B Team of the Season (So Far...): Young Guns, Outsiders and Outlaws
GK ALISSON (LIVERPOOL)
He still has trouble catching the ball, let alone grasping it completely enough to cleanly get it out of the danger area, yet Alisson, the big summer transfer has kept Liverpool whole. He has delivered on his hype it is safe to say, with Liverpool's defense aiding him in return.
His 12 clean sheets on the season, plus his desperation, million dollar save on Milik's point blank blast in the dying seconds vs Napoli is one that will live in Anfield folklore for some time. Not only did this save Liverpool's 2018/19 Champions league ass, it gave an almost unassailable goalkeeper more confidence than he had previously.
All he has done for Liverpool is make fantastic, match defining stops, kept the distribution in the back clean (except for a moment of madness where he was robbed of the ball two yards from his own goal by Kelechi Iheanacho earlier in the season) and has made Liverpool a definitive contender.
Remember a guy named Karius?
EYE GOUGING STAT: Liverpool have won or drawn 11 matches with only 1 goal as the difference, showing that with Alisson in between the sticks Liverpool are able to grind out results.
They're also able to control and dictate the flow of matches, thanks to having a reliable keeper: they don't have to score 3 or 4 goals to win every time, some games they've only needed 1. Only one match (the 1-0 first leg group stage loss to Napoli) has been surrendered in these tight rope scenarios.
-Alisson had an insane 8 saves in the 2-1 loss to PSG
RB JOSHUA KIMMICH (BAYERN MUNICH)
As he evolves into a central midfielder, Joshua Kimmich still continues to play right back, doing a job for his manager, Niko Kovac, and doing it with aplomb. We first saw the versatility and brilliance in both positions from Kimmich as soon as his Euro 2016 exploits, easily one of the better performing Germans in the entire tournament (he was very good for the 2018 World Cup playing right back with panache once more).
While supposedly being promised a central midfield role in the future by both Lowe for the German national team and Niko Kovac for Bayern, he has still shown brightly at right back, in fact, to the point he overtakes many other "firm" or "established" right footed fullbacks who've had a good season themselves.
Although, this is a kid who is incredibly young, yet his versatility shows no limit. To go from deep midfield to right back and get the positional language down, rarely making critical errors defensively and powering Bayern with brutal thrust up the right wing, Kimmich has shown he can adapt to anything and frankly, play anywhere.
The kid has one of the best deliveries in the world, either whipping in crosses from the right hip, or putting in untouchable corner kicks or set pieces. Regardless, it is always a feast for Lewandowski, every time he steps out on to the pitch with Kimmich. He's averaging 2.7 chances created in the UCL and 2.2 in the Bundesliga, with a total of 44 (3 for Germany in the Nations League).
He is the second best right back in the world, right now.
Even if he doesn't want to be....
FACE MELTING STAT: Has 8 assists overall, with 5 from right back, alone. And, with exactly 40 fouls suffered in all competitions for Bayern (12 in Nations league play for Germany), Kimmich is a marked man as he improves, grows and threatens to own and destroy opposition midfield territory and defenses.
European futbol has taken notice and they're coming for him...because he's that good now.
CB GERARD PIQUE (BARCA)
Many will criticize this pick, many will wonder why the hell is this guy in this list... he's washed up, he's clearly passed his best. Well, if you believe the rumors, you haven't really been watching.
Gerard Pique is having one of his best seasons in complete stealth, having to cover four or five times the ground, make twice the tackles and interceptions and shove his head into aerial duels ten or twelve more occasions a match without Samuel Umtiti.
He's been without his French center back partner for 3/4 of the season, only seeing him back for 90 minutes vs Atletico (a horrendous decision by Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde: throwing Umtiti back into the XI vs the most physically imposing front line press in La Liga after 3 months without playing after an injury and a surgery) and then back again to the surgery table.
Mr. Shaqira has been asked to do much more than he ever would've in any other situation, such is the disarray of the Barcelona board. Their inability to sign another center back option should've been a catastrophe....it still could be....but Pique's brilliance, along with Ter Stegen's, has masked this.
