Steven Caulker's breakout season

Having won their last three games, Swansea find themselves eighth in the Premier League table, three points behind Champions League hopefuls Liverpool. It really is a remarkable achievement, and one that has gained them many admirers. Most of the praise has rightly been in relation to their attacking, possession based style of play, but this is also built upon a superb goalkeeper, and an impressive defensive partnership. The Swans have kept 12 clean sheets in total this season, 7 of them coming at home where they have conceded only 10 goals in 14 games. Away from home their poor form from the first half of the season has drastically improved, with 4 wins from a possible 6 in 2012, conceding only 5 goals in the process.

Ashley Williams had played every minute for Swansea this season until he missed Saturday’s 3-0 win at Craven Cottage because of illness. In fact, the Wales International featured in 166 successive league games for the club before the weekend. Nobody can deny the immense contribution he has made. But it is Steven Caulker, his partner in central defence, who is perhaps the more impressive.

The England U21 International is the perfect modern centre back. 6’3” and dominant in the air. Quick, strong and brave. But also very comfortable with the ball at his feet, consistently showing the composure of somebody far beyond his years. In a team where he is not so much encouraged, but forced to play out from the back, less than exemplary technical ability can quickly be highlighted. But Caulker has excelled, barely putting a foot wrong all season.

Like Williams, this is his debut season in the Premier League, having only previously played one League Cup game for Tottenham’s first team. The 20 year old is currently on his third loan spell, having played the 2009-2010 season in League One at Yeovil Town, and the 2010-2011 season in the Championship at Bristol City. He won many fans at both clubs, in particular at Bristol City where he was named Young Player of the Season.

With players like William Gallas and Ryan Nelsen coming to the end of their careers, Tottenham are likely to introduce Caulker into the first team squad next season. He is seen by many as the natural successor to club captain Ledley King, who is starting to show signs of decay after such a fantastic first half of the season. Spurs are not always the best club at bringing through young players, but in recent years the likes of Jake Livermore, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend have all at least been given a chance. And Kyle Walker has become the first choice right back at the club after successful loan spells at QPR in the Championship, and Aston Villa in the Premier League - a similar career path to that of Caulker.

Despite fellow young English defenders Chris Smalling and Phil Jones both earning big money moves to Manchester United, and establishing themselves as full Internationals, it could actually be Steven Caulker who is the one to watch out for. If afforded first team opportunities at Tottenham next season, it won’t be long before England come calling. But for now, he is undergoing an excellent footballing education in a team with an admirable ethos and a smart young manager, which will benefit him greatly in the long term.

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Sergio Busquets would walk into any team

Many people would suggest that if Sergio Busquets was playing in a lesser team, surrounded by lesser players, he would not be rated so highly. The implication is that he is mollycoddled by Barcelona’s unique system, and if you took him out of that system nobody would notice him. In fact, the complete opposite is true. If he was playing in another side, which didn’t possess the very best footballing talent in the world, he would be seen for what he is truly is - an absolute force. When your teammates are Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi Hernandez, it’s very easy to be overlooked. He doesn’t often run with the ball, he doesn’t score goals or provide assists. He is an enabler.

His composure and decision making is unrivalled even perhaps at Barcelona. Put him in a lesser side and you may see a player capable of dominating the midfield entirely. If he was playing at another club, he could be so much more. But he isn’t, and therefore he doesn’t need to be.

Many people questioned Guardiola’s decision to let go of Yaya Toure so easily, according to the Ivorian, his coach was simply not interested in keeping him and blanked him for a year. It was clear that Guardiola saw Busquets as the long term answer, and Toure’s last season at the club was Busquets’ first with the full squad. His decision has been vindicated, as Busquets has become an integral part of both Barcelona and the Spanish national team. For me, he was Spain’s best player during their World Cup victory in South Africa, and is far more important to Barcelona than Yaya Toure ever was.

Tactically, you will not find many players around the world as aware. He is the ultimate support player, fully appreciative of everybody around him, knowing when to release the ball and when to keep it, when to drop in to cover a teammate, and when to provide support higher up the pitch. He isn’t as talented as many of his teammates, that much is obvious, but he still possesses tremendous technical ability. Xavi called him the best one touch player in the world, and said that “without Busquets we could never had achieved what we have achieved, he is an extraordinary player who is never wrong”. Busquets is the heartbeat of Pep’s Barça, whether 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, he is always the fulcrum and without such a player in the squad they may not have been quite as dominant over the last 3 years.

He has a reputation of being a cheat, which is entirely justified. Diving and feigning injury are second nature, and he has a sly aggression in his play. He makes it very hard to like him, but at the age of 23 he is already the best defensive midfielder in world football, and any team would be lucky to have him.

