Best central midfielder at the moment?

Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Xavi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

diptiman wrote:

paxtonpale wrote:Obviously Xavi. Got second best footballer (behind Messi of course, beat Ronaldo) and is 31. What a Beast!

he got second best footballer in europe which basically means the cl et al.. the fifa balon d or decides the best footballers imo

It's all opinion tbh, Sneijder was betetr than Xavi in the year 2010, but won sod all. I take the award with a pinch of salt. We can never know who the best footballer is because Messi can't do what Valdes is doing and Valdes can't do what Messi is doing. It's just a way of adding individuality and allure to a sport that tries to avoid individuality on the pitch. The irony of the award can not be overstated. Pirlo has been more impressive for me by far, Bastien has been doing a good job, as I said Xavi by his previous level has been playing below par due to his lack of match fitness.

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

O and by AT THE MOMENT I meant this season and Xavi has definately not been the best CM.

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

Well what do you expect him to do?
Dominate the midfield,pass the ball into the third and get on the end of it to score.
Ofcourse he needs teammates and he would be the first to admit.But he is the one who makes Barca tick.When he is on song Barca are on song and you could see it that night.That was a masterclass of a performance.Busquets was great in the final too but not Iniesta.He had an off night by his standards.
I will admit the United midfield wasnt that great but you make it sound as if thats the first time he has done it.When in fact game in game he does the same no matter who the opposition or the stage.Infact bigger the stage and the opposition better he is.
Ever since Pep handed him the reins to the midfield he has been outclassed just once and that was against Banega at the Mestalla last season.
Just once in well over 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I am sorry if I scoff when someone mentions Pirlo and Schweinsteiger as being better.Not even close.
I think everyone seems to have forgotten the result the last time xavi met Schweini.It was the 2010 WC SF.
Xavi put on a masterclass and Schweini was left chasing the ball.

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

Well what do you expect him to do?
Dominate the midfield,pass the ball into the third and get on the end of it to score.
Ofcourse he needs teammates and he would be the first to admit.But he is the one who makes Barca tick.When he is on song Barca are on song and you could see it that night.That was a masterclass of a performance.Busquets was great in the final too but not Iniesta.He had an off night by his standards.
I will admit the United midfield wasnt that great but you make it sound as if thats the first time he has done it.When in fact game in game he does the same no matter who the opposition or the stage.Infact bigger the stage and the opposition better he is.
Ever since Pep handed him the reins to the midfield he has been outclassed just once and that was against Banega at the Mestalla last season.
Just once in well over 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I am sorry if I scoff when someone mentions Pirlo and Schweinsteiger as being better.Not even close.
I think everyone seems to have forgotten the result the last time xavi met Schweini.It was the 2010 WC SF.
Xavi put on a masterclass and Schweini was left chasing the ball.

But you make it sound that it is because of Xavi that people chse the ball after Barca and it sin't it is the whole team and the way you play, when Thiago played, people were still chasing. It's just the way your team is set up tbh. Your team is above Xavi, but not messi. As Guardiola said, Messi takes your team to unseen heights. Messi is by far more intergral to Barcelona than Xavi ever will be. And what was Xavi doing when Chille where hammering SPain? They had to bring Iniesta on to change the game. Pirlo has been intergral to the way Juve play and if he gets injured, they will struggle, If Xavi gets injured, Barcelona will not struggle, They might be less fluid, but they will not struggle. BAstien chased the ball as did the whole germany team and it wasnt down ton xavi it was down to the whole team, one player cant make players ball chase (bar Messi and possibly Iniesta)

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

Well what do you expect him to do?
Dominate the midfield,pass the ball into the third and get on the end of it to score.
Ofcourse he needs teammates and he would be the first to admit.But he is the one who makes Barca tick.When he is on song Barca are on song and you could see it that night.That was a masterclass of a performance.Busquets was great in the final too but not Iniesta.He had an off night by his standards.
I will admit the United midfield wasnt that great but you make it sound as if thats the first time he has done it.When in fact game in game he does the same no matter who the opposition or the stage.Infact bigger the stage and the opposition better he is.
Ever since Pep handed him the reins to the midfield he has been outclassed just once and that was against Banega at the Mestalla last season.
Just once in well over 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I am sorry if I scoff when someone mentions Pirlo and Schweinsteiger as being better.Not even close.
I think everyone seems to have forgotten the result the last time xavi met Schweini.It was the 2010 WC SF.
Xavi put on a masterclass and Schweini was left chasing the ball.

