GL 2014 Football Awards

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.

As far as i am concerned, it's no big deal to pick between Ramos, Pepe, Godin, Hummels, etc..., they are all excellent, and it makes sense different people pick different players because all those guys are at that level where they are the best in the game and it's only few things that influence the perception of one or the other. Naming one the best doesn't mean the others are crap.

@Hala, saying things like "Luis is vastly superior to any other LB" is one of the ridiculous statement that makes it impossible to argue sometimes here. No he is not. He is a fantastic player but if his superiority was so evident, he wouldn't be benched right now. He had an excellent year at Atletico, but that was just a third of the year. No world cup presence, nothing so far this season. I proceeded by elimination. Coentrao is fantastic himself when he is on. One of the few guys that shut down Robben at times with his 1v1 defending. Yet he is injured all the time.

Again, Alaba wins the voting because unlike Luis he is playing this half of the year. And even if he is not playing that traditional left back role as we know in a 4 line defense, i am still going to put him up there because i have seen him being great down the left side of the pitch, in a role that's quite unconventional.

by principle, even this voting is reductive.

when was Alaba 'completely exposed' when Ribery was not playing? sports, sometimes I get the feeling you watch games taking place in an alternate universe

And then to top it off, you counter with Marcelo, after that World Cup performance? Worst defensive performance in the history of the tournament? Jeeeze

1) Best Goalkeeper of 2014 Manuel Neuer
2) Best Left Back of 2014 Ricardo Rodriguez
3) Best CB of 2014 Diego Godin
4) Best Right Back of 2014 Philipp Lahm
5) Best DM/Regista/DLP of 2014 Nemanja Matic
6) Best CM(B2B, playmaker etc) of 2014 Toni Kroos
7) Best CAM(SS counts) of 2014 Kevin de Bruyne
8 ) Best Left Forward of 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo
9) Best Right Forward of 2014 Arjen Robben
10) Best Central Forward of 2014 Lionel Messi
11) Best Manager of 2014 Diego Simeone
12) Best overall player of 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo

Hapless_Hans wrote:

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.

Poor games regularly? Hummels was consistently the best cb in the world last season and was by far the best defender of the WC. This season he's had poor games, but so would Boateng if he was in such an under performing team.

And speaking of Boateng he's hardly the model of consistency. He was woeful against Madrid and was regularly exposed in the WC. Heck, he even made mistakes against Man Utd

i said that i rate Marcelo more than Alaba and i don't rate either just to show how little i think of Alaba... he can't defend.

alaba is a much better defender than marcelo

sports, what are you talking about. When was Alaba exposed during Ribery's injury? In what game?
In the league? where? CL? 1:0 against City? 1:0 againt CSKA 7:1 at Roma? Where ffs? Wtf are you talking about

Alaba only defends when he has a lot of help... he can't hold his side down alone. He's lucky that he had prime Ribery and then Pep took over so Bayern has little to no defending to do anyhow now...

Just 22 though. So he'll get better i hope. Attacks very well and he's not allergic to defending like Marcelo is.

To me, you can't rate a fullback as "the best" unless he can lock down his side 1v1 with no help... not many of those anymore unfortunately. But Coentrao and Luis do it regularly. A shame that Luis is getting wasted at Chelsea or i would have chosen him...

second half of last season Hans...  Bundi is useless so it's not even worth mentioning.  Bayern faced 2 teams worth anything in the second half of last season...  Madrid twice and Dortmund twice.  Alaba (and Boateng) got exposed in 3 of those 4 (actually twice for Boateng as i don't think he played one of the Dortmund games).

ACMRox wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:

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.

Poor games regularly? Hummels was consistently the best cb in the world last season and was by far the best defender of the WC. This season he's had poor games, but so would Boateng if he was in such an under performing team.

And speaking of Boateng he's hardly the model of consistency. He was woeful against Madrid and was regularly exposed in the WC. Heck, he even made mistakes against Man Utd

Hummels was injured much of last season. When he returned he was great and brought stability to Dortmund.
In the WC he was great too.
Since he's been injured again, and struggled with form when returning. So that's why. He's a fantastic player, he just didn't have that great a year OVERALL.

