Ballon d'Or 2010

[Ginola]

Nor did Milito or Sneijder.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Ballon d'Or is judged on performances over the last 12 months. Sneijder has pretty much been missing since July/August time, a third of the year. Messi has been exceptional this season as well as last, I agree he didn't have a great World Cup but that's only taking out 1 month rather than 4/5, making him a better candidate for the award. As I mentioned before, Xavi has been even better than both over the last 12 months though.

[mrmojorisin75]

if you're taking international games into account they should probably anoint Messi King of all football past, present and future given the trail of fuckwits and divvy's he's had mismanaging him for the Argies to date

 

2010 was another fucking joke for the lad tbh, given half a chance he probably could carry a team like maradona did he's just unfortunate enough to always have bellends running the team

[TRC]

I'd hardly call La Liga a shit league.

[mrmojorisin75]

Also, it doesn't actually hurt having Iniesta and Xavi playing the balls to you all the time, could be one of the reasons why he's quiet when he's in the national team?

Quiet might be harsh but he's not Barca-Messi when he's playing for the Argies.

 

yeah maybe, i prefer to think it's 'cause they're a total fucking shambles all the time and never ever have a set gameplan that will exploit his abilities

 

that's just me though - agree that the argie midfield is not in the same league as xavi/iniesta mind, something in that no doubt

[TRC]

Villareal and Valencia are good teams. Their midtable would shit on ours. Barca and Real would destroy teams in our league just as they are in theirs.

[Taylor Swift]

The Thai guy voted for Villa, Forlan and Klose. This is why our country is shit.

 

Anyway, Messi scored the most goals for a team that posted the highest points tally in La Liga history. He was also the top scorer in the CL, and imo the CL is harder to win than the WC because the quality of players in the CL is higher.

 

Saying that, Xavi had an immense season as well. He was a constant presence in the middle of the park for a pretty much transcendental team, and also won the WC with Spain. He would have been a worthy winner as well.

 

Iniesta, on the other hand, was injured for quite a bit at the start of the season, and didn't have as spectacular a WC as many other players (Villa was probably Spain's best player, imo), but he gets in because of one goal. He's a great, great player, but Sneijder, Robben or Milito should have been in the final shortlist.

 

Sneijder did have a pretty insane season. He scored an important goal in the CL semis, his pass for Eto'o against Chelsea knocked them out, he put Robben through in the WC final with a peach of a pass, but I don't think he starred in the world cup even though he was credited with 5 goals - one of the goals was actually an own goal but it's obviously much better for fifa to credit an offensive player for it. The fact that Inter had a historic season should count for a lot, though, so Sneijder would have been a worthy winner as well.

 

And then you have Robben, who had a spectacular season for Bayern. He pretty much transformed them, scoring crucial goals along the way, knocking out Fiorentina and Man Utd with great strikes and scoring a couple of goals in the WC too. And his presence on the pitch affected other teams so much that I rate his year higher than Sneijder's. I also think a fit Ribery in the CL final makes this a Messi vs Robben discussion, so Robben would have been a worthy winner as well.

 

A lot of players had great years but I don't think you can complain when the best player in the world wins an award after completing a historically brilliant season.

 

For this ongoing season, I think it'll be a clear Cristiano v Messi competition for the award.

 

I also think the PL should be concerned with the lack of players represented. Rooney had a great season but an injury cost him the latter part of the season and his woeful form in the WC doomed him. Drogba likewise had a great season but Chelsea getting knocked out early in the CL probably cost him a real shot at winning it.

[TRC]

Villareal vs Arsenal could go either way. Its not a shit league if Barca>Man U, Real > City and from 5 down la liga is better, so 3 teams are better in the Prem position for position.

[Mr. Snrub]

Villareal and Valencia are good teams. Their midtable would shit on ours. Barca and Real would destroy teams in our league just as they are in theirs.

 

Really?

Arsenal > Villareal

Tottenham> Valencia

Chelsea> Espanyol

 

Could agree on mid-table though, from 5 and down in the PL i would agree.

 

[Guest neesy111]

Most mid-table teams in La Liga would slaughter most of  the EPL.  Espanyol, Getafe, Hercules all have played some awesome football this season considering.

[mrmojorisin75]

Wasn't Messi also played out of position by Maradona in the WC in comparison to when he's at Barca?

 

that implying people are making excuses for him for not performing? 

[Taylor Swift]

I wonder how i long i could've made you go on like this.

 

I play football every Monday with my older bros. One of them wears a Ronaldo shirt everytime he plays and is constantly saying that he's the BPITW so we have endless Ronaldo v Messi arguments. Translation: I could go on forever, man.

[Taylor Swift]

And was it just me or did Xavi not excel for Spain - playing in the hole - as much as he usually does when playing deeper for Barca? I don't know, that was just the impression that I got. I thought that Spain looked at their most dangerous offensively whenever Fabregas came on and Xavi dropped deeper.

[Mr. Snrub]

And was it just me or did Xavi not excel for Spain - playing in the hole - as much as he usually does when playing deeper for Barca? I don't know, that was just the impression that I got. I thought that Spain looked at their most dangerous offensively whenever Fabregas came on and Xavi dropped deeper.

