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[BWhen they are on form[/b], who are your top 15 players in the world?

1. Messi
2. Ronaldo
3. Ibrahimovic
4. Suarez
5. Iniesta
6. Ribery
7. Neymar
8. Bale
9. Aguero
10. Hazard
11. Ozil
12. RVP
13. Lahm
14. Robben
15. Rooney

I tried but couldn't narrow it down to 15 lol
I think it'd actually be easier to do top 15 players by position

Too long.

Maybe Top 3 by each position?

Neymar is so hilariously over-rated.

GK: Neuer, Buffon, Cech

CB: Silva, Kompany, Terry

FB: Lahm, Alves, Zabaleta

Holder: De Rossi, Busquets, Martinez

CM: Iniesta, Toure, Vidal

10: Ozil, Silva, Fabregas

W: Ronaldo, Ribery, Bale

Forward: Messi, Suarez, Aguero

Striker: Ibrahimovic, van Persie, Falcao

This was a total rush job.

I forgot Thiago Silva. It's just so easy to underrate defenders on these lists.

GK: Buffon, Neuer, Casillas

CB: T.Silva, Chiellini, Luiz

FB: Alaba, Lahm, Marcelo

H: De Rossi, Busquets, Thiago

CM: Vidal, Toure, Iniesta

10: Fabregas, Gotze, Ozil

W: Ronaldo, Ribery, Hazard

F: Messi, Suarez, Rossi

S: Ibra, Falcao, Van Persie

James Rodriguez will enter this list in a year or 2

Zabaleta and Alves over ALABA!! Seriously?

MeCarlos24 wrote:Zabaleta and Alves over ALABA!! Seriously?

Seriously.

I can understand why people might criticize Alves' inclusion. He has declined and he will exit this scene soon if he hasn't already - likely to be replaced by Marcelo or Alaba.

Complaining about Zabaleta, on the other hand, is the doing of a man who hasn't been paying attention. Zabaleta is an absolute locomotive of a full back who is an important part of City's attacking schemes, and he is a rock defensively.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Zlatan Ibrahomivic, Frank Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Thiago Silva, Arturo Vidal, Toni Kroos, Phillip Lahm, Kun Aguero, Neymar Jr, Thomas Muller, Cesc Fabregas.

Order can be tinkered with.

Ted Lasso wrote:

MeCarlos24 wrote:Zabaleta and Alves over ALABA!! Seriously?

Seriously.

I can understand why people might criticize Alves' inclusion. He has declined and he will exit this scene soon if he hasn't already - likely to be replaced by Marcelo or Alaba.

Complaining about Zabaleta, on the other hand, is the doing of a man who hasn't been paying attention. Zabaleta is an absolute locomotive of a full back who is an important part of City's attacking schemes, and he is a rock defensively.

I don't think it was complaining about Zabaleta. It is just complaining about ranking Zabaleta over Alaba.

I was a bit curiously, because I haven't seen much of City this season (around 10 games in PL and the CL games). So I just took a look into the statistics:

Alaba: 24 games (Bundesliga + CL), 2103 minutes, 3 goal, 5 assists, Ø1.3 Ariel duels won, Ø1.1 key passes, Ø59 passes, Ø90.2% Pass Success, Ø2.9 accurate long balls, Ø0.6 fouls, 0 yellow cards, 0 red cards

Zabaleta: 26 games (Premier League + CL), 2165 minutes, 0 goals, 5 assists, Ø1.1 Ariel duels won, Ø0.9 key passes, Ø44 passes, Ø85.8% Pass Success, Ø1.8 accurate long balls, Ø1.7 fouls, 9 yellow cards, 0 yellow cards

While statistics may not tell the whole story, they do not support Zabaleta over Alaba at all. They indicate that Alaba might be the better player in 8 categories, while both players are equal in 2 (out of 10).

If you take into account that Zabaleta is a right back where it is more easy to find very good players, while Alaba is a left back, I would rank Alaba over Zabaleta and could agree with MeCarlos24.



Edith: I found a category in which Zabaleta is slightly better than Alaba. Alaba has 0.7 turnover vs 0.6 from Zabaleta.

Maex, can you get stats like that on Santiago Arias from PSV? I just wanna see if he's a promising back.

Maex wrote:

Ted Lasso wrote:

MeCarlos24 wrote:Zabaleta and Alves over ALABA!! Seriously?

Seriously.

I can understand why people might criticize Alves' inclusion. He has declined and he will exit this scene soon if he hasn't already - likely to be replaced by Marcelo or Alaba.

