GL 2014 Football Awards

Basically dost's ranking for me with minor edits..

1) Best Goalkeeper of 2014 - Neuer
2) Best Left Back of 2014 - Alaba
3) Best CB of 2014 - Boateng
4) Best Right Back of 2014 - Lahm
5) Best DM/Regista/DLP of 2014 - Xabi Alonso
6) Best CM(B2B, playmaker etc) of 2014 - Kroos
7) Best CAM(SS counts) of 2014 - Müller
8 ) Best Left Forward of 2014 - Ronaldo
9) Best Right Forward of 2014 - Robben
10) Best Central Forward of 2014 - Benzema
11) Best Manager of 2014 - Simeone

and this

Mr Nick09 wrote:
12) Best overall player of 2014: Robben
Consistency wise Robben was the Best imo. Great season in Bundi and fantastic world cup. His performances overall have been the best of the season imo. He dominates the bundi and led his team in thw world cup where he was clearly the main star of his team. CR has had a blast scoring for fun but he was never key in madrid winning trophies this season except supercup vs sevilla. And he was shit in world cup. Performances are more important than goals to me. It was close but for the world cup i gove it to robben

that's also why I think Robben would really deserve the Ballon D'Or over the nominated top 3 this year

Dortmund's issue is not defense... in fact, the defense has been very good considering that they need to sell out on the attack to try and score a goal which exposes the defenders.  The scoring has been downright pathetic.

That WC was amazing by Hummels and he's also done extremely well in CL... these are the two competitions that weigh the most for me when i rate players. A player's true quality is measured when he plays against the best. League is important too obviously... but there are too many variables that go into a long league campaign that have very little to do with an individual player.

26 goals conceded already but their issue is not defense?

Not implying that Hummels is a main culprit in any fashion, on the other hand he became captain in july and the team spirit doesn't seem to be quite right.

Bt he's been either injured or inconsistent, with a few great games up to the standard he is usually taken for (some of them at the WC), and quite a few games to forget.

Just recently a shocker against Bremen, but people probably read the scoreline and see that he scored and conclude from there

So it's actually a no brainer that Hummels was in no way the best CB in the year 2014.

People who vote Hummels are probably the same ones voting for Lahm, Ramos and Alaba too. None of those were even close to being the best

Hummels has a disadvantage that Dortmund keep changing their full backs and team overall but that doesn't warrant him getting a pass at all. Lahm doesn't seem to have a role, Ramos' season starts in March and Alaba is good but was never the best

Also as a fyi Kroos was voted the best German National team player of 2014 Neuer didn't even come second

I though we had a discussion with Jiopsi that Loic Perrin was clearly the best CB of 2014, because he was leading in whoscored rankings

what do you mean by Lham, Ramos or Alaba were not close to being the best? what?

I am going to tell you how i looked at those three since i voted for them.

My reflection wasn't, "who was the absolute best at that position? who was the one playing the position the best?". No, i respect that point of view but i voted the performance first.

Is Ramos the most acutely trained defender in the world? no. But what i saw from him this season is a player that absolutely cleaned up his act in the biggest games in CL when RM needed him, plus some of the clutchest moments in CL history down the stretch. He shat himself in the world cup, but then he came back to Madrid again this season, and i haven't seen him putting a foot wrong since then. I am not voting anyone else here.

Lham, it's true that he is not playing the position anymore. yet, i can't think of a player that i would above him in that role if i was putting my team together. And something that influenced my vote here was the way he completely changed Germany when he went back to that role. He gave the team that much more balance + leadership qualities. I don't even see who else compare to him at RB. ivanovic? carvajal? please

Alaba, as i said there weren't many stand outs player there. he just edged out Filipe because he is balling in and filipe isn't. i had to look at last season, and this one, and overall, Alaba takes it.

Sports logic that only WC and CL should count and the league doesn't matter is actually just an euphemisic way of admitting one only watches a few selected prestige games and decides to base ones judgement on that

That's also how you can proclaim your team the best in the world after finishing third in your league while having a squad worth that of the next 3 teams put together

So according to sports' logic there's a case to be made for Ramos, as he absolutely beasted in the CL semis and final.
I didn't watch Ramos in the league though but I read through the La Liga thread so I suspect he had quite a few shockers

And at least I'm consistent, as I don't watch all the others games with the same regularity I decided to put mostly Bayern players

But i you look at the whole picture Boateng as 2014's best CB, while surely not the only possible choice, is not really controversial. WC final.. 4 goals conceded in the league so far.. has taken on the role of a deep lying playmaker when Alonso is marked out of the game, like against Dortmund.
etc pp

As for Alaba and Lahm, they deserve the mention because of the extremely versatile and creative way they played full back/wing back/midfield-hybrids.
Alaba especially absolutely excelled as a false left back whatever, interchanging with Bernat, running the show, until his injury.
And Lahm's reverting to right back after so-so performances in midfield for Germany made the WC win possible.