 

Xavi was comfortably Spain's best player at the WC.

[Village Idiot]

And was it just me or did Xavi not excel for Spain - playing in the hole - as much as he usually does when playing deeper for Barca? I don't know, that was just the impression that I got. I thought that Spain looked at their most dangerous offensively whenever Fabregas came on and Xavi dropped deeper.

 

The "problem" with Spain (and I quote it because we won the thing afterall) was that Del Bosque was rather conservative. We played with two DMs - Alonso and Busquets - which forced Xavi to go to the hole where he isn't nearly as effective since he needs to have more players in front of him to play balls to, or switch flanks, etc... Contrary to common belief and assist statistics, Xavi isn't about the last pass to a forward but governing the team play.

[mrmojorisin75]

Wasn't Messi also played out of position by Maradona in the WC in comparison to when he's at Barca?

 

that implying people are making excuses for him for not performing? 

 

No, me implying he was played out of positionin the WC iirc, could have been a reason why he didn't "perform" when he infact was one of their best players anyways, just missed that extra touch.

 

he should be good enough to adapt to slight changes to his position imo, as long as the team around him are at least functioning in some way normally

 

look at the dutch, setup to murder teams they came up against but that gave robben freedom to exploit the flank and sneijder freedom to roam about...fuck knows what maradonas gameplan was with regards messi and the team in general

 

actually it was clear he didn't have one

 

[Taylor Swift]

And was it just me or did Xavi not excel for Spain - playing in the hole - as much as he usually does when playing deeper for Barca? I don't know, that was just the impression that I got. I thought that Spain looked at their most dangerous offensively whenever Fabregas came on and Xavi dropped deeper.

 

The "problem" with Spain (and I quote it because we won the thing afterall) was that Del Bosque was rather conservative. We played with two DMs - Alonso and Busquets - which forced Xavi to go to the hole where he isn't nearly as effective since he needs to have more players in front of him to play balls to, or switch flanks, etc... Contrary to common belief and assist statistics, Xavi isn't about the last pass to a forward but governing the team play.

 

I think you agreed with me but I'm not sure.

 

Personally, I thought Villa was Spain's best player. And if Fabregas had started every match in place of Alonso (and thus allowing Xavi to drop back), he would have been Spain's best player. But that's just a silly hypothetical, I know.

[Village Idiot]

And was it just me or did Xavi not excel for Spain - playing in the hole - as much as he usually does when playing deeper for Barca? I don't know, that was just the impression that I got. I thought that Spain looked at their most dangerous offensively whenever Fabregas came on and Xavi dropped deeper.

 

The "problem" with Spain (and I quote it because we won the thing afterall) was that Del Bosque was rather conservative. We played with two DMs - Alonso and Busquets - which forced Xavi to go to the hole where he isn't nearly as effective since he needs to have more players in front of him to play balls to, or switch flanks, etc... Contrary to common belief and assist statistics, Xavi isn't about the last pass to a forward but governing the team play.

 

I think you agreed with me but I'm not sure.

 

Personally, I thought Villa was Spain's best player. And if Fabregas had started every match in place of Alonso (and thus allowing Xavi to drop back), he would have been Spain's best player. But that's just a silly hypothetical, I know.

 

Yes, I agreed with you, just wanted to ellaborate further. And I also agree about Villa and Cesc. We always looked better with a more Barça-like formation of Xavi behind a more AM-ish central midfielder (Iniesta or Cesc in this case).

 

Regarding Villa, it wasn't only his goals (which were key still), but his constant runs from wide and mobility. Villa's off the ball movement is just out of this world, really.

[Ginola]

Xavi's best position is definitely deeper rather than an AMC position. He's, without a doubt, the best in the world at just controlling the game from the centre of the park, which he can do better from a deeper position.

[Delima]

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sIQjyuDiNdJaCN7UW24NA7A/view.m?id=15&gid=football/blog/2011/jan/11/lionel-messi-xavi-ballon-dor&cat=football

[Delima]

John terry

 

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/blog/2010/01/fifa-world-player-award-voting-full-of-mystery.html

[Village Idiot]

I read that Platini doesn't like the new format and will resurrect the "old" Ballon d'Or as a best European player award.

[jdckelly]

I read that Platini doesn't like the new format and will resurrect the "old" Ballon d'Or as a best European player award.

so 2 controlled awards rather than 1 controlled 1 independant, lovely.........

[Village Idiot]

I read that Platini doesn't like the new format and will resurrect the "old" Ballon d'Or as a best European player award.

so 2 controlled awards rather than 1 controlled 1 independant, lovely.........

 

The new voting system can be poorly thought out, but hardly "controlled". Don't think Blatter has called every NT captain and manager and told them whom to vote (and if he did they would have told him to fuck off).

[Slim]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/9357334.stm

[Village Idiot]

Gotta say the goal selection was a bit dodgy to begin with. Not to say he should have won it, but that wasn't even Messi's best goal this year and pretty sure there are some other goals that didn't get selected. Altintop's goal was rather "ordinary" as great goals go.