As for the WC, I can play the game too, Messi made minced meat of Hummels in the final and if Boateng hadn't put in a MOTM performance cleaning up after him Germany would not be world champions, that's just the thing.
I keep pointing to the ridiculously few goals conceded by Bayern, this season and in last seasons,  I can refer you to RWO's wonderful 'best defenses' stats, etc pp, but apparently Boateng is meh, error prone and regularly exposed
It's a bit baffling tbh, how immune to evidence certain preconceptions are.

A lot of talk, for that nobody is going to change their vote.

I got off the Marcelo train. He is a goat footballer and I used to rate him highly because, although he is a bad defender, I simply didn't see him as such a HUGE liability in which he would make a team lose by his mere presence in the backline (a bit like the David Luiz story). Well, that changed in the WC for obvious reasons lol. I know there were a series of factors that originated that 1-7 match, but no defender who participated in that game for us should even get close to this list. To top it off Marcelo, like Filipe now, wasn't a starter in the first half of the year.

sportsczy wrote:second half of last season Hans...  Bundi is useless so it's not even worth mentioning.  Bayern faced 2 teams worth anything in the second half of last season...  Madrid twice and Dortmund twice.  Alaba (and Boateng) got exposed in 3 of those 4 (actually twice for Boateng as i don't think he played one of the Dortmund games).

Yeah, I'm done discussing with you tbh. So much clueless nonsense expressed with such an air of certainty, sorry.

tbh, marcelo had improved his defensive awareness this season

decisive in attacking more than ever, (7 assists already this season)

bombarding in perfect moment and don't get caught much, this is what a complete fullback suppose to be.


thing only went extremely sour when his partner is davidluiz imo

that let flank.

Ganso wrote:I got off the Marcelo train. He is a goat footballer and I used to rate him highly because, although he is a bad defender, I simply didn't see him as such a HUGE liability in which he would make a team lose by his mere presence in the backline (a bit like the David Luiz story). Well, that changed in the WC for obvious reasons lol. I know there were a series of factors that originated that 1-7 match, but no defender who participated in that game for us should even get close to this list. To top it off Marcelo, like Filipe now, wasn't a starter in the first half of the year.

There are many factors of course, but how Marcelo single handedly *bleep* up in that game positioningwise is simply and eternally inexcusable.
The space he abandoned was the single most important key to the whole game.
I think it would be hard to find a more shocking performance by a defender in such a high profile match.

Funny thing is, like you I like him as a player, his offensive contributions are fantastic, etc.
But that semi was quite something.

Here is Marcelo's heat map vs germany...so you're telling me this is David's fault?



Here is Luiz for the lulz

sportsczy wrote:i said that i rate Marcelo more than Alaba and i don't rate either just to show how little i think of Alaba... he can't defend.

wtf are you talking about, still drunk? Alaba is easyily one of the 3 best left backs in the world, the last 3-4 years.

He was voted for the best sportsman of the year in austria in 2013 and 2014 - n a wintersport country. In 65 years he is just the 5th footballer getting voted for this trophy. This should show you how amazing Alaba played the last few years.

Ganso wrote:Here is Marcelo's heat map vs germany...so you're telling me this is David's fault?

Here is Luiz for the lulz
600x461.jpg[/img]

im not defending him over that game lol

but, what's wrong with his heatmap. maicon had worst, and luiz 1 not looking good either.

Hapless_Hans wrote:Hummels was injured much of last season. When he returned he was great and brought stability to Dortmund.
In the WC he was great too.
Since he's been injured again, and struggled with form when returning. So that's why. He's a fantastic player, he just didn't have that great a year OVERALL.

As for the WC, I can play the game too, Messi made minced meat of Hummels in the final and if Boateng hadn't put in a MOTM performance cleaning up after him Germany would not be world champions, that's just the thing.
I keep pointing to the ridiculously few goals conceded by Bayern, this season and in last seasons,  I can refer you to RWO's wonderful 'best defenses' stats, etc pp, but apparently Boateng is meh, error prone and regularly exposed
It's a bit baffling tbh, how immune to evidence certain preconceptions are.

