A midfielder who isn't good enough at being a midfielder to be played in midfield
Always a good sign that
Always a good sign that
Modric, rubbish and other arse
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Better than him at what? Certainly isn't playing football I can tell you that much. Outrageous to even compare the two let alone claim an absolute nobody like Modric is a better player.
Its the inho effect as Storey says.
There's no point in debating this with Scholesy, it usually ends with some silly conclusions from him in 'Guthrie is better than Anderson' mould.
Gerrard?
don't you mean "swap anderson for modric"?
Just like Anderson has been played on the left wing this season. Just like a 35 year old winger - Giggs is ahead of Anderson in the pecking order.
Anderson is incredibly overated on here. He is not a playmaker.
The main problem is that after Croatia thrashed their entire Euro 2008 qualifying group, they got overhyped. Barring Eduardo, they never really had any excellent players, although like Turkey and Germany, they make up for it with some excellent teamwork and cohesion.
Modrić is one of them. A nifty little player who's good if he's able to find his perfect role, but lightweight. It would be interesting if Spurs find a midfield combination that can pass aside from the likes of Zokora and Huddlestone (!).
In conclusion, I think Modrić is a tidy player and tricky - slightly less one-dimensional then Hleb and an infinitely better shooter, but almost certainly not worth the price tag Ramos paid for him.
He'll turn out fine, eventually - just don't expect his form for club and country to be the same any time soon.
Modrić is one of them. A nifty little player who's good if he's able to find his perfect role, but lightweight. It would be interesting if Spurs find a midfield combination that can pass aside from the likes of Zokora and Huddlestone (!).
In conclusion, I think Modrić is a tidy player and tricky - slightly less one-dimensional then Hleb and an infinitely better shooter, but almost certainly not worth the price tag Ramos paid for him.
He'll turn out fine, eventually - just don't expect his form for club and country to be the same any time soon.
For a Scholes fan i would think you of all people would appreciate a brilliant passer of the ball.
You're sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown now, your valuation of players is worse than an inexperienced doctor diagnosing a life-threatening disease.
"It's aiiight"
Are you claiming Given isn't better than Newcastle, Robinho for City, Santa Cruz for Blackburn? Fact of the matter some really solid players like Zaki have to start off at a smaller team because the bigger ones can't gamble. He's better than Spurs are currently playing, you only have to see what he's done for country to understand what he's capable of. Pushed England around for Euro qualifiers.
He doesn't have anyone to partner with is his problem. Pav seems to really be coming into his own and they're doing well but he needs a partner in midfield- doubt he'd get it. Saying he wont make it because his upper body is weak is being a complete moron as he just has to hit the weights which is probably what he's doing.
And to be honest he's done a lot more than Anderson has this season, albeit he's had more playing time.
You're all spastics if you dont think modric is a good little player. Spurs' best player (....)
To say hes better than anderson and especially fabregas is totally daft tho.
To say hes better than anderson and especially fabregas is totally daft tho.
This coming from the guy who rates Modric over Fabregas.......
No. he is the best midfielder in the league. The diametrical opposite of what you suggest.
Yes he is. Xabi is my favourite player along with Torres, but him finding form and becoming a lot more influential this season shouldn't be mistaken for him actually becoming better than Gerrard who is still our best player. The thing is, he has just done it for so long now, people take his goals, assists, drive, passing and ability to dominate opponents for granted. If he's not everywhere and scoring a hattrick against against top-four opposition, he's not quite in form.
Alonso simply doesn't have as much to his game as Gerrard does to be quite on the same level.
Yes, really. Gerrard is the best midfielder in the league. He's arguably the best central midfielder in the world.
I liked the way Pleat on ITV was calling him Modrick (like Baldrick). I expect he, too, has a cunning plan.
He may be the new Poborsky, post Euro hyperbole prize recipient. Time will tell.
As for Gerrard, he's good but not that good recently and his taste in music sucks donkeys.
He may be the new Poborsky, post Euro hyperbole prize recipient. Time will tell.
As for Gerrard, he's good but not that good recently and his taste in music sucks donkeys.
Astutely inept analysis.
Nonsense.
Of course, the fact you've come out and said that makes me even more confident in my initial opinion.
Modric
I reckon Xavi is currently the best central midfielder in Europe. But whether you can compare him to Gerrard is another question as they perform entirely different roles for their respective teams.
Put Gerrard in central midfield and he is half the player he is in attacking midfield.
The thing is, though, that I think Xavi can do a good job in Gerrard's role.
Gerrard is a quality player and invaluable to Liverpool in terms of the attacking threat he provides from midfield. But for me, the real measure of a central midfielder is how well the team functions as a unit, with and without him.
Every time Alonso's been out this season Liverpool have looked distinctly average but they've coped fine without Gerrard on a few occasions.
Essien is better than Gerrard at bringing drive and determination in the centre of the park, Lampard provides just as much of a goal-threat and there are a number of players better than him at conducting the play, not least his Spanish team-mate.
Every time Alonso's been out this season Liverpool have looked distinctly average but they've coped fine without Gerrard on a few occasions.
Essien is better than Gerrard at bringing drive and determination in the centre of the park, Lampard provides just as much of a goal-threat and there are a number of players better than him at conducting the play, not least his Spanish team-mate.
