#10 - Arjen Robben

Okay I will be honest, possibly because I am a Robben fan I will possibly highlight his strengths more. But I feel he has been the best player in the world and comfortably for the last 1.5 years atleast.

I think he has improved in a lot of aspects. I was watching the Latvia game and the thing which struck me and which I have looked at Bayern for a while is his vision. Arjen was making fabulous plays while being double and tripled marked. His vision has been outstanding. I saw Messi-Iniesta level plays(in their peak) and not now from him. That is one side of his which was not that great IMO.

That coupled with his pace, technique and experience has helped him mature. Another important aspect was Pep. Having a coach supporting a player makes a huge difference. Even when Arjen was Bayern's best player he was benched because he was not German like Kroos or Muller. Under LVG from 2009-2011 he was amazing and having a coach back you works wonders.

Another general aspect of him his general leadership and team-play. Not just defensive ability but overall, he came across as aloof. Now he wants to take throws and this guy has real good vision and genuine creativity which makes some danger from any throw of his near the opponents goal. That with his drive has helped him.

He was always good off the ball but his on the ball play has improved as he wants more of the ball and wants to be involved. I think he should be shifted to a ST/CAM role as he is being wasted as winger IMO.

I also thing given his consistent big match performances since 2009 apart from a couple of misses in important matches, he should be remembered as a footballing legend.

IMO with his mental mindset, being benched because of not being German and the smear campaign by the German Media when they attacked everything from his celebration to playing style and finally the misses and being booed by your club fans, and to come back from all that and be the amazing guy he is, tells us a lot.

He took the PK against Dortmund and buried it. Football has rarely seen such a mentally strong player and such a big game player.

IMO he is one the most unique and greatest footballers ever, certainly the best in the last 1.5 years as well as was the best in the WC

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:If you didn't rate him back then you're clueless he was ripping up the best teams in Europe and was easily the best winger in Europe.

Hardly comparable to Firmino hype fests lol.

Yes he was better. he was more skilled, he was faster and more dangerous off either foot. This cut inside crap didn't start until he left Chelsea.

He was much more dangerous at many different areas, he could go inside or outside on both wings he could drive at you centrally.

He rarely does any of that anymore, he's a lot easier to deal with now.

Oh and stop the Robben and Ribery nonsense, Robben was benched until March and he deserved the Balon D'or?  righto.

Ribery was Bayern's best and most important player that year to claim Robben should be even discussed for what was basically 3 games in a season is nothing short of ridiculous.

Anyway short memories this forum has, he was clearly better at Chelsea it's not even up for debate.

Oh and no he wasn't an old school winger, he just happened to have the ability to consistently go outside as well as inside with ease unlike now.

So you just proved you didn't watch him then, congratulations.

You're English Mole. Shows how much you value 2 footed-ness, pace and versatility.

As I am a Robben fan since Chelsea days I can say how much he has improved. While he still had a wooden right leg, as he was being played LW or a kind of a 2nd ST slightly off the left, it allowed him a 360 degree of rotation and both options, to shoot or cross. That and having a 360 degree rotations with more players near you making runs naturally gives you more options.

However his conversion rate was average IMO. He was improved massively in productivity. He was improved as a big game player. He was aloof and has improved in leadership, game involvement and defensive plays. But mostly he has improved tactically, intelligence wise and has great vision nowadays.

As for the 13 season, Robben actually scored few important goals in the BL and did play. So I am confused about this lie of him being out will March as he began the season as a starter. On his return he scored a brilliant solo goal against Dortmund of a long range shot which made Bayern win. That 1-0 win came when Ribery had himself red carded before and missed the match.

That gave Bayern the Pokal and ofcourse he backed it by being the best player in CHL Semis, Quarters and Finals, all 5 games IMO.

While Ribery was fantastic against BL, IMO he is mostly a scrub beater and struggles against quality opposition. Pizzacheck made him his b***h multiple times and Ribery then loses his mind and starts to elbow people. While I do appreciate Ribery's defensive contribution and doubling up as a LB with Alaba, his offensive contributions were poor and he was frankly below average when it mattered most.

Robben followed it up with brilliant performances throughout the year and if the Calendar Year 2013 is considered, he played thoroughly and did well. Anyways Ribery does a good job in marketing himself with Robben's efforts so I don't begrudge him the 2nd or 3rd place that he won.