26 goals conceded is middle of the pack in Bundi... and that's mostly because Dortmund can't score. So Klopp is throwing everything into the attack because he has to. The midfield and forwards aren't doing it alone. The fullbacks are basically playing like wingbacks to help. Not that it's doing much good since they've only scored 18. The big thing is that, when Dortmund fall behind, Klopp gets even more reckless with committing bodies to the attack.

I've watched a lot of Dortmund and the defenders have been really solid. They're just exposed because they need to compensate so much for an anemic offense.

It's not like Bayern where they have the best starting XI and then probably the second best XI sitting on the bench... makes for an easy time. If Bayern didn't poach Dortmund like they do everyone else when there's any competition, this wouldn't have happened.

But that's just Bundi and that's why i pay little to no attention to the league in general. It's boring. I just follow players that i'm interested in.

the logic is that you have top teams that dominate because they have great depth...  so when you're evaluating a player that is not on one of those top teams, you have to take that into account.  Winning the league is as much about depth as it is talent because there are injuries every season and there's fatigue.

So you have to look at their individual performances in league more than the team's because of this variable when a team loses a ton of talent that it hasn't replaced and suffers from lack of depth whether its due to too many games and/or injuries.  Hummels has been fantastic.

sports, you seem to misunderstand, I'm not saying Hummels is a bad defender, quite the contrary, all I'm saying is he clearly was not the BEST CB overall in 2014 when there are other contenders like Godin, Ramos and Boateng.

He was fantastic in the WC, he was very inconsistent OR injured since.

Ramos was TERRIBLE until March and in the WC... i mean outright pathetic.  Only reason people vote for him are the goals.  How can anyone vote for a player who was probably the worst defender in the WC lol.

Boateng is far too limited... he got destroyed in the CL semis by Madrid and Hummels was better than him at the WC.  So how can you rate him higher?

Godin... yeah.  Forgot about him.  I'd take him over Hummels in 2014 tbh.

Not the best year for CBs so anyone you take is going to be very imperfect.  But for me, defense comes first for a CB.   Goals only become a factor in case of a draw on defense.  So on that alone, i change my pick to Godin.

My top 3 for 2014 were Godin, Hummels and Pepe.

Why is having Carvajal there laughable?? Cant even remember a game he underperformed in. Oh wait I see he needs to score to be considered

Ramos came up in the CL I agree but who was behind our demise at the end of the league campaign?? Was it not Ramos? Granted many were injured but the way he played was inexcusable. I dont consider shit form for 2/3 of the league campaign best. Pepe was our best defender forget CB. He and Carvajal are so damn underrated

Alaba is and was no one of the best. I agree there weren't many to choose from but Luis was the closest to perfect score there for Atleti. So if someone was to be given the benefit of doubt it would be him

Boateng is 'limited' lol? How exactly? That will be interesting..

Both Hummels and Boateng had fantastic WCs. The final performance edges it for me though.
And in the other competitions, Bayern have not lost a league game since over 2 years with Boateng starting, with the record low goals conceded seasons in a row, only 4 goals conceded so far, the quality of his league performances are beyond any doubt.

Overall there's absolutely no doubt he performed better than Hummels over the whole year, that's actually not a matter of opinion.

1) Best Goalkeeper: Neuer
2) Best Left Back: Alaba
3) Best CB of: Godin
4) Best Right Back: Lahm
5) Best DM/Regista/DLP: Kroos
6) Best CM(B2B, playmaker etc): Di maria
7) Best CAM(SS counts): Messi
8 ) Best Left Forward: Cr
9) Best Right Forward: Robben
10) Best Central Forward: Benzema
11) Best Manager: Carlo
12) Best overall player: Robben

1) Best Goalkeeper of 2014 Neuer
2) Best Left Back of 2014 Felipe Luis
3) Best CB of 2014 Close, but I'd say Ramos
4) Best Right Back of 2014 Carvajal
5) Best DM/Regista/DLP of 2014 Lahm (at dm, he has impressed me the most)
6) Best CM(B2B, playmaker etc) of 2014 Di maria
7) Best CAM(SS counts) of 2014 Messi
8 - Best Left Forward of 2014 CR
9) Best Right Forward of 2014 ROBBEN
10) Best Central Forward of 2014 Benzema
11) Best Manager of 2014 CARLO
12) Best overall Player - Ronaldo and messi are tied here. MY personal preference is CR.

Yeah... really tough to defend with Bayern having 70% possession. Pep fooled people into thinking Pique was a WC defender and at least Pique is very good with the ball at his feet. Boateng isn't even good with the ball AND he already got exposed by Madrid and others + he wasn't even the best CB on Germany's WC team... he was the 3rd best defender after Hummels and Lahm.

Don't try to pimp Boateng. As soon as he has to face any sort of consistent attack, which he does with Germany NT now and then, he gets exposed.

Lord Spencer wrote:

Frankly, I can't see how Carlo is being voted for more than Simone. I like Carlo, but Simone did something with Atleti that is simply not easily accomplished any year.

You bring up a good point. I absolutely love how simeone brought athletico up from midtable. Alot of people don't like their rough house tactics, and as a madrid fan, I don't like it either. But I respect how they did last year and how they are doing this year. With spains skewed TV rights and favoring of the big two, they really are punching above their weight. Truly a Top team now.

