2018 - 2019 Football Thread - Page 26

On September 04 2018 20:34 haitike wrote:
Anyone who watches Messi playing regularly every week know he is the best. He does Cristiano, Modrid and Salah job alone.

Btw, I love VAR only for the decreasing of dives and complaining in la Liga.

On September 03 2018 02:45 Liquid`Drone wrote:


well that's what I'm thinking. Seems like it might happen slightly more often than once every 1000 times :D

On September 04 2018 23:56 warding wrote:
The finding-of-random-statistical-coincidences is much more common in american sports - ie. every game there are 4 or 5 of these "Steph Curry is the third player in history to accomplish 30pts, 5rbs, 12ast and 5 farts in one game, after Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson". I've always wondered if they have any sort of algorithm running to find these kind of BS during the game or if it's just a team of 20 interns browsing Basketball Reference all day.

We're way behind in football. Usually one of the sports papers finds out that "Portuguese teams have never beat any of the teams from Thessaloniki away while wearing white kits!" and that's the one factoid that will spawn conversations in cafes nationwide for the next five days.

On September 04 2018 22:48 Acrofales wrote:
Someone with a spreadsheet of historic PL data please tell me how often in the past teams ended in 14th place with 11-8-19 record? And did they all go on to win the PL the subsequent year?

Statistics is hard.

On September 04 2018 19:17 Ysellian wrote:
Modric is rather popular with the voting group though and I think people are just jaded with the Messi/CR shit. Don't forget Modric also won the UEFA player of the year (and CR acted like a man baby which won't do him any favours).

On September 05 2018 02:57 sneirac wrote:
So due to contract negotiation resulting in boycott the Danish FA had to get creative with player nominations. They will be represented by 3rd and 4th division amateurs and half of the futsal national team, recent results there being a 4-4 against Greenland and a 2-11 to Azerbaijan. They will be facing Wales and Slovakia, I might have to watch that.

Also Girona v Barca on 27.01.19 will be played in Miami, possibly still pending Fifa approval.

e:
Slovakia v Denmark Tuesday, Sep 04 6:45pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Friendly
Denmark v Wales Sunday, Sep 09 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Uefa Nations League

On September 05 2018 02:55 Pandemona wrote:
Dont get why Mess isn't included if Salah is included personally. Messi scored more goals than him, won more trophies than him, has done it year after year and beats him most stats like dribbles etc? Weird that personally.

I think after Modric won World Cup award he should get the Balon D'or tbf, if not Ronaldo. 100% Salah finishes 3rd.

On September 05 2018 10:59 WillyWanker wrote:
I'm going to go on my annual rant about those trophies.

The big issue with them is that we don't know what they reward. Is it for the best player overall? The player that contributed the most to the most successful team? The player that won the most trophies?

If it's the best player overall, Messi should have won it every year for the past 10 years (1 or 2 exceptions MAYBE). Not only he's always top 1-2 in stats, but he does much more than scoring, just watch highlights of the first few la liga games this season. If Messi went to Juve and didn't score after 3 games, you wouldn't hear anyone mocking him, because he'd be illuminating the pitch with his passes and dribbles regardless. Whereas Ronaldo... when has he done anything more than scoring (and being the leader for Portugal)?

If it's about trophies, then what are Ronaldo and Salah doing there? Salah didn't win anything, where is De Bruyne (insane league, 1 cup, 3rd at the WC, QF in CL)? Real finished 3rd 17 points behind Barça, giving up BEFORE Christmas, and got eliminated from the Copa early so they only focused on the Champions League. Portugal and Ronaldo had a great first game in the WC against Spain... and that's it. On top of that, Ronaldo might have been the best during the CL, but then he had Modric, Marcelo, Navas, Ramos, etc. around him, so how can his performance IN 7 GAMES be that amazing that he'd deserve to win an award that's supposed to reward a WHOLE SEASON?

The award is supposed to encompass all competitions throughout a season, but it seems like the CL makes 90% of the vote. It is the most prestigious club competition yes, but it's also very few games.

I kinda liked the old Ballon d'Or which didn't have too much marketing importance and rewarded a team more than a player (e.g.: Cannavaro). It was supposed to 'represent' the year that passed. I'm pretty sure either Modric or Griezmann are going to win the Ballon d'Or because they went back to that old voting system.

I'm not making a case for Messi to win it this year, I think Modric deserves it. But still, Liga, Copa, Golden Boot, tons of assists, amazing dribbles and shiny plays, eliminated Chelsea almost by himself, and was doing great in the CL until an accident (that's just 3 games less than Real/Liverpool). His world cup was meh, but same for Ronaldo or Salah.