Re: Xavi vs Pirlo

by Arquitecto Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:13 pm

alexjanosik wrote:What a performance from Xavi.MOM by a country mile.
And it was even more impressive considering that he was doing 2 jobs.
Notice how he was always shielding Pirlo from receving the ball.Whenever the defender had the ball he would shield Pirlo from receiving the ball.He even asked Fab to the do the same on a few occasions.This meant that Pirlo had to drop to the defensive line to get the ball and he was utterly useless.
Xavi was also the go to man in midfield.Notice how the 2 times players made a run,he picked them out.Thats what he has been missing all tournament.Still an immense performance.One of the greatest big game players of all time.Every single time a final or big game comes around Xavi steps up.
Atleast a couple of levels above Pirlo and this game proved that.Completely kept Pirlo in his pocket and dominated the game too.

He only pressed Pirlo deep once yet Pirlo's job was to play deep as it is in the 4132. And no he wasn't dominated as before the injury of Motta he did all he could to distribute the play yet sadly this formation an fatigue had taken the toll on the players. Very very similar things have happened to Xavi as well along with the fact that it's incredibly easily to dominate a demotivated and fatigued italia down to 10 men.

Iniesta was MOTM and had more influence.

Khaled wrote:Xavi faced Pirlo twice in Euro2012... In both matches, he was the better player #enoughsaid (athough Xavi is not playing in his favorite position)

Is every post of yours this bad? Laughing

#Fail

by alexjanosik Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:52 pm

Arquitecto wrote:
alexjanosik wrote:What a performance from Xavi.MOM by a country mile.
And it was even more impressive considering that he was doing 2 jobs.
Notice how he was always shielding Pirlo from receving the ball.Whenever the defender had the ball he would shield Pirlo from receiving the ball.He even asked Fab to the do the same on a few occasions.This meant that Pirlo had to drop to the defensive line to get the ball and he was utterly useless.
Xavi was also the go to man in midfield.Notice how the 2 times players made a run,he picked them out.Thats what he has been missing all tournament.Still an immense performance.One of the greatest big game players of all time.Every single time a final or big game comes around Xavi steps up.
Atleast a couple of levels above Pirlo and this game proved that.Completely kept Pirlo in his pocket and dominated the game too.

He only pressed Pirlo deep once yet Pirlo's job was to play deep as it is in the 4132. And no he wasn't dominated as before the injury of Motta he did all he could to distribute the play yet sadly this formation an fatigue had taken the toll on the players. Very very similar things have happened to Xavi as well along with the fact that it's incredibly easily to dominate a demotivated and fatigued italia down to 10 men.

Iniesta was MOTM and had more influence.

Khaled wrote:Xavi faced Pirlo twice in Euro2012... In both matches, he was the better player #enoughsaid (athough Xavi is not playing in his favorite position)

Is every post of yours this bad?

#Fail

Nowhere did I say Xavi pressed Pirlo.Xavi is too smart for that and knows that it is useless to press a player as good as Pirlo.What Xavi did was smarter.Whenever the CB's or the FB's had the ball he cut off the pass to Pirlo.And he did this for the majority of the match and also instructed fab to do the same.
Result was Pirlo had to drop to the backline to get the ball thereby vastly reducing his influence.

by Adit Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:09 pm

Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

by vivabarca38 Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:10 pm

What a performance.Btw Xavi marked Pirlo every once in a while throughout the match...and even before Italy went down to 10 men Xavi was still dominating and its not like Thiago Feckin Motta as a TQ would have had that much of an impact anyways.

by steve_smith Tue Jul 03, 2012 1:01 am

OOHHHHHHHHH PUHHHLEASE!

Pirlo and Xavi are 2 of the Greats of all time. But to say Xavi is 'a couple levels above' Pirlo because of this match is a huge BWAHAHAHAAAA HAHA!

Italy was burnt out. It was clear. 2 of their players had to be CARTED OFF the field and couldn't return. De Rossi was playing hurt. Cassano can't make it past 60 minutes. Italy had the least rest and the most travel.

