WXI is -more than anything- a popularity contest, so are the main awards, but to a lesser degree. Stuff like Puskas award are online votes only, so beyond pointless, have always been.
Modric deserves Ballon d'Or, but Ronaldo will get it
- Thread starter ManuMou
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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.
It's a complete joke that Messi didn't win.
France were getting outplayed till the referee steamrolled Croatia.
Modric had a brilliant world cup.
To be honest, I can't recall Modric ever get MOTM for Real last season in the league and CL (maybe at most 1 or 2 games throughout the whole season). He only win base on his WC form alone, let's be honest to it and not twist the fact.
Meh. Cristiano won it two years ago thanks to Juanfran, Gignac and Eder
At least they're consistent
Happy for Lukita. These awards -the balon d'or too- are still largely meaningless
At least they're consistent
Happy for Lukita. These awards -the balon d'or too- are still largely meaningless
It's weird as feck.You and statsJudging midfielders and defenders by the number of goals they score is "special"
Didn't Griezenann say it's more important than the CL or something? That's really baffling to me. It's just an individual prize.
Different people will have different opinions
With that said, Griezmann is notoriously a very stupid individual
Hope he gets the Ballon D'or too, feck Ronaldo.
How fun is watching football through Whoscored? I'm still watching it on the tv for now but thinking about making the switch soon aswell.
It doesn't devalue it. It's silly to say that. You obviously are giving a rats ass cause you're here claiming he shouldn't be called the best player in the world. Nobody is saying he is the best in the world cause he won this award. As you said he's getting a recognition he deserves.
The question I have is if they are not giving the award to the best player in the World what exactly are they awarding?
Totally deserved. Modric has been immense for Madrid and Croatia. Glad that someone other than Ronaldo or Messi finally won it. It's been a while.
@RedTillI'mDead butt hurt Ronaldo in disguise.
Well deserved for Modric, just a shame Xavi or Iniesta weren’t the first midfielders to win an award of this magnitude in generations
Well deserved for Modric, just a shame Xavi or Iniesta weren’t the first midfielders to win an award of this magnitude in generations
Without Modric Real Madrid still goes on to win the Champions League. Without CR7 they don't. I love Modric. He is the best midfielder in the world right now. But CR7 and Messi are on a different level. I know everyone wants to see someone new win it, but let's not go handing out awards to new people just because they had a really good season. To knock CR7 or Messi out, you have to be at a whole different level...
It's always been more about achievements. Best players from the best teams. It's as much a team award as anything else which is odd.
Going by that formula, Modric winning it is just fine. He's been incredible over the years (yes it's not a multiple year award) and was absolutely brilliant at the WC which seems to be key.
People keep saying this. But Ronaldo didn't turn up in the toughest matches - semis and quarters. I mean he'd make a deserving winner as well but people pretend as though midfielders and defenders really don't matter. Modric may have had matches too like Ronaldo did in the final, but he's generally been one of the most influential players at Madrid for a long.
And in a world cup year, he bossed things at the biggest event.
Sometimes people hold really stupid opinions. I think the glamour of this award has gotten out of hand. Hopefully it'll go down when it's changing hands to different players rather than two guys (and their fans) competing hard for it.
Other way round. They would've gotten to the semis with this team without him and from there on, Ronaldo was non-existant. Even in the second Juve match, he only had one half-decent play. Modric was way more important.
Had Croatia won the World Cup it would be a different story. And to say CR7 didn't show up is waaay off the mark. Just because he didn't score 2 goals per game like he did in the other matches doesn't mean he didn't show up. Him just being there takes two defenders out of the game...
Again, not true. Just because he wasn't on the score sheet doesn't mean he was non-existant. CR7 takes up the majority of the defenders focus. If CR7 doesn't score that means two defenders marked him very well which opened up space for players...in 35 games for club and country CR7 has 37 goals in 2018. That's more than a goal per game. That's unbelievable...
What?!
Stats is what's wrong with modern football fans these days. Watch a bloody game mate.
They are awarding it to the players who had the best seasons.
Ok, here is a thought experiment. It is 2012, so both Messi and Ronaldo are at their peaks and the best players in the world by a margin. They both suffer ACL injuries and miss the entire year. Being the best players, do they still get the award?
"He opened space".. now we will use that as argument? Benzema scored 4 goals in 5 matches already this season. Without shooting penalties. Every striker in this Real will score goals in La liga. Put Rashford or Martial or even Giroud or fecking Troy Deeney in attack of this Real in La liga and they will score at least 20 goals. Even 25 if they play in egomaniac style like Cristiano pass the ball to me Ronaldo does. Even 30 if you give them penalties.
The fact is that while Ronaldo in Cl was "opening space", Modric bossed the game.
Modric has been a world class midfielder for many years and the engine room of the side who’ve dominated the CL in recent times. I don’t think he’s the worlds best player, so maybe you could say he shouldn’t have won this award, but considering the career he’s had and the job he’s done at both club and international level this season, it’s hardly an abomination.
The real stupid decisions are things like Messi not being in the top 3, despite turning over stupid numbers from a midfield position. Or Salah winning the best goal in the entire world over the year with what is a good but no where near amazing effort. How about Courtois being named the worlds best keeper when he practically downed tools at Chelsea and has had one of his poorest seasons.
These awards are bizarre across the board!
The real stupid decisions are things like Messi not being in the top 3, despite turning over stupid numbers from a midfield position. Or Salah winning the best goal in the entire world over the year with what is a good but no where near amazing effort. How about Courtois being named the worlds best keeper when he practically downed tools at Chelsea and has had one of his poorest seasons.
These awards are bizarre across the board!
Silent domination.