Complaining about Zabaleta, on the other hand, is the doing of a man who hasn't been paying attention. Zabaleta is an absolute locomotive of a full back who is an important part of City's attacking schemes, and he is a rock defensively.

I don't think it was complaining about Zabaleta. It is just complaining about ranking Zabaleta over Alaba.

I was a bit curiously, because I haven't seen much of City this season (around 10 games in PL and the CL games). So I just took a look into the statistics:

Alaba: 24 games (Bundesliga + CL), 2103 minutes, 3 goal, 5 assists, Ø1.3 Ariel duels won, Ø1.1 key passes, Ø59 passes, Ø90.2% Pass Success, Ø2.9 accurate long balls, Ø0.6 fouls, 0 yellow cards, 0 red cards

Zabaleta: 26 games (Premier League + CL), 2165 minutes, 0 goals, 5 assists, Ø1.1 Ariel duels won, Ø0.9 key passes, Ø44 passes, Ø85.8% Pass Success, Ø1.8 accurate long balls, Ø1.7 fouls, 9 yellow cards, 0 yellow cards

While statistics may not tell the whole story, they do not support Zabaleta over Alaba at all. They indicate that Alaba might be the better player in 8 categories, while both players are equal in 2 (out of 10).

If you take into account that Zabaleta is a right back where it is more easy to find very good players, while Alaba is a left back, I would rank Alaba over Zabaleta and could agree with MeCarlos24.



Edith: I found a category in which Zabaleta is slightly better than Alaba. Alaba has 0.7 turnover vs 0.6 from Zabaleta.

I think everyone loves Zaba but no FB other than Lahm can live with Alaba at the moment. Cut above.

Maex wrote:I don't think it was complaining about Zabaleta. It is just complaining about ranking Zabaleta over Alaba.

That is what i meant.

Maex wrote:I was a bit curiously, because I haven't seen much of City this season (around 10 games in PL and the CL games). So I just took a look into the statistics:

Alaba: 24 games (Bundesliga + CL), 2103 minutes, 3 goal, 5 assists, Ø1.3 Ariel duels, Ø1.1 key passes, Ø59 passes, Ø90.2% Pass Success, Ø2.9 accurate long balls, Ø0.6 fouls, 0 yellow cards, 0 red cards

Zabaleta: 26 games (Premier League + CL), 2165 minutes, 0 goals, 5 assists, Ø1.1 Ariel duels won, Ø0.9 key passes, Ø44 passes, Ø85.8% Pass Success, Ø1.8 accurate long balls, Ø1.7 fouls, 9 yellow cards, 0 yellow cards

While statistics may not tell the whole story, they do not support Zabaleta over Alaba at all. They indicate that Alaba might be the better player in 8 categories, while both players are equal in 2 (out of 10).

Edith: I found a category in which Zabaleta is slightly better than Alaba. Alaba has 0.7 turnover vs 0.6 from Zabaleta.

It's not that statistics don't tell the whole story. It's that in this case they don't even tell 20% of the story. Off the top of my head, Bayern pass the ball more than anyone and there are more aerial duels in Germany than anywhere else. Alternatively, one of Alaba's goals was a penalty and another a free-kick. Does that make him a better full back?

This sort of endeavour is just so far from being conclusive-adjacent in football. It's for development and perusal, not evidence and premise.

If you take into account that Zabaleta is a right back where it is more easy to find very good players, while Alaba is a left back, I would rank Alaba over Zabaleta and could agree with MeCarlos24.

If that's how you feel, then you ought to separate the categories, as opposed to assigning bonus points.

ST: Ibrahimovic, Suarez
AM/W: CR, Messi, Ribery
CM: Iniesta, Modric, Toure, Vidal
CB: Kompany, Pepe, Thiago Silva
GK: Buffon, Casillas, Neuer

I think Falcao's the best striker but since he's injured right now I decided to go with just Suarez and Ibra. Didn't have room for any wingbacks either but guys like Lahm and Baines definitely deserve a nod.

If we're talking pure match-winning ability it looks a little different:
CR, Messi, Falcao, Suarez, Bale, Ibrahimovic, Aguero, Hazard, Özil, Gotze, Iniesta, Muller, Ribery, RvP, Vidal

Falcao will be back in the world cup and regain his place as a top 10 player

Maex wrote:Edith: I found a category in which Zabaleta is slightly better than Alaba. Alaba has 0.7 turnover vs 0.6 from Zabaleta.

I'll give you a few others if you like:

Tackles per game
Interceptions per game
Clearances per game

J-Mezzy wrote:Maex, can you get stats like that on Santiago Arias from PSV? I just wanna see if he's a promising back.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/88112/

Go nuts