Off-Topic: How do you rate MICHAEL BALLACK?Amongst the Best of his Generation OR just a good player?

It peeves me when I see people placing him as equal or inferior to Gerrard and Lampard, most of the times based on his latter years at Stamford Bridge without remembering that he was a major part of German NT,Bayern and Bayer teams who he made tick and go far. Had it not been for freak misses and unfortunate circumstances, he could have been ending his career with a few Huge Winners Medals than the runners-up medals that he has in his collection.
*ZIZOU's Wonder Volley
*The Self-Less YELLOW card in 02WC
*Terry's SLIP-UP on the Penalty spot
Those were some of the heart breaks he suffered and in each of those campaigns he had a Huge part to play. In 07-08, even at Chelsea, he had a huge contribution to Chelsea's late surge for the title. Last year's bad campaign also showed how much his experience counted and Chelsea floundered in the Prem and UCL as well.

So how do you guys rate this guy? Is he amongst the best CM talents of this generation, probly best B2B besides Vieira,perhaps...

Ill just say this, the english and their pundits dont know anything about football.

lari, he is a very good player. However I do think that he was not that consistent in the big matches. At times he did make a difference and at times he couldn't deliver when it was most needed. Of course he was unlucky at times and also played for not so strong teams. He was quite a complete player except that he didn't have speed and couldn't run and dribble with the ball. In that sense I think Nedved is the most complete midfielder I have seen playing. I would rate him higher than Lampard and even Gerrard because he clearly eclipses them with his international performances. Among central midfielders and players who could play central midfielders from his generation the ones who I would rate higher than him are Xavi, Pirlo and Nedved at least. With a few others the comparison will be really close. Also I must mention here that Riquelme was better to watch and made his team play more beautifully but due to Ballack's club achievements as well as Riquelme's lack of versatility, I will rate Ballack higher on the whole. All this is just my opinion and very debatable.

Nedved played centrally? Didn't know that, I though he always played in the wings.

I think Ballack was a very good player, but didn't really watched much of him to rate him accurately. I'm sure he was better than my hated Tristelme though.

Kill me or whatever but I’d rather have Gerard over Ballak anytime

Better than Lamps, but arguable as to him or Gerrard. He was better for Germany than Gerrard was for England though.

A great player and one of the best CMs of his generation but he's not a 'legend' of the game as such. There are better CMs of his generation but not a lot.

free_cat wrote:Nedved played centrally? Didn't know that, I though he always played in the wings.

Actually since he was not a winger as such but a left sided midfielder I think he was well capable of playing in the center. You can think of him as a left sided central midfielder. That's why I mentioned in my comment that players who played central midfield or were capable of playing central midfield are being considered by me in this comparison. Overall I think Nedved might have played a few times in the center but most of the times he was on the left just as you have said. Besides Juventus purchased him as Zidane's replacement. He is the most complete midfielder that I have ever seen as he could pass, shoot, tackle, scored goals, had great speed, had good skill, was a leader, was very committed and resilient, had a lot of stamina, was intelligent and had pretty much every quality in the book that a midfielder could have. It's debatable on which of these aspects he was a master and on which of these aspects he was a jack.

BarcaKizz wrote:Better than Lamps, but arguable as to him or Gerrard. He was better for Germany than Gerrard was for England though.

A great player and one of the best CMs of his generation but he's not a 'legend' of the game as such. There are better CMs of his generation but not a lot.

I agree with nearly every word. We have very similar opinions on this.

Ballack @ his prime > Busquets

One of my favorite players.
After Xavi Ballack is my favorite.
Great,great player and for me the most complete midfielder of the generation.
Excellent technique,could pass,could shoot,defended well,had a great engine and a terrific leader.
Up there with Mathaus.
If only he had some luck he would be recognized as a legend.

ChollaVille wrote:Ballack @ his prime > Busquets

Why are you comparing him with Busquets???

Completely different players... not many players can be compared to Busquets these days. As I read recently he's a player of an 'extinct generation'. Beautiful words.

PS. JD, I'd suggest following Craig Foster on twitter. Australian football pundit who loves Barca. Posts a lot of great quotes from interviews etc. about Barca. Also about interviews he's done with Barca players etc. Interviewed Maxwell last year.

BarcaKizz wrote:

ChollaVille wrote:Ballack @ his prime > Busquets

Why are you comparing him with Busquets???

Completely different players... not many players can be compared to Busquets these days. As I read recently he's a player of an 'extinct generation'. Beautiful words.

PS. JD, I'd suggest following Craig Foster on twitter. Australian football pundit who loves Barca. Posts a lot of great quotes from interviews etc. about Barca. Also about interviews he's done with Barca players etc. Interviewed Maxwell last year.

One of many positins where Ballack could play was Busi's position.
Add agility, shot, power, strenght, heading, leadershoip to Busi and you have Ballack.
I would choose anyday Ballack in his prime over Busquets for Barca's DM.

BarcaKizz wrote:
not many players can be compared to Busquets these days. As I read recently he's a player of an 'extinct generation'. Beautiful words.

PS. JD, I'd suggest following Craig Foster on twitter. Australian football pundit who loves Barca. Posts a lot of great quotes from interviews etc. about Barca. Also about interviews he's done with Barca players etc. Interviewed Maxwell last year.

kizz, the quote you are referring to was posted by me and they were the words of Argentina's WC 1978 winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti.

You haven't given the twitter id but I will search and follow that pundit any way. Thanks for the info.

alexjanosik wrote:
Great,great player and for me the most complete midfielder of the generation.
Excellent technique,could pass,could shoot,defended well,had a great engine and a terrific leader.
Up there with Mathaus.
If only he had some luck he would be recognized as a legend.

Exactly how i see it, such an awesome player and was so unlucky definitely deserved more.

He was great in the Bourne movies.

messixaviesta wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:
not many players can be compared to Busquets these days. As I read recently he's a player of an 'extinct generation'. Beautiful words.

PS. JD, I'd suggest following Craig Foster on twitter. Australian football pundit who loves Barca. Posts a lot of great quotes from interviews etc. about Barca. Also about interviews he's done with Barca players etc. Interviewed Maxwell last year.

kizz, the quote you are referring to was posted by me and they were the words of Argentina's WC 1978 winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti.

You haven't given the twitter id but I will search and follow that pundit any way. Thanks for the info.

Oh Ok, nice. This guy also posted that quote