Most overrated 'world class' player?

[altodevil]

I was browsing the FIFPro team of the year appearances by player:

I was shocked to see Marcelo has had 6 appearances. Six. It was only established in 2005. Marcelo has been judged as one of the best 11 players in the world six times.

I just found that astonishing, good player but never had him rated that highly.

Who else is a world class or top tier player that you find overrated? Either currently or in the annals of history.

 

[BridgeBanter]

I was browsing the FIFPro team of the year appearances by player:

I was shocked to see Marcelo has had 6 appearances. Six. It was only established in 2005. Marcelo has been judged as one of the best 11 players in the world six times.

I just found that astonishing, good player but never had him rated that highly.

Who else is a world class or top tier player that you find overrated? Either currently or in the annals of history.

Nah mate Marcelo is class.

I've watched Marcelo singlehandedly win CL ties for Madrid over the past 5 years. He's slightly washed now but prime Marcelo was different!

 

[acnumber9]

Mo Salah. I’ve seen him score lots of goals. I don’t think I’ve ever watched him and thought he played really well.

 

[V.O.]

How is Marcelo overrated?

He's past it now, but there have been plenty of big Real CL games over the last decade where he's looked their most threatening player and pretty much run the show from left back.

I'd also assume this award is done positionally, and who else is even close to him as a left back over the last 10 or so years? Jordi Alba is probably the only other one in the conversation and Marcelo was a level above.

 

[Irwin99]

John Terry was world class in my opinion but was he really better than Vidic or Ferdinand at that time? 5 times in that era of outstanding defenders seems excessive.

 

[AltiUn]

Marcelo was absolutely mint in his pomp, in fairness.

 

[acnumber9]

John Terry was world class in my opinion but was he really better than Vidic or Ferdinand at that time? 5 times in that era of outstanding defenders seems excessive.

From that list he sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

[Frasbul]

Every single player on that list deserves to be there.

 

[Piratesoup]

Marcelo was a sight to behold, he was comfortably the best LB in the world for a pretty long stretch.
Also: He wasn't rated as "one of the best 11 players in the world", but as the best in his position. But since there's only room for all the great midfielders and attackers, a bunch of players missed out.

My advice: Stop caring about FIFPro 11. It's a popularity contest, even though Marcelo deservedly made it in.

 

[Kaos]

I've never thought Pique to be all that tbh. Slow as feck, and often has a mistake in him everytime I've seen him play. I think he's been lucky enough to be a part of a sensational Barca side which has often glossed over his own inadequacies.

 

[AltiUn]

Also if we actually are naming world class players we think are overrated I nominate Puyol. Great player? Yes. One of the best of all time? Not in my eyes.

 

[ivaldo]

Casillas wasn't the best keeper in the world 5 years on the bounce, same as Neuer.

 

[AltiUn]

Casillas wasn't the best keeper in the world 5 years on the bounce, same as Neuer.

In my humble opinion, de Gea was undoubtably the best between 2015-2018, not sure if he's ever made one of these teams though.

 

[11101]

Ramos. Says a lot about the state of defenders in the 2010s.
John Terry was very good but not 5 times good.
Pique should not feature more than Puyol, who himself was a bit overrated.

Let's face it half the names on that list wouldn't be there if they weren't playing alongside Messi or Ronaldo at the time.

 

[BrilliantOrange]

Who do we miss here?

Zlatan?
Robben?
Piro?

 

[V.O.]

Who do we miss here?

Zlatan?
Robben?
Piro?

Steven A. Starfish being on that list while Busquets misses out is absolutely mental. I think Lahm is a huge obvious miss as well.

 

[Ddannidom]

Modric for me.

I don't see to get the worldclass vibe around him. Surely he is a good midfielder, I still believe the balon d'or awarded to him is ta tas. Not to talk of the incessant mentions in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta as tier one level midfielders by some Madrid fans.

I still have this conflict in my mind why Sneijder never won the balon d'or in 2010 or Iniester in 2012. These guys where clearly levels above Modric talent wise, but where all denied.

Modric doesn't give me the vibe that he is about to produce a moment of magic each time I see him play so what's the fuze?

 

[tjb]

Casillas wasn't the best keeper in the world 5 years on the bounce, same as Neuer.

