Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
PLF said:
Nice post about the Palermo example above Ben. I fully agree and I love that Delio Rossi apparently explained it so well to public/a journalist. You could always tell Palermo were gonna have their most problems not when playmaker is gone like Liverani or AMF like Pastore or even Miccoli, etc. but when the two side-backs like Roberto Carlos and Cafu on either side of Brazil go out injured/out of form. And of course it's hard to have good backup for players like that. You have backup but they just won't do what the 1st-teamers can do.
yeah, we could never afford backups as good as them. actually we shouldn't be able to afford starters like them either. we're a midclasss club half as rich as everton and yet we have one of the very best leftback-rightback combinations in europe. we got very lucky with balzaretti and cassani
speaking of van bommel instead, i got too say i can't talk about van bommel's psv period, as i don't follow dutch football. but obviously if u say he used to show some above average passing skills and play in a more "all around" CM role, then i certainly believe u.
but honestly from what i saw from him in the last 6\7 years, i really wouldn't rate him as an above average passer. i mean i can agree with the makelele comparison, but as for cambiasso, i've seen him handling himself in a 2 touches midfeld setup (in pekerman's argentina)...... i've never seen van bommel doing anything like that i his carreer..... and i REALLY can't imagine him doing anything like that at this stage of his carreer. but hey, who knows, maybe i'm wrong on this one and he's actually a better passer than i think (afterall it's not like i've watched him on a weekly basis).
but that still doesn't change the fact that he is no regista. because, like i said in my last post,
being a regista isn't just about passing skills, it's about your passing game as a whole. let's make a few examples of different kind of midfielders with good passing game.
de rossi is a metodista with an above average passing game (actually above average is an understatement, but that's not rilevant here). yet he will never be able to play as a regista. i had endless conversations with rfu on this subject (where is he btw?). since de rossi is such a fantastic all around midfielder and has such a good passing, rfu was disappointed in him coz he expected daniele to build up plays.... but daniele will never do that because he's a different kind of player. he's not a regista. he has the passing accuracy of a regista, but not the ability to read the game of a regista.... neither the ability to raise the tempo of a regista (he can slow the tempo down, but he can't shift it up).
aquilani is a mezz'ala (inside forward) with an insanely good passing game. alberto is a freak, he could hit an orange from 25 meters with a first touch pass. but do his passing skills qualify him as a regista? no. because, whereas he does have the vision and passing skills of a regista, his passing game is different. he can raise the tempo of the game, but he can't slow it down (the exact opposite of de rossi).
and just like i woud say about de rossi, that doesn't mean he's worse than a regista, or that he isn't good enough to be a regista.... he's just different.
and after a DM and a CM, let's consider an AMF.
Zidane had an exquisite passing game. he also was able to play with the tempo of the game and to tune the rhythm according to his wishes (he could slow it down AND shift it up). yet everytime lippi tried to move him backwards and line him up at center midfield to play as a regista, zizou miserably failed. why? because, whereas zizou had great passing skills, the ability to change the tempo AND a fantastic vision.......
he didn't have a regista's vision. zizou was used to read the game from the 3\4 of the pitch, not from the midfield line. and that makes all the difference in the world.
there's a big difference between a trequartista's vision and a regista's vision. a trequartista plays his game on the 3\4 line (wich is just before the final quarter of the pitch). whenever he gets the ball he has in front of him:
from 25 to 35 meters of pitch
from 3 to 5 opponents between him and the opposite goalkeeper
from 2 to 3 possible targets for a pass
there isn't much pitch to scan, there aren't many oppenents whose movements u have to read and there are many targets u have to choose between. bottom line there isn't much vision (or reading) involved, because there isn't much to read (or at least not as much to read as there is from behind the midfield line).
or maybe, to put it differently, the kind of vision required to be a trequartista is different from the kind of vision required to be a regista (and i'll explain this later).
