I searched for the shortlist and came to website and was like wow, these seem really out of touch with reality. Then I noticed it was 2014 and I was like oh I guess that explains it a little. Then I found the 2015 list... and it's nearly identical. I have no idea where they come up with this stuff. Throw in 13 forwards forwards who scored goals in the past 3 seasons, 2 young players hyped the past 2 years, 7 random midfielders from the top 4 CL teams, and Ramos. I swear this is how they choose this list.
Bale, Ronaldo, Suarez, and Neymar are the best non-Messi players in the world? Even on here, I don't get it. Why does everyone think Neymar and Suarez should be nominated top 3? Neymar was absolutely horrible for long periods last season and embarrassed himself completely in the Copa America. Suarez, still embarrassing himself nationally from his ban missed out on Copa, but still managed to waste an incredible amount of opportunities for us last season.
I've felt it since the beginning of this year, Neymar is truly the heir to the Ronaldo hype machine. He can be so mediocre compared to the rest of the team for long periods, but so long as he pops in for some penalties and goals, we somehow remember him as this incredible player. He's improving a lot and way better than when he started, but second best player in the world??? WHAT??? You guys speak of the insanity of Ronaldo being #2 and then put Neymar there. That is crazy. Please try to think back on the actual full 90 minutes of our games last year, instead of letting the goals/trophies/youtube compilation videos cloud your view. Other things occur on the field that lead to these goals, you can't simply watch the end product and praise it while ignoring everything else. We didn't have that amazing defensive record last year because of MSN who consistently would lose the ball in midfield with pointless dribble attempts and thoughtless passing leading to counters every game.
I hope that Messi doesn't destroy the Balon Dor with his goals. It's like we're losing sight of what makes a player great. Is the Balon Dor just the golden boot now? Messi could score 5 goals and still easily be the best player, but he doesn't and it seems like we now are wrongly associating what makes him great with his goal tally, and we're spreading that way of judging onto other players now like Neymar.
It's only a matter of time before we start adding players like Vardy and Kane into the Balon Dor conversation! (I was gong to say one more hyped player from the other year, but... honestly I forgot his name. Which illustrates my point I think.)