But Carlo got a group of individuals, unified it in the biggest pressure cooker in modern football, improved many of our under performing players, and made us a TEAM. Trust me when I say this, we were a bunch of losers with zero mentality, bar Ramos, Benzema, and Ronaldo. Carlo has us playing at the level we should be. He has developed an inconsistant trick pony like isco to a hustling center midfielder, who works harder then anyone on the team. I might dare say, he reminds me of gattuso with his defensive hard work at times. he was given players like james and kroos and they have fitted seamlessly when all thought they would fail.

It's carlo for me

right.. because it's much harder to individually defend when you're part of a team that parks the bus right.

Whereas Boateng is massively protected by having the defensive bastion of Alonso, Ribery, Götze, Robben, Müller and Lewandowski ahead of him, most of them crowding the opponents third, and a whole empty half pitch behind him that is nothing to worry about

i thought ricardo rodriguez bossing in bunde?


while most of the time i watched bayern, alaba play as 1 of the 3 cb?

1) Best Goalkeeper of 2014 NEUER
2) Best Left Back of 2014 ALABA
3) Best CB of 2014 SERGIO RAMOS
4) Best Right Back of 2014 LAHM
5) Best DM/Regista/DLP of 2014 MASCERANO
6) Best CM(B2B, playmaker etc) of 2014 DI MARIA
7) Best CAM(SS counts) of 2014 MESSI
Cool Best Left Forward of 2014 CR
9) Best Right Forward of 2014 ROBBEN
10) Best Central Forward of 2014 MESSI
11) Best Manager of 2014 CARLO

BEST PLAYER MESSI/ROBBEN TIE

halamadrid2 wrote:People who vote Hummels are probably the same ones voting for Lahm, Ramos and Alaba too. None of those were even close to being the best

Hummels has a disadvantage that Dortmund keep changing their full backs and team overall but that doesn't warrant him getting a pass at all. Lahm doesn't seem to have a role, Ramos' season starts in March and Alaba is good but was never the best

Also as a fyi Kroos was voted the best German National team player of 2014 Neuer didn't even come second

Gonna reiterate some of what's been said: Alaba may not be the next Maldini but you have to look at his competition. Marcelo? Can't defend for his life. Luis? Only played the first half of the year. Alaba might not be a household name but over the course of the year he simply was the best leftback in the world.

Lahm may have played the majority of the year in midfield but the times he did play right back he showed that he is still the best rightback (and indeed fullback) on the planet.

Finally, I think the criticism of Hummels is unwarranted. He's had some poor showings this season, but as mentioned Ramos has only been good since March for Madrid and has been pathetic all year long for Spain. Boateng was also one of the worst players on the pitch in the second leg vs Madrid, and he still is a player prone to errors. Its certainly not an easy decision, but I think anyone would be justified in naming Hummels as the best cb of the year.

When was the last time Alaba played LB anyways??? I can count the numbers on one hand. And even WHEN he did play as a LB Luis was and is vastly superior to him and any other LB

Actually Nacho was on the bench for the majority of the games but the games he did play RB he was simply the best RB in the world because he didn't put a foot wrong and even scored, am I doing it right?

Pepe was and is the best CB in the world imo. The others can fight it out for the second best

Any one of Godin, Pepe or Hummels is justified... none of them were perfect. But all 3 separated themselves from the rest.

alaba and lahm are better than marcelo and carvajal, its not that hard

pepe>ramos for while now

ACMRox wrote:
Finally, I think the criticism of Hummels is unwarranted. He's had some poor showings this season, but as mentioned Ramos has only been good since March for Madrid and has been pathetic all year long for Spain. Boateng was also one of the worst players on the pitch in the second leg vs Madrid, and he still is a player prone to errors. Its certainly not an easy decision, but I think anyone would be justified in naming Hummels as the best cb of the year.

It's not criticism of Hummels, just saying he had too many poor showings this current seasons to warrant named best of the year.

It's just funny a hyped player like Hummels has poor games regularly and people say 'oh well', while Boateng performs consistently and people point to one game to ominously claim he's 'prone to errors', which evidence of the last 2-3 years not really supports.

Alaba isn't the best leftback in the world... just isn't.  Completely exposed when Ribery struggled with injury.  Now that Ribery is back, he's playing well again.  He can't cover his side unless he has a monstrous amount of help from his winger.  Marcelo is better than him ffs and i don't even rate Marcelo that highly. It's has to be between Luis and Coentrao because both can lock it down.  

And Carvajal is nowhere near the best RB in the world.  He's good and he has potential.  But there's a reason that Carlo benched him for portions of this season even when he was healthy... he is too aggressive and gets caught.  Reminds me of the young Pepe tbh.  Needs to clean it up.  Lahm is just MUCH MUCH better.  Germany NT was very shaky defensively in the WC until Khedira/Piggy both got healthy enough and Lahm could return to RB against France and thereon... not a coincidence they became very solid after that. I like Ivanovic and Zabaleta too, although Ivanovic has his ups and downs.