How good do you expect these players to be?

hate? lol. look, balotelli has immense talent, physically he is gifted with a long lean powerful body, deceptively fast on distance; technically, his shooting technique is already quite brutal and could get better, he has technical abilities that CF dont usually have. He not only has vision, but he also has the passing quality to make that vision happen. As a CF, he can play with his back to the goal, or a little more withdrawn where he can get more touches and feed his team mates in attack. I dont even mention the mental resources he has to often show up with the goal for his team when they need it, which more than compensate the fact that he is not a serial scorer.

On talent alone, i have said it before, Balotelli is the most talented young CF in football, not even close.

But what good is talent if you lack the discipline and the work ethic to harness it? the list of supremely talented athletes across sports who never could maximize their potential is very long.

Mr Nick09 wrote:hate? lol. look, balotelli has immense talent, physically he is gifted with a long lean powerful body, deceptively fast on distance; technically, his shooting technique is already quite brutal and could get better, he has technical abilities that CF dont usually have. He not only has vision, but he also has the passing quality to make that vision happen. As a CF, he can play with his back to the goal, or a little more withdrawn where he can get more touches and feed his team mates in attack. I dont even mention the mental resources he has to often show up with the goal for his team when they need it, which more than compensate the fact that he is not a serial scorer.

On talent alone, i have said it before, Balotelli is the most talented young CF in football, not even close.

But what good is talent if you lack the discipline and the work ethic to harness it? the list of supremely talented athletes across sports who never could maximize their potential is very long.

+1

+2, great post Nicki

I think the discipline argument is overstated. One incident aside, Balo has flourished at Milan for the whole of 2013, being one of the few good players in an awful squad. He's also been superb for Italia. Throughout the history of football, there have been many crazy players who have risen to be some of the greatest players of all time, despite having what some would call detrimental personality traits. What's more, as Balo has been given more and more responsibility, he has matured and done what Allegri has asked of him without question.

As for work ethic, I don't think you're in position to accurately judge how much work Balo puts in to his game. Just because he is seemingly lazy and carefree, does not mean he is actually that way.

Lastly, these 2 arguments (ill-discipline and low work-ethic) are predicated on the condition that Balo is incapable of overcoming these problems. I think that in the right environment (away from the English tabloid media) and surrounded by good mentors, team-mates and role models (Milan), he can rise above these drawbacks.

doesn't matter if he reaches what we think we're capable of him reaching.
right now alone, he is a monster. Germany could not contain him. He can only get better from here. I expect great things from him at the world cup.
Many imply he doesn't care or he doesn't try blablablabla, the man was in tears when Spain defeated Italy in Euro 2012. The man has passion. Think for yourself, use your eyes, don't trust what the media feeds you.

Tier 1. Neymar, Goetze, Hazard

Tier 2a. Pogba, Isco, draxler, thiago, wilshere
Tier 2b. Oscar, Verratti, Koke, ramsey, lucas moura, eriksen

Tier 3. Coutinho, Barkley, Ox Chamberlain, Balotelli, illaramendi

Tier 1 - Neymar & Gotze
Tier 2 - Thiago, Ramsey, Hazard, Progba
Tier 3 - Balotelli, Koke
Tier 4 - Oliver Torres, Deulofeu, Jese, kid from Man U that some people here overrate

Oscar is being underrated by most here.

or overrated by others.

zarola wrote:doesn't matter if he reaches what we think we're capable of him reaching.
right now alone, he is a monster. Germany could not contain him. He can only get better from here. I expect great things from him at the world cup.
Many imply he doesn't care or he doesn't try blablablabla, the man was in tears when Spain defeated Italy in Euro 2012. The man has passion. Think for yourself, use your eyes, don't trust what the media feeds you.

A monster? I'd think a "monster" forward would score more than 7 (+2penalties) goals in 20 games   

Ross Barkley is Tier 1 for me .

zarola wrote:wait why is balotelli so underrated now?

" mononeurone" ( Mourinho dixit) .
It was 2010 ... and he is improved about Nothing (but the contrary) in these 3 years.
And I was his fan ...

zigra wrote:

zarola wrote:doesn't matter if he reaches what we think we're capable of him reaching.
right now alone, he is a monster. Germany could not contain him. He can only get better from here. I expect great things from him at the world cup.
Many imply he doesn't care or he doesn't try blablablabla, the man was in tears when Spain defeated Italy in Euro 2012. The man has passion. Think for yourself, use your eyes, don't trust what the media feeds you.

