FIFA World player of the year award.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:07 pm

FIFA World player of the year award.

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The nominations:

Adriano (Inter Milan, Brazil)
Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy)
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal)
Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic)
Deco (Barcelona, Portugal)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast)
Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana)
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon)
Luis Figo (Inter Milan, Portugal)
Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England)
Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France)
Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil)
Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany)
Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England)
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany)
Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy)
Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy)
Franck Ribery (Marseille, France)
Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina)
Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England)
Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic)
Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine)
Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France)
Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan, France)
Zinedine Zidane (retired, France)

Thierry Henry has been nominated 7 times in a row. He hasn't won it dispite loads of Golden boots, assist awards and being the finest player in the world today. They have to ****ing give it to him soon.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:49 pm

And why not just after he's choked in two successive world showcase events, and generally had the definitive Wenger season (fine putting a few show-off backheels into the net when 2-0 up at home, disappear for Northern evening away game), eh?

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:00 pm

uhm... what's Rooney actually done this year?

Other than stamp on some knackers?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:11 pm

He came back from injury and single-handedly won the world cup for England. I'm sure that's what they said was going to happen...

The list is basically a joke, though. Philip Lahm, bless 'im, is there for that corker against Costa Rica, and that's about it... Drogba might have had a good start to this season, but last year he was a pricey Kevin Davies... Lampard's been poor... Lehman loses his rag over just about anything, culminating in him combining beautifully with Thierry Henry to win the Champy League for Barcelona... Figo's 93... Everyone was saying Zidane should have retired a year ago until he shinned one in in the groups, and then started saying it again after he nutted Materazzi for pretty much no reason... Viera's been a bad joke since leaving Arsenal... Essien tried to kill about three people... Ronaldinho cocked just about everything he tried up when playing a game of any sort of size... Even Ballack was a bit of a disappointment in the WC.

Only the Italian lads on there have had much to cheer about at all, TBH. England's representatives alone are miles off, I'd say only Gerrard (for the FA Cup performances a/o) really deserves a nod... Kevin Nolan had a better season than Lampard, and Crouch (a/o) impressed more than Rooney. I mean, the latter in both cases clearly have the innate talent, but then that's not the point, is it?

Where's Hargreaves too? By all accounts he had a dynamite season for Bayern, and he did pretty well at the world cup once Eriksson hit on the masterstroke of playing him in exactly the same role as he excelled at every domestic game...

Lord Zarak · Post by **Lord Zarak** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:21 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Drogba might have had a good start to this season, but last year he was a pricey Kevin Davies...

I am detecting irony there, arent I?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:30 pm

Originally posted by Lord Zarak
I am detecting irony there, arent I?

No... last season he was basically a battering ram. If anything, I was being harsh on Davies...

Lord Zarak · Post by **Lord Zarak** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:36 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
No... last season he was basically a battering ram. If anything, I was being harsh on Davies...

Was wondering, seeing as Blackburn splashed out over 7mil for him and he didnt do much when he signed from Soton.

And then went back for 2p a season later.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:37 pm

Fat Kev's a legend.

He hit on my cousin once. She told him to go away.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:44 pm

Originally posted by Lord Zarak
Was wondering, seeing as Blackburn splashed out over 7mil for him and he didnt do much when he signed from Soton.

And then went back for 2p a season later.

Yeh, but look at him now. Vital part of Bolton's team. All he needed was someone to use him properly... Plus remember that Chesterfield cup run? Drog was twice the money for half the result, TBH, and he's benefitting this year from most people man-marking Scheva.

He's the sort of player England should have on the bench to shake things up... imagine what it would have done to the Portuguese defence to suddenly have him purposefully running into them, elbows whirling...

Lord Zarak · Post by **Lord Zarak** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:48 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Yeh, but look at him now. Vital part of Bolton's team. All he needed was someone to use him properly... Plus remember that Chesterfield cup run? Drog was twice the money for half the result, TBH, and he's benefitting this year from most people man-marking Scheva.