what's the situation from a regista's perspective instead? we as soon as u get the ball u have in front of u:
at least 55 meters of pitch (more than half of the entire playground)
from 5 to 7 opponents between u and the goal line
from 4 to 6 teammates who might be making themselves available targets for a pass.
u can clearely see the difference! it's a completely different game and a very different set of skills required to play as a regista. the trequartista has to pick one of the 2,3 available teammates and try a killer pass.
he doesn't have much pitch to scan
he doesn't have many teammates to pick from
and most important
he doesn't have to worry about the further development of the play, because his pass is most likely gonna be the final pass of the play. his pass is gonna lead to either a shot or a possession loss.
for a regista the situation is completely different
he has most of the pitch to scan
he has most of the opponent players to follow with his eyes
and most important, he can't just think of his pass. his pass is not going to be the last one of the play, but the first one. so he doesn't have to think only about wich teammate is in the better position to receive a pass right now.
he also has to imagine the further development of the play and think of wich of his teammates will be in the better position (not only to receive a pass, but also) to continue the play.
i don't know how many of u are into billiard, but that offers a pretty good analogy. when we play billiard with our friends we just look at the table and think of wich is the easiest ball to hit and how to hit it in order to send it into the pocket.
a professional billiard player instead READS the table and thinks not only about wich is the best ball to hit now, but also about wich ball he should hit next. and therefore when he takes his shot he angles it in a way that leaves the white ball in the best position to hit the next ball.
long story short, he's already thinking about his next move. and that's what a regista has to do. that's the sort of vision he is supposed to possess.
an advanced midfielder doesn't have to worry about the next 2 passes, because there won't be 2 more passes after his.
i'm saying all this to make the point of
what it takes to be a regista.
it's not just about passing accuracy or passing skills.....
it's not just about the ability to change the tempo of the game..... it
's not just about having vision......
and it's not just about having any type of vision (a trequartista's vision won't help u).
it's all theese things put together. a proper regista must have a "check" to each of this skills set. and that's why there are so few registas around.
in europe we have thousands of defensive midfielders, advanced midfielders, inside forwards, wingers, central midfielders........ but there aren't more than 100, maybe 200 registas.
and since there are such few players in europe who have all the skills required to play as a regista, well,
if a player has those skills, trust me, he will play as a regista.
if van bommel were able to do that he would have been doing that for his entire carreer...... and no coach would have ever wasted him in any other role.
my last and most important point is van bommel won't ever be able to have an entire defensive line drop back 5 meters everytime he gets the ball, simply because he got the ball. this is what u had with pirlo.... and this is what your forwards are going to miss from next season on. depth. space to work with.
and that obviously doesn't mean i don't like van bommel as a player. he's great at what he does, but u shouldn't expect him to run your midfield like a regista (exactly as u couldn't expect a regista to provide the coverage van bommel provides).
zeem said:
Having said that, he is 34 and had his fair share of red cards. Milan shouldn't rely on him running the midfield alone. As I said, names like Hamsik and Fabregas are being thrown out, even Pastore by including Cassano in the deal(sorry Ben ). Personally, I would prefer if Allegri lined up Boateng as a LCM and a trequartista like Ganso being bought but apparently he has other ideas.
hamsik and pastore couldn't play pirlo's game, for the very same reason van bommel can't; they're different kind of players, playing in different roles. also boateng couldn't do that. besides lining boateng up in the regista's spot would mean missing out the only inside forward with good off the ball movement in your midfield (and allegri would never do that). the only one of those players who could play in pirlo's position is fabregas, or, according to what many people say (i can't confirm as i've never seen the kid playing), ganso.
as for diego, from what i hear he's been a real asshole and magath (who isn't exactly a guy u wanna mess with!) decided to put him out of the squad.
given the situation, i don't think this is necessarily a mistake (exactly as i didn't think juve made much of a mistake by selling him for less than what they spent on him). i already said it last season, diego is a wonderful player with an outstanding talent.... but talent alone won't bring u far.
here's mine
Also, Seedorf and Cassano not a certainty. Apparently, Seedorf wants to be a regular to renew. 
