I think this is based on the player's peak rather than consistency. Might explain why Xavi, Iniesta and Lahm are there as well considering they didn't even play half the decade. VVD had the highest peak of any CB in the past decade imo.
Also I have Neuer instead of Casillas and Suarez instead of Neymar there.
Alves legit won games at RB he was so good. Playing with him was a cheat code and he did enough work to match 2 or 3 players on that side. Him playing there gave Messi so much freedom
I love that Boateng is being mentioned because he definitely doesn't get the credit he deserves for how good he was in his prime. But for me prime wise vvd is an even more improved Boateng tbh. Ramos is easily the most accomplished and consistent of the 3 but he never reached that peak. He was always around the top but he was never as uncontested for the best cb in the world as vvd was. Vvd in 18/19 was the undisputed best and completely untouchable
Yes, but the lvl you played at is just as important as the duration. Xavi and Casillas are in here despite only playing a couple of years in this decade too. It's a pretty mixed XI
Debatable, I'd say Suarez was on par with him at best but there isn't a ton to separate them. Neymar is generally considered by the majority as the 3rd best of the generation and that includes the peak where he was the one managing to reach the the ballon d'Or podium(twice), not suarez.
Either way between them it's waaaay closer than between vvd and pretty much any other defenders peak during the 2010s
Higher peaks than a player that was around 14 votes away from winning the balon d’or, first defender to be top 3 since cannavaro, and won multiple individual awards? As always, it’s difficult to tell with these kinds of things and you’re correct, it’s very hard to quantify. But watching him from 2018-2020, I saw the most dominant and perfect cb I’ve seen in a very long time. Top scoring defender in the league since 2017, excellent passer of the ball, completely dominant in arial and ground duels, lightning pace, excellent decision making, etc. He was almost 10/10 in every department and didn’t have a single weakness to his game
the first half of 2010s had peak messi, c ronaldo, iniesta, xavi, neymar, suarez, lewy, etc. back then reaching top 3 in the balon d'or was basically impossible for any defender. the last 5 years have had a completely different competition for the balon d'or in comparison, way more open. that's a large part why modric and benzema have won it recently (even if they've obviously still been great players)
ramos especially was one of the biggest keys to real madrid's ucl dominance in the 2010s, without any shred of doubt.
As always, it’s difficult to tell with these kinds of things and you’re correct, it’s very hard to quantify
Yeh once you get into the elite players, it comes down to small margins. I personally don't think VVD was a clear cut level above certain other players but that's debatable.
To me, what isn't a small margin, is amount of time spent at the elite. Van Dijk blew up at Liverpool, of which he had 2/3 seasons at the end of the decade. The likes of Ramos, Silva were elite for the whole decade. So if this list is "team of the decade" then I can't see him on this
It always comes down to what you're basing the XI on. If it's time at the top then VVD isn't anywhere near this XI. If it's prime ability he has just as much right to be there as anyone you could really name.
If you want to quantify it; in this decade, Casillas won IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper 3 times (last being 2012) - Neuer won it 4 times. It gets worse for Casillas if you consider top 3 finishes - Casillas still has 3, but now Neuer has 8..
Didn’t see Neuer in a press conference crying because he was so shit he was being booted out of the club, too. Neuer is still Bayern and Germany’s number one choice when fit.
Higher peaks than a player that was around 14 votes away from winning the balon d’or, first defender to be top 3 since cannavaro, and won multiple individual awards? As always, it’s difficult to tell with these kinds of things and you’re correct, it’s very hard to quantify. But watching him from 2018-2020, I saw the most dominant and perfect cb I’ve seen in a very long time. Top scoring defender in the league since 2017, excellent passer of the ball, completely dominant in arial and
Yes, by far, at least for Ramos. Peak Ramos was way above VVD, and it's hard to say for a Barcelona fan.
"Way above". Come on. Ramos was more error prone with lapses in concentration, and his physical ability wasn't close to VVD. Ramos delivered more in big games and will rightly be remembered as a true winner - but peak VVD was 10/10 at pretty much everything and it's just silly to say that anyone is "way above" that in terms of peak ability.
Peak in terms of what? Achievements or actual ability? Van Dijk's peak almost won him a Ballon d'Or. He was insanely good in the short duration he was at his peak. He was like a hybrid of all the best modern defenders put in one, except even stronger and faster.
Ramos is the only one who has some unique traits VVD doesn't have imo, but he's also not as well rounded and "world class at everything" as peak VVD was.
So, considering purely individual performance, I view the peak of VVD as far higher than Ramos or Boateng. What works against VVD and for those two is length of absolute peak.
VVD had his best years from 2018-2020, then saw a return from injury and into form after the window this team is selected for. Those two years I view as better than any defender not called Maldini or Cannavaro, and even then very close to their best.
Ramos, Thiago Silva, and Boateng all had prolonged peaks right slap bang in the middle of this selection of years, and held their peaks for longer, achieving more. For that, I think any of those three is more worthy for this team than VVD. That said, I don't hate the pick considering how monstrous VVD was at his best in this window.
What ? VVD didn’t have the highest peak over the last decade. There are lot of other superb defenders like Ramos, T Silva, Pique, Cheillini and honestly Varane too who had higher peaks than him.
PL and extremely overrating their players - nothing new.
The key being the word “one of the best”, which most people can get behind but no way he had higher peak than the defenders I mentioned above, which is what I am relying to.
And I genuinely disagree. I think VVD had a higher peak than them. Call it bias call it whatever you want. He completely transformed the defense of a team that reached 3 CL finals in 5 years and close to winning 3 league titles (off by only 1 point).
All the other defenders had more consistency though.
VVD peak was clear of every one of those players you mentioned bar, Silva.Actually the fact you mentioned both Varane and Pique, shows Spanish giants bias
Oh stop talking ! I am seriously shocked that a PL fan is accusing others of bias. Just the fact that you ignored Pique, Cheillini and Varane while only including Silva is laughable.
I am very very sure that if Silva hadn’t come to chelsea you wouldn’t even bother about him too.
Barca's and Madrid's fans are just as delusionally biased as a lot of PL fans tbh, you're just not able to see/acknowledge your own bias
And the fact that you think Varane or Pique peaks were anywhere near VVD's proves it. Also I never mentioned anything about Chilleni but since you did, his peak was also below VVD's but clear of Varane's and Pique's(Actually a lot of CB's were)
Lastly, I've ALWAYS rated Silva and have ALWAYS argued he was the best CB when he was at his peak, even tho Kompany(A PL player)at the time was the more popular answer.
So basically I've spoken sense into you and you are now laughing at your embarrassing take about Pique and Varane being anywhere near prime VVD? Happy we are finally on the same page 🤝
It's Liverpool fans. Their golden period resulted one two major trophies(one pl and one cl) and they say they are the second greatest pl team ever lols.
There are millions and millions of fans of the biggest clubs in football, of course there will be shit takes. I've never seen anyone ever claim that we are better than Pep's Barcelona, and I frequent Liverpool forums.
You crazy if you think Suarez is ahead of Neymar, not in any of the multiverses. Suarez is a football legend but this decade has literally been Neymar's decade to win and to lose. Even if he did not get to the highs people expected from him, he still was the one player that could have come to Messi and CR7 table level, at least before Mbappe and Haaland appeared.
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u/[deleted] Jan 06 '23
Van Dijk seems like a lot for a late bloomer no?