that much yet, but on top of that the fact that a number of those very same players I kind of want to rank even better.

Totti was ranked, the other player will be, so this picture:

Dani Alves was robbed.

But I like Pukki being in the top 50 forwards. Even I wouldnt have him that high, but I guess Chopsuey would have him there too.

Good to see you've moved on from Elmander haha