Many times does it seem that Pique is lost at sea, flying around aimlessly and missing his mark. But you must watch all of it....what you see is Clement Lenglet missing runs and unable to shut down attacking activity, forcing Pique to switch over and shut it down with last ditch lunging tackles and diving blocks, with too much enthusiasm and gusto in some situations. Pique has saved Barcelona's ass just as surely as Ter Stegen has and anyone who would deny that hasn't been watching.
Pique has been back to his greatest form, even if it's been quieter and more mature from the Barcelona co-captain.
He's been a steadied, controlled hand in the back.
BRUTAL STATS:
- scored 4 goals and had an assist already this far in the season, which for a center back is remarkable but this is what Pique does
Has played through many different injuries for Ernesto Valverde's maniacal non rotation policy, seemingly without end since the clueless coach's appointment in the summer of 2017.
The Barcelona board's ineptitude in finding a suitable 4th center back option will cost Pique and his best pals Messi and Busquets and co. a first UCL title since 2015 if they think the 31 year old can play every match in La Liga and now the Champions league knockout rounds, always knowing if he goes down we have nobody reliable to be there.
It's literally been up to Pique to keep his body just above the rushing rapid of poor health and rugged challenges to keep his team in matches.
CB KALIDOU KOULIBALY (NAPOLI)
There is a huge reason the Senegal defender could very well be the most expensive defender of all time, should he move to a bigger club. Not just his obvious hulking size and strength and aerial ability (the most undervalued, yet extremely crucial part of modern futbol as France proved mightily in the World cup), it's his ease on the ball and his reading of the game that have Barcelona, Manchester City and United, among a host of others all vying for his services.
- has appeared in every single Serie A and Champions League match, playing every minute. Durability personified.
-averaging 2.5 tackles a match and 1.6 interceptions in the Champions league
-averages an imperious 72.5 passes per match in Serie A and does better in the Champions league with 76.5, at an 88.8% completion rate
-44 tackles completed out of 53 attempts
LB ACHRAF HAKIMI (DORTMUND)
After an amazing World Cup for Morocco (the best team in that tournament not to advance past the group stage), Hakimi knew he needed to play every match possible to get to the stage we see him at now: the Moroccan simply had to leave the cage of Real Madrid and once he did, he never looked back, brimming with absolute command and versatility (he can play right back, left and right wing and could do a job at LCM, RCM or a left sided center back of a back three).
We truly don't know his definitive position at the moment.
Along with fellow Dortmund newbies Sancho, Alcacer and Axel Witsel, Hakimi has thrust Borussia Dortmund into top of the German leagues, including an epic 3-2 victory over Bayern Munich in which Achraf Hakimi was masterful.
With 1 goal and 6 assists (2nd leading creator in the UCL with 3 and 3 more in the Bundesliga) Hakimi has proven he can be the decisive one for Lucien Favre. He's also exploded for his country with 3 assists in his 5 international matches for Morocco in the aftermath of the World Cup.
CDM SERGI BUSQUETS (BARCA)
As calm and assured as he ever has been, Sergi Busquets continues to put us all in states of admiration, awe and obsession. He makes it look too easy, too simple, too perfect: but that's what he does. The Barcelona central defensive midfielder has had a fantastic season so far, destroying clubs like Tottenham, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Sevilla with his majesty.
We watched Arthur and Busquets pass Tottenham silly, looping flicks and tricks over their heads as the intensified Pochettino press came zooming passed, or even into them.
With Arthur's presence and his Barca DNA on the ball, we've watched the old fearlessness that used to be part and parcel of Barcelona's midfield pass-mastery game, and the young Brazilian midfielder has been a welcome gift for Busquets, who's spent too many seasons, since the departure of Xavi, covering the entirety of midfield by himself.
Busquets has also been extremely mobile this season, having to plug holes and gaps in midfield in order to shut down the passing lanes, flying from side to side and demonstrating his really underrated tackling and anticipation game.
With a thoroughly entertaining range in midfield, Busquets has shielded the scattershot back four of Barcelona as a giant, warm blanket, making up for any loss of possession or turnover with one perfectly timed lunging tackle after another. Then, with ease, he stands back up and smashes a perfect pass to Messi, setting him up to do what he wants to do, in space.
Once upon a time, Busquets was considered one of the softest players in all of Europe, diving as if it were an attribute to his game. Now, with the passage of time and the wisdom collected, we see a hard as nails Busquets flying into any and all challenges, looking like a Catalan Jordan Henderson, such is his ferocity this season.
