Emmanuel Adebayor

Manchester City

Striker - Togo



Original 200 writeup:

Definitely talented enough to be ranked even higher.

He is blessed with physical and technical tools to such an extent that it puts most other strikers to shame and that elusive excellent size/technique combination that I think is so valuable, alone almost should ensure a better ranking.

However his work rate and especially team work with and without the ball, making the players around him better with passing and not least movement is at best uneven, and pales in comparison to higher ranked similar talented forwards.

For me personally I thought this was nicely illustrated in how the club he left, Arsenal, looked for much of the year now without him. With his physique and technical capability in many ways Adebayor looked like an ideal center-forward on a team like Arsenal who controls possession but it quickly became surprisingly clear that without him up front there was suddenly both better movement and team work. Players complementing each other instead of, to put it rather harsh (it's not like there weren't good times too) just Adebayor himself.

For Manchester City it's been similar. There have been games with great individual performances from Adebayor. Full of impact. Not least the infamous game against his former club Arsenal but also plenty where it has looked like he was doing more harm than good with poor attitude and a work rate left seriously wanting.

With teammate Carlos Tevez in the lone centre-forward role as well performing much better than Adebayor it will be interesting to see what the future brings.

I'm sure he will still get games should he stay at Manchester City but it has become pretty clear that in a standard 4-2-3-1 at least, it's not really worth "sacrificing" Tevez into a further back forward (certainly not wide) role just to make room for Adebayor. For someone even better though, well maybe!

In theory him and Tevez could still work great, and did at times, in more like a 4-4-1-1 with Tevez behind in more of a free role, where I think he is great, but with Manchester City rapidly bolstering their lineup, an excellent player like David Silva also is now on board who in recent years has played a more or less a free role behind a striker (rather than as a wing).

New (Mario Balotelli) and old (Robinho) could also still make their way making starting attacking places even more elusive but at least until Roque Santa Cruz is sold (Mark Hughes always willing) and Balotelli not bought yet (still with something to prove as a centre forward anyway) he should at least be first alternative to Tevez as the man up top.

The 300 update:

No, he has since that writeup managed to underachieve enough in order to not even be the first alternative to Tevez anymore.

Tevez of course has his own destructive situation brewing at City, but for Adebayor at least it seems a simple case of manager Mancini simply having lost remaining confidence in Adebayor adding any value to the team.

If things go very wrong with Tevez who has requested a transfer, for an example him not playing and no great replacement coming in, they could be forced to look to Adebayor once again, but ideally they'll look to get rid of him in January already.

High wages and all, can they find a taker?

Antonio Di Natale

Udinese

Forward - Italy



Original 200 writeup:

Came back brilliantly from serious knee ligament injury and had his best season ever at age 32.

Di Natale has always had pace, been good on the counter with good work rate but I never thought I'd see the technical brilliance he showed time and time again last season.

Not just scoring the 29 goals. Though clinical finishing certainly doesn't hurt here. But superb ability and intelligence shown in all actions consistently over a long season is very impressive. He didn't just seemingly never do wrong, he seemingly always did great!

Whether an exquisite first touch followed by a great run, pass or shot or even actual playmaking skills coming from him! Something which I did not at all suspect he was capable of, but sure enough Di Natale showed vision this season and was a high quality créateur in the final third where he could have easily finished with more than the 6 assists that he did.

It's possible this high ranking will look a little silly not long ago from now. Of course not long ago I would never have considered ranking Di Natale this high but as it is this list had great focus on the current, where Di Natale's (too good to be true almost) great play is just impossible to ignore.

The 300 update:

Nothing to see here, Di Natale continues where he left of with several talismanic attacking displays for Udinese this season as well.

Francesco Totti

Roma

Forward - Italy



Original 200 writeup:

For many years one of the best players in the world but now at age 33 that's not quite the glowing truth anymore.

The genius of the living Roma legend still lives strongly on though and each season he scores and creates plenty of goals.

He has outstanding technical ability and unique vision, whether it's for goal or for teammates.

Moreso than ever, currently most of his work using those remaining strengths is centered in and around the box. His movement (though still smart) and especially work-rate has declined but fortunately if that movement or (declining) pace cannot create space like it can for a lot of good strikers, his technique is so great that even in tight space close to people, as long as its close to the goal, he will be a serious threat.



The 300 update:

Totti just isn't playing well and there seems to eternities between his good displays currently.

I won't write him off completely just yet but I have no doubt that Roma currently are a better team when they play their other (the notable exception being Adriano) attacking options over Totti.

Lass Diarra

Real Madrid

Midfielder - France



Original 200 writeup:

Lass was higher on the list originally but while his team dominated most games he managed to still have an uneven season eventually losing his place to Fernando Gago.

A lot of that was injury related of course but then to turn matters into a whole new kind of worse, just before the World Cup it was announced that Diarra was requiring significant rest dropping out of the France squad (if early reports had not been as serious as they were, in retrospect then perhaps you could call this a blessing in disguise!) due to suffering severe intestinal pain and stomach cramps.

