Common practise in the game, and leads to a lot of under and over rating of players. It’s particularly annoying because it’s not necessary at all. Everyone has eyes, can’t we just call the best players the best players?
If a half decent player wins the World Cup, there’s a fair chance he will win the Balloon too. The two should not be that closely related, but they are. One of the biggest robberies was in 2002 when R9 (my favourite ever footballer) won the Balloon despite missing 8 months of the season with injury, but he came back and won the World Cup and the Golden Boot. The second place player was Michael Ballack, who dragged Bayer Leverkusen to the CL final, then proceeded to drag Germany to the same World Cup final. Far more deserving than Ronaldo, but because his team didn’t win the tournament, he wasn’t the best.
On a micro level, it happens every single game. ‘If they had held on for the win, I would have given him MOTM, but now I’m going to give it to x’. You are literally not allowed to be the official best player on the pitch unless your team wins.
I appreciate that football is about winning, nobody is disputing that, but only teams can be awarded victories for football matches. From a United perspective, I think some of our players have gotten a poor rap due to our teams struggles too, and so long as we don’t win, an individual will need to work 3 times as hard as a counterpart in a trophy winning side to be considered the best player.
If a half decent player wins the World Cup, there’s a fair chance he will win the Balloon too. The two should not be that closely related, but they are. One of the biggest robberies was in 2002 when R9 (my favourite ever footballer) won the Balloon despite missing 8 months of the season with injury, but he came back and won the World Cup and the Golden Boot. The second place player was Michael Ballack, who dragged Bayer Leverkusen to the CL final, then proceeded to drag Germany to the same World Cup final. Far more deserving than Ronaldo, but because his team didn’t win the tournament, he wasn’t the best.
On a micro level, it happens every single game. ‘If they had held on for the win, I would have given him MOTM, but now I’m going to give it to x’. You are literally not allowed to be the official best player on the pitch unless your team wins.
I appreciate that football is about winning, nobody is disputing that, but only teams can be awarded victories for football matches. From a United perspective, I think some of our players have gotten a poor rap due to our teams struggles too, and so long as we don’t win, an individual will need to work 3 times as hard as a counterpart in a trophy winning side to be considered the best player.