It's too hard to write down what Busquets DOES that is vital...you simply must see the man play.
- Averaging only 0.5 inaccurate long balls a match and 3.5 inaccurate short passes in the UCL
- Completing 4.5 long balls a match in La Liga
- 27 interceptions
- 58 out of 78 tackles completed in La Liga and UCL combined
During the North London derby, Eric Dier scored an equalizer and then went directly in front of Arsenal supporters and mocked them, with his teammates coming to surround him (as did Arsenal substitutes and players on the pitch) and continue their delightful shaming of Arsenal.
In the last few years under Arsene Wenger, this would've turned the match completely upside down for Arsenal and they would've lost, mental wounds gaping from the embarrassment of allowing another equalizer, at home, in front of the booing non-faithful ready to stick the knives in post-match.
Instead, led by the aggression, the youthful poise and pure all-out footballing desire of Uruguyan summer signing Lucas Torreira and his late goal that separated Tottenham from Arsenal in the eventual 4-2 Arsenal riot, the Gunners rampaged back, pushing and pulling Tottenham's midfield around like it were on a thin, slippery string ripping at the seams.
Torreira was pinging passes left to right, front to back to keep possession and Tottenham wasting their collective energies. He's assumed an important role at Arsenal, one that has made him an automatic starter (finally) in the eyes of Unai Emery.
For a defensively minded young central midfielder in their first Premier League season, a player fighting for minutes until a month ago, this has been amazing what he has done for Arsenal: symbolized by his 2 goals and 2 assists overall, both goals and one of those assists occurring in his last 3 matches for the club, giving Arsenal 7 critical points across the gauntlet trio against Tottenham (4-2), Man United (2-2) and the 1-0 grindhouse against Huddersfield.
Arsenal are a big club with a large triumphant history, although until this masterful beginning of the campaign there was a deep malaise....to do what he has done is absolutely special. What Arsenal have achieved as a team under Unai Emery has been nothing but surprising and good for the Premier League.
Comparisons to Roy Keane are a little extreme at this point, but if he keeps going, this young man will astound us to admire.
UNREAL STAT: the little Uruguayan bull has completed an efficient 30 out of 39 tackles completed in all competitions, 12 key passes with 5 coming from his devastating set pieces (both assists in the EPL coming from a corner and a free kick).
Memphis Depay cannot stop, won't stop getting assists, including yet another in the final Champions League match of the group stage (which gave Lyon a spot in the knockout stages for the first time since 2011). Memphis is now tied with Mbappe and Mahrez on 4 assists, leading the Champions League in created goals, a stunning statistic for a player who was once thought of as pure garbage by any Englishman from 2014 until now.
With his incredible outings for the Dutch national team against France and Germany, Depay has credibility as a true artist in the game: 11 assists total for Lyon (7 in the league, 4 in the UCL) and 2 goals, 2 assists for the Netherlands, the Dutchman commands respect and if he continues this, will definitely command a suitable transfer fee.
Where will he go... if he does?
We really cannot say, as much of this player's career has been completely unpredictable: (scores 2 goals in the 2014 World Cup to explode into our consciousness, then falls flat and in humiliated flames at United, followed by him going away and hiding in Ligue 1 and little by little, helped by a dominant and outstanding last campaign, Depay has received the dues he's earned.
IMPECCABLE STAT:
-74 key passes across all competitions and 16 in 5 matches internationally for the Netherlands.
-7 assists in his last 8 matches
Many would say this guy doesn't deserve to be in a C team list, let alone a B team, though if you want me to be perfectly honest, he nearly made the A team, such is his empirical value to his club. He has simply saved Barcelona as many, if not more times this season than Lionel Messi has, especially delivering with consistency against Real Madrid and Inter Milan while Messi was out injured.
The Spanish media have come and come and come again to destroy Dembele, almost as if they're working for Neymar's Barca Comeback 2019 campaign. He has been criticized for everything from how his face looks, the frequency of which he plays video games, the childhood friends he still hangs out with and the food he eats, yet every time he appears on the pitch (the times Valverde is smart enough to play him) he delivers. Time and time again, Ousmane Dembele is not only silencing critics and doubters, he's turned them into fans.
