If Andrea Pirlo were at Barcelona..

on form Pirlo would walk into any team in the world including Barca

Marchisio is World Class, he'd fit right in with Barca

I agree with Arq here. Look, Xavi is the best CM and is playing at another level. In terms of abilities I would say that they are both very similar, but the fact is, Xavi is the same player he was before Pepe came, so what changeed exactly...go figure it out. I'm not using the system arguement but if Pirlo had gone earlier when he was younger he would have given Xavi a run I feel or possibly benched him. And Franchise talking about protection? What does that mean? In that case Xavi gets the biggest protection as his whole front line presses, hell over the last 2 season in the Cl Xavi has the lowest tackling rate out of every player! So Please, don't use the Protection arguement.

With that being said I feel that they had similar abilities but with Barcelona concentrating on so much short passing and passing under pressure, Xavi has left all before him. WOuld Pirlo have done as well in a similar situation? I have no doubt...but he didn't and Xavi did and that elevated him...

Prime Xavi vs Prime Pirlo ? Lets just say Pirlo is more complete but Xavi is more suitable for Barcelona.

But then again Xavi's game is restrained by Barca's short passing game and if the majority of his passes are short (sidewayish) that doesnt mean he cant play the long ball like Pirlo does but its just that he doesnt really need to.

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:Marchisio is World Class, he'd fit right in with Barca B

Fixed.

Pirlo

LOL to who said Nocerino > pirlo

Pirlo> Marchisio> Nocerinho

Arquitecto wrote:Xavi is better, but I highly disagree how posters pit the gap between their levels. Thats just unjustified frankly and near laughable.

And no Pirlo didnt NEED protection as their have been countless games for Milan and Italia where both teams played purely attacking formations with Pirlo getting little protection, but destroying other team. Its only that that Pirlo-gattuso partnership was the most effective.

And ambrosini didn't work around to protect Pirlo as his role was always different almost detached from Pirlo in the mid while Gattuso formed a cohesive partnership with him

Seriously? Pirlo did not NEED protection? When Pirlo played for Italia and didn't need protection he was NEVER a CM he was shifted to an AM. And the ENTIRE idea of the thread is would Pirlo fit into Barca system now or before, the answer is simply no, I don't think you need me to lecture you on why?

mr.galliani wrote:

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:Marchisio is World Class, he'd fit right in with Barca B

Fixed.

I highly doubt it tbh but might get some playing time.

pirlo is a player guardiola admired most from milan midfield of last decade, so he might have found the way to play pirlo, but its more likely pirlo might have deputize xavi or iniesta, with less playing time

Pirlo in his prime would make any team in the world undoubtedly...Xavi although he was a good player only showed up on the scene when a system that makes other teams pressing look pointless was implemented.

He will be a bench player at Barca imo.

Only position he can play there is arguably Xavi position but xavi is better..

Play a 3-4-3 and fit in Busquets-Pirlo-Xavi-Iniesta

Immaculate_Mole wrote:Play a 3-4-3 and fit in Busquets-Pirlo-Xavi-Iniesta

how dare you bench spanish lampard

Well , he would have and with great ease. He would have taken Busquets position even with one leg cut and the other broken and that's about it. His best years at Milan was when he played as a DM , behind 2 CMs. As far as i remember , that's the case with Barca as well. The only thing that would differ , would be the system and his role at it . Which frankly , Pirlo would thrive at.

At Milan, he had his creative role as a deep luying playmaker and needed Gattuso or Ambrosini to help him most of the time , when it came about defending.

At Barcelona , with 60-70+ possession all the time and with that pressing Barca does , he would have no need at all. To add , Pirlo wouldn't do any worse than Busquets when it comes to defending.

So , i think Pirlo replacing Busquets, and Xaviesta a little further up front. There ,you have it.
In my opinion it would work like a charm..

Have you not seen my post in the barca section?

Said Thiago should play above him and Barca should sell Cesc on a "first come first serve basis"

Dante Milan's 3 in midfield and Barca's 3 is rather different......

Milan had 2 work horses either side of Pirlo, while Barca has two creative playmakers iam not sure it would work in the same fashion.

If pirlo can replace busquets then Alonso will walk into Barca midfield trio


Dont agree with pirlo replacig busquets

Dante13 wrote:Well , he would have and with great ease. He would have taken Busquets position even with one leg cut and the other broken and that's about it. His best years at Milan was when he played as a DM , behind 2 CMs. As far as i remember , that's the case with Barca as well. The only thing that would differ , would be the system and his role at it . Which frankly , Pirlo would thrive at.

At Milan, he had his creative role as a deep luying playmaker and needed Gattuso or Ambrosini to help him most of the time , when it came about defending.