Not even the Special One can take credit for Pepe

Another Clásico, another scintillating football match that descended into something entirely different. From the day Mourinho took charge he has focused on the relationship between the two clubs, creating more tension and more of a divide than there has been for a while. The famous siege mentality, an admission that the only way to win is to fight dirty, rather than taking them on at their own game. But aside from a solitary Copa Del Rey, there has been no winning. So what is the point? The only thing he has succeeded in is making the most glamorous fixture in football a showcase for the dark arts. Incessant fouls are often followed by amateur acting, and nobody comes out looking great.

Jose has brought out the worst in some of the more level-headed Madrid players like Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas. Without the Portuguese coach and his psychological warfare, they might go back to being decent human beings. But I’m not sure Mourinho can take credit for everything, Pepe probably behaves like this in the supermarket. The old cliche that “he’s not that kind of player” literally couldn’t apply less. Whether in midfield or defence, his instructions have been the same. Whether these instructions have come from his coach or the voices inside his head though is up for debate.

Wayne Rooney called out Pepe on twitter for his behaviour during the match, and Madrid legend Guti called out Rooney for his hypocrisy. Guti said that “making mistakes is human”, and Pepe has since apologised saying that the stamp was “unintentional” and “the thought of hurting a colleague has never entered my mind”. I assume that when he was banned for 10 games in 2009 after a seemingly unprovoked assault on Getafe’s Casquero, he was ‘unintentionally’ booting him whilst he lay on the floor. His sly stamp on Messi’s hand was despicable and certainly not out of character. He is a pyschopath. His ‘apology’ is shameful. He is probably looking at yet another hefty ban, and rightly so. There is no place for an animal like Pepe in football.

The Evolution of Luka Modric

When Luka Modric agreed to join Spurs at the end of the 2007/2008 season, it was considered a massive coup. At the time he was rated among the best young players in the world, and he had a big future ahead of him. Many assumed he would join one of Europe’s elite clubs, but he was snapped up early, before the summer transfer window opened, and perhaps more importantly, before Euro 2008. The much maligned Damien Comolli has to take huge credit for the way this transfer was engineered.

Skip forward to 2010 and Tottenham are playing Champions League football for the first time, and Luka Modric is at the heart of it. There have been ups and downs along the way, and even broken legs, but in recent months Modric is possibly playing the best football of his career. One of the main reasons for this is his change of role. During his first 18 months or so at the club he mostly operated on the left of a midfield four. This afforded him more creative freedom, but meant that it was more difficult for him to influence the play. He has since moved into a central role, acting as a deep lying playmaker, allowing him to show for the ball all over the pitch and dictate his team’s passing rhythm.

Originally thought of as too slight to play in centre midfield (or even in English football altogether), he has become one of the top players in the country. He may be small, but he is deceptively strong, and he uses his body intelligently, rather than aggressively. There is a comparison to be made with the best centre midfielder around, Xavi Hernandez. Like the Spaniard, Modric is always fully aware of his surroundings, and protects the ball superbly. His ability to make space for himself is possibly without equal in the Premier League. By taking on more responsibility, he has allowed the flair players around him to take the plaudits. The chalkboard below shows his recent masterclass against Blackburn. Sixty completed passes and a pass completion rate of over 90%, covering almost the entire pitch. An impressive showing for someone who is always looking to be positive in possession.

by Guardian Chalkboards

Modric cannot take all of the credit of course, his partnership with Tom Huddlestone in the middle of the pitch has proved fundamental to Tottenham’s recent improvement. But due to injuries, the partnership has been too infrequent. However, the relatively small number of games that they have played together include impressive wins over the likes of Inter, Arsenal and Chelsea. It may prove that this is not a sustainable midfield two, and a more defensive minded player will have to be added. The introduction of Rafael van der Vaart is also proving a conundrum, but I’m sure that’s a problem that any team in the world would welcome.

And the Winner is...

Lionel Messi is good at football. Of course, this is hardly news. On Saturday evening, he used Pedro as a (very talented) wall, in order to breach a sea of yellow shirts, before delicately lifting the ball over Diego Lopez with his weaker foot. It was a baffling demonstration of just how much better he is than everybody else. Just a few weeks ago, there were lots of ‘football people’, myself included, concocting rational arguments as to why Xavi, or Sneijder, or Forlan deserve to be crowned the greatest of this calender year. However, as we approach the unveiling of 2010’s FIFA Ballon d’Or winner, the list of 23 nominees drawn up is starting to look more and more like a silly idea.

There comes a point where you have to just stop. Just stop. What’s the point? Try as you may, there is no justification for anybody else to win the award. What about the World Cup? I honestly don’t care. Sneijder was instrumental in Inter’s record breaking treble! Again, I really couldn’t care less. Messi has scored 66 goals in his last 65 games. He has started using his right foot because he is getting bored. Nobody comes close. The human race has to hurry up and discover some form of extraterrestrial life, solely to find out if there’s a planet out there where Messi can play football without feeling slightly embarrassed by his superiority.

There may come a time when the Ballon d’Or award simply isn’t enough recognition, and he will have to be considered for a Nobel Prize instead. For now though, the best player in the world is still just that, the best player in the world. Don’t kid yourselves.