The Guardian's Top-100 List

[CR Reina]

The Guardian has released their Top-100 list of footballers for 2014. Which players jump out to you guys as being ranked too low or too high?

Isco seems way too low, though he hasn't performed at this high of a level for very long. Xavi shouldn't be ranked at all and he dropped from eight to 50. Too many EPL players, though that's a bias to be expected considering the source.

They also did a good job of recognizing the Atleti players.

http://soccer.realgm.com/wiretap/1838/R ... st-Of-2014

[J-Mezzy]

Top 20 was pretty good though I don't consider Neuer the 3rd best player in the world.

[Batu7]

Even Wilfried Bony wouldn't put himself at 67.

[No_20]

Even Wilfried Bony wouldn't put himself at 67.

Most goals in PL in the 2014 calendar year + had a decent World Cup with 2 goals.

[Baphomet]

I'm not normally one to put too much stock in these lists, but these are my main points of contention:

- Lloris below Enyeama is vomitous, even De Gea and Buffon being above him is controversial.
- Wilshere should not be anywhere near a top 100 list. I know he's a gooner mug and I despise him but he actually isn't that good.
- Zlatan has scored 12 goals in 13 appearances this season, and he drops 10 places? His goals to games ratio is currently on par with last season, and PSG are still in the CL. Is it because Sweden missed the World Cup? Not like that was his fault.
- Yaya Toure at 18, when he was 19 last season. He's been trash for most of this season, and was excellent last season. Bizarre choice.

I actually think the Bony placement is fair. Terrific player, he just gets less attention because he plays for a decent-at-best Swansea side.

[No_20]

I think Lloris is overrated.

There's a reason why Spurs always concede at least 3-4 goals when they play the big sides.

You'll probably use the defence excuse, but it's not like De Gea had a great defence vs Liverpool and Arsenal. They only conceded 1 goal in those 180 minutes(a cracking shot by Giroud), but can you imagine how many they would without De Gea?

[treiz]

I think Lloris is overrated.

There's a reason why Spurs always concede at least 3-4 goals when they play the big sides.

You'll probably use the defence excuse, but it's not like De Gea had a great defence vs Liverpool and Arsenal. They only conceded 1 goal in those 180 minutes(a cracking shot by Giroud), but can you imagine how many they would without De Gea?

Having defenders such as Kaboul, Chiriches, Rose, Naughton etc doesn't really help. You say it's an excuse, but it's actually the truth looking at that defence.

And trying to compare Lloris to De Gea's last couple of months is quite asinine, De Gea has been monstrous this year, it's not like this is normal for De Gea. Sooner or later he will cool off.

[Baphomet]

I think Lloris is overrated.

There's a reason why Spurs always concede at least 3-4 goals when they play the big sides.

You'll probably use the defence excuse, but it's not like De Gea had a great defence vs Liverpool and Arsenal. They only conceded 1 goal in those 180 minutes(a cracking shot by Giroud), but can you imagine how many they would without De Gea?

But the reason is our defence, simple as that. It's not an excuse. Lloris actually has more saves than De Gea this season, during the strongest period of De Gea's career. Statistically he is at least on par with him. This comparison with other top PL goalkeepers is quite interesting:

http://eplindex.com/62564/best-goalkeep ... e-gea.html

[No_20]

I would like to know their stats against the top teams.

Just checked: Lloris conceded 30 goals in 10 games vs LIV/ARS/MU/CHE/MC last season. 11 goals in 4 games so far this season. Lloris has conceded EVERY TIME he's played these teams. That's not good enough. Even if you had 4 Titus Brambles in front of you.

[5DOM]

One international journalist voted Muller number 1, Kroos 3 and Messi 11.

[Baphomet]

I would like to know their stats against the top teams.

Just checked: Lloris conceded 30 goals in 10 games vs LIV/ARS/MU/CHE/MC last season. 11 goals in 4 games so far this season. Lloris has conceded EVERY TIME he's played these teams. That's not good enough. Even if you had 4 Titus Brambles in front of you.

And yet still had more saves, clean sheets and claims than De Gea and United last season. Last season, every single individual metric based largely on the goalkeeper's skill puts Lloris above De Gea, even in a season where we got battered by every top club. Surely that would indicate that there's more culpability to go around here?

Out of those 30 goals I only recall 2 or 3 at most that were directly a result of Lloris mistakes (most notably the first goal away against City). I also wonder how many total shots the defence allowed in those 10 games, I'd wager it was extraordinarily high. Our defence is trash, it always has been, and it's ridiculous to place those 30 goals on Lloris when both the goalie and back four share responsibility, and is at best a surface value analysis.

You could also take a look at the discrepency in his record for Spurs and his record for France to see how he performs with even a passable back four in front of him.

[Baphomet]

One international journalist voted Muller number 1, Kroos 3 and Messi 11.

cgf?

[Det the Threat]

Thomas Müller at #5 and Klose included?
And no Ricardo Rodriguez(best LB in Germany) at all?

Well, the english media trying to do a top 100 list and if you're not playing for Bayern or Dortmund you aren't part of it...

[MaliBrah]

more arsenal players there then I thought there would be. Didn't expect wilshere to be there though , would have put koscielny there instead.

neuer at #3 too , dont care how good a goalie is. A keeper doesn't have as big an impact as players in other positions in mostly every situation IMO.

[El Turco]

Yeah i dont think a goalkeeper ever been a top 3 player. maybe over the course of a tournament but not over the course of a year.

[Foye]

more arsenal players there then I thought there would be. Didn't expect wilshere to be there though , would have put koscielny there instead.

neuer at #3 too , dont care how good a goalie is. A keeper doesn't have as big an impact as players in other positions in mostly every situation IMO.

It is news to me that Neuer is a keeper, though.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la04AVDGH4Y[/youtube]

[J-Mezzy]

Neuer is becoming overrated to be honest.

[CR Reina]

Ricardo Rodriguez was a definitive snub. This list clearly suffers from myopia in regards to the German national team/Bayern while ignoring the Bundesliga as a whole.

Neuer has definitely become overvalued at this point. At least he plays the position in a revolutionary way, but there's no way he would be anyone's third choice in building a roster from scratch.

[ZUDAMAGIC]

How crazy one year can change lol

[magik9113]

De Gea unquestionably >>>> Lloris. Buffon still is better too. Neuer is getting all this extra recognition for playing sweeper keeper, but I am totally OK with a keeper getting this kind of hype. It is rare and he's won everything, so why not?