He's the sort of player England should have on the bench to shake things up... imagine what it would have done to the Portuguese defence to suddenly have him purposefully running into them, elbows whirling...

Surprisingly better that stamping on someones crown jewels I guess.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:49 pm

Exactly. At least Davies would have hospitalised the guy so he couldn't play on, and then probably just taken out a couple of others on his way off the pitch.

Lord Zarak · Post by **Lord Zarak** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:51 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Exactly. At least Davies would have hospitalised the guy so he couldn't play on, and then probably just taken out a couple of others on his way off the pitch.

True, very true.

I think we have made a Northener out of him.

Where is he from, before I make that claim public?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 7:07 pm

Sheffield - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Davies

redman prime · Post by **redman prime** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 3:12 am

hard to be fair, but....
a centerback knows a great talent when he is burned by it, and how many times did you see cannavaro turning?
he's was man o' the tourny, that world wide one, and i'll be blasted to see anyone really mount an arguement against him
golden, really

at my debate for him, yes

at Cannavaro, No.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:43 pm

Originally posted by redman prime
hard to be fair, but....
a centerback knows a great talent when he is burned by it, and how many times did you see cannavaro turning?
he's was man o' the tourny, that world wide one, and i'll be blasted to see anyone really mount an arguement against him
golden, really

at my debate for him, yes

at Cannavaro, No.

Most the of Italian players had relatively poor games for their domestic teams. Juventus winning the league easier than Chelski with a has been Vieira shows how much the Serie A has fallen behind Spain and England. Add to the fact how easily Italian teams were knocked out of Europe it's unfair to judge a whole year on a few weeks in June.

Henry should have won a few years ago. No nessecarly the reason to win now but dispite not having his best season he still scored 40 goals, set up a hugh number for everybody else, carried a undeveloped Arsenal team into the Champions league final and a over the hill France to the world cup finals. He didn't actually have a bad game in either.

As it happens he has had a number of big games against most of the top teams along the way. Scored good goals against Madrid, Juventus, Brazil and was single handedly responsible for dragging france through the group stage. Not bad considering most "World class" players had seaons where they didn't perform in any of the big matches.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:43 pm

Which is surely no reason to hand it to any of the "galactico" players - why not someone who's actually had a good year? Why not someone like Fabregas? Or Totti (who really did do marvellous things with very little back-up in Serie A, and didn't totally flop in the World Cup)? Or John Terry? Or Tim Cahill? Or even Dame Lehman? Why use Academy Award reasoning here? I mean, I see that FIFA are clearly doing it (Sheva for example, has worked some miracles for Milan, but he wasn't so good last year), but we're not FIFA, are we?

And how come Juventus are walking to a comical title one in one sentence, and next paragraph they're this titan standing in Thierry Henry's way? I seem to remember some young lad in midfield doing pretty well in both of those games, and Juve self-destructing. And Real Madrid are a joke in European football now, surely? I mean, why demean your team by saying Henry hauled them to these things when Arsenal have so much talent? I'd even say Henry wasn't Arsenal's best player last year - Lehman was much more consistent and tended to keep going even when people tried to make contact with him...

He spent the Big Cup final sulking because the Barcelona centre-backs dared to tackle him rather than standing off and going "Marvellous back-heel into our unguarded net, old bean". Well, when he wasn't missing sitters. He was similarly anonymous against the Italian back four when they came up with the remarkable game-plan of making sure he didn't get the ball as well.

That said, I agree the big names didn't turn up last season across the board, and from the Premier I can name about 5-10 players who had a really, really good season. And that list includes Craig Bellamy, Claude Makelele and Brian McBride... sad for the game, that. To be fair, actually, Lampard had a pretty good season until he got to the World Cup...

From the list, I'd say the following, based on last season, are worthy of consideration: -

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy)
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal)
Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic)
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon)
Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England)
Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany)
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany)
Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy)
Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy)
Franck Ribery (Marseille, France)
Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina)
Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic)
Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France)

And I'd debate a couple of those, TBH. While Cech is a very, very good keeper, he's rarely had to show it since getting to Chelsea

Dinobot · Post by **Dinobot** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:44 pm

carried a undeveloped Arsenal team into the Champions league final and a over the hill France to the world cup finals

Zinedine Zidane wants a word with you...

