He's been Madrid's best and most consistent player all season.
Luka Modric
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He's been Madrid's best and most consistent player all season.
Provides the perfect balance. He's creative, he can carry the ball, he sticks a boot in, he can press, his passing is incisive.
But I think as a United fan, any midfielder who performs in a game looks outstanding by default.
But I think as a United fan, any midfielder who performs in a game looks outstanding by default.
When I see a midfielder either (a) move forwards or (b) pass forwards, regardless of who they play for or for which team, they automatically look brilliant to me....
He's absolutely world class. His footwork, passing, control, movement, workrate and vision are all outstanding. He just oozes quality.
Love watching him, he is everything I'd love at United. Maybe Ancelotti will bring Modric with him 
You had to be a lost soul not to know he was this good even in his spurs days. He's been putting out top class performances for years now.
The first page of this thread is hilarious.
Excellent performance by him tonight. Alonso, Pepe and Benzema were also immense for Real.
He looks so bloody graceful on the ball. He really has turned his first half of the season around last year to ridiculous consistency.
Ridiculously good this season, might be the best midfielder in the world at the moment the form he's in. Curious how Croatia will perform at the World Cup.
Himself and Rakitic are as good as any midfielders going into the World Cup. Both on excellent form.
Yeah.. Madrids.. not Spains.
They also have Eduardo Silva
And Mandzukic, Srna. Couple of alright players like Pranjic perhaps? They're in a group with Mexico, Cameroon and Brazil so who knows, they might have a nice world cup ahead of them.Rakitic will be hot property after the World cup if he isn't being tracked already. I heard Real are after him as well.
Don't agree with Gabi, but the rest you have an argument for. If I had to pick 2 CM's for a final tomorrow, Modric is one of them based on current form.
Gabi has been Atletico's most consistant midfielder, criminally overlooked because he isn't a young player like Koke and a lot of his work is defensive averaging 4 tackles a game
Gabi has been excellent this season, Koke takes the headlines but their captain has been just as good. Not sure I'd go as far as saying he's been better than Modric but both have been excellent.
@Ekeke, Koke hasn't really played centre midfield this season though.
You're right, its only been a few occasions. But when he has he's been brilliant.
By the way a Xabi Alonso - Luka Modric midfield managed 2% more possession than Carrick, Fellaini and Ryan Giggs managed when we were at home against Bayern too.
And here I was thinking we arent very good and midfield was clearly our weak point. Turns out we're 2% off the best in the world
And here I was thinking we arent very good and midfield was clearly our weak point. Turns out we're 2% off the best in the world
How much difference a year makes.
Absolutely wonderful player. Between him and Di Maria for our player of the season for me.
I'm not overlooking him because he isn't young. He has been vital for Atletico and their season. That doesn't change the fact that Modric is a better player. If I took Gabi out and stuck him in a random team his influence to the team being successful would be far less than Modric's influence. I base that on talent alone.
Talent alone doesnt do anything for you. Its performances that count and Gabi has put in a lot of better ones than Modric has, including twice against Madrid this season.
Madrid have been dominated at Rayo Vallecano, at Bilbao, Barcelona obviously, manhandled in Dortmund and had 28% of the ball at home to Bayern. Their midfield has been a weak point with Alonso not putting in the same level of performance as in previous seasons, Modric being the best of an average bunch
Madrid have been dominated at Rayo Vallecano, at Bilbao, Barcelona obviously, manhandled in Dortmund and had 28% of the ball at home to Bayern. Their midfield has been a weak point with Alonso not putting in the same level of performance as in previous seasons, Modric being the best of an average bunch
I love Modric. He's fecking class. I just love watching the wee cnut.
Well being the best player for Madrid or Barca pretty much guarantees you'll be nominated for player of the season and this Madrid side are on course for the treble.
Hes not Spanish but alright. I knew what you meant.
They lost 4-3 to Barca only when they went down to 10 men. Before that they were excellent and deservedly in front. They also beat Barca 2-1 in the cup final with another excellent performance, and if you're going to recite the derbies why leave out Real hammering Atletico twice in the copa del rey semi final? 5-0 on aggregate and Modric was superb in both games. They absolutely raped Dortmund in the first leg to such an extent they played the 2nd like a training match thinking it was job done.
I really don't see why having 28% of the ball is a big deal when they allowed Bayern to have possession and play on the counter attack. We had 60%+ vs Everton and I'd struggle to find any victory in that. Madrid could have put the tie to bed last night overall it was a very good performance and result.
We should have fought tooth and nail for him long before Madrid became interested. He'd have been the perfect player to step in when Scholes retired at first.
They're 3 points back in the league with a worse head to head. They're unlikely to win La Liga.
Utterly brilliant this season. Seems to be perfect for Ancelotti's system.
Koke and especially Rakitic have individually been superior and Gabi probably the most consistent MF anywhere this season. Modric came into his current form only after 3-4 months into the season, the others mentioned have been performing all the way. All three have outclassed him offensively and matched him defensively (Gabi leaves everyone in the dust in this category though obviously), leaving only the controlling aspect of the MF where Modric has largely outdone them (although Rakitic has been capable of this as well when deployed at CM). In summary, this isn't a negative assessment of Modric by the way, he's been outrageously good for large parts but those other three have just been far more directly responsible for the good fortunes of their teams IMO. It's been a great season for MFs in La Liga, likes of Bruno (& Cani before his injury), Rafinha, Trashorras, Ander (& Susaeta although he's arguably as much a FW as a MF) all having wonderful seasons too.
I would say modric has been performing well since around October. I remember he had a good second half vs barca in the classico in October. I watch a lot of la liga but not every match so I would say that you are better equipped to give an assessment than me, also when taking into account you are a neutral whereas I am not.
I'd say he really hit tack around November, around the same time RM as a whole seemed be finding their balance. In previous posts in the La Liga thread I believe I've pinpointed this moment as the 7-3 game v Sevilla, don't know if you agree with that but that's when I feel RM set the template for the rest of their season (despite it being such a crazy open game). And January through March is when it peaked and you guys looked untouchable, except for away games against the bigger teams (and that clásico). In fact that peak might still be ongoing and the Barça and Sevilla games were just a temporary break from it.
Back on Modric: he's in every obvious way a more technically skilled/refined player than the other three, but their other qualities (mentally and physically; their tenacity and leadership in case of Gabi and Rakitic; direct contribution, ie. goals/assists) have shone through incredibly this season and their impact on their teams has been ever greater than that of Modric -- that's how I see it anyway.
How much possession you have has almost nothing to do with how your midfield performed. Strange post.
Yeah a specialist at keeping the ball like Modric's game has nothing to do with how much of the ball you have
Real set out to counter-attack and executed their tactics perfectly. Their passing was decisive and quick. I don't see how you can liken the two games. We might have had roughly the same quantity of possession but the quality of possession was vastly different.
You can be a counter attacking team without having 28% of the ball. Real do it all the time in their other matches.
With "best midfielder in the world" Luka Modric, a player who specialises in passing the ball around and keeping it, you should have a lot more control of the game than that. He did well off the ball same as Alonso. They were average on it and two players of their quality should have given themselves more of a foothold on the game. These are players who on form should be able to play for Bayern such is their style. Instead they could have been playing for United given Bayern dominated them exactly the same way, away from home
Stand by what I said earlier. Many people judged him too quickly. He's one of the best central midfielders around.
How much possession did Scholes manage to get he when we beat barca at Old Trafford?
Real were happy to let bayern have the ball so that they could open them up on the counter. And it worked.
Going by your logic, modric would have had the better game simply by playing for bayern last night than madrid.