Luka Modric
- Thread starter Eddy_JukeZ
- Start date
I still remember that I wanted Modric and Bale to replace Scholes and Giggs... Time flies.
The last midfielders I wanted were Kroos and Eriksen (when he was playing for Ajax).
Let's hope Fred improves our midfield.
The last midfielders I wanted were Kroos and Eriksen (when he was playing for Ajax).
Let's hope Fred improves our midfield.
Also, he can shoot better than both of them. Unfortunately, he wasted some years in England or maybe he needed to flourish sooner(guess he really had that potential back then).
I was a kid back then. I honestly don't remember.
Modric. His big game performances are of a different level.
Put Modric in Guardiola's Barca. Y'all reckon he could replicate Iniesta/Xavi's performances?
Modric. Xavi is better than Modric though.
A joy to watch. Fantastic player.
Fecking beautiful goal today, that's a real cm bossing the midfield! 
I remember an interview at the time by SAF saying that everyone talks about his passing/ball control etc., but the thing that impresses him the most is that he has the engine of a horse, unlimited stamina.
That made me certain that we've made the right purchase.
The only midfielders better than him in the past decade were Xavi and Iniesta.
He is incredible.
He is incredible.
Hard to say. I think it is save to say that there wouldn't be some huge drop of quality, if anything. But I feel like he would be more of a replacement for Iniesta. Xavi was a different player type. Still more reliant than Modric who often likes to dribble and take the risk. He's perfect for the Iniesta role as a "key player" who turns a static situation into a dangerous attack with a quick and unexpected movement or a brillant pass while players like Xavi or Kroos are clockworks that distribute the ball instead of creating transitional moments. And I think that Iniesta was probably even better than Modric.
However, he's the best CM in the world currently (and for the past four or five years) and this is at 33. Simply love him. Marcelo, Kroos, Isco and he are the reasons why I love watching Madrid play.
His goal reminded me of the one against us in Fergie's last Champions League match
Modric prime and Iniesta prime are the same. Iniesta arguably did it for a longer period but last 3-4 years Modric has been the best CM in the world.
If Croatia go far, he will be in the top 3 for the Ballon D'or surely.
Would love him to win it but I doubt this will happen. We had basically the exact same situation when Spain went on their winning series and Iniesta or Xavi didn't get one Ballon D'Or. The prize is nothing but a joke, unfortunately.
Still think Mo Salah will get 3rd, Messi 2nd, Ronaldo 1st.
Modric is a more complete player than Iniesta. He's just as imperious defensively as he is going forward and dictating the tempo of the game. I also disagree with Iniesta doing it longer. Iniesta didn't really come to the fore till about 2008/2009 and his peak lasted up till about 12/13 and since then he has been good but never the best midfielder in the world. Modric has been THE best midfielder in the world since 2014 and doesn't look like slowing down. So at the moment it's almost equal in terms of longevity and I'd give the edge to Modric as he's simply been better at an older age. He's only 1 year younger than Iniesta.
His performances have been as good as anyone's bar those two. He lacks a bit in terms of legacy because of the country he plays for. The likes of Alonso, Schweinsteiger and Kroos have performed on a similar level (or slightly worse) to Modric while being key ingredients of World Cup winning sides.
He won't have to win it, but a World Cup result similar to the best of other second tier nations propels him into new stratospheres in terms of recognition.
If Modric continues Croatia's run and leads them to a 3rd/4th place finish, he will be remembered as one of the best midfielders ever and one of the best eastern European footballers along side the likes of Dzajic or those Hungarian dudes.
Redondo?
Strong WC performances can still shake up things for 3rd imo, e.g. when Neymar wins with Brazil.
True, I forgot about Neymar, I think he's still lacking match fitness though so Brazil will need to persevere for the next 1-2 matches. But as things stand I think Ronaldo will win the Balon D'or, he's carrying Portugal and just won his 3rd CL in a row. I think he's guaranteed it if Portugal get to the semis as he will probably end up being the top scorer in the WC.
Seeing him against Switzerland he was basically back to being the old Neymar again. He got kicked off badly at times (not that his behaviour discouraged that though, picking senseless duels in midfield to prove a point ... grow up) so current question marks on his fitness come from that.
Sneijder would have won in 2010 and Ribery in 2013 if it was Ballon D'Or without Fifa on it. And now is just Ballon D'Or again. So it is possible that the best player of the world cup's winner get it, and if Modric has a great tournament but doesn't win it, he can still win it.
The thing is, the prize is already ruined for the future. The underlying criteria has changed and thus the merits of players are not comparable anymore. Either you award the best player or you award the best player of the team that won the biggest trophy. By switching between these approaches they undermined their own prize. If they had remained consistent, Iniesta or Xavi would've won in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and Ribery in 2013, effectively taking away four of their totally ten titles. I mean, they took their criteria so seriously that they gave the Ballon D'Or to Cannavaro ahead of Zidane and Ronaldinho in 2006.
So yeah.. they ruined it for marketing purposes as far as I am concerned. The FIFA Player of Year, too, if you ask me.
Criteria changed for those 4-5 years they merged Ballon D'Or with Fifa award. And even then, the votes were public and the votes of Ballon D'Or went to Sneijder in 2010 and Ribery in 2013.
Also, Ballon D'Or has always been an MVP award which doesn't necessarily goes to a player winning the most important competition. So, I think that Ronaldo in 2008 was totally justified, in 2010 it should have been between Sneijder, Xavi and Iniesta (unfortunately for Milito, Maradona was a tool to not play the best striker in the world in the world cup) and 2013 should have clearly went to Ribery.