This is the one. Great keeper, but I think he benefitted for a long time from some of his earlier success, and recieved more praise than be should have gotten for Spain's exploits. Buffon was always better, Chechnya was better till the head injury. VDS was just as good from 08 to 11 and Neuer was better from even as early as 2010. Keepers have a tendency of living on reputation. I.e Joe Hart

 

[GatoLoco]

Every player in that list was absolute class. If anything it's some people the ones who overrate their own football knowledge thinking they watched these footballers enough.

 

[SilentWitness]

It's always surprised me how much Terry is rated over Ferdinand by people. Not much between them. Casillas probably lucky to be on that as much as he is too.

 

[OleBoiii]

The most shocking part for me is how few strikers/wingers there are who has won it 3 times or more. Out of these 19 players, only 2 fit the striker/winger category: Ronaldo and Messi

7 defenders
7 midfielders
3 goalkeepers
2 forwards(wingers/strikers)

 

[V.O.]

The most shocking part for me is how few strikers/wingers there are who has won it 3 times or more. Out of these 19 players, only 2 fit the striker/winger category: Ronaldo and Messi

7 defenders
7 midfielders
3 goalkeepers
2 forwards(wingers/strikers)

Because it's done as an XI and Ronaldo and Messi automatically fill two of the forward slots every year. So if it's done as a 4-3-3, you've got one open slot for strikers and wingers unless they get questionably shoehorned into the midfield three.

 

[tjb]

Modric for me.

I don't see to get the worldclass vibe around him. Surely he is a good midfielder, I still believe the balon d'or awarded to him is ta tas. Not to talk of the incessant mentions in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta as tier one level midfielders by some Madrid fans.

I still have this conflict in my mind why Sneijder never won the balon d'or in 2010 or Iniester in 2012. These guys where clearly levels above Modric talent wise, but where all denied.

Modric doesn't give me the vibe that he is about to produce a moment of magic each time I see him play so what's the fuze?

I have always felt Kroos was better and even in 2018, that league season, Kroos was far more consistent. Modric is world class, but that Ballon D'or was a joke. That team had Kovacic, Rakitic, Mandzukic, Perisic, Rebic . They had good players and a good draw. If England had gotten to the final, would Kane have gotten the Ballon D'or?

Same goes for Cannavaro in 2006. Great world cup performance, but as a player Nesta was better and was roundly acknowledged as such. If Cannavaro had not regressed at Madrid, people would have really believed he was the best defender of that era

 

[Tallis]

From that list he sticks out like a sore thumb.

Yeah - agree.

I think Puyol and Ramos are / were top quality defenders. I would put them together with Ferdinand and Stam at the top of my list. People would add Cannavaro as well but I just don’t think he would have been as good in the premier league.

 

[Remember the geese]

Kante and Firmino. I've never heard so much praise for such a limited player as I have for Kante. The hype has died somewhat (although it is beginning to build again) but he was generally viewed as the best midfielder in the world because he ran a lot and made tackles. You'd think he was the reincarnation of Roy Keane!

Firmino, similarly was glorified beyond belief. The glue which allowed Mane and Salah to play apparently. Didn't matter how ineffective he was in front of goal, just so long as he pressed well enough and could lay it off to his more talented teammates.

 

[OleBoiii]

Because it's done as an XI and Ronaldo and Messi automatically fill two of the forward slots every year. So if it's done as a 4-3-3, you've got one open slot for strikers and wingers unless they get questionably shoehorned into the midfield three.

I get that, but I still find it weird that not a single attacker has managed to get into the team more than twice in the last 15-16 years. There's only one goalkeeper position, but there has been 3 different goalkeepers in the same time period.

 

[V.O.]

Kante and Firmino. I've never heard so much praise for such a limited player as I have for Kante. The hype has died somewhat (although it is beginning to build again) but he was generally viewed as the best midfielder in the world because he ran a lot and made tackles. You'd think he was the reincarnation of Roy Keane!

He absolutely bummed Real Madrid in a CL semi-final 5 days ago, mate.

 

[Pow]

He absolutely bummed Real Madrid in a CL semi-final 5 days ago, mate.

2 motm performances in a row no less in a CL semi final. Has won 2 leagues with 2 different clubs won the world Cup
Could well add the cl and euros to that list this year. Overrated indeed !

