bans should be handed for this!
Pirlo was a beast. Scholes is nowhere close. I even rate Pirlo over Xavi even when the spanish were part of the "best team" according to a lot of journalist.
They made both clubs and NT way better cuz they handle completely the tempos.
Anyway, Marchisio is a beast and thank god he looks sharp and ready
They made both clubs and NT way better cuz they handle completely the tempos.
Anyway, Marchisio is a beast and thank god he looks sharp and ready
Marchiso's best season in the regista role for us (2015/16) vs Pirlo's worst (2014/15):
Assists: Marchisio 2, Pirlo 5
Keypasses per game: chisio 1, Pirlo 2.2
Avg # of passes per game: chisio 63.5, Pirlo 72.7
Pass success %: marchisio 88.5% , Pirlo 89.2%
Dispossessed: chisio 0.7, Pirlo 0.7
Tackles: marchisio 2.1, Pirlo 1.6
Interceptions: chisio 2.8, Pirlo 1.5
So when you look at the stats for both, chisio at his best in a full regista role season playing 352 vs Pirlo at his worst changing between 4312 & 352, Pirlo passed the ball much more frequently, was slightly more reliable passer (less mispasses per game), much more penetrative passer, and was as frequently dispossessed holding the ball as chisio. Chisio was much better in winning the ball back when someone else had lost it other than himself and in intercepting opposition passes.
So the reality is that you are heavily exaggerating when you consider him unstable magic. He was at his worst less likely to lose the ball by a miss-pass or by being tackled. The distance becomes even larger when you look at Pirlo's best season as regista 11/12. He made 13 assists, 3.4 keypasses (chisio's 1), 86.4 passes per game (chisio's 63.5).
So PI is right, Pirlo's god mode is just that God mode. Probably best regista in history and obviously better than chisio by a margin. We felt he regressed because he actually did regress compared to his own old standards. He was still a great regista (we wouldnt have made it all the way if he was shit like hernanes/lemina) just not as good as what we got used to from him. He certainly was no unstable magic. He was as unstable as chisio was last season, which is pretty fucking stable if you ask me. Our defensive record throughout the pirlo era was very good under both coaches every year.
Assists: Marchisio 2, Pirlo 5
Keypasses per game: chisio 1, Pirlo 2.2
Avg # of passes per game: chisio 63.5, Pirlo 72.7
Pass success %: marchisio 88.5% , Pirlo 89.2%
Dispossessed: chisio 0.7, Pirlo 0.7
Tackles: marchisio 2.1, Pirlo 1.6
Interceptions: chisio 2.8, Pirlo 1.5
So when you look at the stats for both, chisio at his best in a full regista role season playing 352 vs Pirlo at his worst changing between 4312 & 352, Pirlo passed the ball much more frequently, was slightly more reliable passer (less mispasses per game), much more penetrative passer, and was as frequently dispossessed holding the ball as chisio. Chisio was much better in winning the ball back when someone else had lost it other than himself and in intercepting opposition passes.
So the reality is that you are heavily exaggerating when you consider him unstable magic. He was at his worst less likely to lose the ball by a miss-pass or by being tackled. The distance becomes even larger when you look at Pirlo's best season as regista 11/12. He made 13 assists, 3.4 keypasses (chisio's 1), 86.4 passes per game (chisio's 63.5).
So PI is right, Pirlo's god mode is just that God mode. Probably best regista in history and obviously better than chisio by a margin. We felt he regressed because he actually did regress compared to his own old standards. He was still a great regista (we wouldnt have made it all the way if he was shit like hernanes/lemina) just not as good as what we got used to from him. He certainly was no unstable magic. He was as unstable as chisio was last season, which is pretty fucking stable if you ask me. Our defensive record throughout the pirlo era was very good under both coaches every year.
