Gonzalo Higuaín (47 apps, 8 goals in CL and 43% chance conversion rate) (33 Viewers)

[Gian]

Overrated? Not really. His stamina is inhuman and he and Licht are forming are darn good partnership on the right flank. The only thing I dislike about Pepe is that he thinks too big of himself and tries to pull of impossible things recently. Shots from miles outside the box, tricks and flicks. Not really his thing imo.

 

Buy on AliExpress.com

[Emmet]

It has nothing to do with the new balls imo, just look at Del Piero in the last 3-4 years, he has scored very much as often on set pieces as before(except this year perhaps because he doesn't play much).

There is indeed a decrease in quality of footballers. The current crop of top players is not even remotely close to what we had 10 years ago, bar Messi and Ronaldo.

This. Football was so much better ten year/15 years ago. Nobody could hit free kicks better than Sinisa/Zola/Baggio/Alex & Juninho in my view.

 

[Fake Melo]

This. Football was so much better ten year/15 years ago. Nobody could hit free kicks better than Sinisa/Zola/Baggio/Alex & Juninho in my view.

You left out Van Hoojidonk

 

[Gian]

This. Football was so much better ten year/15 years ago. Nobody could hit free kicks better than Sinisa/Zola/Baggio/Alex & Juninho in my view.

From my experience, nobody could score them like Juninho did.

 

[Emmet]

You left out Van Hoojidonk

I only ever seen him score a few, but I've read he had scored tons of free kicks during his career?

 

[Fake Melo]

One of the best I've ever seen.

 

[Hust]

Pepe doesn't defend that well and I'm sure Giovinco could work just as hard. It could work.

It would work.

 

[Zacheryah]

I agree. Higuain would be very much the best option we could hope to get for the lone striker role in a 4-3-3.

Now, we'd need an upgrade on Pepe like Giovinco for example. Imagine:

Giovinco-Higuain-Vucinic

That would be awesome.

Pepe doesn't defend that well and I'm sure Giovinco could work just as hard. It could work.

pepe not good in defending ?

at that position, its not per se about recuperating balls, its about putting pressure the correct way, without beeing outplayd in 2 passes. every idiot can rush the guy in possession, but it takes positional awareness and reading to do this the correct way and cut out passes.

pepe, has a massive physical engine, and is pretty good ad putting pressure on opponents. isnt recuperating passes but closes the game down very effecient, allowing for the more adapt recuperators like vidal and licht, or marchisio is a slightly lesser degree to recuperate possession

our system is build around having a player with that ability on the left, unfortunatly,pure offensively, pepe is limited


giovinco as replacement ? plz, giovinco cant close down or pressures opponents at all, and is inable to go in physically. he could sub vucinic perhaps, but not pepe.

a serious replacement for pepe would be a player that has a high workrate, and is good at closing down opponents, cutting out passes. all this, but with added offensive value.

for this reason, a player like shaqiri would be extremely good for us, as he offers what pepe does, WITH an offensive endproduct.


Basically the only way to make giovinco replace pepe would be by replacing pirlo by a physically imposing CM, that also reads and dominates the game. he must have a bigger impact then pirlo and pepe combined, defensively. on the other hand, giovinco would need to make a bigger or simular impact on the team then pirlo, on their respective positions.

considering this, upgrading pepe with shaqiri, seems much better.
Unless the physically imposing CM is DDR. then i couldnt care less who is RW cause we would kill opponents dead with the 3CM's alone

 

[Zacheryah]

It would work.

It would not, because its the very reason no top table team would consider giovinco to be a starter.

he sucks and reading the game and closing down opponents, cutting out passes etc.

now for a person that faps on flairfull players like you, i can understand you want more giovinco then pepe in the team.

but that simply isnt juventus. we dominate the opponent first, then kill them


allways has been

 

[Salvatore]

 

[Zacheryah]

This. Football was so much better ten year/15 years ago. Nobody could hit free kicks better than Sinisa/Zola/Baggio/Alex & Juninho in my view.

i fully agree with you. football was awsome back then

so few players that stand out currently

 

[Zacheryah]

fuck lyon had a massive team back then

and i will respect them much more then i ever will respect psg

 

[Red]

I want to hear their output when they start slacking in the defensive department and concede a higher amount of goals/lose dominance in the games.

People here find it quite easy to board the Pepe hate train but players like him are vital for a team's proper functioning.

He reminds me of Ramires in some ways.

Yup.

I like Ramires, but I'm not sure there is really a place for him in Chelsea's 4-3-3, though he'll still work away.

I liked it when (Dunga's?) Brazil used him as a hardworking, defensive RW to allow Maicon or Alves the freedom to go forward.

pepe not good in defending ?

at that position, its not per se about recuperating balls, its about putting pressure the correct way, without beeing outplayd in 2 passes. every idiot can rush the guy in possession, but it takes positional awareness and reading to do this the correct way and cut out passes.

pepe, has a massive physical engine, and is pretty good ad putting pressure on opponents. isnt recuperating passes but closes the game down very effecient, allowing for the more adapt recuperators like vidal and licht, or marchisio is a slightly lesser degree to recuperate possession

our system is build around having a player with that ability on the left, unfortunatly,pure offensively, pepe is limited


giovinco as replacement ? plz, giovinco cant close down or pressures opponents at all, and is inable to go in physically. he could sub vucinic perhaps, but not pepe.

a serious replacement for pepe would be a player that has a high workrate, and is good at closing down opponents, cutting out passes. all this, but with added offensive value.

for this reason, a player like shaqiri would be extremely good for us, as he offers what pepe does, WITH an offensive endproduct.


