His caps are a continuous testament to his ability. All defenders make mistakes. Their mistakes are always remembered more than anything else they do as those mistakes are invariably costly to their team. I haven't followed Ramos' career closely, I just know how much competition there is here to be a member of the national side. Again, very few average players ever get there, let alone win over 100 caps.
There has never been much competition for centre back positions, the main competition for Spain is through midfield. I know you haven't followed Ramos career as your fixated on his caps, when the discussion has been over his club form mainly and he regularly gets found out in a positional sense, as does Verts.
There is intense competition in all positions in the Spanish national side. Yes, there has been a wealth of midfield talent recently, but that does not mean that there isn't fierce competition in other areas. Yes, I keep referring back to his number of caps, as simple logic dictates that no average player in any position gains over 100 caps for a side of the Spanish national teams' quality.
I know there hasn't been much competition in certain areas and I can base my opinion on Ramos from watching him play. You're basing your view solely on caps. That's like someone who's never watched football coming along and saying David Beckham was a great played because he had 100 caps.
Yeah Becks was a good player but not not great. But as for Ramos, maybe you misunderstood what I mean by average as I like defenders who have good positional play stay calm and can read the game in a defensive sense.. For me I don't rate Ramos. But Ramos is aggressive, good at going forward and suits the Spanish game. Just I personally don't rate his defensive talent. Same with Verts, he's good at going forward, reading the game going forward and is classy, but keeps getting caught out and I don't rate his defensive ability. Maybe I'm harsh using the word average but I don't rate either that highly and find aspects of their game average.
Over here, Ramos is considered a risk taker. Yes, some of his risks go badly wrong. However, he is still a very good ball playing centre back, and over here is rated as one of the best in the world. Maybe that's tinged with more than a hint of nationalism, but then they love a risk taker here.
Stefano Denswil had a great start of the season, like so many youngsters in the Eredivisie in 2013(Bakkali, Fischer, Bruma, Johannsson). But he also followed suit with consistency. Frank de Boer dropped him over Moisander simply because he made too many errors and didn't look to be a defender you can rely on for a full season. He is making progress at Ajax, but so far seems to lack quality to be a class defender. He needs to play games, gain experience and form, so keep your hands off and give him time because in Tottenham, he will be doing more sightseeing than playing football.
On Ramos, I read an interesting article by a young english centre half a while back who was breaking into one of the teams in La Liga. Just did a bit of Googling to remind me and its Charlie l'Anson, plays for Elche. Anyway, he did an article for the DM and about half way down he talks about the differences in the refereeing style, in reference to Ramos, and he seems to think that Ramos would not have nearly the same number of cards if he played over here. An interesting, if purely anecdotal and speculative, perspective from someone who has experience of both the English and Spanish leagues. "Another big difference is the refereeing here. I remember one match earlier in the season when there were seven yellows and two sent off in a B-team game. The referees can kill the games here, especially when they are taking charge of matches with players who have come in from other countries and don’t know what to expect in terms of the amount of contact allowed. The referees here give yellows for anything and then you have to be careful because any other challenge you do and you are off. There are no ‘foot-ups’ here. I know you shouldn’t do foot-ups but it happens in some games. It is just part of football. They should let the games flow more. I have had one or two justifiable yellows so far this season. You accept that. You’re a centre half if you don’t get yellows then there is maybe something wrong; it’s your trade, if someone goes past you and you have to got to stop them then you will, but here the first tackle is so often a booking. And you get given a foul for anything – jumping with your arms. Look at Sergio Ramos and how many cards he has. In England he would probably only have half of the number of sending-offs." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-players-follow-David-Beckham-come-Spain.html
Imagine Vertonghen in the Liverpool 11. -------------------Mingnolet Flannaghan--Vertonghen----Sakho----Enrique --------------------Gerrard ------------Henderson---Countinho --Sturridge----------------------Sterling/Eriksen ----------------Suarez The team will win the league next season
You'll have to go on imagining, I'm afraid. That defence is still pretty poor anyway, even with the added Belgian.
No, you're not, the pant puller has had his weaknesses really exposed, and they outweigh the pro's for me atm. He's only good with a pacy sidekick, today thats Younes...who's never there!, with Daws its like having two geriatrics, and Vlad is too similiar in wanting to get forward with the ball too. All he's seen since he signed is changes for the worse, so I do not blame him one bit, but as I've pointed out, we have a play it out CB in Vlad, we don't need two, and JV is generally poor in the air, don't care what anyone says but its vital in this league of set plays, he makes good headers at times, but he's no Vidic (afew yrs ago obviously!). No loss and easily replaceable, I don't like players who only play when they're winning, he doesn't have a stick together through thick and thin attitude, thats during games aswell. Vlad's been smashed about since his arrival and just soldiered on, yes he has work to do on his game, but at least he's interested to do so.
Imagine Suarez in ours: Lloris, Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose Sandro, Paulinho/ Dembele Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli Suarez. Phwoaaar. EDIT: Actually, we'll take Cissokho once his loan finishes with you guys, he's gotta be better than Rose.
Imagine Suarez in Real's team. Wait, I don't mean imagine, do I? I mean wait til after the World Cup.
Agree with Eriksen, he will more likely start on the bench for Liverpool as he is more of a playermaker and Countinho is better than him. If Vertoghen wants to play CL, I am sure he can compete with Agger and Skrtel to partner Sakho. Liverpool dont sell their best players like Spurs. Suarez will be staying at Anfield