He endured intense media scrutiny before the Real Madrid match, one he watched on the bench until the mid 60s of the match, finally coming on with Barcelona only up 2-1 and Modric just hitting the post.
Immediately, upon entering the match, Dembele received the ball and took off, splitting Madrid's team in half and laying it off to Roberto who created a Suarez goal.
3-1 Barca.
Then, Dembele tricks Nacho out of his own body and then blasts in an inch perfect cross for Vidal to head in with pure authority. Only days after, Dembele was reviled, killed, wounded by the hounding, relentless Spanish media, shoving microphones in his face and demanding headlines. He gave them nothing, just kept his mouth shut, watched the first 80 minutes of the Atletico Madrid match from the bench, witnessed Atletico score and Valverde panicking, only to be finally trusted with the task of "getting Barcelona a goal extremely fast" and what did the French World Cup winner do? He bashed one in the back of the net through Jan Oblak's legs and the last gasp defending of Lucas Hernandez in the 88th minute.
1-1, barely.
Dembele showed against Villareal he can play Barcelona futbol, too, with 75 total passes and only giving the ball away twice. He has now formed an important and entertaining partnership with Lionel Messi that seems to be able to accomplish nearly anything they want, once they're on the same page.
And to shut them up hopefully one more time, with his stunner against Tottenham, was sublime, Ousmane celebrating with an emphatic point to his head: he keeps his mentality and his sharpness in the face of overwhelming bullshit, he's used to this. The goal was simply shocking...it was pure world class. Harry Winks is still sliding...
Ousmane continues to silence the noise and delivers the goods match in, match out for Barcelona with 9 goals and 5 assists in only 1,439 minutes.
Bust? Must be sold? Where's Neymar? Let's go get Willian?
Pffff......what a joke....just sit back, shut up and enjoy this man...he astounds, embarrasses and enriches us all.
All we have to know about the ability and future of Ousmane Dembele is contained right here:
UNTOUCHABLE STAT: He has won 20 points (all competitions) for Barcelona (we're only counting matches where his goals or assists directly achieved victory and there are plenty where that has come from.
LW / LAM LEROY SANE (MAN CITY)
Pep Guardiola continues to instill much confidence in Leroy Sane and the German continues to reward his once skeptical manager with thunderous performances containing nonstop chances created, shots taken, opponents taken on and pace for days.
Sane has been on a tear lately, showing little flairs to his game we didn't know about: his long range, inch perfect free kick against Hoffenheim
We knew he could create, we had no idea he could finish consistently.
When Leroy Sane has your defense all to himself, without any help from midfielders who could press, foul or rush him into a bad decision or poor final ball or shot, he will destroy you. Chelsea did expose his knack for over-dribbling histrionics, yet Sane maintains his dominance in a Manchester City uniform, being their most dangerous attacking presence, with Sterling as the faster and more agile, the still injured De Bruyne as the master of puppets, David Silva being the clean-up man in the box and Aguero as the target man, the cold blooded finisher.
Just keep going Leroy, just keep going baby...
AFRO'D STAT: 8 goals in his last 10 matches for club and country, proving that Sane is no one-trick pony as his finishing develops into something special. His free kick vs Hoffenheim was straight out of the Messi playbook, a delightfully precise flame-thrower into the upper 90.
The Arsenal striker has been incredible this season, scoring at will for his new club and impressing everyone at the same time. How could you not be impressed when he strikes the ball as he did against Tottenham? Or his free-flowing flicks and tricks on the edge of the box with everyone from his main man Lacazette to Mhiktaryan getting more involved than he has since he was at Dortmund (when he was also, coincidentally we think not, with Aubemayang and the pair scored goals for fun).
Look for Arsenal to keep flying..I had a good feeling about them before the season and that's only increased.
UNDENIABLE STAT: 12 goals and 3 assists in his first Premier League season (with 4 other goals in preseason, his first Arsenal matches ever including a hat trick to warm him up). He's scored 4 in the 6 yard box, 5 in the penalty area and 3 out of the box, showing Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang can score anywhere on the pitch.
And, with his increasingly entertaining partnership with Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal fans deserve to dream of future title winning goals from the pair.
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