Basically the only way to make giovinco replace pepe would be by replacing pirlo by a physically imposing CM, that also reads and dominates the game. he must have a bigger impact then pirlo and pepe combined, defensively. on the other hand, giovinco would need to make a bigger or simular impact on the team then pirlo, on their respective positions.

considering this, upgrading pepe with shaqiri, seems much better.
Unless the physically imposing CM is DDR. then i couldnt care less who is RW cause we would kill opponents dead with the 3CM's alone

 

[Bianconero81]

People still trying to convince themselves that Pepe deserves to start

We don't need a winger/forward who can fucking defend. His end product is poor, and whereas his work-rate is admirable, his contribution in the final 3'rd leaves a lot to be desired. I'm sure there are players who are far superior in the attacking department, and will offer us a lot more going forward, while not losing too much on the defensive end. It's a compromise I'm willing to take. Gotze/Reus/Ozil/Shaqiri/Ramirez and recalling Giovinco will make us much more potent. Pepe can come on in the last 15-20 minutes to tire the opposition.

 

[Bianconero_Aus]

At this point in time, Pepe definitely deserves to start. The hate for him is pretty ridiculous, yes he isnt the most talented player but he is definitely effective for us in pressuring the opposition and popping up with a goal when we need one. This guy works his ass off. If you can find a replacement for him who does just as much defensive work coupled with great offensive end product, then by all means yes, replace him.

I have a feeling if he was Brazilian and his name was Pepedinho and played a few games for the Brazil NT most people on this forum would fap their cocks off over him. Just how this forum works.

 

[Bianconero81]

No. At least I speak for myself when I say this. He is a very limited player. Look at how Man City, Barca, and Madrid play. Do you see Ronaldo, Ozil, Di Maria, Sanchez, Pedro, Villa, Silva, or any of these guys tracking back as much as Pepe?

My point is, he deserves to start now, because we have no better options, but come summer time we definitely need an upgrade on him. He doesn't need to defend as much, because if the new acquisition can be more potent and menacing in the final 3'rd, then losing a bit on the defensive end is a compromise I'm willing to take.

 

[Gabriel]

Yup.

I like Ramires, but I'm not sure there is really a place for him in Chelsea's 4-3-3, though he'll still work away.

I liked it when (Dunga's?) Brazil used him as a hardworking, defensive RW to allow Maicon or Alves the freedom to go forward.

Yeah I liked that too. Actually I would like to play him at RB rather than seeing Ferreira again. It might aswel provide us with a little more defensive balance. Though we'd need to start Lampard and Meireles together (which so far haven't been able to tick) or the awful Mikel alongside Romeu and one of the previously mentioned.

The thing with our 4-3-3 is that there's an alarming lack of cohesive play within our midfielders, Ramires definitely could work but we would need to pair him with different type of players. We've been overly reliant in a moment of individual brilliance to win our matches or even score (most of them coming from Sturridge or Mata). Lampard is certainly past it, and even though I think he still can deliver the goods one time or another we can't rely on him for a starting spot, Meireles while a fine player has proved that he's really not capable of making a killer pass or score from long distance which really hurts our rather static midfield due to a lack of change of pace.

Mata and Sturridge can change pace, sure. But it becomes quite predictable when all of your attacking outlet comes from your wide players, smart managers can take advantage of that by cutting out ball suply/marking them out of the game.


Sorry for the off topic.

 

[Gabriel]

No. At least I speak for myself when I say this. He is a very limited player. Look at how Man City, Barca, and Madrid play. Do you see Ronaldo, Ozil, Di Maria, Sanchez, Pedro, Villa, Silva, or any of these guys tracking back as much as Pepe?

My point is, he deserves to start now, because we have no better options, but come summer time we definitely need an upgrade on him. He doesn't need to defend as much, because if the new acquisition can be more potent and menacing in the final 3'rd, then losing a bit on the defensive end is a compromise I'm willing to take.

Bar Barca none of the teams you mentioned play the same formation as Juventus, and you can't even compare Juventus with Barca as they although filled with quality in every position mostly attack and defend as a whole.

Madrid has Alonso and one of Lass/Khedira (who are pure DMs and can cover more ground/defend more aptly than Marchisio or Vidal) or even Pepe at times sitting back 95% of the time which allows certain freedom for their attacking players.

They also are basically playing very very inferior teams most of the time which allows them to win by 4+ goals margin.

City has De Jong and Yaya in midfield who are tremendous psychical beasts aside from a share of players that can do some defensive work/cover ground.

Those teams also don't have glaring defects or weak spots in their defense IE Bonucci or De Ceglie when he plays). A speedy winger could worry Chiellini at LB a lot too.

 

[Zacheryah]

People still trying to convince themselves that Pepe deserves to start

We don't need a winger/forward who can fucking defend. His end product is poor, and whereas his work-rate is admirable, his contribution in the final 3'rd leaves a lot to be desired. I'm sure there are players who are far superior in the attacking department, and will offer us a lot more going forward, while not losing too much on the defensive end. It's a compromise I'm willing to take. Gotze/Reus/Ozil/Shaqiri/Ramirez and recalling Giovinco will make us much more potent. Pepe can come on in the last 15-20 minutes to tire the opposition.

see this pretty much confirms that you completely misunderstand pepe's tactical role.

we dont use pepe to "tire" opponents, we use him to put pressure and close them down whilst building up, so we can recover possession.

the only one getting tired in that aspect, is pepe himself, and it allows us to domminate their midfield, tough recuperating vidal/marchisio/fullbacks


the reason pepe needs to start is because he is our best player for this task, and offensively, statistically, doing pretty well


want to replace pepe ? make sure ur suggestion has simular defensive qualities

 

[Gabriel]

Besides, tiring opponents during the last 10 minutes of the game? Seriously? they will likely be tired already anyway.