At Barcelona , with 60-70+ possession all the time and with that pressing Barca does , he would have no need at all. To add , Pirlo wouldn't do any worse than Busquets when it comes to defending.

So , i think Pirlo replacing Busquets, and Xaviesta a little further up front. There ,you have it.
In my opinion it would work like a charm..

Lets get one thing straight, something I keep reading in the Milan section as well, playing Pirlo in a "DM" position doesn't mean he is a DMer, just like the Boateng as an AMer case those days, in other words, Ancelotti played Pirlo there to keep him away from being pressurized, with the least of pressure on Pirlo you will see MANY misplaced passes left and right, thats why he needed to work horses as mole pointed on his sides, so Pirlo had to move back to play his game doesn't make him a DMer.

Like Boateng, Allegri wants to apply pressure from up front, but are forwards can't do it so Boateng plays there and does this for him, in anyway it doesn't make him an AMer.

Guys , guys .. let me explain myself a bit differently , because the matter is very simple.

Do you think Busquets does something that Pirlo cannot? Or that he excels in something rather than Pirlo ?

As for Milan 3 in midfield , yes they are different . But putting Pirlo to do the exact same job as Busquets does , doesn't mean that it won't work.. More like the opposite , let's call it improvement.

baresi wrote:

Dante13 wrote:Well , he would have and with great ease. He would have taken Busquets position even with one leg cut and the other broken and that's about it. His best years at Milan was when he played as a DM , behind 2 CMs. As far as i remember , that's the case with Barca as well. The only thing that would differ , would be the system and his role at it . Which frankly , Pirlo would thrive at.

At Milan, he had his creative role as a deep luying playmaker and needed Gattuso or Ambrosini to help him most of the time , when it came about defending.

At Barcelona , with 60-70+ possession all the time and with that pressing Barca does , he would have no need at all. To add , Pirlo wouldn't do any worse than Busquets when it comes to defending.

So , i think Pirlo replacing Busquets, and Xaviesta a little further up front. There ,you have it.
In my opinion it would work like a charm..

Lets get one thing straight, something I keep reading in the Milan section as well, playing Pirlo in a "DM" position doesn't mean he is a DMer, just like the Boateng as an AMer case those days, in other words, Ancelotti played Pirlo there to keep him away from being pressurized, with the least of pressure on Pirlo you will see MANY misplaced passes left and right, thats why he needed to work horses as mole pointed on his sides, so Pirlo had to move back to play his game doesn't make him a DMer.

Like Boateng, Allegri wants to apply pressure from up front, but are forwards can't do it so Boateng plays there and does this for him, in anyway it doesn't make him an AMer.

So? What does that mean? DM or not , he played his best years there , what difference does it make? If he can do it , he can do it.

jibers wrote:I agree with Arq here. Look, Xavi is the best CM and is playing at another level. In terms of abilities I would say that they are both very similar, but the fact is, Xavi is the same player he was before Pepe came, so what changeed exactly...go figure it out. I'm not using the system arguement but if Pirlo had gone earlier when he was younger he would have given Xavi a run I feel or possibly benched him. And Franchise talking about protection? What does that mean? In that case Xavi gets the biggest protection as his whole front line presses, hell over the last 2 season in the Cl Xavi has the lowest tackling rate out of every player! So Please, don't use the Protection arguement.

With that being said I feel that they had similar abilities but with Barcelona concentrating on so much short passing and passing under pressure, Xavi has left all before him. WOuld Pirlo have done as well in a similar situation? I have no doubt...but he didn't and Xavi did and that elevated him...

How is Xavi getting protection from pressing if he is part of it? Its not just the front line that presses, or its very easy to get out of.

He has a direct impact on it, as in, the better he is at that defensive aspect the better the team is. Its nothing to do with tackling rate..that is a irrelevant stat.

Pirlo wasnt part of any Milan defensive gameplan, in fact, they gameplanned ways in which he can play without causing defensive breakdowns.

Gattuso and Ambrosini werent playing important games because of their offensive ability, its because of their work rate and defence. Now, if it was just one player (like Xavi had in a holding player) then its generally acceptable, but why 2 players? Its because Pirlo isnt a good defensive player.

And I would like to say, I never said Xavi was superior to Pirlo pre Pep. I said the general assumption Pirlo was better is false.

The Franchise wrote:

jibers wrote:I agree with Arq here. Look, Xavi is the best CM and is playing at another level. In terms of abilities I would say that they are both very similar, but the fact is, Xavi is the same player he was before Pepe came, so what changeed exactly...go figure it out. I'm not using the system arguement but if Pirlo had gone earlier when he was younger he would have given Xavi a run I feel or possibly benched him. And Franchise talking about protection? What does that mean? In that case Xavi gets the biggest protection as his whole front line presses, hell over the last 2 season in the Cl Xavi has the lowest tackling rate out of every player! So Please, don't use the Protection arguement.