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Prime Marcelo was a class LB. If you want to look for the most overrated player of all time, just look a little higher up that list. He plays on the same team as Marcelo and has been in the FIFPro team 11 times, which just so happens to work out to 11 times more than he shouldn've been...

 

[Kasper]

I was browsing the FIFPro team of the year appearances by player:

I was shocked to see Marcelo has had 6 appearances. Six. It was only established in 2005. Marcelo has been judged as one of the best 11 players in the world six times.

I just found that astonishing, good player but never had him rated that highly.

Who else is a world class or top tier player that you find overrated? Either currently or in the annals of history.

The FifPro FIFA World XI has had a ridiculous La Liga bias in the 2010s, so it`s probably not the best metric to judge. Don`t get me wrong, La Liga was overall the strongest league in that decade but the World XI often didn`t really reflect the achievements in the respective years. Bayern was back-to-back CL finalist in 2012 and 2013 with no Spanish team making it, yet they got 3 World XI nominations while Barca got 8 and Real 7.
There was a time Alves, Ramos, Pique and Marcelo would basically get in per default. In 2012 the XI was Spanish teams exclusively and in 2016 again except for Neuer. Only in recent years we`ve seen more diverse teams.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Ramos, it just has to be Ramos.

 

[Redlyn]

I get that, but I still find it weird that not a single attacker has managed to get into the team more than twice in the last 15-16 years. There's only one goalkeeper position, but there has been 3 different goalkeepers in the same time period.

There are far more attackers than GK. Lets say there are 10 top teams. Thats a pool of about 10 GK vs 30-50 Attackers for 1 spot.

 

[BFernandes]

Zlatan.

Easy.

 

[BusbyMalone]

Pique.

People rate him as world-class, right? Don't get it. He's decent, but surely not world-class. No chance.

I also think the term world-class is used far too often. It wasn't so long ago that Sterling was considered world-class. I mean, come on.

 

[V.O.]

Pique's interesting because he always gets into these kinds of things but I don't think I've ever seen anybody say they rate him at all.

 

[always_hoping]

Neymar. Opportunity to really show why he's so highly rated in the absence of Mbappe in recent games for PSG but other than scoring a dodgy awarded penalty yesterday he went missing in the last few games.

 

[calodo2003]

Neymar. Opportunity to really show why he's so highly rated in the absence of Mbappe in recent games for PSG but other than scoring a dodgy awarded penalty yesterday he went missing.

This is the obvious answer for a current overrated world class player.

 

[1950]

Modric for me.

I don't see to get the worldclass vibe around him. Surely he is a good midfielder, I still believe the balon d'or awarded to him is ta tas. Not to talk of the incessant mentions in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta as tier one level midfielders by some Madrid fans.

I still have this conflict in my mind why Sneijder never won the balon d'or in 2010 or Iniester in 2012. These guys where clearly levels above Modric talent wise, but where all denied.

Modric doesn't give me the vibe that he is about to produce a moment of magic each time I see him play so what's the fuze?

Heresy. I'd say Modrić produces magic with every single touch, but then I'm slightly biased.

Marcelo was a playmaking left-back like no other in his pomp. I pity those who underrate him because he was allegedly a <defensive liability>.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

- Ramos is the first one to stand out on that list. He's won me over through the years but he just isn't a world-class 'defensive' player and as a CB that's the bread and butter. You don't get that many career reds if you are fundamentally world-class at defending and reading the game. He has however proven to be a massive offensive weapon, so I can see how he features positively in lists like this. It would have been very interesting to see him play his whole career in England, I suspect he would be considered a lesser player than this version (still highly regarded mind you).

- Terry was weaker than both Ferdinand and Vidic and really benefitted from playing in an ultra-conservative and machine-like, Mourinho Chelsea team. Ferdinand was almost the model CB and I don't think there have been many defenders that combine his pace, reading of the game and ball-playing abilities. As a different (more comparable) kind of player to Terry, Vidic is simply the biggest warrior I've ever seen play for Utd. Best six-yard defender I've ever seen, it was like he had a magnet on his head that drew every ball onto him. Terry was good but Ferdinands skill set is more unique and harder to pull off and Vidic simply did what Terry did, but better.

 

[Lay]

Seedorf.