ThierryJay:


I think so too bro. My reply was even targeted more at enlightening others who may have been swayed by his comment than he himself.

Best midfielders of the 21st century (wingers and attacking midfielders like Dinho, Figo, Robben are excluded)

Tier 1 - Zidane, Iniesta, Xavi, Modric, Pirlo.

Tier 2 - Scholes, D. Silva, Lampard, Gerard, KDB, Busquets, Kroos, Yaya Toure, Sneijder, Rui Costa and maybe Fabregas

If KDB wins the UCL and does well in the Euros next year, he'll enter Tier 1. I already think he is the best midfielder of the EPL since 1992.

Jokerman:

Pessi fans and their logic

AImiron:
You're losing it lately bro, I understand the pain is some much for you too handle, Treble is coming this season. I like when you Pendu fans are in pain, it gives me a lot of joy.

ThierryJay:


I think so too bro. My reply was even targeted more at enlightening others who may have been swayed by his comment than he himself.

Best midfielders of the 21st century (wingers and attacking midfielders like Dinho, Figo, Robben are excluded)

Tier 1 - Zidane, Iniesta, Xavi, Modric, Pirlo.

Tier 2 - Scholes, D. Silva, Lampard, Gerard, KDB, Busquets, Kroos, Yaya Toure, Sneijder, Rui Costa and maybe Fabregas

If KDB wins the UCL and does well in the Euros next year, he'll enter Tier 1. I already think he is the best midfielder of the EPL since 1992.

Numerouno94:


Welcome back boss. Hope u gud?

ThierryJay:


I think so too bro. My reply was even targeted more at enlightening others who may have been swayed by his comment than he himself.

Best midfielders of the 21st century (wingers and attacking midfielders like Dinho, Figo, Robben are excluded)

Tier 1 - Zidane, Iniesta, Xavi, Modric, Pirlo.

Tier 2 - Scholes, D. Silva, Lampard, Gerard, KDB, Busquets, Kroos, Yaya Toure, Sneijder, Rui Costa and maybe Fabregas

If KDB wins the UCL and does well in the Euros next year, he'll enter Tier 1. I already think he is the best midfielder of the EPL since 1992.

AAA593:

Take modric to tier 2 immediately. Tier 1 midfielders should be for world cup winners and other related trophies at the interna tional level. Abeg remove modric. No be modric wey dey select match shine self

OJEEMAH:
You sabi football bro.

FIFA Best/Balon D’or might give Zidane a slight edge over Iniesta but that doesn’t negate the fact that he can sit on the same table with him and other tier 1 midfielders.

Before Messi, Zidane was my favorite but mehn, leave football for Iniesta. That guy was pure class and magical. Beyond description if you ask me. The only crime he committed was torturing opponents alongside Messi and Xavi.

Modric is a maestro. A genius in his own way but I don’t think any coach will play him ahead of Xavi or Iniesta if they were in the same team.

I still think Fabregas should comfortably sit with the guys in tier 2. The guy is/was a brilliant midfielder with a great vision and eyes for goals. Both in club and international football, Xavi‘s presence didn’t make his career any easy. In fact, Xavi presence disrupted his development to an extent. I wish he never joined Barcelona. As a youngster, he rejected Madrid twice. Just like Modric, a move to Madrid would have been much better for his career.

Guardiola’s Man City is too dominant for a player like KDB not to shine. Seriously, am not taking anything away from KDB but I still don’t think he would be this influential under Pellegrini and Mancini. Like Yaya Toure and David Silva, he would have competed against prime Man U and Chelsea. For the past 5years, Man City have proven to be class above every team.

OJEEMAH:
You sabi football bro.

FIFA Best/Balon D’or might give Zidane a slight edge over Iniesta but that doesn’t negate the fact that he can sit on the same table with him and other tier 1 midfielders.

