He was the only midfielder who was able to effectively play against that trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Sure he had help from other players (and Milito was actually Inter's best player) but he was absolutely fantastic both on scoring high pressure goals and making assists out of nothing, which were a large part of why Inter won the Treble and why Holland almost won the World Cup.
Luka Modric
- Thread starter Eddy_JukeZ
- Start date
I consider him our biggest loss transfer-wise.
I don’t think he played that well until Croatia equalised. After that it was just great watching him and Rakitic control the midfield.
Even before the 1-1 he had some nice touches and his class was apparent but no end product or any sense of match control.
But after 2-1 you just knew England had no way of coming back.
I wish united used their midfield to control matches like this after going 1-0 up. We used to do this in SAFs last 2 seasons. Go 1-0 up and then make the opposition chase shadows. Giving them no chance to come back.
We currently have the midfield talent to do that, but no intention to do it.
Back to Modric. He was the perfect scholes replacement. We should have broke the bank for him. Amazing World Cup so far from him.
Even before the 1-1 he had some nice touches and his class was apparent but no end product or any sense of match control.
But after 2-1 you just knew England had no way of coming back.
I wish united used their midfield to control matches like this after going 1-0 up. We used to do this in SAFs last 2 seasons. Go 1-0 up and then make the opposition chase shadows. Giving them no chance to come back.
We currently have the midfield talent to do that, but no intention to do it.
Back to Modric. He was the perfect scholes replacement. We should have broke the bank for him. Amazing World Cup so far from him.
Modric is one of those players of whom you can see his brain working.
He always seems to keep his team’s attacks moving in exactly the right direction, linking up beautifully with whichever of his fellow forwards are ahead of or alongside him.
And to think we nearly got him on the back of our glory days.
He always seems to keep his team’s attacks moving in exactly the right direction, linking up beautifully with whichever of his fellow forwards are ahead of or alongside him.
And to think we nearly got him on the back of our glory days.
Meant did nothing for Inter. He was world class from January to July then once the World cup was finished he became pretty irrelevant. But yeah agreed. Can't see him winning it unless he wins the final but he should be top 3 regardless.
Sneijder's 2010 World Cup is one of the most overrated tournament performances of all time.
It's basically a carbon copy of Messi in 2014, don't play that well overall, come up some key moments (goals/assists), and lose the final. For some reason though Sneijder's is considered great and Messi's subpar. Guess it just goes to show how enormous expectations are for some players.
Main reason is that Sneijder contributed on goals and assists on KO, while Messi did it on group stage. I mean, Argies scored 2 goals in KO combined (one from a Messi assist) while Sneijder was scoring, assisting and creating chances in the KO matches.
I agree.
In terms of statistical impact you're right, it's more the fact that my overall impression of Sneijder's world cup was that he was distinctly average throughout, nowhere near the standard in those couple of late CL games that season. That's not something i'd call great. I feel Robben for example had a better world cup considering performance and overall impression that year, and he's barely mentioned.
Not once have you produced anything approaching a sound argument. All you’ve done is talk utter shite with this sanctimonious, holier than thou attitude. It is self evidently false that Modric is NOT in the conversation for best in his region. Whether or not he is the best is another story; one that could be debated with civility. Dismissing the point, however, by reducing the argument to ignorance from a few ‘redcafe muppets’ because you can’t handle the scrutiny of a few people calling you out, shows us all exactly the kind of bloke you are.
I’d counter that you don’t debate here because you have the intellect of a fecking primary school kid.
Inter outplayed Barca in the first leg against Barcelona but, they were holding on for dear life in the second leg and Sneijder provided nothing that second leg. And Holland had zero control in midfield in the final the only reason Spain did not win it sooner is Howard Webb allowed Van Bommel. De Jong and Heitinga to kick Spain all over the pitch.
And Sneijder would have the worst individual player to ever win the Balon D'Or. He had two great seasons in his career and spent the rest of his career living off the reputation from those two seasons.
Did they not have 10 men?
They did and the game likely would have flowed the same even if Inter weren't down a man.
When Barcelona pinned you back then, you couldn't get out nor keep the ball long enough to bypass their initial press.
Croatia beat England in the semis. There's nothing between the two teams other than Croatia having players with proper CL experience and England having a better striker. It's not really as if they've beaten 3 teams far better than them as great an achievement as it is.He will have won 4 Champions Leagues in 5 years as a starter (and vital player) in Real Madrid, and taking Croatia (yes CROATIA) to win the fecking world cup...
Now that Croatia is in semifinals, are you really going to say that they were title contenders before the WC started?
Croatia was below Mexico, Sweden, Uruguay, Poland, Switzerland, etc... in the contenders lists in all betting sites, and qualified to the world cup 2nd of his group, below Iceland! Come on...
Cruyff and Beckenbauer for example, are in the GOATS list because of that kind of achievements, Maradona is in that list because he took an average/good Argentina team to win the World Cup.
Modric has been destroying Europe the last 5 years with Madrid, if he makes this and manages to win Ballon D'or, we won't need to have a discussion anymore... time puts everyone in the place they deserve.
Also people regularly misuse 'achievements', as a weak tool to justify their claims. Winning a WC or making a final doesn't automatically make you among the greatest 10 footballers of all time when you haven't ever performed like one of the greatest 10 footballers of all time. Noone has ever considered Modric an equal of an all time top 10 and it's not happening anytime soon. He'll most likely be thought of like Scholes as among the best midfielders of his time rather than all time great footballer. With a bit of elevation maybe Xavi comparisons but I don't think he's ever reached Xavis level.
True, but I dont think its fair to judge Sneijder off that second leg.
