Second best player in the world

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Poll Results

Option	Votes
iniesta	9
xavi	7
drogba	4
sneijder	4
lúcio	3
cristiano ronaldo	3
casillas	3
villa	2
torres	1
eto'o	0
maicon	0
rooney	0

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:52 (fourteen years ago)

One of these things is not like the others.

― away from football we're perfectly nice gentlemen (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:53 (fourteen years ago)

VdV hardly undisputed now tbf

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:55 (fourteen years ago)

i've suprised myself and gone with sneijder

assuming it's an official list hence no robben

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:56 (fourteen years ago)

or kaka, who may well have been my choice

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:57 (fourteen years ago)

kaka replaced at great and unnecassry expense on list by c ronaldo tbh

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:58 (fourteen years ago)

Can't decide between Villa and Xavi.

Don't really think Villa is the "right" answer but I love him anyway.

― away from football we're perfectly nice gentlemen (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 9 October 2010 20:58 (fourteen years ago)

The conductor xavi hernandez.

― Efraqueen Juárez (jim in glasgow), Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:01 (fourteen years ago)

i was there so i went for neither, but certainly don't think either of them would be the 'wrong' answer.

again, i'm assuming this is an official list hence rooney and torres being there.

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:02 (fourteen years ago)

the thing is, who else from the epl ought to be there instead?

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:04 (fourteen years ago)

not allowing for injury last year, essien

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:08 (fourteen years ago)

darren bent, if rooney's there.

king, if torres is

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:08 (fourteen years ago)

Cashley maybe, but that's a pretty poor showing for the best league in the world.

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago)

it's not a list of left backs though- admittedly he'd be up there if it was

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:20 (fourteen years ago)

Went for Casillas. His record is extraordinary, and he might be only halfway through his career.

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:24 (fourteen years ago)

Might have voted for Messi here?

― Gravel Puzzleworth, Saturday, 9 October 2010 21:53 (fourteen years ago)

hence we're only voting for the 2nd best, bcz i think we all agree messi's untouchable

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:17 (fourteen years ago)

Nakh's made this a long poll though, that could all change if Andy Carroll or someone hits form again.

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:20 (fourteen years ago)

how far off this list is tevez?

― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:24 (fourteen years ago)

Man City not helping to showcase Tevez's abilities at the moment imo

― away from football we're perfectly nice gentlemen (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:30 (fourteen years ago)

Good question. My immediate instinct is that he obviously doesn't belong on this list though I can't really say why. But he'd be near the top of the list below this one, maybe behind a few Germans.

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:31 (fourteen years ago)

i can't answer this question obv, just wondering cuz i'd say that my favorite players in the world after messi are tevez & müller

― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:35 (fourteen years ago)

Tevez maybe suffers from trying so hard, you kind of mentally associate him with workrate rather than ability. The guys on this list could mostly glide through a game, doing extraordinary things like it ain't no thing.

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:35 (fourteen years ago)

yeah i see that -- that's sort of why i dig tevez -- bulldog and all that

― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:36 (fourteen years ago)

n00b question but: is there a sense that rooney is gonna have a down year? like, world cup disappointment hangover + all the shit w/ his personal life or is he still balling it up

― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:38 (fourteen years ago)

this isn't quite a list of the best players, so much as a list of players for a whom a plausible/sophistic argument could be advanced for being sbpitw

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:38 (fourteen years ago)

jordan

common feeling about rooney is that he's still feeling the aftereffects of an injury he's prob not recovered from going back at least 6 months, hence his poor world cup. he's not really been great this season, but hasn't played much.

my own personal view is that rooney had an 'up year' last year and that he isn't as good as carlos tevez at doing much the same thing.

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:48 (fourteen years ago)

tevez shouldn't be on this list because this list is the best player in the world, not the trying littlest bighearted dude in the world.

there's no arguing with his goal record and i like the dude, but cmon

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:49 (fourteen years ago)

maybe kaká but he hasn't played yet this season w/ bad injury, long slump in form....

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:53 (fourteen years ago)

yeah imo kaka, vand c ronaldo are the closest pair irl, but i don't like them as much as i do the likes of drogba, robben or sneijder, dudes that make you go 'wtf was that as opposed to kaka's geometrically perfectly boring runs/passing and c ronaldo being faster, stronger and having a better strike than everyone else in the world.

