In my view: Yes, definitely. Followed by Iniesta and Rakitic.
Luka Modric / Signs for Real Madrid
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
In my view: Yes, definitely. Followed by Iniesta and Rakitic.
How do the Madrid fans take to him now?
One of the fan favourites supposedly, and rightly so. He always had it in his locker to perform for Madrid, it just didn't work for him when he arrived.
I've watched almost every Real match this season and I'd say Modric is the player of the season for them. I don't include Ronaldo as he isn't human.
That's good to hear.
It might sound silly to say this, but in a lot of matches Modric dwarves Ronaldo in terms of overall impact on the game.
Ronaldo is an insane goalscorer but in matches like today his overall contribution bar his psycho goal is almost nothing, while Modric ran rings around the entire Betis side.
His quality was always undeniable. Only idiots wrote him off because he had a difficult first season at that circus.
Technically he's brilliant to watch.
He had a slow start, but has been absolutely magnificent in the past 2-3 months. Considering the likes of Koke and Cani are wide midfielders and Rakitic has played as an AM as well, I'd probably only have Gabi (Atlético Madrid) and maybe Bruno Soriano (Villarreal) ahead of him this season as CMs. Him, Gabi and Rakitic have been the most in form recently.
Iniesta has been quite poor for over a year now IMO, Fàbregas has looked better over that period.
As with Xabi Alonso before him.
Aye Gabi's been good, as has Soriano. I'd say Rakitic has been better when he's played a bit deeper, which IMO is his best position.
I don't agree with your opinion of Iniesta as quite poor. He's still comfortably the best midfielder on the pitch pretty much every match. Fabregas has played a decent portion of his games as a false nine and not a lot as a pure midfielder. Xavi's form has been deteriorating for a while.
Agree with you on Rakitic. Whenever he's partnered Mbia in CM, Sevilla have looked very good.
Re: Fàbregas, what I meant to say was that I thought he has looked better when played in midfield than Iniesta this season. As for Iniesta, in my view he's been unremarkable, inefficient and hasn't stepped up when it was his turn. Above all, for someone with such skills who has as much possession of the ball as he does, he's extremely unproductive (apart from his dribbling).
I'd say Fabregas, at Barca, is all about productivity while Iniesta's the one who's pulled the strings for them while Xavi's influence has diminished, so I don't think it's fair to directly compare their output.
He's my favourite lesbian.
Incredible footballer, always has been in fairness. Very few midfielders can create their own space in midfield better than he can. Wonderful to watch.
Surely no one suggested this, surely?
I think Iniesta's been very erratic this season. He played a lot as a sub or just part matches at the start - he always has, he's not a two games a week 90 minutes player, but this season it felt like it was more about his erratic form than just his fitness. In Barca's poor games, he's looked like part of the problem, but that maybe a chicken and egg thing. When he's been on form though, he's been very good.
Modric's having a good season. The only real criticism is that he doesn't look like he's Alonso's replacement, and Ancelotti hasn't found an alternative Modric + 1 (or 2) combination that works well. But alongside Alonso, and in the form he's in at the moment, he looks great.
Modric's having a good season. The only real criticism is that he doesn't look like he's Alonso's replacement, and Ancelotti hasn't found an alternative Modric + 1 (or 2) combination that works well. But alongside Alonso, and in the form he's in at the moment, he looks great.
I'm not even talking about goals and assists in itself... In general he just doesn't create a lot of chances anymore and he's always been the most advanced player of the midfield three (or on the left side in the forward three, though not this season). Yes, his influence in ball retention and pressing remains, but even there he's still not been markedly better than Xavi who has been average IMO. Fàbregas has indeed always been more about productivity, but his overall game has looked less limited than in his two previous seasons (probably due to Martino implementing some more directness into Barça's game).
I'd agree with you - but I'll weigh in with my opinion that Iniesta, for better or for worse, is held to a higher standard than other midfielders discussed in this thread. There's no doubt in my mind who I think has been the better player between him and Soriano for instance, the latter's impact excaggerated somewhat by the sheer surprise that he's performing so well.
As for Modric - I think I've seen signs in Illaramendi that he's got it in him to play the Alonso-role. Against Celta Vigo he was driving play forward with his passing, much like an on-form Alonso does. For the most part though Illara's played within himself this season and tends to play it safe. Stage fright, maybe?
And no, Modric's never going to be Alonso mk II. He's Modric, which is more than enough, but as you say ideally you'd want a deep-lying, sweeping midfielder with a great range of passing alongside him for him to do his thing.
