billy_gr wrote:I guess now peopleare ready to accept Messi as the best ever as he shits on your favorite legend's stat sheet (well, excluding this african legend with 11.000 goals in a calendar year, who isalso better than your favorite legend).

Anyways, first stat I read is wrong as Xavi has 4 goals not 3. I am too lazy to verify the other ones

The Franchise wrote:

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:

The Franchise wrote:

I think you need to lay down, I have no idea what your on about.

Some dude said xavi was better than pirlo at the euros based on stats ratings. Thats what im talking about and you still havent condemend it. But when some dude said pirlo is better because he has better stats over a season you where quick to comment on it.

No, some dude (RG) said he didnt agree Pirlo "dominated" Xavi and used those stats to show it. The stats dont have to be the entire story because he is only disproving a point, not making one of his own.

Maybe you should read whats going on here?

tuddor wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:Just to add flame to this old fire I decide to post this:

Pirlo v Xavi in 2012-13: G 15/16, Gls 4/3, Assists 3/3, passes 1224/1607, key passes 47/23, thru balls 17/3

... succesfull crosses 29/8, stolen balls 39/8, interceptions 30/16, shots 31/23, succesful dribbles 22/14, lost balls 15/9, fouls vs 15/9

omg pirlo twice as good almost everywhere..

key passes 47 -23 pirlo

free_cat wrote:

tuddor wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:Just to add flame to this old fire I decide to post this:

omg pirlo twice as good almost everywhere..

key passes 47 -23 pirlo

Another stat:
Head to head matches Xavi vs. Pirlo: Xavi wipes the floor with Pirlo's lusty hair everytime.

tuddor wrote:

free_cat wrote:

tuddor wrote:
omg pirlo twice as good almost everywhere..

key passes 47 -23 pirlo

Another stat:
Head to head matches Xavi vs. Pirlo: Xavi wipes the floor with Pirlo's lusty hair everytime.

and Meireles and 10 men Chelsea wipes the floor with Xavi and Barca in direct game... Not to mention Celtic Glasgow

tuddor wrote:free_cat you're the one pathetic..

they played against each other 2 games.. one draw at group stages, and euro final win for spain...

According to the logic that xavi has one draw and a win against pirlo, i don't understand why you think Xavi is better than Ramires... who made xavi look like his sister in direct game...

free_cat wrote:

tuddor wrote:free_cat you're the one pathetic..

they played against each other 2 games.. one draw at group stages, and euro final win for spain...

According to the logic that xavi has one draw and a win against pirlo, i don't understand why you think Xavi is better than Ramires... who made xavi look like his sister in direct game...

They also played in Euro 2008 I think.

And Xavi wiped the floor with Pirlo's lusty hair every time.

The Ostracised One wrote:I'm sorry but I'm dissapointed by some of the posters in this thread. Some of the drivel I have read here is astounding. Juve101 I don't really have anything to say to you, I don't think I have ever seen you come up with a logical arguement in my time here. I will give this one final go.

To analyse both these players we have to look at what they do. Pirlo is essentially a deep lying playmaker in the mould of Guardiola, Suarez (inter) and Alonso. This is exactly the position Xavi played before Rijkaard shifted him forward. Pirlo at his peak period in Milan played in a great Milan team with as many playmakers as I have seen, maybe excluding Barcelona. Pirlo played with Seerdoff, Kaka and Rui Costa, so 4 playmakers in the team.

Let me say this and I don't care if anyone agrees but Pirlo at the moment is playing the best football of his career. Should I tell you why? It is because he is the de fact playmaker and he is the man that Juventus look for to initiate moves. He did a similar thing for Milan but he wasn't as looked out for because of the players around him. So those saying that Xavi was a nobody before Pep, they really need to get a grip. He did not have the same responsibility. Under Aragines, he was given the ball all the time and the ball (the team) moved at Xavis pace so he was able to dictate the game and influence the game much more. If you have more touches of he ball, you have more chances to impose you footballing vision on a game, just like Messi has now, because he gest more touches than he did in 08-10, he is able to influence games far more and stamp his game on the match.

For those saying that Xavi depends on Messi get real. what happened when Aragones made Xavi Spains de fact man... EURO 08. It would have been interetsing to see Pirlo used in a similar way to Xavi when Milan had all the afformentioned playmakers, sadly, he wasn't so all I have to compare is that of Pilro in Juventus with the de facto main playmaker to that of Xavi as the defacto playmaker. It's no surprise that Italy's reJUVEnation occured when they made Pirlo the main playmaker. Watch Pirlo under Lippi in 2006 and Pirlo under Prandelli, same man different use, just like Xavi under multiple managers and Xavi under Pep.

No I have adressed the without Messi/Pep nonsense I will go with what I have seen, not what they COULD do, or how they are influenced by SYSTEMS, but what they have done. Pirlo is riskier so his passing percentages will obviously be lower, he used to initiate attacks from deeper and has the whole field ahead of him so in terms of playmaking, he is in an easier position, the front libero as Mazzone put it. Xavi is more mobile and moves to the ball as much as the ball moves to him. He gets into tighter pockets of spaces and for me is a bit better at positioning himself. Now Barcelona come up against packed defences so I can comfortbaly say that Xavi is better in tihter spaces. Comparing their respective 'vision' is difficult because that depends on multiple variables such as runners behind the defence for through balls, tringles formed for passing options, predicting runs of players (practiced through training, which we are not privy to). I would say maybe Pirlo has slightly better vision because he seems to attempt to pick out the runners more, but a counter arguement is that Xavi in 09 was ridiculous when he had Henry, Messi and Eto'o to pick out, so again it is far to tight. Decision making, well they are both excellent but I would say Xavi slightly edges it. Decision for me is doing something that works most of the time and since Pirlo attempts riskier passes, with the fail rate likely to be higher, I would say Xavi is better based on MY definition. Thats just me. Pirlo is better at positioning himself in defensive manner but I can argue that Xavi is actaually better at defending and taking the ball off people so noone has a particular defensive edge for me.

All in all I would say that Xavi slightly edges it and that is for me because Pirlo has/can be marked out and made completely ineffective because of his role. He moves within the same zones and games where he has been marked out like the Final in in the Euros, Emmanuelson in the Milan games last season, Oscar in the Chelsea game. These are just examples I am giving to you, but because they are the ones off the top of my head. In games where he is left unchecked, you get games like the England game, the Sienna game, the Atalanta game this season I thinl , . Xavi is extremely hard to man mark and the only man that I have seen out gun Xavi and take him out of the game is Banega, a man that only turns up for Barcelona games. So for me Xavi is slightly better, but the difference is not enough to say that he is utterly superior like some people are making it sound.

Ball control I would give it to Xavi slightly, Short Passing Xavi's passes are slightly faster and better weighted but Pirlo for me is better at long balls, but again the differences are not enough. I PREFER Pirlo's passing technique because he looks more fluid in his movements and is aesthetically better. Xavi is better at creating space for his team mates. Now dribbling is difficult, they both dribble in different ways but Xavi again is superior in the way he uses feints to people such as the pelopina. Pirlo a lot of the times attampts tricks but has a higher turnover rate, but he is also good with feints but not as good as Xavi. Set pieces they are even, maybe I will give Pirlo the edge in free kicks.

My conclusion is that Xavi is slightly better, but just by a tiny bit. So if I use an arbitary method of comparison, out of a 100 (being the perfect playmaker), Xavi is 92 and Pilro is 90. Differences are negligble.