Every has those kinds of games. It's not a big deal. Modric, Messi and Salah have too.
I always thought these awards are not about “who is the best player in the world” but more “who was the best player in the world last season / last year”, little doubt Modrić is not the best player in the world but I think it’s fair to make the case for him being the best last season. It’s always a bit subjective - I honestly think Messi was easily the best footballer for last good 10 years, but at the end of the day he will always be judged not only against other players, but also against his own ability... also, sometimes football is not only about just footballing skill but also about ability to motivate and carry your team, I think.
I hope Modrić gets the Ballon d’Or this year and I think it would be well deserved.
I hope Modrić gets the Ballon d’Or this year and I think it would be well deserved.
Two biggest comfirmations of his greatness are:
1. The great Real Madrid with great Ronaldo wasn't winning anything until Modric came along and with all semi final trophies CL title seemed like a distant dream
2. Modric won 4 CL's with Real Madrid and for avoidance of all doubt about his greatness, after the best first half of the season in decased for Real Madrid in 2014/2015 Modric got injured and a team that had 20 victories in 22 games (or something similar) fell appart so spectacularly without him that Ancelotti had to be sacked at the end of the season
Modric will win ballon d'Or and he will be the guy to end the 10 year hegemony of Ronaldo and Messi. His football is an art form and you can only truy appreciate it when you watch him from the stands (kind of like with Iniesta).
Narratives change and as time goes by and players of the past become better and better. 10 years from now Modric will be comsidered the best CM im history by many and most.
1. The great Real Madrid with great Ronaldo wasn't winning anything until Modric came along and with all semi final trophies CL title seemed like a distant dream
2. Modric won 4 CL's with Real Madrid and for avoidance of all doubt about his greatness, after the best first half of the season in decased for Real Madrid in 2014/2015 Modric got injured and a team that had 20 victories in 22 games (or something similar) fell appart so spectacularly without him that Ancelotti had to be sacked at the end of the season
Modric will win ballon d'Or and he will be the guy to end the 10 year hegemony of Ronaldo and Messi. His football is an art form and you can only truy appreciate it when you watch him from the stands (kind of like with Iniesta).
Narratives change and as time goes by and players of the past become better and better. 10 years from now Modric will be comsidered the best CM im history by many and most.
Surprised how deep Modric's voice is considering he looks like a frail old woman.
So if Modric played for a better international team he would win the award? Makes sense. Croatia got further in the tournament than a few much better squads, largely down to Modric.
FFS amol
Good post. And I'm not surprised by the impact of his absence on Real Madrid. It's hardly a surprise that your team has dominated Europe only when you had the best midfield in the world of which Modric is clearly the best.
But however history may remember him, he isn't as good as Xavi and Iniesta for me. Definitely among the best 5 CMs I've seen and a complete joy to watch. One of my favourite kinds of players.
The best player in the last season.
I'm glad we've got back to an "of the year" award saying something that reminds me of the year rather than just the player, or in this instance just the two players who've stood out across the past decade.
It still seems wrong that we had years of Spanish teams, including their national team, dominating the game, yet no Spanish player winning. It still seems strange that in 2010, essentially a year memorable for it being teams that win (the Inter treble, the Netherlands/Spain WC final) it wasn't Schneidjer or Xavi who people remember. Perhaps inevitable, given how exceptional Messi/Ronaldo have been, but it still seemed wrong - like it devalued the year in favour of "best player you've seen this year" - even if it was a fair way of looking at the prize.
Anyway, nice to see the duopoly broken. Well done to Modric.
It still seems wrong that we had years of Spanish teams, including their national team, dominating the game, yet no Spanish player winning. It still seems strange that in 2010, essentially a year memorable for it being teams that win (the Inter treble, the Netherlands/Spain WC final) it wasn't Schneidjer or Xavi who people remember. Perhaps inevitable, given how exceptional Messi/Ronaldo have been, but it still seemed wrong - like it devalued the year in favour of "best player you've seen this year" - even if it was a fair way of looking at the prize.
Anyway, nice to see the duopoly broken. Well done to Modric.
Fair point, Ronaldo should have had more influence vs Uruguay
Yes they did all that great stuff but if its going to be down to goals/assists, players like Modric would never have a chance in a million years.
There are certain years when there is one stand out player but its not so this year.
I've always thought players like Modric are disadvantaged by the way emphasis is always given to goals/assists. He is the brain of that Real Madrid side but its going to be hard to quantify his impact on the game because football by its very nature cannot be fully captured with stats unlike certain other sports. In the epl we have players like David Silva (similar player to Modric in this respect) who rarely makes team of the year but ask any city fan on this board who their best player since the Sheik came to town is, many I presume, will mention him.
Well summed up.
For what exactly? If you're judging it on goal scoring Ronaldo and Messi scored more.
If you're judging it on silverware he won none. He's team didn't even challenge for their domestic league.
Messi voted for Luka. 
On point.
My initial feeling Ronaldo deserved it by a close margin, but when you look at goals and assists Messi really was a driver for Barca dominating the league. So yes Ronaldo did more on a bigger stage, but Messi might have done enough to pip him.
A draw would have been a fair result.
Modric winning is a typical hype show. Modric shined in a few world cup games against mostly poor opposition and some how is the best in the world.
I backed France to outright win the WC months in advance and supported them throughout. So not being biased for Croatia when I say you're being unfair to them. The scoreline flattered France, it was an even game.
Goal 1 - very harsh penalty for handball
Goal 2 - O.G
Goal 3 - Brilliant
Goal 4 - Croatia were advancing and caught out defensively
Croatia were unlucky not to get the game to extra time imo. So ''stream rolled'' over their midfield is a bit OTT. Especially since Croatia had 61% of the possession.