Gennaro Gattuso vs Sergio Busquets vs Javier Mascherano

Adit wrote:Busquets imo.

He is the poor man's Redondo with less exciting skills. Followed by Gattuso.

However, Busquets absolutely sucks when he is defending against dribblers in large space while Gattuso and mascherano have no problem defending in such situations.

Wrong on both counts. He is better than Redondo ever was.
And he is better against dribblers than those two, space or no space. He is slow but his long legs allow him to tackle effectively and steal balls from dribblers. I think it was dani who called him an octopus.
I can barely recall any dribbler consistently getting the better of him. His only issue is that he tries to be cheeky in dangerous situations.

Gattuso > Busquets. Don't even have to think about it.

Mascherano on the other hand he only plays dm for argentina these days. Gattuso has more tenacity imo.

Gattuso.

Mascherano better than Busquets? People should go and re watch Mascheranos first game at Barcelona when he should have been sent off in the first half and he had to be subbed off after half time. Busquets is better at killing attacks before they start.

Gattusso wasn't really a defensive MF in that way as he wasn't a holder, he was more of a Kante kind of player that just ran constantly and harried the opposition. It would depend on the players they are playing with tbh. Busquets is the better footballer and better technically and quicker upstairs, my only criticism of him is he overplays too much when he is close to his box, then tries to draw a foul when his drag back doesn't work or loses it and puts the backline under unnecessary pressure.

Gattuso has a sharper mind. he isnt a mindless idiot.
Busquets intelligent? for a system baby okay but he has same problem like mehssi unlike Masch or Gattuso = only good when in a very specific setup. With Gattuso and Masch, you can literally put them on dm spot and ****king forget about it. literal plug in and play. such are the intelligence and quality of the two. you are overrating busquets, jibs.

Turok_TTZ wrote:Gattuso has a sharper mind. he isnt a mindless idiot.
Busquets intelligent? for a system baby okay but he has same problem like mehssi unlike Masch or Gattuso = only good when in a very specific setup. With Gattuso and Masch, you can literally put them on dm spot and ****king forget about it. literal plug in and play. such are the intelligence and quality of the two. you are overrating busquets, jibs.

Yea any system for Gattusso, so essentially next to Pirlo for both Milan and the NT... Busquets is just a superior holder Pirlo was the holder when he played but was used more as the DLP. You simply can't compare both of them. Gattusso was more like Kante. Would be like comparing Kante to Makelele, different roles. Makes no sense to compare them tactically.

Again, Masch embarrassed himself at Barcelona when he played DM for them so not so plu and play then completely refuting that plug in play talk. Busquets is a system player yet Barcelona don't play the system that they did under Pep under Enrique yet Busquets is still comfortably benching Mascherano.

I don't personally think Busquets is near as much of a system player as people say he is. It's a fairly simple criticism (if you can call it that) that you can't really discard because he's never played outside the Barcelona system, but I personally feel that as long as he wasn't in a team with a bunch of headless chickens or a team that refused to press, he might not be quite as good as he is in Barca, but he would still be among the best in his position.

I also disagree that he has problems with dribblers, something Alex said. That's not really the case, it's just pace that he lacks. I mean, if your interpretation of dribbling is a Bale "OH SHIT IT'S SERGI" *pushes the ball 10 meters ahead and run onto it* then yeah he has tons of trouble. Most don't consider that dribbling though.

I think I saw something about someone mentioning Busquets isn't great under pressure? Outta here. He's one of the best in the world. That being said, Jibers and Alex are right that he can become a bit too fancy at times trying to juke out an attacker or attempting to gain a foul and pay the price, but it's a risk vs reward thing. A lot of the time it works, in fact, most of the time it does. He'll do such things a couple times per match. Every once in a while, it doesn't, and you take that risk.

What's your view on gattuso Alex?

He was a very good player and a crucial part of that great Milan team.A real competitor and I like such players. A bit too technically limited for my liking though.

Gattuso was key to AC Milan and the national team.  He did have one of the best holding and play-making midfielders of all-time playing with him.  The importance of the pair was made evident in the Italy-Spain game during the 2008 Euros.  Without the pair who were both suspended, Italy could only manage a penalty shoot out against a Spain they should have beaten easily.

I hate to say it because I think he's a united fan but I often enjoy reading jibers' posts; one of the more knowledgeable posters about actual football that I've had the pleasure of meeting online. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Gattuso>Busquets>Mascherano

Gattuso> Mascherano (prime) > Busquets (current)

Masch is a mixture of Busquets and Gattuso. I don't expect flair in a DM, I expect defensive attributes. Busquets is good at defending but he's not playing for Barcelona because he's good defensively.

Busquets is a new generation of DM's. It really depends on the system about the team. I dont see why Gattuso would play for the current Barcelona team but he would start for Chelsea, Liverpool, United or Real.

Difficult really, At this moment i'd choose Busquets over the latter 2 for Liverpool, Purely because he's better at stopping counters further up than those two.