I don't think Marchisio lacks consistency. You're making it seem like he's putting in world class displays one game, then doing nothing the next. It's not like that. If I were to graph his performances, it would be more like a linear function instead of a sin curve. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes, but apart from a goal here and there, he doesn't do anything remarkable.
Like I said, he's a water carrier, Tacchinardi sort of player.
Well, I never meant to imply it's
that much of an up-and-down thing, as if he's world-class for one half and horrible the next. The problem is simply that some people praise his every move, where others overlook the useful work he does, simply to counter the admirers or something, which at times, is understandable.
I do think he plays very decent games though, even if only as a water carrier, if you will. He's nothing special, but most teams have these kind of players, who can be very useful, which Marchisio actually tends to be. He has a high work-rate and for a water-carrier, good ball control. He can be a very useful player in my eyes. He also had games where he was of not much use at all, being by-passed by opponent's midfields like he was a 12 year old, giving away possession on several occasions.
Grey area, meh.. Call it middle ground, which I feel often goes missing around here. I'm pretty undecided about Marchisio's value to our team right now, by the way, but like I said.. we have much bigger problems to attend to really. He'd do well enough in a team that doesn't have any real gaps in my eyes, like ours does now.