Before Messi, Zidane was my favorite but mehn, leave football for Iniesta. That guy was pure class and magical. Beyond description if you ask me. The only crime he committed was torturing opponents alongside Messi and Xavi.

Modric is a maestro. A genius in his own way but I don’t think any coach will play him ahead of Xavi or Iniesta if they were in the same team.

I still think Fabregas should comfortably sit with the guys in tier 2. The guy is/was a brilliant midfielder with a great vision and eyes for goals. Both in club and international football, Xavi‘s presence didn’t make his career any easy. In fact, Xavi presence disrupted his development to an extent. I wish he never joined Barcelona. As a youngster, he rejected Madrid twice. Just like Modric, a move to Madrid would have been much better for his career.

Guardiola’s Man City is too dominant for a player like KDB not to shine. Seriously, am not taking anything away from KDB but I still don’t think he would be this influential under Pellegrini and Mancini. Like Yaya Toure and David Silva, he would have competed against prime Man U and Chelsea. For the past 5years, Man City have proven to be class above every team.

ThierryJay:


Sure, Zidane is more acclaimed in terms of awards maybe because he has this much larger personality than Iniesta, but in terms of doings on the pitch, both have that similar elegant classy technique. Both are the biggest big game midfielders of the 21st century, won World cups and Euros for their teams. Iniesta has way more UCLs, though which is why I think Zidane was lucky not to play during Messi era.

Modric does not come close to the domination and control that Prime Xaviniesta will give you. So, he is slightly behind them.

I am swayed to agree with you about Fabregas. I think why I put the maybe is because of his lack of UCL at club level . But on the strength of his performances for Arsenal, Barca and his first season at Chelsea, he should be a comfortable Tier 2 midfielder.

Not sure about your take on KDB though. While it may be true that the Man City set up optimizes his performance, he is also a beast individually. He is one of the most intelligent players I've seen (I'm talking Messi, Bergkamp, Zidane IQ level) and his ball executions are of consistently high quality which is a rarity with other players. He may not have played against Prime United and Chelsea, but he played and usually scored against Prime Liverpool with all their ghengen pressing.

Jokerman:
Modric is already better than Xavi and Iniesta,before you bring KDB

ThierryJay:


Sure, Zidane is more acclaimed in terms of awards maybe because he has this much larger personality than Iniesta, but in terms of doings on the pitch, both have that similar elegant classy technique. Both are the biggest big game midfielders of the 21st century, won World cups and Euros for their teams. Iniesta has way more UCLs, though which is why I think Zidane was lucky not to play during Messi era.

Modric does not come close to the domination and control that Prime Xaviniesta will give you. So, he is slightly behind them.

I am swayed to agree with you about Fabregas. I think why I put the maybe is because of his lack of UCL at club level . But on the strength of his performances for Arsenal, Barca and his first season at Chelsea, he should be a comfortable Tier 2 midfielder.

Not sure about your take on KDB though. While it may be true that the Man City set up optimizes his performance, he is also a beast individually. He is one of the most intelligent players I've seen (I'm talking Messi, Bergkamp, Zidane IQ level) and his ball executions are of consistently high quality which is a rarity with other players. He may not have played against Prime United and Chelsea, but he played and usually scored against Prime Liverpool with all their ghengen pressing.

OJEEMAH:
We share same view about Zidane, Iniesta and Modric and I also agree with your take on Fabregas💯

Don’t get me wrong about KDB. He’s a fantastic player and I am not in any way trying to undermine his abilities and achievements. My point is about how Guardiola’s factor could have aided his performance especially in a time when top premier league clubs are struggling to cope with Pep’s philosophy.

Just see how Man City handled almighty Bayern like a mid table La liga team. Same Bayern that outplayed and tortured PSG. Bro, Pep’s Man City is a level above every team in Europe and it’s more about Pep’s factor than even the amount invested in building that team.

ThierryJay:
.

