I think it's not the same. What's Xavi's job? Basically to receive, keep, pass and distribute the ball. He will do that in any system. Again, explain why Fabregas or Modric could and Xavi couldn't. Xavi was elected player of the tournament in Euro 2008 playing alongside Senna flanked by Silva and Iniesta and 2 strikers upfront (Villa + Torres). That's in principle not much different from Madrid's lineup with Kroos + Modric flanked by Isco and James and Ronaldo and Benzema upfront in 4-4-2.

If Xavi played in a counterattacking system with less possession the problem maybe would be that he has to chase the game more (again, exaggerated, Xavi had better defensive awareness, positioning and ball retention under pressure than Fabregas ever did and he just does well for Chelsea). But defending wouldn't be his main job.

Meanwhile Terry's main job is to defend and his life can change very quickly depending on the work his teammates put in and the tactical setup of the team.

On a bigger scale, keeping clean sheets is easier to achieve without talent than scoring 5 goals. You often see underdog teams closing the opposition down like Greece, Costa Rica in the recent WC, Westbrom against United etc. but the other way around you pretty much never see underdogs teams destroying much better teams, do you (inb4 some video of Arsenal getting destroyed by scrubs )?

Defense is more dependant on tactics and collective attitude. And in that sense John Terry had the optimal environment under Mourinho. Example. You will never see this happen to John Terry under Mourinho:



2 Barca players in Barca's entire half.

Fußball wrote:I think it's not the same. What's Xavi's job? Basically to receive, keep, pass and distribute the ball. He will do that in any system. Again, explain why Fabregas or Modric could and Xavi couldn't. Xavi was elected player of the tournament in Euro 2008 playing alongside Senna flanked by Silva and Iniesta and 2 strikers upfront (Villa + Torres). That's in principle not much different from Madrid's lineup with Kroos + Modric flanked by Isco and James and Ronaldo and Benzema upfront in 4-4-2.

If Xavi played in a counterattacking system with less possession the problem maybe would be that he has to chase the game more (again, exaggerated, Xavi had better defensive awareness, positioning and ball retention under pressure than Fabregas ever did and he just does well for Chelsea). But defending wouldn't be his main job.

Meanwhile Terry's main job is to defend and his life can change very quickly depending on the work his teammates put in and the tactical setup of the team.

On a bigger scale, keeping clean sheets is easier to achieve without talent than scoring 5 goals. You often see underdog teams closing the opposition down like Greece, Costa Rica in the recent WC, Westbrom against United etc. but the other way around you pretty much never see underdogs teams destroying much better teams, do you (inb4 some video of Arsenal getting destroyed by scrubs )?

Defense is more dependant on tactics and collective attitude. And in that sense John Terry had the optimal environment under Mourinho. Example. You will never see this happen to John Terry under Mourinho:



2 Barca players in Barca's entire half.

I don't think Xavi would be as good in a team where his teammates are not interested in passing the ball. He would still be a great player but he wouldn't reach the absolute peak that he has with Barca.

The thing with the Terry tactics+collective attitude defensive argument you're putting forward is that a similar argument can be used to discredit any defender from modern times. Sure, maybe in Maldini's early days or Baresi and Beckenbauer times, defenders had more of an individual impact. But nowadays, all the defensive work in all the teams is collectively shared and tactics rule the roost.

In that sense, I think Terry is one of the very best CBs of his time - and I honestly don't differentiate him with Puyol (in terms of skill level and ability) too much. I'd put Nesta and Cannavaro above both of them but I think that's about it.

Yes Vidic is a good call, Never rated him as he always got sent off against us XD

His consistency is not matched by any CB in PL history , which would account to him being in the top 3 I guess. The best ever CB to play in the PL though? Probably not.

1. Rio Ferdinand
2. Sol Campbell
3. John Terry

It's a tough call when comparing him to the other greats. I liked & rate prime Ferdinand better but Terry was even more solid than Ferdy. Ferdy had everything else other than Defensive ability, Aerial ability, and Strength over Terry. Campbell and him are practically the same. Adams too. As for all time great CB's, I'm sure he belongs there. Top 20-40 range probably.