People massively exaggerated his regression in his last season for us. I still wish he had remained here for one more year. He was absolute class in 14-15, not at the level of 11-12 to 13-14, but still a fantastic player and would have been great to have him rotating with Marchisio last year. I doubt we would have got off to such a poor start with him still here while Marchisio was injured. He would have been perfect in the matches against Gladbach too, which made us finish 2nd in our group instead of first.
He wasn't the defensive liability some make him out to be either, nor was he slow on the ball... He was very quick to get the ball moving vertically. Something Marchisio improved upon a lot over the course of last season, and something we lose completely when Hernanes is on the pitch.
And while I believe Marchisio was our best performing CM over the course of 14-15, Pirlo was a close second that year, and probably more important for our overall gameplay that year.
People massively exaggerated his regression in his last season for us. I still wish he had remained here for one more year. He was absolute class in 14-15, not at the level of 11-12 to 13-14, but still a fantastic player and would have been great to have him rotating with Marchisio last year. I doubt we would have got off to such a poor start with him still here while Marchisio was injured. He would have been perfect in the matches against Gladbach too, which made us finish 2nd in our group instead of first.
He wasn't the defensive liability some make him out to be either, nor was he slow on the ball... He was very quick to get the ball moving vertically. Something Marchisio improved upon a lot over the course of last season, and something we lose completely when Hernanes is on the pitch.
And while I believe Marchisio was our best performing CM over the course of 14-15, Pirlo was a close second that year, and probably more important for our overall gameplay that year.
I would say though that there is a trend starting in 2011/12 and ending when he left were he gradually weakened as a player almost year by year and so there is a case for arguing that he would have been worse than when he left us had he stayed one more year. However it will take a lot of weakening for him to drop to hernanes level and he would have definitely helped us avoid the poor start. The change in the midfield would have been a lot less substantial and Pogba wouldnt have been the guy tasked with carrying the midfield.
Today we see very clearly how important a distributor is for our midfield's functioning that even a top talent like Pogba last season and a top passer like pjanic can neither get on with their usual business in the absence of a proper distributor next to them, nor take that role themselves. I think we are really lucky that marchisio turned out to be very capable in that role and we didnt have to go shopping in the market trying out a bunch of players. Even in today's market, I cant think of any purchasable player who I'd trust filling in for chisio. Late in the summer I was even hoping we make a bet on Scwheinsteiger (a veteran who may be finished) because of how scarce that role's skills set is. I think its for this same reason that Bayern keeps Alonso at this age.
I agree that Marchisio cant be compared to Pirlo, as Andrea was on completly different level. Though I wouldnt read too much into assist and key passes number as Pirlo was our FK and corner taker, so his stats are inflated by this (but ofc its Marchisios fault he is not able to be the set piece taker). Also our whole game plan was set for Pirlo, right now we are not relying on Claudio as much.
Nevertheless Pirlo is on another level, Claudio can be compared to players like Busquets, Kroos maybe Thiago Motta in his prime.
Nevertheless Pirlo is on another level, Claudio can be compared to players like Busquets, Kroos maybe Thiago Motta in his prime.
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Zidane is lenghts ahead of both Pirlo and Xavi, but considered Scholes better then himself.
Scholes. Considered by a grand majority to be the best player in the EPL since Best. Considered better then Christiano Ronaldo by all their teammates when they were at united
Most underrated player in history outside England.
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Now you mention it, did we ever score from a short corner ? Cant recall once
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Zidane is lenghts ahead of both Pirlo and Xavi, but considered Scholes better then himself.
Scholes. Considered by a grand majority to be the best player in the EPL since Best. Considered better then Christiano Ronaldo by all their teammates when they were at united
Most underrated player in history outside England.
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Now you mention it, did we ever score from a short corner ? Cant recall once
nope
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i had EPL from 200 to 2009 on free tv, 4-5 games a week sometimes. i think i watched as much EPL games as i did Serie A. so yeah, saw enough of both Pirlo and Scholes and Pirlo was better. also, quotes from players mean shit, stop bringing that up