Germany won the WC because Palacio and Higuain forgot how to finish, not because Boateng single handedly saved them. The ridiculously few goals conceded by Bayern have more to do with their utter dominance in most games since Pep has come, as well as the wonderful performances of players like Javi Martinez, Dante, and Alaba. Boateng has hardly been carrying them defensively (don't know if that's what you meant but that's what it sounds like).

Boateng is a fantastic player, and I'll admit you likely have seen more of Hummels in the Bundesliga than I have, but from what I've seen he's just better all round than Boateng, who still makes regular mistakes in big games.

ACMRox wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:Hummels was injured much of last season. When he returned he was great and brought stability to Dortmund.
In the WC he was great too.
Since he's been injured again, and struggled with form when returning. So that's why. He's a fantastic player, he just didn't have that great a year OVERALL.

As for the WC, I can play the game too, Messi made minced meat of Hummels in the final and if Boateng hadn't put in a MOTM performance cleaning up after him Germany would not be world champions, that's just the thing.
I keep pointing to the ridiculously few goals conceded by Bayern, this season and in last seasons,  I can refer you to RWO's wonderful 'best defenses' stats, etc pp, but apparently Boateng is meh, error prone and regularly exposed
It's a bit baffling tbh, how immune to evidence certain preconceptions are.

Germany won the WC because Palacio and Higuain forgot how to finish, not because Boateng single handedly saved them. The ridiculously few goals conceded by Bayern have more to do with their utter dominance in most games since Pep has come, as well as the wonderful performances of players like Javi Martinez, Dante, and Alaba. Boateng has hardly been carrying them defensively (don't know if that's what you meant but that's what it sounds like).

Boateng is a fantastic player, and I'll admit you likely have seen more of Hummels in the Bundesliga than I have, but from what I've seen he's just better all round than Boateng, who still makes regular mistakes in big games.

Everything you write was spot on 2 years ago, but it isn't anymore.
Javi has hardly played since end of 2012/13, when he has played CB since he was a source of trouble except in the cup final (he had fitness issues, knee and groin, and now of course the ACL).
Dante has become shakier since Pep and especially this season, Boateng has clearly taken over the lead.
Dante is the one who's more and more dropped with Benatia in the team.
Of course Bayern's few goals against are down to team performance not one defender, but Boateng has played an integral role in this, probably one of our top 3 performers this season so far, with Robben and Alonso.
Additionally, Boateng's mistakes have become much fewer, only one of significant meaning I would point to last year is not intercepting the ball prior to the goal of 1st leg at Bernabeu.
His offensive and playmaking contributions have improved massively.

Hummels however is struggling with form and consistency at the moment, and had consistency issues also earlier.
This has to do with his injuries and the injuries in the Dortmund team, granted, but to call Boateng more error prone, or less 'all round' than Hummels in recent time just isn't accurate anymore.

You can rate Hummels a superior player to Boateng 'ideally', sure, but then actual performances have to match up, and for the calendar year 2014 I'd say it's pretty clear cut he wasn't superior.

I am fully aware though that I'm setting up Boateng for a nightmare 2015, with shockers all over the place, via the GL jinx, that's why I need to urgently stop now

Harmonica wrote:A lot of talk, for that nobody is going to change their vote.

Yet you did, 2 months ago Loic Perrin was the best CB in the world.

Freeza wrote:

Harmonica wrote:A lot of talk, for that nobody is going to change their vote.

Yet you did, 2 months ago Loic Perrin was the best CB in the world.

Can you quote me on that?

Harmonica wrote:

Freeza wrote:

Harmonica wrote:A lot of talk, for that nobody is going to change their vote.

Yet you did, 2 months ago Loic Perrin was the best CB in the world.

Can you quote me on that?

We established on page 14 that only diving cheats like Ronaldo was the flaw of Whoscored
http://www.goallegacy.net/t36748p234-the-official-balon-d-or-2014-thread

Freeza wrote:

Harmonica wrote:

Freeza wrote:


Yet you did, 2 months ago Loic Perrin was the best CB in the world.

Can you quote me on that?

We established on page 14 that only diving cheats like Ronaldo was the flaw of Whoscored
http://www.goallegacy.net/t36748p234-the-official-balon-d-or-2014-thread

Ramos carried Real Madrid to CL, that's enough to put him above Perrin.