Most under-rated player in the world today?

[ken foree]

I suddenly feel inadequate in the 'football knowledge' department!!!!

ha i know i was about to type 'pwnd' for the two lads who questioned the sincerity of cfdh's knowledge of the world game. i think he was calling out arshavin before the euros to anyone on here who'd listen and he definitely knows his sh!t.

[Mr Maroon]

ha i know i was about to type 'pwnd' for the two lads who questioned the sincerity of cfdh's knowledge of the world game. i think he was calling out arshavin before the euros to anyone on here who'd listen and he definitely knows his sh!t.

Now he is overrated. He had a good UEFA Cup campaign and Euro 2008 but other than that he's been nothing special. His reputation seems to be built on that match against Holland in the Euros and Football Manager games!

[forza rovers]

Xabi Alonso.

[noddy102]

Lionel Messi.
Going to be robbed of the Ballon d'Or by Ronaldo on Tuesday.

[bellavistaman]

Stephen Ireland, although getting applause he deserves alright at the moment!! But definitly under-rated

[jebus]

Lionel Messi.
Going to be robbed of the Ballon d'Or by Ronaldo on Tuesday.

Messi's a lot better than Ronaldo, but you can't fault Ronaldo's season for United to be fair. In the same time Messi has had to deal with injuries and a stuttering Barca team

[gaiscíoch]

Lionel Messi.
Going to be robbed of the Ballon d'Or by Ronaldo on Tuesday.

Well Stephen Hawkins tell me how you worked this one out. Ballon d'Or is about the players who out shone all his piers throughout a full season not just the odd game in 6.

Champions League, in which he scored in the final, Premier League and 42 goals along with that.

[Stuttgart88]

Diego Forlan?

[Dodge]

Well Stephen Hawkins tell me how you worked this one out. Ballon d'Or is about the players who out shone all his piers throughout a full season not just the odd game in 6.

Champions League, in which he scored in the final, Premier League and 42 goals along with that.

He hasn't score 42 goals in 2008 though, has he? In fact he's been either injured or out of form since May, and it is a yearly award

Oh and he was ****e in the Champions league final. If you think Messi only played well in 6 games this year, I'd suggest you only saw him play 6 times

[gaiscíoch]

He hasn't score 42 goals in 2008 though, has he? In fact he's been either injured or out of form since May, and it is a yearly award

Oh and he was ****e in the Champions league final. If you think Messi only played well in 6 games this year, I'd suggest you only saw him play 6 times

He was voted Uefa fans Man Of The Match in that final if I remember correctly??

I think Messi is one of the best players in the world and will eventually ser-pass Maradona. But he doesn't deserve the award.


Who votes for the world player of the year and Ballon d'Or?

[Heliodorus]

How can any of the players mentioned be under rated?

Surely the names mentioned should be coming from the likes of the Danish, Lithuanian, LOI, Norwegian, Belgian Leagues etc etc. Drag the thread up in a year or two and see who is right then.

Mentioning the likes of Messi in a thread like this is crazy.

[rambler14]

Wasn't Messi injured for a good portion of the season aswell?? The same amount of time as Ronaldo?

[DeLorean]

I think the people that talk about it being a Jan-Dec thing as opposed to a Aug-May award are cluthching at straws just because they are anti-Ronaldo. I'm not the guys number one fan and think that Messi is a far superior player but lets be fair...42 goals for a midfielder in a season is phenominal, for it to happen in a season where it helps your team to win their domestic league and the Champions League crowns it off. Ronaldo scored against all but 3 teams United played against last season including all of the other 'Big 3' where it was claimed he never performed against. The only teams he didn't score against were:

Coventry Carling Cup - didn't play
Manchester City Prem - suspended for first match, failed to score in second
Barcelona - misssed pen

I agree totally with whoever said these guys shouldn't be mentioned in this thread by the way.

[Closed Account 2]

Now he is overrated. He had a good UEFA Cup campaign and Euro 2008 but other than that he's been nothing special. His reputation seems to be built on that match against Holland in the Euros and Football Manager games!

I wouldn't say he's overrated now, I'd say he's pretty much level rated. I think the trouble is if he is playing against top class teams he needs a top class target man to link up with. In Zenit's run to the UEFA final he was playing very well with Pavel Pogrebnyak their tall center forward. Pogrebnyak got injured just before Euro 2008, and since then has only been back for a couple of games at a time. It didn't matter for the Russian national team because Pavluychenko is a similar player to Pogrebnyak (tall target man with powerful shot and good hold up play).

But in terms of clubs, in the interim Zenit have played with the Turkish striker Fathi Tekke or even with Alejandro Dominguez (essentially a winger in his time at Quilmes and River) as a striker. Neither of these is really the type of target man Arshavin needs so his form for Zenit has dipped slightly. Additionally Zenit brought Danny from Dinamo Moscow in the summer, he's a great player but a bit too similar to Arshavin.

He's done very well internationally for Russia in the last two games, scoring and being joint man of the match away to Germany and scoring and setting up both goals (own goals) in the 3-0 win vs Finland (nice goal too!).

[ken foree]

...scoring and setting up both goals (own goals) in the 3-0 win vs Finland (nice goal too!).

lovely goal amply aided by some woeful defending. wish he and other players would ditch that arrogant "shh" celebration though.

[Oink]

Alan Dzagoev (CSKA), Lavezzi (Napoli), Pogrebnyak (Zenit), Danijel Pranjić (Herenveen), Vedad Ibišević (Hoffenheim), Aureliano Torres (san Lorenzo), Martín Morel (CA Tigre), Salvador Cabañas (CA America), Omar Arellano (Chivas de G.)

Straight from Football Manager that list.


Chelsea CB Alex is really underrated/overlooked in my opinion, he rarely puts a foot wrong and has a fantastic reading of the game.

[Buzzer]

Ricardo Carvalho - undeservedly overshadowed by John Terry in the press IMO

nail on the head there.the best central partnership that chelsea had was gallas and carvalho.
the only reason terry kept his place,and gallas being moved on,was politics concerning his england captaincy etc.
he is being shown up now with carvalho out.dirty sneaky player too...and that's my little rant for the day over!!!!!!

[DeLorean]

Straight from Football Manager that list.


Chelsea CB Alex is really underrated/overlooked in my opinion, he rarely puts a foot wrong and has a fantastic reading of the game.

If you read the rest of the thread I think our knowlegable friend has more than explained his selection.

[gustavo]

In Eircom League terms - Conor O'Grady

[Oink]

If you read the rest of the thread I think our knowlegable friend has more than explained his selection.

Meh..... I think with the exception of Dzagoev, most of them cannot really be considered underrated, they are highly rated in their respective countries but haven't really proven anything on a European, international or highest level domestic league...... Dzagoev has been outstanding in the UEFA cup.