In the season that Villareal were relegated Bruno was rated as the best midfielder outside the top 2 according to WhoScored's ratings and received plenty of recognition for his performances. I don't think there's much surprise factor there.
After a season out of the top level, for a newly promoted team, I'd say there's plenty of a surprise factor in that he's performed as well as he's done.
Also, your put-down didn't really concern my main point, being this: Iniesta's still, and will probably always, be held to a higher standard. A 7 out of 10 Iniesta performance is still pretty much on par with a 9 out of 10 performance from other good midfielders, if you get my drift.
Couldn't agree more on Iniesta, he doesn't look half as good as he used to be, I think he is playing his worst football in the last 5 years or more. There were periods before where he wasn't in good form, but even back then he was much better than most of midfielders around, but at the moment he is far from that too, probably one of the biggest dropping in quality I saw from a player that wasn't caused by injury or something similar.
Illarra's interesting, it's early days for him and it's a big jump for him to go to Madrid. He is literally a small town boy suddenly transported to the big city in a physical sense as well as a footballing one. When you look at the slow starts made by Modric and other experienced arrivals he's doing OK, but it's a real test of temperament as well as ability to make that move.
Anyway Modric + Illarra + Isco is what Madrid hopes the future looks like. Ancelotti's still juggling with now and Modric + Alonso + ? is starting to look like a formation.
Anyway Modric + Illarra + Isco is what Madrid hopes the future looks like. Ancelotti's still juggling with now and Modric + Alonso + ? is starting to look like a formation.
I agree with your main point, I was just making that side-point. I do think that Iniesta's been very underwhelming this year though. No idea how he compares to Bruno or Rakitic because I haven't watched enough of them this season, but I don't think he's been performing like a top class centre mid.
The one I've watched the most of except for Barca/Real's lot is Rakitic. I think he's sensational as one of the two deeper midfielders. He's never played into a corner and provides that creative thrust as well as being a goal threat.
I'd seen a reasonable amount of Rakitic for Schalke, Croatia and Sevilla before this season and never found him particularly impressive, but I did manage to catch that mental game v Madrid earlier this season and he looked brilliant. Ticked pretty much all the boxes for us and on top of that Sevilla seem to be willing to sell their players for reasonable fees. Definitely the kind of player you hope we'd be looking at.
18 months left on his contract - which the press will have us believe he's stalling on signing. (What's the story there now, jojojo?)
I've said it before, if we don't manage to sign a top class midfielder and this guy goes to another club for a reasonable fee a la the Vidal/Juve-transfer, I'll be livid.
I think Rakatic's in (and wants to remain in) the "open to the right move" category so the reports say that he has/is expected to sign a contract extension to 2018 but with a release clause that goes down to around €25m. In other words Sevilla avoid him running the contract down and they (or he) have stuck a Buy It Now label on him - they did a similar thing with Negredo.
Rakitic has been miles better imo
In this very thread.
Unreal player, seeing his 'outside of the foot first time Pass' for Bale last night was delightful. How high do you rate him especially against Scholes?
Just as good, criminal that we didn't throw the bank to Spurs for him.
As good as Scholes? What the hell?
He's an amazing player.
He's not as good as Scholes was, that's a ridiculous statement. We're talking about one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, here.
It is not even ridiculous. Modric's exploits for Spurs and performances for Real in the CL puts him on the same level or thereabouts. If you compare their abilities, I think nothing much separates them. I doubt Scholes at his prime would have fitted into this Real Madrid team as well as Modric did.
Heh. This thread has just become effective way of working out the age of each poster...
Just as good as Scholes?
Nah, it's ridiculous.
That's something you don't see every day...
Nah.
Modric is a fine footballer. But he has been good for about just 6 seasons now and only 1 season at a world class level for a truly elite club. Scholes on top of being a better player overall, was consistently a Top 3 player for one of the Top 3 clubs in the world for almost 2 decades.
Modric will have to maintain his current level till age 40+ at Real Madrid to be considered remotely even close to Paul. Plenty of footballers spike up for a couple of seasons to the top but revert to their median level. Difference between the two is that Modric's top level is Scholes' median. He was one of the best players in the world for close to 16 years.
Using that analogy, only Xavi and Pirlo compare to Scholes during the last decade. Modric is in line behind a few others (Deco, Alonso, Gerrard, Schweinsteiger etc) trying to reach that level but the odds are heavily against him.