Sure, Guardiola improves every player and even Iniesta and Xavi delivered their best under his tutelage, so I agree that De Bruyne benefits from Pep's structure. In fact that is the very reason why KDB is not Tier 1 yet because he is yet to function similarly on the international scene outside of Guardiola/Man City's system and the lack of UCL.

But since we can only judge based on a player's actual output regardless of the contributory factors or what ifs, I believe KDB's exploits and intensity in EPL puts him above fellow competitors like Scholes, Lampard, Gerard, Ginola, Zola, Fabregas, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Ozil, Ballack and Mata.

OJEEMAH:
The bolded is the exact point I intend to establish

ThierryJay:


Clear

blueAgent:


Your argument on KDB is flawed ,dud he play under PEP in Germany league(wolfsburg,)when he won player of the year?

KDB is better than Modric.

Zwanzig:
pls btwn prime ozil and kdb who are u taking. Cc OJEEMAH numerouno94 ur opinions.

OJEEMAH:
Thanks bro. Yea, i’m good. What’s up with you?

OJEEMAH:
You sabi football bro.

FIFA Best/Balon D’or might give Zidane a slight edge over Iniesta but that doesn’t negate the fact that he can sit on the same table with him and other tier 1 midfielders.

Before Messi, Zidane was my favorite but mehn, leave football for Iniesta. That guy was pure class and magical. Beyond description if you ask me. The only crime he committed was torturing opponents alongside Messi and Xavi.

Modric is a maestro. A genius in his own way but I don’t think any coach will play him ahead of Xavi or Iniesta if they were in the same team.

I still think Fabregas should comfortably sit with the guys in tier 2. The guy is/was a brilliant midfielder with a great vision and eyes for goals. Both in club and international football, Xavi‘s presence didn’t make his career any easy. In fact, Xavi presence disrupted his development to an extent. I wish he never joined Barcelona. As a youngster, he rejected Madrid twice. Just like Modric, a move to Madrid would have been much better for his career.

Guardiola’s Man City is too dominant for a player like KDB not to shine. Seriously, am not taking anything away from KDB but I still don’t think he would be this influential under Pellegrini and Mancini. Like Yaya Toure and David Silva, he would have competed against prime Man U and Chelsea. For the past 5years, Man City have proven to be class above every team.

Zwanzig:
pls btwn prime ozil and kdb who are u taking. Cc OJEEMAH numerouno94 ur opinions.

ThierryJay:

[/b]

Not yet bro. If you are using G/A statistics to judge, then it'll look like he's even better than Zidane.

There are some really big stage performances from Modric in UCL and international level that KDB is yet to match. That's what separates the men from the boys but KDB isnt far behind.

Zwanzig:
pls btwn prime ozil and kdb who are u taking. Cc OJEEMAH numerouno94 ur opinions.

Numerouno94:

Nice analysis, U and Thierryjay suppose b football pundits.

blueAgent:


KDB has performed very well in UCL in the last 2 or 3 seasons.
At the national level , yiu can't blame him for Belgium's poor performance.

Numerouno94:

Nice analysis, U and Thierryjay suppose b football pundits.

Numerouno94:


Tank God u back. Was beginning to miss u. Well, I have been whipping some pendulums asses. While Allmiron has bn collecting their tears in a storage tank.

ThierryJay:


There's a reason I said not yet. It will not be appropriate to compare a 30yr old KDB to a 37/38yr old Modric. So let me put it this way.

Modric's body of work from 2013 till 2022 (and especially 2016 - 2022) has won him:

A Ballon dor
5 UCLs
A World Cup golden ball and silver medal
A World cup bronze medal
Several UEFA awards

Meanwhile, KDB's mark is still majorly in the EPL and a WC bronze medal.

Modric has been the best midfielder of the biggest and most successful club in the world for up to a decade. That is no small feat.

Add the fact that he can dribble, pass and shoot as good as KDB. He is also better defensively and can control the match tempo better while KDB has better offensive acumen.

So you see, KDB still has some catching up to do.