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 22:59 (fourteen years ago)

voted xavi

― avinha, Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:01 (fourteen years ago)

always maybe feel that xavi's only one half of the world's best pair of players

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:03 (fourteen years ago)

kaká at his best is obv better than rooney tho

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:12 (fourteen years ago)

wtf

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:17 (fourteen years ago)

fact that you'd even hint at hesitance is wtf

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:17 (fourteen years ago)

rooney is the poorest 'talismanic' player england have had in my memory (ie since before gazza, so before robson i guess)

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:18 (fourteen years ago)

kaka's geometrically perfectly boring runs

this is the best case i've read for kaká's understated greatness

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:19 (fourteen years ago)

voted lúcio btw

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:22 (fourteen years ago)

i've thought about it!

dude was pretty much undeniable for a while there, before ronaldo ascended. but he never made me love him. you couldn't cheer a surgeon, but messi's a magician- in it to try out new stuff, the result is secondary to the exuberance, the show.

rooney's i dunno a busted down saloon pianist- he's got talent, maybe on hard times atm, but the only reason the crowd are singing along so rowdily is that they're pissed and he's the only act in town atm

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:24 (fourteen years ago)

my mate's brother once went into a pub in leeds, put on "the fog on the tyne" by lindisfarne - the version with gazza - ten times, then fucked off sharpish. shame, really, because i'd have loved to know how that went down.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Monday, 3 January 2005 20:03 (5 years ago)

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:25 (fourteen years ago)

is there a gazza/leeds negative connection i've missed?

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:25 (fourteen years ago)

no other footballer is so engrained in the popular imagination

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:27 (fourteen years ago)

pfft mcgrath keane and gary doherty at first thought

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Saturday, 9 October 2010 23:29 (fourteen years ago)

tbh atm i'd pick drogba over messi.

yeah i said it.

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 10 October 2010 18:50 (fourteen years ago)

Drogba
Messi
Ronaldo
Sneijder
Pique
Xavi
Lucio
Milito
Fabregas
Ibra

in order.

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 10 October 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago)

Essien wld be top 5 if he played more than 5 games in a row.

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 10 October 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago)

same with Kaka i guess.

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 10 October 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago)

surely u jest

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Sunday, 10 October 2010 19:38 (fourteen years ago)

arsenal fan in bogeyman psychological disorder shocka

― acoleuthic, Sunday, 10 October 2010 19:39 (fourteen years ago)

it is ok dude he won't score implausible backheels every week you can come out from behind the sofa

― acoleuthic, Sunday, 10 October 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago)

Skipping 55 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Dunno, was thinking of that pre-Messi, post-Zizou time when the only real superstar was Ronnie?

The Kaka era you mean? He's getting a raw deal from this thread. (PS Ronnie = Ronaldo or Ronaldinho?)

― Ismael Klata, Monday, 11 October 2010 19:11 (fourteen years ago)

yeah kaká shd have been on here anyway

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:13 (fourteen years ago)

if he gets back to his 07 level then he's a sure #2, but i'm not sure he will

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:14 (fourteen years ago)

there was a long time post zizou pre kaka/ronaldo but ronaldinho was untouchable 03-05 iirc

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:22 (fourteen years ago)

http://barcelona.theoffside.com/files/2008/07/alves.jpg
http://cdn.epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/ashley_cole-v-sign2.jpg

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:24 (fourteen years ago)

left-handed v sign is all wrong....sinister indeed

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:26 (fourteen years ago)

ronnie = dinho
i didnt sb u darragh
i dunno i was just thinking of that time when figo, pires, vieira, henry, raul, shevchenko and inzaghi really started to drop and when ronaldo, messi, kaka weren't at their best yet. tings got so bad that gerrard and lampard entered the conversation and a centre half who played for cheating scum won ballon d'or for christs sake

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:26 (fourteen years ago)

forgetting dinho, mayne.

i sb'd averyone tbh. evryone.

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:27 (fourteen years ago)

and nedved had one great season in the interim too i think

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:28 (fourteen years ago)

oh yeah. nedved is always seemingly the forgotten man.