R u seriously saying that, prior to 2013, Robben was more clutch for Bayern than Ribery?  Robben was the least clutch player in the world prior to 2013, let alone compared to Ribery. Ribery was the best player on Bayern from the time he joined until he started getting injured last season... the only time he wasn't was briefly under Van Gaal when Van Gaal was trying to play him as a false 9 among other things lol.

Ribery is a "scrub beater" now that he decided to quit the French NT without asking permission first

I don't understand why everyone is trying to change the past lol.

Robben right now is far better than Ribery but Ribery under Heynckes was *bleep* unreal almost impossible to stop and the focal point in Bayern's attack while Robben at that point that was in the same situation Ribery is right now (Injuries, poor form, rumoured to be sold, not great confidence from the manager etc...)

You know it is possible to rate one player without havin to put another down just to make him look better...

Ribery had knee and back problems for months, he was never really fit this year.
I don't recall any 'rumours to be sold' though and the notion of "not such great confidence from the manager" is also something you simply won't be able to back up.

It's always the same, Martinez had serious fitness troubles, groin, knee etc. all last season, but of course people who don't know about that decide confidently that Pep 'doesn't rate him' etc pp.

I'm not sure what Pep rates Martinez as tbh... a CB or a DM? I think he's a much better DM.

Hapless_Hans wrote:Ribery had knee and back problems for months, he was never really fit this year.
I don't recall any 'rumours to be sold' though and the notion of "not such great confidence from the manager" is also something you simply won't be able to back up.

It's always the same, Martinez had serious fitness troubles, groin, knee etc. all last season, but of course people who don't know about that decide confidently that Pep 'doesn't rate him' etc pp.

Pep DOES rate Martinez?

Well OK you're right and enforcing my earlier point about Robben, who HAD these problems so he couldn't have been better or as good that time as he's now, something which is argued about in this thread and I found strange.

Martinez as DM is completely unreal imo. It was just absurd how good he was at some point.

urbaNRoots wrote:I don't understand why everyone is trying to change the past lol.

Robben right now is far better than Ribery but Ribery under Heynckes was *bleep* unreal almost impossible to stop and the focal point in Bayern's attack while Robben at that point that was in the same situation Ribery is right now (Injuries, poor form, rumoured to be sold, not great confidence from the manager etc...)

You know it is possible to rate one player without havin to put another down just to make him look better...

Completely agree.

And for one last time, the 13-14 and this current Robben has improved many facets of his gameplay to be a true team player whose presence and performance enhances his teammates while being an individual difference maker himself. Overall he is better than he ever was at Chelsea or anywhere else.

urbaNRoots wrote:I don't understand why everyone is trying to change the past lol.

Robben right now is far better than Ribery but Ribery under Heynckes was *bleep* unreal almost impossible to stop and the focal point in Bayern's attack while Robben at that point that was in the same situation Ribery is right now (Injuries, poor form, rumoured to be sold, not great confidence from the manager etc...)

You know it is possible to rate one player without havin to put another down just to make him look better...

Why should Robben need Ribery to look worse to make him look good. He is already good and the comparison holds no ground.

For one, Ribery is a poor scorer and not good infront of goals. So he will never give you the goals, Robben gives. He will never be a difference maker with a solo goal.

As for 2nd, he is flop in most big matches, especially away matches.

He mostly does well with the crowd and coach behind him in home matches in the BL against good and average opposition.

At best you can win BL Titles with that. Robben has a lesser axis of rotation, better technique, faster, less heavier touch, much more mental grit and is a good scorer as well.

He is a much more varied attacker and is likely to be a difference maker in key games. With Ribery I never get that feeling. At best he can get a good pass or cross in 1 out of 4 Top Games. His end product and attacking variety and big match performances are too average to be an elite attacker.

This is another reason why I like Suarez or Aguero more than Lewa. While Lewa has phenomenal on the ball skills, absolutely is brilliant on the ball, perhaps the world's best in shielding, good in tight spaces and vision, he does not have as much scoring ability and killer instinct as Aguero or Suarez.

Lewa will give you 25-28 Goals at best with 15-20 Assists. Put Suarez and Aguero in this team, they will give you atleast 40-45 goal.

I do appreciate Ribery though, he was a different style, you can't have 10 scorers in a team and he puts a hell of a defensive shift.

Arjen continues to be in fine form... 14 goals in 17 games now in the league.
His 3 goals from the last 2 games against Stuttgart and Hamburg..