Pirlo was gppd until they were down a man. Xavi was really good. But let's not forget that Pirlo out-performed Xavi in first match when most variables were controlled

by MrDeeds Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:08 am

Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain? confused

It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

by The Sanchez Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:14 am

MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

Clearly a good tactic not anti-football... :facepalm:

by MrDeeds Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:25 am

paxtonpale wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

Clearly a good tactic not anti-football...

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that? confused

by The Sanchez Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:27 am

MrDeeds wrote:
paxtonpale wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

Clearly a good tactic not anti-football...

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

Maybe, to win a game... :facepalm:

by AnJl Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:30 am

MrDeeds wrote:
paxtonpale wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

Clearly a good tactic not anti-football...

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

by harhar11 Sun Jul 15, 2012 1:29 pm

MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

.... They were not marking him at the same time, ffs :facepalm:

The player who was the closest to him, whether that was Xavi, Iniesta or Fabregas, took the job to mark him. It shows how good those 3 players are when they can be a attacking threat and at the same time help mark Pirlo, a WC midfielder, out of the game.

MrDeeds wrote:

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

I didnt hear Spain cry about France, Portugals and Croatias tactic nor did I hear them cry about Paraguays, Portugals, Germany or Netherland(they complained about their madridesque play a.k.a fouling much but never the parking the bus tactics) at the WC.

by MrDeeds Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:21 pm

harhar11 wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

.... They were not marking him at the same time, ffs
The player who was the closest to him, whether that was Xavi, Iniesta or Fabregas, took the job to mark him. It shows how good those 3 players are when they can be a attacking threat and at the same time help mark Pirlo, a WC midfielder, out of the game.

MrDeeds wrote:

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

I didnt hear Spain cry about France, Portugals and Croatias tactic nor did I hear them cry about Paraguays, Portugals, Germany or Netherland(they complained about their madridesque play a.k.a fouling much but never the parking the bus tactics) at the WC.

Obviously they weren't marking him at the same time lol. They didn't have any to cry about France, Portugal or Croatia tacts, what are you talking about?

All I'm saying, is that if Italy would have done that to Xavi, he would be talking to the press about how lame is Italy. And that is a fact.

by MrDeeds Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:23 pm

AnJl wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
paxtonpale wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

Clearly a good tactic not anti-football...

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

Elaborate.

by harhar11 Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:47 pm

MrDeeds wrote:
harhar11 wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

.... They were not marking him at the same time, ffs
The player who was the closest to him, whether that was Xavi, Iniesta or Fabregas, took the job to mark him. It shows how good those 3 players are when they can be a attacking threat and at the same time help mark Pirlo, a WC midfielder, out of the game.

MrDeeds wrote:

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

I didnt hear Spain cry about France, Portugals and Croatias tactic nor did I hear them cry about Paraguays, Portugals, Germany or Netherland(they complained about their madridesque play a.k.a fouling much but never the parking the bus tactics) at the WC.

Obviously they weren't marking him at the same time lol. They didn't have any to cry about France, Portugal or Croatia tacts, what are you talking about?

All I'm saying, is that if Italy would have done that to Xavi, he would be talking to the press about how lame is Italy. And that is a fact.

Are you for real? " Antifootball" has never been about marking a player, "antifootball" is parking the bus..

by MrDeeds Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:05 pm

harhar11 wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
harhar11 wrote:
MrDeeds wrote:
Adit wrote:Xavi did press Pirlo alot in the first half. Xavi was assigned to make it tough for Pirlo and he did the job in the best way. Pirlo was not allowed to keep the ball for long time as Fabregas also came to him and closed him down.Which was why Pirlo was unusually deep and had to place himself between CBs.

Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta were all marking Pirlo. I mean, are you serious Spain?
It Italy would have done that to Xavi or Iniesta, they would be calling Italy anti-football stuff.