With that being said I feel that they had similar abilities but with Barcelona concentrating on so much short passing and passing under pressure, Xavi has left all before him. WOuld Pirlo have done as well in a similar situation? I have no doubt...but he didn't and Xavi did and that elevated him...

How is Xavi getting protection from pressing if he is part of it? Its not just the front line that presses, or its very easy to get out of.

He has a direct impact on it, as in, the better he is at that defensive aspect the better the team is. Its nothing to do with tackling rate..that is a irrelevant stat.

Pirlo wasnt part of any Milan defensive gameplan, in fact, they gameplanned ways in which he can play without causing defensive breakdowns.

Gattuso and Ambrosini werent playing important games because of their offensive ability, its because of their work rate and defence. Now, if it was just one player (like Xavi had in a holding player) then its generally acceptable, but why 2 players? Its because Pirlo isnt a good defensive player.

And I would like to say, I never said Xavi was superior to Pirlo pre Pep. I said the general assumption Pirlo was better is false.

not only that he was NEVER able to handle pressure, thats why two players had to be on his sides incase he loses the ball they can defend either sides.

The Franchise wrote:

jibers wrote:I agree with Arq here. Look, Xavi is the best CM and is playing at another level. In terms of abilities I would say that they are both very similar, but the fact is, Xavi is the same player he was before Pepe came, so what changeed exactly...go figure it out. I'm not using the system arguement but if Pirlo had gone earlier when he was younger he would have given Xavi a run I feel or possibly benched him. And Franchise talking about protection? What does that mean? In that case Xavi gets the biggest protection as his whole front line presses, hell over the last 2 season in the Cl Xavi has the lowest tackling rate out of every player! So Please, don't use the Protection arguement.

With that being said I feel that they had similar abilities but with Barcelona concentrating on so much short passing and passing under pressure, Xavi has left all before him. WOuld Pirlo have done as well in a similar situation? I have no doubt...but he didn't and Xavi did and that elevated him...

How is Xavi getting protection from pressing if he is part of it? Its not just the front line that presses, or its very easy to get out of.

He has a direct impact on it, as in, the better he is at that defensive aspect the better the team is. Its nothing to do with tackling rate..that is a irrelevant stat.

Pirlo wasnt part of any Milan defensive gameplan, in fact, they gameplanned ways in which he can play without causing defensive breakdowns.

Gattuso and Ambrosini werent playing important games because of their offensive ability, its because of their work rate and defence. Now, if it was just one player (like Xavi had in a holding player) then its generally acceptable, but why 2 players? Its because Pirlo isnt a good defensive player.

And I would like to say, I never said Xavi was superior to Pirlo pre Pep. I said the general assumption Pirlo was better is false.

Pirlo is good at everything defending aside from tackling and he shows that every game for juventus this season he doesn't press but takes a position to close down space or cut off a pass just like he did with milan while he was there. The assumption that Pirlo can't defend is as false as it gets and comes from people who label him as a liability because of his pace.

When you play as the deepest midfielder, right in front of the back 4, you are faced by number 10, attacking midfielders and second strikers...these types of players often come into your zone.

If they have dribbling ability and creativity, which most players in those positions have, they are going to give Pirlo trouble and they did.

Thats why playing ennergetic, defensive players around him are needed, so they can stop as many balls into those players by closing down and pressuring the players trying to get the ball into that player.

Pirlo is good at positioning himself in areas so he can intecept slack passes, but if those midfielders in front of him cant stop the opponant players and that number 10 gets the ball, Pirlo doesnt have the defensive ability to stop him.

For an example of this, look at Brazil-Italy not too long ago. Robinho utterly had his way because he was able to recieve balls into his feet and attack, Pirlo especially was helpless.

The Franchise wrote:When you play as the deepest midfielder, right in front of the back 4, you are faced by number 10, attacking midfielders and second strikers...these types of players often come into your zone.

If they have dribbling ability and creativity, which most players in those positions have, they are going to give Pirlo trouble and they did.

Thats why playing ennergetic, defensive players around him are needed, so they can stop as many balls into those players by closing down and pressuring the players trying to get the ball into that player.

Pirlo is good at positioning himself in areas so he can intecept slack passes, but if those midfielders in front of him cant stop the opponant players and that number 10 gets the ball, Pirlo doesnt have the defensive ability to stop him.

For an example of this, look at Brazil-Italy not too long ago. Robinho utterly had his way because he was able to recieve balls into his feet and attack, Pirlo especially was helpless.

Xavi on average has atleast 5 energetic players around him every game Pirlo had one in Gattuso while playing for milan and using one example from a game where Italy had one of their worst squads of all time playing isn't going to go in your favor