This is the type of mentality that gets players like Pepe and Marchisio into our starting eleven.
That is true but I never said he should be in the starting eleven this season did I. The difference between him and Pepe is that he Pepe is expected to make the difference while that should not be the expectation from Marchisio.
A few years back, yes he was a starter for me and last year for large chunks of the season he earned his games. But this pre season and the second part of last season he faded away and needs to step up. That I agree on.
Basically you're trying to put a team player into an average team, and then expecting him to be a difference maker. He's a weird player, it'd be better if he was 6'3" and tough in the tackle, it'd be easier to pigeon-hole him.
But then is he why this team (focus on the word team here not starting eleven) is average. This team has average player all around, like Bonucci, Krasic and on the bench are a dime a dozen. Marchisio is not the problem in this team, not even close.
Blind Support of Marchisio - they guy has proven himself to be nothing more than average over the last few seasons - yes at times he does spectacular things, like his goal against Inter, a couple of goals he scored last season, but even within the same game he would remain anonymous for the remainder of the match.
He was LW only last season - before that he was CM and did nothing. Last season if he was good enough to play CM ahead of Aqui and Melo he would of, but he wasn't. Both players are now gone and still he's not good enough ahead of Pirlo or Vidal.
A CM should be able to control the MF and a top CM can control the tempo of a game. Marchisio has never done either in a single match throughout his entire career. We had him commenting "I am a CM" after we beat Cuneo 8-0 and as though scoring two goals against an amateur side meant anything at all. Wow, any memeber on this forum could potentially score two goals playing CM against a Sunday side.
Marchisio is NOT the future of Juventus and is not even good enough for the Italian NT - Aqui, Montolivo, Pirlo and a number of others are ahead of him.
It is best to sell him now, make some money, while everyone is under the illusion that he is a good player.
People talk about the consistency factor a lot, as if the team has been consistent over a whole season. This is a team sport, and he is not a once in a generation player like Messi. So he won't make a difference every game and always lift the team on his shoulders, other players should do that. He gets a lot of grief but we got a whole team riddled with inconsistency, while we expect him (and others) to be great.
Interesting enough, how many here rate Conte as a player? Because I see him as an exact replica of Marchisio (Tardelli was a bit bigger and better on the ball). The difference between the two is that Conte had a monster of a team around him while Marchisio has Melo and Sissoko.