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One of the best players of this generation?

Yeah , too many injuries tho but fantastic player.

I remember when i said he is better than Ribery everyone laughed at me.

Great player. Only Messi for me is above him in the final 3rd. If he was the main fulcrum for Barcelona or Madrid, he would get monstrous numbers. Shame he figured out how to treat his body relatively late in his career. I think reigning in his ego made him a more well rounded player as well.

If Madrid had kept Robben, how would Ronaldo-Benzema-Robben would have function? Better than BBC?

Mamad wrote:I remember when i said he is better than Ribery everyone laughed at me.

Robben didn't become" better" than Ribery until the latter started getting injured every 2 matches .

In his time at Bayern, Robben has always been better than Ribery.

Mamad wrote:In his time at Bayern, Robben has always been better than Ribery.

that's simply not true.

RealGunner wrote:If Madrid had kept Robben, how would Ronaldo-Benzema-Robben would have function? Better than BBC?

that fifa10 diamond 442 5 star team

Drenthe

4-1-5

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Mamad wrote:In his time at Bayern, Robben has always been better than Ribery.

that's simply not true.

Mamad wrote:In his time at Bayern, Robben has always been better than Ribery.

That's true, especially in 2009-10 season, when he singlehandly took Bayern to 2 trophies and UCL final. Robben was too clutch that season, unplayable, scoring so many important goals, best player in the world for me, he took team with crap like van Buyten and Demichelis to UCL final (he was the only Bayern player in that final vs much superior Inter team that tried to do something, only of course for Demichelis and van Buyten to get embarassed by Milito), then in WC made a difference for Netherlands after coming from injury and playing in last group stage and in kncokout stage games (without Robben, Dutch wouldn't go past Brazil in 1/4, he should have scored in final, I have Netherlands as winner before WC, they were undefeated in more than 30 matches in the row IIRC, Spain, Netherlands and Argentina were my favourites for that WC, I had Netherlands winning it all, he should have put it past Casillas). If not injuries, Robben would be consistently in Top 5 for Ballon D'Or. From this generation players, I would only pick Messi, CR, Iniesta and Xavi oven Robben from offensive players.

Ribery vs Robben is not even a valid comparison. Can you name me 1 Single Big Game where Ribery has out shone Robben? Difference between Robben & Ribery is like Bale & Ronaldo.

Only in the 12-13 season when he was injured after half the season, he was benched despite putting MOM level performances. Jupp stuck to his original team of Ribery-Kroos-Muller-Mandzu. It is easy to Ribery to get highlighted in this team as DM/CM Kroos is playing CAM. A ST like Muller is playing RW & Mandzu is a bulldozer.

None of these guys were technically good for the positions they were playing(which required skill) but they were very effective and competent. It was very easy for Ribery to get noticed in this squad as most of the attacks came through him. But even against Pokal against Dortmund or CHL Quarters, Semis, Final, Robben was MOM or score solo goals to help us win.

Even Ribery's best season was one in which he helped us win mid-table BL Games & he became No.3 in B D'or because Bayern won(largely due to Robben). Ribery should be happy he got to No.3  in B D'or due to Robben's exploits.

I will accept that Ribery is in a similar level to Robben when someone can show 2-3 Big games(CHL Quarters, Semis, Final, Cup ties vs Dortmund) where Ribery made a huge contribution to our win with MOM performances and out-shone Robben.

Not to mention the fact that Robben has carried this team in the last 2 years since Pep came. We have only 1 Robben while Barca have Messi, Neymar and Suarez.


As for the NT, most people love his dedication. He played with a hole in his leg for the NT and was out for 6-7 months after the WC. He played risking his career. Most NT fans don't begrudge him that his misses cost the NT its first WC title.

Look at the Team of Bayern for 09-10 - Hans Butt, Micho, DVB, Pranjic/Braafheid, Muller is his 1st rookie season, Van Bommel at the *bleep* end of his career. I think freaking Altintop started for us @ LW in the CHL Final. Altintop as Ribery replacement, what a joke. Did this team deserve to go into the CHL final.

People should just check 3 goals of his this season -
MU  - Check the goal & situation - Bayern won in Away Goals
Fiorentina - Same as above

Schalke - Cup  - This was a magical goal like Maradona. Check the goal from the start. It was a pass from a GK half way into his box. The match was 110 minutes past with Neuer as opposing GK so Schalke would have had some sort of advantage going into the PK.