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:30 (fourteen years ago)

i thought it was pretty clear messi was a worthy successor to zidane and ronaldinho from 2006 onwards, but he took a couple of years to prove it

nedved was ballon d'or in 2003....he was an awesome player

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:33 (fourteen years ago)

btw i can see sneijder beating messi to wpoty/bd'o via winning the triple/taking his country to wc final

― http://tinypic.com/r/s0wvar/7 (a hoy hoy), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:42 (fourteen years ago)

they've combined those two into the fifa ballon d'or....so to emphasize pre-eminence of fifa compeitions it will have to go to xavi, inesta, villa, or sneijder i guess

― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:44 (fourteen years ago)

Iniesta was injured a lot of last season, so not him. Sneijder mibbes.

― C. Tuomas Howell (jim in glasgow), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:55 (fourteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

World Player of the Year nominees:

Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

(or ppl who had a good world cup + messi + drogba + eto'o + ronaldo. wtf wheres that whole inter team? srs no milito or lucio? gtfo!)

― O holy ruler of ILF (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 08:08 (fourteen years ago)

I know Asamoah Gyan had a great World Cup but the dude is currently sitting on the bench at Sunderland.

Total agreement on Milito and Lucio. Milito still just ridiculously underrated all things considered, can't help being in the shadow of Messi and Tevez.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 10:17 (fourteen years ago)

fuck fifa

france football should never have let them despoil the ballon d'or

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:48 (fourteen years ago)

wassup

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:50 (fourteen years ago)

absence of lúcio/milito = fifa determined to hype every second-rater who did something blogworthy in the world cup

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:59 (fourteen years ago)

lucio, certainly.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:02 (fourteen years ago)

I don't rate Milito that highly but leading scorer for treble winners (inc CL final goal) is pretty obviously within the top twenty achievements of any given year.

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:40 (fourteen years ago)

he scores important goals. i dunno, i gotta have more myself tbh.

stephen gerrard has just said 'important goals' to the nanosec of my typing, chills.

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:43 (fourteen years ago)

drogba

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 21:01 (fourteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Wednesday, 3 November 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

No Lampard? Madness.

― isn't house rubbish and Pete W mental (Pete W), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 12:40 (fourteen years ago)

no ramsay either

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 12:46 (fourteen years ago)

lúcio
eto'o
iniesta
villa
casillas
xavi

no other answers acceptable

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 23:30 (fourteen years ago)

drogba very acceptable indeed, you aloof wanker

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 23:40 (fourteen years ago)

are u riffing on lj's 'episode' posts?

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 23:53 (fourteen years ago)

lj has too many episodes to single one out like that tbf

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 23:58 (fourteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

torres 1

anyone want to own up?

― gazza bale flame (a hoy hoy), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:02 (fourteen years ago)

i'll own up for chris!

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:03 (fourteen years ago)

i think ilx prob got this right in the end

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:03 (fourteen years ago)

wp pallid one, long may u destroy defences in apparent slow-motion

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:04 (fourteen years ago)

underwater, he plays like he's underwater, with the pallor and the slowmotion

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:05 (fourteen years ago)

Ha yes, sorry! Couldn't decide between Xavi and Iniesta. So Fernando was the, er, obvious choice.

― The referee was perfect (Chris), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:10 (fourteen years ago)

sheepish in wolf's clothing

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:12 (fourteen years ago)

not lyin tho, i'd have voted modric if he were on this like he should have been

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:12 (fourteen years ago)

try and sublimate yr culchie prejudice all u like but u can't spoil a ballot being cap'n save a drog and THEN genuflect to san andeas

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:13 (fourteen years ago)

cant remember who i voted for, it's probably up there somewhere

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:14 (fourteen years ago)

sneijder, apparently

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:15 (fourteen years ago)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Andr%C3%A9s_Iniesta_-_001.jpg

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:15 (fourteen years ago)

terrible shop job on the legs

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:15 (fourteen years ago)

yr still a damn bigot

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:21 (fourteen years ago)

http://i.imgur.com/KQOz8.jpg

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:23 (fourteen years ago)

i dont know where this has come from, yet i'm not moved to issue a full denial. telling, that.

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:23 (fourteen years ago)

http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/2712/iniesta1kg.jpg

― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:32 (fourteen years ago)

he looks a bit 'pied' in that pic alright

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 00:41 (fourteen years ago)

that's R. Federer, is it not?

― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Thursday, 4 November 2010 02:58 (fourteen years ago)

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