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:25 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Which is surely no reason to hand it to any of the "galactico" players - why not someone who's actually had a good year? Why not someone like Fabregas? Or Totti (who really did do marvellous things with very little back-up in Serie A, and didn't totally flop in the World Cup)? Or John Terry? Or Tim Cahill? Or even Dame Lehman? Why use Academy Award reasoning here? I mean, I see that FIFA are clearly doing it (Sheva for example, has worked some miracles for Milan, but he wasn't so good last year), but we're not FIFA, are we?

And how come Juventus are walking to a comical title one in one sentence, and next paragraph they're this titan standing in Thierry Henry's way? I seem to remember some young lad in midfield doing pretty well in both of those games, and Juve self-destructing. And Real Madrid are a joke in European football now, surely?

Regardless of all that Read Madrid and Juventus came 2nd and 1st in two of the top leagues in the world. Henry still had big games against two of the best arond when other "World class" players didn't. Even if it is still all relative.

It seems most of the world underperformed last season but Henry still came out top scorer again in the league (out scoring the whole Sunderland team) and dragged France through the world cup. He scored and set up the winner in every game leading up to the final, excluding the 0-0 draw in the group stage. His goals and assist rate is considerably higher than and other "top" player last season. What I'm saying is that Henry is the only big talent who performed in every major competation (League, Europe and the WC).

I mean, why demean your team by saying Henry hauled them to these things when Arsenal have so much talent? I'd even say Henry wasn't Arsenal's best player last year - Lehman was much more consistent and tended to keep going even when people tried to make contact with him...

Lehmann was incredable and would be my other choice. However it's actually virtually impossible to compare a goalkeeper with an outfield player. Fabregas had a great 2nd half of last season but didn't have a greta full season. I say that know Fabregas has started this season much better and much more consistent.

He spent the Big Cup final sulking because the Barcelona centre-backs dared to tackle him rather than standing off and going "Marvellous back-heel into our unguarded net, old bean". Well, when he wasn't missing sitters. He was similarly anonymous against the Italian back four when they came up with the remarkable game-plan of making sure he didn't get the ball as well.

To be fair France hardly seem interersted in even setting up Henry during the WC. He still scored a winner or set up the winner in almost every game. ANd dispite your constant referals to his back heel, Henry scored 41 goals last season and a quick look at Youtube shows many of them were far better than that Back heel e.g. The solo goal against Real, the lop against Villa and later on the half volley from 35 yards.

That said, I agree the big names didn't turn up last season across the board, and from the Premier I can name about 5-10 players who had a really, really good season. And that list includes Craig Bellamy, Claude Makelele and Brian McBride... sad for the game, that. To be fair, actually, Lampard had a pretty good season until he got to the World Cup...

And I'd debate a couple of those, TBH. While Cech is a very, very good keeper, he's rarely had to show it since getting to Chelsea

I felt Lampard had a poor last 3rd of the season overall. Cech was awesome in his first season at Chelsea but a good average last season.

Maybe in comparision to Lehmann who was unbelieveable all last season with amazing saves in every other game and penalities kept out for fun. Lehmann has been unbelieveable this season too.

The only player I'd consider as a outfield rival to Henry on last season performances is Sam Eto'o. Barcelona are struggling without him at the moment, though the loss of a super sub like Larsson is a big loss too.

liverpoolicus · Post by **liverpoolicus** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 2:39 pm

Dont care as long as it isnt fat frank jr

Getaway · Post by **Getaway** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:53 pm

You all seem to be ignoring Kaka who has had two great seasons in a row, performed well at the world cup (much better than Ronaldinho) and has also been superb this season. In fact I'd be willing to state that right now he definitly is the best player in the world formwise and talent. Klose and Ricquelme would be good bets for the other two places.