.... They were not marking him at the same time, ffs
The player who was the closest to him, whether that was Xavi, Iniesta or Fabregas, took the job to mark him. It shows how good those 3 players are when they can be a attacking threat and at the same time help mark Pirlo, a WC midfielder, out of the game.

MrDeeds wrote:

I never said it wasn't, but they are known for being cry-babies. If you are, then why do sh!t like that?

I didnt hear Spain cry about France, Portugals and Croatias tactic nor did I hear them cry about Paraguays, Portugals, Germany or Netherland(they complained about their madridesque play a.k.a fouling much but never the parking the bus tactics) at the WC.

Obviously they weren't marking him at the same time lol. They didn't have any to cry about France, Portugal or Croatia tacts, what are you talking about?

All I'm saying, is that if Italy would have done that to Xavi, he would be talking to the press about how lame is Italy. And that is a fact.

Are you for real? " Antifootball" has never been about marking a player, "antifootball" is parking the bus..

Jesus Christ I know, but that the kind of thing Xavi would say.

"At times, I just feel like leaving the pitch so as to not to be bothered. I have never had such tight marking. He was obsessive, and pursued me even in the corners”, said Xavi after the match. “I try not to be upset and to play with one touch. It is unfortunate that they come here (to play) to close us down but I believe more teams will do the same to us”, he added.

I mean, what kind of hypocrite?

by harhar11 Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:32 pm

MrDeeds wrote:

Jesus Christ I know, but that the kind of thing Xavi would say.

"At times, I just feel like leaving the pitch so as to not to be bothered. I have never had such tight marking. He was obsessive, and pursued me even in the corners”, said Xavi after the match. “I try not to be upset and to play with one touch. It is unfortunate that they come here (to play) to close us down but I believe more teams will do the same to us”, he added.

I mean, what kind of hypocrite?

The first sounds very similiar to the praise Rio gave Park after the man utd - milan game, he said something along the line that he wouldnt be suprise if park followed Pirlo to the bed because he marked him so tight, where as the other is the describes what people call "antifootball" AND even then he aknowledge that alot of teams would do the same, so it wasnt really a critcism to the team...

by MrDeeds Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:41 pm

That was praise from a differente person, and was given like 4 years later. Completely different.

My point remains.

by The Sanchez Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:57 pm

Does this even matter? The fact that Xavi was marked by 4/5 German players in the WC and how he still managed to get past them and controll the midfield, just shows what a world-class player he is. This is not antifootball.

by MrDeeds Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:41 am

paxtonpale wrote:Does this even matter? The fact that Xavi was marked by 4/5 German players in the WC and how he still managed to get past them and controll the midfield, just shows what a world-class player he is. This is not antifootball.

That didn't happen. And Xavi wasn't even in the top 3 players for Spain in the WC.

by juventus101 Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:51 am

Xavi is a legend, but in my honest opinion Messi and years ago Ronaldinho have made Xavi look better than he actually is. Still one of the best CMs of all time, thdres no arguing that, but Pirlo is better in pretty much every aspect except mobility.

by juventus101 Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:55 am

paxtonpale wrote:Does this even matter? The fact that Xavi was marked by 4/5 German players in the WC and how he still managed to get past them and controll the midfield, just shows what a world-class player he is. This is not antifootball.

Wow, you never even watched that game did you? Germany didnt even defend Messi with 4 or 5 players. Against Messi it was mainly Schweinsteiger marking him with some help from Lahm and occasionally Podolski. And thats MESSI. In 2010 Xavi was outdine by many of his teammates. And Messi was the onky player they really hassled like crazy with 2 or 3 players at a time. If you actually watched the WC, youd know back then Germany was a counterattacking team. They didnt care if the other team had the ball, they woukd just outscore them with counters. Im not saying they parked the bus, but they played a style similar to Inter in 2010.

by harhar11 Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:44 am

juventus101 wrote:Xavi is a legend, but in my honest opinion Messi and years ago Ronaldinho have made Xavi look better than he actually is. Still one of the best CMs of all time, thdres no arguing that, but Pirlo is better in pretty much every aspect except mobility.