A second test in Madrid revealed that Diarra's injury was due to asthenic syndrome secondary related to sickle-cell anemia, a genetic blood disorder characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape.

Bad enough to raise serious questions about his career. The latest however is that he is training with the rest of the squad preparing for the new season ready to go and in a recent interview, he talks about putting this season behind him and his burning ambition of proving himself as a true Real Madrid player.

When at his best Diarra more than anyone is compared and actually resembles Claudio Makelele in playing style.

Both with the ball, passing and controlling it they look similar and even the way he uses his quickness and small but strong frame to win the ball from an opponent brings back memories of Makelele at his best.

You could say he still lacks some consistency, but for most of last season after being promising for a while, he was very good, then this season was when he was supposed to take the last step as without a doubt one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
I know my early ranking had him down as one of those, this one as well to a lesser extent, but there are some question marks now and it's not given if in a year he would be ranked better or worse than this.

Hopefully better but most importantly, hopefully with his good health intact.

The 300 update:

Real Madrid strengthened and stacked with top players (and Jose Mourinho) are so far, and despite an 0-5 embarresment at the Nou Camp it shows no signs of stopping, even more dominating in La Liga this season.

It's been mostly without Lass Diarra though, who's spot as Xabi Alonso's permanent central midfield partner has been won by the very impressive Khedira.

Mourinho so far has also elected to not rotate the squad at all, sticking game in and game out, with virtually the same starting 11.

That has clearly paid dividends in the form of early chemistry for a lot of new players and new coach (something arguably very much needed to try and keep up with Barcelona) but of course also, some heavy workload for key players and unusually little playing time for some very good players on the bench. Including of course Diarra.

The real test for Mourinho's squad management will come later, not least during the Champions League knockout games where Real Madrid will look to do a lot better than in recent years and at the same time a continuous epic two horse race at home where no letting up can be afforded.

Marcos Senna

Villarreal

Midfielder - Spain



Original 200 writeup:

Spanish player of the year two years (but seems forever) ago now.

The 2009/10 season was a struggle for Brazilian born Senna with always unpleasantly tied lack of form but plenty of injuries being an almost permanent feature. However towards the end he did seemingly, just in time, find enough form to validate a World Cup spot on the all conquering Spain team where he had been a mainstay and key contributor, basically ever since being granted Spanish citizenship in 2006.

Most famously of course during EURO 2008 where performances of his featuring hardly putting a foot wrong earned him much praise.

This time it wasn't to be though. The emergence of Sergio Busquets, much improved, and ever improving throughout this season, and perhaps Busquets advantage of systematic familiarity with the Barca players everywhere around him, meant at this point a starting place for Senna had become increasingly unlikely.

Still it was a surprise that uncapped Basque Javi Martinez got a spot as the assigned defensive midfielder backup, but as Del Bosque said, he had a very good season. Senna (although Del Bosque didn't say so) had not. Martinez is also the future. Senna is not.

That is not to say it's all over for Senna as one of the finest at his position. It's possible he has seen some decline in athletic ability the last few years but when healthy he is still a very smooth midfield operator in all his actions both with an without the ball.

How much he has left is hard to say. I think it will be (and is already in many ways) similar to fellow Brazilian born (94 World Cup winners) excellent defensive midfielders with great careers in Spain, Mauro Silva and Mazinho who continued to be very good into their 30s.

An even better example perhaps is Donato, who like Senna became a Spaniard, and with Mauro Silva incidentally, seemed to last forever commanding the Deportivo La Coruna midfield.

Senna kinda reminds me of those.

So if he can overcome injury problems I expect similar from Senna at Villarreal. There are even rumors currently that he is in play to fill the midfield depth lost at Barcelona with Yaya Toure's departure. Who knows if that will happen. They may very well go for someone younger instead but perhaps it does show that he is at least still relevant at the highest level.

The 300 update:

Not unlike several in-form teammates at Villarreal, Senna seems to have benefited from not playing during the summer (no World Cup virus on this team!), and he looks significantly better than he did during much of the injury plagued 2009/10 season.

Not quite the midfield master of previous years but Senna remains a quality player.

Giorgio Chiellini

Juventus

Defender - Italy



Original 200 writeup:

My last remaining reservation when it came to Chiellini's claim as the next excellent Italian defender was his sometimes reckless brutality. At times he seemed intent on proving himself as a hardman rather than a great defender and because of it would unnecessarily commit hard fouls bringing disadvantage to the team in the form of either red cards or freekicks in dangerous places. He was dangerously flirting with entering Materazzi territory instead of breaking into the great defender territory, where his talent so strongly suggested he belonged.

Ironically, this the worst Juventus season in my memory, was the season where that all changed, where you'd see Chiellini cool, calm and collected practice his art, often spotted with a smile on his face and even in great adversity showing no signs of frustration leading to stupidity or to the violence that plagued him earlier in his career.