Tbf inter played the first 30 minutes with 11 and barcelona were keeping quite a bit of the ball but hardly threatening nor even pinning inter particularly deep. The red card had a massive impact on that game
. I certainly don’t think the last 5 years would have been quite so miserable if he was in the team. What a player!
Hard to do something against that Barca, especially playing without a man cause Busquets cheated.
This is a bit exaggerated (Sneijder was a very good player since Ajax days), but I get the point. Still, Ballon D'Or is not a lifetime achievement award (bar the original one which went to a 41 years old Sir Stanley Matthews), it is a yearly award.
It has nothing to do with Modric. More like with the poster's and Modric's nationality.
Of course, when you don't wanna argue how overrated someone is anymore, drop the nationality card, typical. There is @jungledrums who drops only insults while accusing others not having arguments and acting like children, which is hilarious but oh well, and then there is you going easy road and dropping nationality card, and with these kind of posts people want me to actually have conversation and argue?
You said that it is laughable to claim that Modric is the best Yugoslavian player of all time, which is a laughable claim in itself. I mean, at the very worst case he is in discussion, and he has the best achievements (captaining his country which is just 1/5 of Yugoslavia to World Cup final, something that Yugoslavia never was able to reach; 4 UCL titles). Then when asked to give a list of better players, you refused to do so.Of course, when you don't wanna argue how overrated someone is anymore, drop the nationality card, typical. There is @jungledrums who drops only insults while accusing others not having arguments and acting like children, which is hilarious but oh well, and then there is you going easy road and dropping nationality card, and with these kind of posts people want me to actually have conversation and argue?
A better answer would have been 'Nah, I don't like Croats, so feck him'.
i wonder how long he'll be able to keep up this level.
He looked exhausted during the last match. I hope a few days rest will be enough for him to deliver another great performance in the final. Croatia will surely need a top class performance from him if they want to get anything out of this match.
IF croatia wins i'm sure he'll be a top 3 candidate for the ballon d'or. Even though Ronaldo will be the one to win it again i guess.
He looked exhausted during the last match. I hope a few days rest will be enough for him to deliver another great performance in the final. Croatia will surely need a top class performance from him if they want to get anything out of this match.
IF croatia wins i'm sure he'll be a top 3 candidate for the ballon d'or. Even though Ronaldo will be the one to win it again i guess.
He reminds me a bit of a deeper-lying tinier Nedved, in the sense that he somehow seems to always get on the ball and taking it forwards throughout the 90 minutes, as if he is never really marked.
edit. yeah, that's it, I think. Modric plays the way other players would if they were never marked.
edit. yeah, that's it, I think. Modric plays the way other players would if they were never marked.
You’re not fooling anyone.Of course, when you don't wanna argue how overrated someone is anymore, drop the nationality card, typical. There is @jungledrums who drops only insults while accusing others not having arguments and acting like children, which is hilarious but oh well, and then there is you going easy road and dropping nationality card, and with these kind of posts people want me to actually have conversation and argue?
The irony is that you accused everyone else of being unwavering in their views, yet you’re so stubborn that you’re not even willing to listen to anyone else’s view.
Then you fecking complain about having a few insults levelled at you? Don’t be a daft moron and people won’t insult you. I’m done with this ‘discussion’; well said @Revan
Of course you can't be fooled, you are so biased and stubborn that "fooling" you would be a miracle, as would be any kind of "discussion". You do you though, acting like a petulant child suits you tbh.
He's had an excellent tournament. Brilliant player.
A joy to watch.
Well deserved player of the tournament, just gotta love the little guy. Sad for him not winning the WC.
What a player he is. Sad that they lost but nice to see him gaining the recognition he deserves, player of the tournament.
I feel really really really sorry for him and the Croatian side. Wanted them to win.
What a player and leader (by example). Modric is one of the best ever I have had the chance to watch playing
Barely put a foot wrong all tournament and his engine is something else. To have had to put in that many hard yards and still maintain the level that he has is incredible.
I don't think Madrid have any intention of selling him off due to his age, but if they do, he should be the most coveted midfielder on the planet.
I've never seen a poster more vindicated for backing a player when he wasn't highly rated as @Scholesy with Modrić. It's like he came from the future to tell us all, circa 2010, that he had seen the future, and Modrić was glorious in it.
I don't think Madrid have any intention of selling him off due to his age, but if they do, he should be the most coveted midfielder on the planet.
I've never seen a poster more vindicated for backing a player when he wasn't highly rated as @Scholesy with Modrić
. It's like he came from the future to tell us all, circa 2010, that he had seen the future, and Modrić was glorious in it. Absolutely fantastic player!
one of the all time greats imo
one of the all time greats imo
Tom(?) Cairney had a good season last year at Fulham too..Barely put a foot wrong all tournament and his engine is something else. To have had to put in that many hard yards and still maintain the level that he has is incredible.
I don't think Madrid have any intention of selling him off due to his age, but if they do, he should be the most coveted midfielder on the planet.
I've never seen a poster more vindicated for backing a player when he wasn't highly rated as @Scholesy with Modrić
This guy though...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Delfouneso
Not so much!
He had to throw a few misdirects at us mortals lest we know he's actually from the future.Tom(?) Cairney had a good season last year at Fulham too..
This guy though...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Delfouneso
Not so much!
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I didn't think it deserved an entire new thread.
Modric has got a new book coming out and some excerpts from it have been released. This one is all about how much he really wanted to join Chelsea.
This part sounds like it's straight out of a Bond film
Modric has got a new book coming out and some excerpts from it have been released. This one is all about how much he really wanted to join Chelsea.
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This part sounds like it's straight out of a Bond film
Remember that was the saga of 2011. He can’t complain about the direction his career instead.
I'm probably a bit biased but one of the best midfielders ever.