Without Fifa it would have been 4-4 instead of 5-5.
Ronaldo's a 1/2 favourite for the Ballon D'or with the bookies atm, with Messi next at 7/1. Portugal will most likely make the quarters at least so unless someone has an exceptional WC and carries there team to victory AND scores a lot whilst doing that, it's going to Ronaldo. Most likely criteria is Neymar but imo he'll need to outscore Ronaldo and win the WC to have a chance, and that's very unlikely.
Modric is a great and deserves recognition but the Ballon D'or has always overvalued goalscorers vs other positions (especially in recent times). Imo they need one for positions too as well as an overall one.
Modric is a great and deserves recognition but the Ballon D'or has always overvalued goalscorers vs other positions (especially in recent times). Imo they need one for positions too as well as an overall one.
I don't really care if it were the FIFA votes that changed it. If Iniesta and Xavi didn't win it in 2008, 2010 and 2012 even with only the Ballon D'Or votes counting then this would also mean that they've abandoned their criteria. The fact that Cannavaro won it in 2006 despite being leagues below Zidane and Ronaldinho suggests that it should always go to the best player of the best team. And it has at least been like that since the 90s. Because otherwise the prizes between 1998 and at least 2006 would have gone to Ronaldo, Zidane and Ronaldinho since they were comfortably ahead of everyone else in the game in this period. Laudrup didn't win one single Ballon D'Or besides being probably the best player in the 90s.
I mean, the whole idea of giving an individual trophy to the best player of the most successful team is ridiculous (since you honour individual quality not collective accomplishments) but if you started with that approach you should stick with it. So, if you ask me, the list should be:
2008: Xavi (respectively Cristiano, if you value the Euro as high as the CL)
2009: Messi
2010: Iniesta
2011: Messi
2012: Iniesta (Chelsea had no standout player and were quite lucky to win the CL)
2013: Ribery
2014: Kroos/Neuer/Schweinsteiger (either would be fine)
2015: Messi
2016: Cristiano
2017: Cristiano
2018: ?
Maybe you can even leave the Euro out of the equation or equal it with the CL. But this would still only change the title of 2008 which would go to Cristiano instead.
Both would be far more reminiscent of the Ballon D'Or history pre Messi and Ronaldo when the prize switched quite often and someone like Figo or Nedved could "steal" a Ballon D'Or from the "greats". But they abandoned these criteria in order to artifically boost the rivalry between Messi and Cristiano..
He's such a joy to watch. To me, he's still head and shoulders above every other midfielder in world football right now.
Phenomenal player. Wish SAF had gotten him from Spurs but alas
Really enjoyed that goal today. He never looks flustered. I reckon all his powers are in that headband.
Really enjoyed that goal today. He never looks flustered. I reckon all his powers are in that headband.
The real LM10.
It's no secret I'm a big fan of Modric.
And I see the similar trade of him in Verratti. A workhorse midfielder who can control the game beautifully. If I were Mourinho, I'd not hesitate to put all of our transfer budget to get Verratti.
And I see the similar trade of him in Verratti. A workhorse midfielder who can control the game beautifully. If I were Mourinho, I'd not hesitate to put all of our transfer budget to get Verratti.
You're mental putting Modric above Xavi or Iniesta. The duo dominated club and international football in a way Modric has never done. 2 Euros, 1 WC. Come back when he's gone deep into the World Cup or Euros.
Yeah its really weird up until about 2016 the award was about the best player, but from that year onward's (where ronaldo won the euros) everyone has suddenly being going on and on about what has he won, bla bla bla.
I personally think that Ronaldo and Messi deserved to win the award in the years that they did win it from 2008-2016.
Last year (2017) was the first year that I thought it was an absolute joke. Its the extreme perversion of an idea that has starting growing a lot recently. In 2016 I thought that Messi had perhaps slightly edged it on Ronaldo but it was still close imo and considering Ronaldo won something internationally (as well as the champions league and league), I think fair enough.
In 2017 however Messi was so clearly better than Ronaldo that it was night and day, in fact I don't think Ronaldo even deserved to finish in the top 2 like he did. Messi scored more than DOUBLE the goals in the league. This can't be understated. For someone whose main thing they have over the other is that they generally scored more goals than the other (Ronaldo that is), the fact that he had so many less than Messi, who also is way more involved in build up, just shows that he was a far inferior player. In the end he got it cos he scored an insane amount of goals in 3 matches in particular, the two champions league semis and the final, of which the only ones I think were absolutely essential to Real Madrid's success in that competition that year were the ones in the final. In the semi's several of the goals were dubious at best with the rules, with offsides and fouls ignored several times.
tldr: If I could change the Ballon D'or every year in the last ten, the only year I would change is 2017, awarding the award to Messi instead. Although with all this really recent rubbish about having to win things as the main prerequisite to win it, I think to be consistent with the last year and a half or so you'd have to change tons of years. Xavi or Iniesta in 2010, Ribery in 2013, etc.
Sorry but 2008 is definitely Ronaldo, he was way better than Xavi that year and I don't value the Euro as highly. Also 2014 would definitely be Neuer if you judged it this way.
Can I wish that he "wants a new challenge" and leaves Real to join us? Closest player to Scholes who is playing now.
Thought he came back for a while? Certainly got the last laugh regarding Modric.
Special player. IMO, def better than Scholes, which is really not slight to Scholes, Modric is just sublime.
Certainly playing at a higher level to Kroos this season, but I would still put Schweinsteiger ahead of him. The all round ability Schweinsteiger had shown from 2010-2016, I don't think has been repeated by any midfield in this decade other than Vidal.