FourFourTwo Magazine: Top 100 Players for 2017

[Guest]

Also, Alexis Sanchez in 32nd? Is that a joke? For me he's one of the 15 best players in the world.

I can understand he couldn't influence Chile nor Arsenal this year, but he's just so good that 32nd is harsh.

The fact he's 32nd and Dybala is 13th is a joke.

From a Napoli point of view, Hamsik should be higher than Mertens. Hamsik has been better this year and did well against a high standard of opposition, on the contrary to Mertens.

[Stan]

17 minutes ago, Blue said:

Also, Alexis Sanchez in 32nd? Is that a joke? For me he's one of the 15 best players in the world.

I can understand he couldn't influence Chile nor Arsenal this year, but he's just so good that 32nd is harsh.

The fact he's 32nd and Dybala is 13th is a joke.

From a Napoli point of view, Hamsik should be higher than Mertens. Hamsik has been better this year and did well against a high standard of opposition, on the contrary to Mertens.

But its based on this year's form and Sanchez has largely, this calendar year, been under par. 

Dybala has had more influence for Juve than Sanchez has for Arsenal. 

To say 'he's just so good' doesn't mean anything if he's not gonna perform. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

But its based on this year's form and Sanchez has largely, this calendar year, been under par. 

Dybala has had more influence for Juve than Sanchez has for Arsenal. 

To say 'he's just so good' doesn't mean anything if he's not gonna perform. 

I can't disagree that Sanchez has been underwhelming this year, but that brings up the question. Why is Griezmann 19th when he's also had a bad year?

Luis Suarez has also had an awful year, yet he's 15th.

[Spike]

Bonucci is 45th and Benzema is 51st  Oh my, they are two of the worst players at big clubs. If I'm picking my top ten of this season so far it'd be Messi, Isco, de Bruyne, David Silva, Salah, Aguero, de Gea, Azpilicueta (on the sheer fact that I cannot think of any other defenders that can play effortlessly in any position),  Kane, and maybe another striker like Icardi or Lewandowski.

[SirBalon]

8 minutes ago, Spike said:

Bonucci is 45th and Benzema is 51st  Oh my, they are two of the worst players at big clubs. If I'm picking my top ten of this season so far it'd be Messi, Isco, de Bruyne, David Silva, Salah, Aguero, de Gea, Azpilicueta (on the sheer fact that I cannot think of any other defenders that can play effortlessly in any position),  Kane, and maybe another striker like Icardi or Lewandowski.

For me Busquets has been in the top 5 players this season in European football. But those you mentioned have also been protagonists.

As for Alexis Sánchez being amongst the top players for 2017... As an Arsenal fan he hasn’t even been amongst the best for his club and Chile didn’t even qualify for the World Cup where a lot is expected from him in the team. 

[SirBalon]

46 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

At his best, Riquelme was world class.

For the amount of talent he had, his moments at an elite level of football were very rare. Not a world class player ever but he was brilliant to watch at his best when he was bothered to show it. 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Spike said:

Bonucci is 45th and Benzema is 51st  Oh my, they are two of the worst players at big clubs. If I'm picking my top ten of this season so far it'd be Messi, Isco, de Bruyne, David Silva, Salah, Aguero, de Gea, Azpilicueta (on the sheer fact that I cannot think of any other defenders that can play effortlessly in any position),  Kane, and maybe another striker like Icardi or Lewandowski.

Bonucci had a brilliant first half of the year and for me would've been in the top 15 if it wasn't for his horrendous decline at Milan. I think 45th is about right.

[Spike]

7 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

For me Busquets has been in the top 5 players this season in European football. But those you mentioned have also been protagonists.

As for Alexis Sánchez being amongst the top players for 2017... As an Arsenal fan he hasn’t even been amongst the best for his club and Chile didn’t even qualify for the World Cup where a lot is expected from him in the team. 

I will never buy into the platitude 'class is permanent, form is temporary'. Players are only as good as their form; it doesn't matter what they did do, it matters what they are doing and to a lesser extent what they will do.

[Spike]

1 hour ago, Blue said:

Bonucci had a brilliant first half of the year and for me would've been in the top 15 if it wasn't for his horrendous decline at Milan. I think 45th is about right.

I said this season, not this year.

[Carnivore Chris]

Neymar doesn't realise how lucky he had it at Barcelona to be playing around such professionals. They may have had a bigger name for themselves at their club, but Neymar was on the way to making a name for himself as well. Everything around him was perfect and players in the side, especially Messi, were doing their all to help him go on and win the Ballon d'or. His reputation in the footballing world was on the rise, he was on the podium with the 2 main winners of the Ballon d'or over the last decade and looked the man most likely of ending their dominance in the race for the award. He then goes to PSG and it seems like he's slowly starting to become somewhat forgotten about.

He's not on people's lips in the same manner he was this time last year, or in the summer before leaving where he was showing more and more maturity on the pitch all the time. He no longer seems happy, seems to have realised that PSG are nowhere near being as big or professional as the club he was at and he certainly doesn't seem to have bonded with his team in the same fashion. Since moving to PSG, he has actually been back to Barcelona to visit his mates, particularly Messi, Suarez and Pique and they are often getting together. So it makes you wonder what is going through a man's mind? Why leave when you were very settled and had the world at your feet?

I personally believe he'd have been class under Valverde this season. His(Neymar's) allround ability and decision  making was improving all the time and he'd have learnt a lot under this Valverde regime. The team keep winning, but would be almost unstoppable with someone like Neymar in attack.

It's his loss more than Barcelona's though really as his reputation has already been tarnished in many ways and I would in fact say that Mbappe is currently getting a lot more hype than he is.

 

[Carnivore Chris]

On 25/12/2017 at 10:48 PM, SirBalon said:

For me Busquets has been in the top 5 players this season in European football. But those you mentioned have also been protagonists.

As for Alexis Sánchez being amongst the top players for 2017... As an Arsenal fan he hasn’t even been amongst the best for his club and Chile didn’t even qualify for the World Cup where a lot is expected from him in the team. 

Messi, Ter Stegen, Busquets, Alba and Umtiti(before injury) have been Barcelona's best players this season, although everyone have done a good enough job when called upon. The squad is deeper than people give it credit for in my opinion, although a 4th defender and an attacking player are definitely lacking. Then again, Dembele is back now, that is the attacking player there. Arnaiz also deserves a crack of the whip as he could solve a few problems. Deulofeu offers little for me, but Paco and Arnaiz between them would offer plenty without a doubt and both have proven this.

The midfield will never be what it was under Pep with Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta at their absolute best, it's unrealistic to think the club will ever have that midfield again, BUT it's still a very strong one and there is a lot of depth in this area.

The attack is what needs to improve the most(albeit improving shitloads in recent games), especially when you consider that Messi drops deep and plays a lot of his football in midfield these days. A player like Dembele could really open teams up and Suarez is slowly getting back to his better form himself. The best is still to come from this team if you ask me.