Re: World Cup 2010 - The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri!
abou said:
But it's hard to compare them since Xavi's in the best club side and national team around whereas Pirlo's in a two poor side, in comparison.
exactly. as far as we know, pirlo might be in his prime right now... and we wouldn't even know it, given the static teammates he has to deal with.
a regista's prime usually goes from his 28th to his 32nd year. it's no science of course, but usually that's when registas give their best; xavi, pizarro, ledesma, alonso... they're all in their prime right now, and they're all in that 28\32 phase of their carreers.. and i could go on mentioning corini, liverani, de sisti, bulgarelli, redondo, giannini... they all gave their best in those 4 years between 28 and 32.
while vision and passing skills are natural talent u carry with yourself since you're a kid, coolness (wich is AS important as vision and passing for a regista) improves with age. besides registas aren't supposed to give a strong physical contribution to the game (in terms of runs and pressing), and their ankles aren't forced to that stress that usually creates problems to forwards, defensive midfielders and defenders.
i remember i had this very same conversation about pirlo being past his best exactly one year ago. just before the confederarions cup match vs usa, a friend of mine was making the point that pirlo is not the same player anymore, that our players rely too much on him and so on.
i replied by saying that he's in his prime right now and that his teammates are the real problem.... that we can't blame pirlo if his teammates don't make themselves available targets.... and that he was still 29.
less than 1 hour later andrea made the assist for rossi's goal... a stunning lob with his weak foot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaAZimyU-8s
as soon as i'll see montolivo doing something like this, then i'll be the first to say "hell yeah, let monto take pirlo's place".
oh and as for that busquets point, don't take that seriously, i was just jocking by saying pirlo would make barca's starting 11... i meant to remark how crazy it is to line up busquets instead of yaya.
abou said:
I'm not convinced that the picks Lippi's made have the off-the-ball movement for Pirlo to exploit with his vision anyway, so I don't think he'll be a big miss in that regard as he won't be able to express his full talent if he played anyway. Look at the young, hungry talent Mexico have and their intellgence off the ball. If Pirlo had the likes of that around him he'd have a field day. I'm not questioning Pirlo's talent, I'm questioning the talent around him in that squad and since he's the focal point of that team, it greatly effects him. But maybe I'm underestimating the squad Lippi picked, I don't know.
i perfectly understand your point, mate. and i'm also pretty sure that's what stefano and rfu had in their minds when they said they're glad pirlo might be out.
i agree, pirlo probably won't be able to do his magic (at least if we play like we've been playing in the last year), but that doesn't mean we'll be better off without him.
u see, the off the ball movement of the teammates is vital to a regista...... but if u don't line up a regista, then off the ball movement will be even more important coz the players' movement will be the only way to cope with the lack of a regista. just think at what happened to liverpool this season. they used to rely too much on xabi.... but now that he's gone their game is even more predictable, flat and static than before.
besides pirlo isn't just a regista. do u remember what i told u once in a pm about xavi and pirlo? i believe that, as a "pure regista", xavi is even better than pirlo. xavi has a better "sense of rhythm" he feels the flow of the game slightly better than andrea and he also loses possession less often than andrea, coz he always tries to keep it as simple as he can (and that's how a "pure regista's mind" works). he rarely tries anything fancy, coz he knows that's not what he's supposed to do. long story short, xavi was born as a regista.
pirlo is different on this concern. he wasn't born as a regista. he was born as a trequartista. that means that if he sees an opening for a bold move, he'll take his chances and risk it. that's the trequartista in him prevailing on the regista in him.
let me make an example. do u remember when 3 years ago barca was having that horrible season? the players were all unbelievably static (even more than milan players nowadays). well xavi kept doing his job.... coz that's his only way to conceive football..... and he failed miserably, coz obviously u can't do your job as a regista if your teammates don't help u.
that video i posted above instead, shows how pirlo reacts in this kind of situations. he couldn't find an open target for the whole 1st half, so, out of frustration, the trequartista in him suddenly woke up and and told him "oh fuck it! i'll do it myself".
usually when a regista doesn't find an open target upfront, he settles for a confortable, useless side pass (wich usually makes the situation even worse as it gives even more time to the opponent defensive line to adjust itself).
the good thing about pirlo is that in this kind of situation, he can also turn himself into a trequartista, beat his marker with a roulette and make the assist by himself.
so, when off the ball movement is an issue, having a player with pirlo's talent becomes even more important.