A monster? I'd think a "monster" forward would score more than 7 (+2penalties) goals in 20 games   

exactly
Balotelli is inconsistent, he can play well in Europeans because there are only 3-4 matches .. stop

Terribly overrated player from Italian medias, he was rated as 5th best forward in the world last year

Tier 1: Neymar, Oscar

Tier 2: Januzaj, Hazard, Götze

Tier 3: Pogba, Thiago, Isco

Tier 4: Balotelli

Tier 5: Ramsey, Griezmann

Pippo wrote:Tier 1: Neymar, Oscar

Tier 2: Januzaj, Hazard, Götze

Tier 3: Pogba, Thiago, Isco

Tier 4: Balotelli

Tier 5: Ramsey, Griezmann

I agree with this. I also think Neymar will be the best of the lot.

Tier 1: Neymar, Gotze, Pogba
Tier 2: Hazard, Isco, Draxler, Ramsey, Oscar, Thiago
Tier 3: Balotelli, Wilshere, Januzaj

Pogba ahead of the likes of Hazard, Thiago, Oscar ?

hazard is so underrated sometimes

Valkyrja wrote:Pogba ahead of the likes of Hazard, Thiago, Oscar ?

Meh, he's still 2 years younger than all of them so he has more time on his side. In two years, I see him being on or above their current levels right now, and the purpose of the thread is to predict how good they will be eventually. Of course I could be wrong though; I'm just guessing.

Ganso wrote:hazard is so underrated sometimes

and Pogba very overrated.

Valkyrja wrote:Pogba ahead of the likes of Hazard, Thiago, Oscar ?

Pretty crazy imo, but I've never been his biggest fan

Pogba absolutely belong in tier 1 talent, just like varane if he we were adding defenders to the list.

he is a different kind of talent, but you cant ignore his physical potential couple with his technical abilities. And the way he has been performing up to now, breaking into juve starting team is sensational.

Dominant athlete, long, tall, agile, with quick feet, vision, passing qualities, monstrous shot technique already, and versatility.

you guys are nuts if you dont think he is up there with the rest.

getting in juves starting team isn't sensational

Mr Nick09 wrote:Pogba absolutely belong in tier 1 talent, just like varane if he we were adding defenders to the list.

he is a different kind of talent, but you cant ignore his physical potential couple with his technical abilities. And the way he has been performing up to now, breaking into juve starting team is sensational.

Dominant athlete, long, tall, agile, with quick feet, vision, passing qualities, monstrous shot technique already, and versatility.

you guys are nuts if you dont think he is up there with the rest.

Gotze,neymar and hazard have been performing for years and already led their teams to trophies.Pogba has to keep it up at least until the WC to be at their tier imo.

DuringTheWar wrote: getting in juves starting team isn't sensational

im pretty sure that starting in a midfield with Vida-Pirlo-Marchisio isnt a walk in the park

Ganso wrote:

DuringTheWar wrote: getting in juves starting team isn't sensational

im pretty sure that starting in a midfield with Vida-Pirlo-Marchisio isnt a walk in the park

and neither is it sensational. Let's be reasonable as well, he isn't taking on all 3 of them for a place either

Ganso wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:Pogba absolutely belong in tier 1 talent, just like varane if he we were adding defenders to the list.

he is a different kind of talent, but you cant ignore his physical potential couple with his technical abilities. And the way he has been performing up to now, breaking into juve starting team is sensational.

Dominant athlete, long, tall, agile, with quick feet, vision, passing qualities, monstrous shot technique already, and versatility.

you guys are nuts if you dont think he is up there with the rest.

Gotze,neymar and hazard have been performing for years and already led their teams to trophies.Pogba has to keep it up at least until the WC to be at their tier imo.

So has Pogba ffs

McAgger wrote:

Ganso wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:Pogba absolutely belong in tier 1 talent, just like varane if he we were adding defenders to the list.

he is a different kind of talent, but you cant ignore his physical potential couple with his technical abilities. And the way he has been performing up to now, breaking into juve starting team is sensational.

Dominant athlete, long, tall, agile, with quick feet, vision, passing qualities, monstrous shot technique already, and versatility.

you guys are nuts if you dont think he is up there with the rest.

Gotze,neymar and hazard have been performing for years and already led their teams to trophies.Pogba has to keep it up at least until the WC to be at their tier imo.

So has Pogba ffs

he did not lead juve last season, he was just a supporter of the actual key players.only this season he has become a leader of the team