So whats the excuse for Xavi being Spains best player(expet this Euro)

by MrDeeds Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:56 am

harhar11 wrote:
juventus101 wrote:Xavi is a legend, but in my honest opinion Messi and years ago Ronaldinho have made Xavi look better than he actually is. Still one of the best CMs of all time, thdres no arguing that, but Pirlo is better in pretty much every aspect except mobility.

So whats the excuse for Xavi being Spains best player(expet this Euro)

People like you don't watch the games, definitely.

Watch the Euro 08, and tell me he did a better tournament than Senna. That wasn't praised enough just because he is brazilian. Watch the World Cup 10 games and tell me he did a better tournamente than Iniesta, Villa, Alonso, Busquets or Casillas. Watch the Euro 12 and tell me he played any good game besides the final.

To keep this on topic. Pirlo was the best player of Italy on the WC06 and Euro12. Both of his performances were absolutely superior to any of Xavi.

by harhar11 Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:02 pm

MrDeeds wrote:
harhar11 wrote:
juventus101 wrote:Xavi is a legend, but in my honest opinion Messi and years ago Ronaldinho have made Xavi look better than he actually is. Still one of the best CMs of all time, thdres no arguing that, but Pirlo is better in pretty much every aspect except mobility.

So whats the excuse for Xavi being Spains best player(expet this Euro)

People like you don't watch the games. You just read what Marca.com or Sport writes.

moronic comment.

First of all both marca and sport are lousy sports paper 2nd of all Xavi was named Uefas player of the tournament in 08, utterly outplayed the best team at the WC and utterly destroyed Pirlo and italy in the final this year when he was playing out of position and having a team mate getting in his way all the time. And yet I dont watch games?

Wait was it you who said that Xavi is a media hype and that he isnt that good? When its well known that Xavi had to win over the media because they made this kind of headlines

Xavi vs Pirlo - Page 13 Daily-Mail-Apology

Xavi vs Pirlo - Page 13 Daily-Mail-Apology

But Xavi isnt good because the media made Xavi the player who he is :facepalm:

Edit: no that was cotes but my point still stands Sports and Marca wasnt that much better with Xavi before that Euro either.

--

Oh and Xavi performances in the final was atleast 2x as good as any of Pirlos performances at the Euro.
Seriously I like Pirlo,infact he is my favorite midfielder after the Barca ones, but his fanbois are making me dislike him...

by S Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:36 pm

futbol wrote:
I disagree. Pirlo is great but Xavi's ceiling is a lot higher, especially in big games. I remember him assisting 4 goals in a single game against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. He has assisted goals in 2 consecutive CL finals and 2 consecutive Euro Cup finals.

He's been Ballon d'Or shortlisted for 3 consecutive years and if it wasn't for possibly the greatest football player of all time (who can't perform without Xavi, they say ), he'd easily have a Ballon d'Or to his name. Pirlo never came close. It's more like a "Xavi vs. Xabi" than "Messi vs. Maradona" comparison. And if Pirlo were so consistently great, Milan wouldn't have given him away for free last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Dont want to derail that other thread..Lets bring the debate in here..

Some stats of both players from this season:

Pirlo : Xavi
-Games: 15:16
-Goals: 4:3
-Assists: 3:3
-key passes: 47:23
-total passes: 1224:1607
-Crosses that found it's target: 29:8
-Long balls: 149:127
-Through balls: 17:3
-Stolen balls: 39:8
-Interceptions: 30:16
-Shots taken: 31:23
-Successful dribbles: 22:14
-Fouls against: 26:14
-Lost balls: 15:9

Pirlo blows Xavi in almost every category apart from those sideways,backward passes Xavi so consistently makes.

by Cassius Sat Dec 22, 2012 1:04 pm

looks like Pirlo currently, stastistic wise, make's Xavi look like his bitch.

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