Now with that gone, only the good remains. As far as tackling goes I'll rate him a little bit below the previous 4 ranked centrebacks but he is still very good.
In direct man marking I also think he is a little bit behind certainly Vidic ( better technically though) but also Carvalho/Ferdinand when at their best, but again he is definitely strong enough in that area as well to make it close.

Where he is ahead of the likes of Vidic, Ferdinand and Terry is speed. As a former left-back he has good pace for a centreback and he uses it to great effect defending greater areas than for an example what Vidic can manage.
Seeing Chiellini at times this season basically being a one man central defender army playing for at least two, was some of the most mind boggling impressive defending I've ever seen.
It should never be like that of course in a team defense that functions, but nonetheless seeing someone in a game at times simultaneously manage defending left back, defensive midfield and both centreback positions was extremely impressive to watch.
Obviously I'm not saying he was in many places at once, that's impossible, but time and time again he was there to cover holes that were appearing all over the place, and with that, showed me at least, that here was the central defender with the best range to his defending out of anyone.

Of course range won't do it alone and if he wasn't very strong, a good tackler, quick with great timing and good in the air, then range can only do so much, but when very gifted at the same time, it does wonders, or least as much wonder as a central defender can do in a game where team defending is much more important than any one individual defending great.

Individually I rate him as the best centreback currently in the world but to get anywhere it's the team that has to defend well, and while a centreback's negative impact concerning defending can still be greater than those in other positions, the positive impact concerning defending can be as great coming from almost any other position. Maybe even indirectly from the forwards who for an example I'd argue had the most negative impact in Chiellini's team, Juventus, defensive failures this season.
Late (fat) Ronaldo at Galacticos Real Madrid is another of my favorite examples and of course late Ronaldinho as well, both for Barcelona and currently for Milan.

It's not as negative as the (maybe not so) hypothetical defender in the back-four who keeps scoring own goals but one rotten apple in any position can create imbalance damaging the team defending and then adjusting to that tactically might just damage the team's ability to score goals, which again, arguably in many ways will make the defending more difficult, which then... well you get the picture... It's just a neverending evil circle affecting winning and losing and in many ways also in there is why I've ranked players the way I have.

Who individually contributes most to a team's chances of winning?
And unless I decided to give tremendous credit to countless of defenders for not being really poor, for not being Frank Sinclair and by default almost causing defeats, that means players in positions contributing more, defending, attacking or both, in more places than deep in your own half which arguably with the speed and skill of players nowadays isn't even that more important to defend, than say certain midfield areas (depending on tactics of course), then these players, at the highest level at least - who the most important players are on lower levels might actually be quite different - judged by me to be doing more than the defenders doing less will of course have to predominantly be ranked higher throughout this list.

And with that, here we have it. The last central defender on the list ranked 77. Had I been more idealistic I could have probably followed through on my ideas even stronger and had everyone much lower - if ranked at all! But it's not all black and white of course and so far the list have been full of players where you could always find some kind of negative justifying being put behind a central defender if at the highest level, but that's over with now and the rest of the list will all be players who I think with their characteristics can contribute more to a team than any current centreback, and the higher we go of course, the less close that will be.

The 300 update:

Chiellini remains consistent and is currently in a good looking partnership, club and country, with Leonardo Bonucci, who is a clear improvement over previous partners Leggrotaglie and not least the fading Cannavaro.

This season he also enjoys the luxury of a more well balanced team in midfield, but huge weaknesses at the fullback positions ensure the Juve back-four will still look shaky at times.

Nemanja Vidić

Manchester United

Defender - Serbia



Original 200 writeup:

Tough as nails defender who with great strength and aggression is perhaps the best man to man defender in the world. If close to the attacking player, chances are that the attacking player's chances, are not good at all!

While a very good tackler capable of destruction, Vidic also specializes in always getting a foot... or his head

in front of whoever he is marking.

To prevent chances he is someone who really will do anything it takes.

In the air he is virtually unbeatable and while very much similar to most central defenders athletically he isn't the quickest, something like his agility shouldn't be underrated.

Much of why the last pack of centrebacks were ranked where they were, and not higher, was discussed here (Ferdinand, Carvalho, Terry) and while I do feel especially Ferdinand, but Carvalho as well, are more gifted than Vidic in some areas - Ferdinand's positioning and reading the game - Carvalho able to defend and make a difference with more range to it than Vidic - and both of them superior technically - health especially in Ferdinand's case, some decline in Carvalho's, sees Vidic despite some health issues on his own, but still very much in his prime playing consistently great, jump ahead of them.

The 300 update:

Currently enjoying playing alongside a healthy Rio Ferdinand in the Manchester United central defense and while doing it making a strong case for best defender in the world.

Together they simply put on a clinic when it comes to defending in the box and not least with their timely powerful interventions and clearances they make certain so many hopeful opposition passes and crosses result in nothing dangerous at all.