And by way of contrast, there have been a great number of games won by a clean sheet and Gerrard scoring or setting up the neccesary goals from nowhere.
And he's arguably the only player around who actually has all these qualities.
myth.
I'll rephrase it in a "Liverpool-spun" way:
Do Liverpool benefit more from Gerrard's attacking qualities such as playing in Robbie Keane's role or as an attacking midfielder, central to a 4-2-3-1; or is Gerrard "wasted" in central midfield?
If so, he's half the player he is in central midfield than he is in attacking midfield.
And contrary to popular belief, that's not a bad thing.
The last quality I mentioned is the most important for a central midfielder. Hence, he's not the best central midfielder in the league
Even though he's had a poor season I would rather have Fabregas in my team. Ditto Alonso. If/when Scholes gets some form back I would also rate him ahead of Gerrard. I would rate both Lampard and Essien as being on a par with him.
He doesn't even play as a midfielder anymore.
no - Gerrard, apparantly
Gerrard is the most overrated player around. I wonder why he very rarely ever shows this against us. He is so good in midfield that they can't even find a position for him. Playing well for ten minutes in every game and being anonymous for the rest does not make you the best player in the world, it makes you the biggest waste.
The Gerrard bashing is cringe worthy He offers alot in the midfield and can pretty much do everything. Most would be lauding him as some sort of Saviour if it wasn't for him being a scouser (and his diving antics). As for Him not being able to play central mid well thats a complete myth; if you took Alonso out then he'd really come into his own but Alonso's a fine player and Gerrard is versatile enough to play a more attacking role. Hargreaves is highly rated on this place but Gerrard (who's meant to be only good in attacking positions
) offers just as much if not more than Hargreaves does in central mid.
Lampard's on par with Gerrard?
He offers alot in the midfield and can pretty much do everything. Most would be lauding him as some sort of Saviour if it wasn't for him being a scouser (and his diving antics). As for Him not being able to play central mid well thats a complete myth; if you took Alonso out then he'd really come into his own but Alonso's a fine player and Gerrard is versatile enough to play a more attacking role. Hargreaves is highly rated on this place but Gerrard (who's meant to be only good in attacking positions) offers just as much if not more than Hargreaves does in central mid.Lampard's on par with Gerrard?
I think the team plays the best with him behind Torres right now, mostly because Keane hasn't really fitted in that well so far and mascherano is a very good player to leave out. The general shape of the team is often better in 4-3-3. That said, if there were a better partner for Torres than we have right now (which I haven't yet ruled out Keane could be), it wouldn't affect Gerrard's performances for him to move into central midfield, as has been evidenced on many occasions both this and last season.
It is the same as the 'gerrard on the right' argument a few years ago. It was better for the team to have him there as the alternatives we awful and we had two other good central midfielders. But his performances in central midfield were just as good, if not better, as on the right.
Anyway, back on topic. Scholesy's a bit of an idiot.
Seconded
To those who don't think anderson ever has the potential to be a player like scholes, i would like to think you are wrong...
Anderson is really capable of hitting a beautiful through pass, or a cross field ball to find his man....
What he lacks now is experiences, he gets rushes of blood into his head at times when he has the ball and he opts for the killer ball far too often... When he does this, opponent defenders read this better and thats why people who see anderson give the ball away so much think hes a shit passer when its just bcoz hes too rushed on the ball...
Anderson has every facet in his game to be a legend, and i mean it
Pace
Dribbling
Strength
Technical ability to pass the ball
Aggression
Vision
He just needs to improve on his mental side of the game, composure and decision making, as well as learn to shoot
And when he gets there like lets say in 4 - 5 seasons (yes he needs that much time), he will shit all over luka modric
Anderson is really capable of hitting a beautiful through pass, or a cross field ball to find his man....
What he lacks now is experiences, he gets rushes of blood into his head at times when he has the ball and he opts for the killer ball far too often... When he does this, opponent defenders read this better and thats why people who see anderson give the ball away so much think hes a shit passer when its just bcoz hes too rushed on the ball...
Anderson has every facet in his game to be a legend, and i mean it
Pace
Dribbling
Strength
Technical ability to pass the ball
Aggression
Vision
He just needs to improve on his mental side of the game, composure and decision making, as well as learn to shoot
And when he gets there like lets say in 4 - 5 seasons (yes he needs that much time), he will shit all over luka modric
The Gerrard bashing is cringe worthy
Lampard's on par with Gerrard?
feck me, you actually just said that Gerrard is not a whole lot better than Owen fecking Hargreaves before laughing at an opinion that Frank Lampard is on a par with him.
You sir, have shit-for-brains.
This is beginning to get silly. Gerrard has played a handful of games in CM in the last 4 years, whenever he does play there he's mediocre (see Everton the other day). Whenever he played in CM in the past and came up against Vieira or Keane he got creamed. Whenever he's played there for England he's been crap.
Totally agree. He can't play in CM...because he doesn't know how to defend!
Not necessarily defend. He's OK when defending, but you just get the impression that he doesn't like it.
Gerrard's method of playing is usually contrary to a normal central midfielder - free-roaming, risky passing, solo runs from deep - you get the picture. He's not got a central midfielder's brain - simple.