But you make it sound that it is because of Xavi that people chse the ball after Barca and it sin't it is the whole team and the way you play, when Thiago played, people were still chasing. It's just the way your team is set up tbh. Your team is above Xavi, but not messi. As Guardiola said, Messi takes your team to unseen heights. Messi is by far more intergral to Barcelona than Xavi ever will be. And what was Xavi doing when Chille where hammering SPain? They had to bring Iniesta on to change the game. Pirlo has been intergral to the way Juve play and if he gets injured, they will struggle, If Xavi gets injured, Barcelona will not struggle, They might be less fluid, but they will not struggle. BAstien chased the ball as did the whole germany team and it wasnt down ton xavi it was down to the whole team, one player cant make players ball chase (bar Messi and possibly Iniesta)

I am a huge Thiago fan but there is no way he can replace Xavi.
I will just provide 2 examples.The Super Copa games against Stoke.Stoke in 3 years have never been that close to us.The possession in the first game was close to 50-50!!!
Ofcourse there were other factors but what do you think is the primary reason for that?
In the first game Xavi didnt start and in the second he was clearly way short of fitness.
Hence Stoke were much closer to us and it took Messi's genius to win us the tie.

The second example is Valencia.Under Pep they are the team who have played us the best by far.We always struggle against them and the primary reason for that is Xavi struggles against them.They are his Achilees hel and he just cant seem to dominate as he usually does against them.

If you watch these 2 games you will realize what i mean about Xavi dominating the midfield.

As for Barca not struggling without Xavi,with all due respect thats just not true.You wont find a single Barca fan in the whole world who agrees with you.Also dont agree that Messi is far more integral to our setup.IMO Xavi is our MVP.
he is not our best player.Messi is by far but Xavi is our MVP and for a big game he is my first name on the team sheet.
When xavi leaves I can guarantee that the complete midfield domination will be gone and we will no longer dominate possession 70-30 against the biggest of teams on the biggest of stages.In short he is irreplaceable.

Also why do you bring Messi into it?His job is completely different.By your definition a player can dominate the midfield.
Xavi is a midfield playmaker whose job it is to dominate the game and dictate the pace at which it is played and he does it better than anyone to have played the game.
Neither Bastian nor anyone else for that matter comes close.

Schweinsteiger can do what Xavi does (just not as good) and more, which is why he gets my vote. He can fit into any system, while Xavi is tailor made for Barca.

But really, at this level it's mostly a matter of opinion, since they are both world class players any club would love to have.

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

Well what do you expect him to do?
Dominate the midfield,pass the ball into the third and get on the end of it to score.
Ofcourse he needs teammates and he would be the first to admit.But he is the one who makes Barca tick.When he is on song Barca are on song and you could see it that night.That was a masterclass of a performance.Busquets was great in the final too but not Iniesta.He had an off night by his standards.
I will admit the United midfield wasnt that great but you make it sound as if thats the first time he has done it.When in fact game in game he does the same no matter who the opposition or the stage.Infact bigger the stage and the opposition better he is.
Ever since Pep handed him the reins to the midfield he has been outclassed just once and that was against Banega at the Mestalla last season.
Just once in well over 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I am sorry if I scoff when someone mentions Pirlo and Schweinsteiger as being better.Not even close.
I think everyone seems to have forgotten the result the last time xavi met Schweini.It was the 2010 WC SF.
Xavi put on a masterclass and Schweini was left chasing the ball.

But you make it sound that it is because of Xavi that people chse the ball after Barca and it sin't it is the whole team and the way you play, when Thiago played, people were still chasing. It's just the way your team is set up tbh. Your team is above Xavi, but not messi. As Guardiola said, Messi takes your team to unseen heights. Messi is by far more intergral to Barcelona than Xavi ever will be. And what was Xavi doing when Chille where hammering SPain? They had to bring Iniesta on to change the game. Pirlo has been intergral to the way Juve play and if he gets injured, they will struggle, If Xavi gets injured, Barcelona will not struggle, They might be less fluid, but they will not struggle. BAstien chased the ball as did the whole germany team and it wasnt down ton xavi it was down to the whole team, one player cant make players ball chase (bar Messi and possibly Iniesta)

I am a huge Thiago fan but there is no way he can replace Xavi.
I will just provide 2 examples.The Super Copa games against Stoke.Stoke in 3 years have never been that close to us.The possession in the first game was close to 50-50!!!
Ofcourse there were other factors but what do you think is the primary reason for that?
In the first game Xavi didnt start and in the second he was clearly way short of fitness.
Hence Stoke were much closer to us and it took Messi's genius to win us the tie.

The second example is Valencia.Under Pep they are the team who have played us the best by far.We always struggle against them and the primary reason for that is Xavi struggles against them.They are his Achilees hel and he just cant seem to dominate as he usually does against them.

If you watch these 2 games you will realize what i mean about Xavi dominating the midfield.

As for Barca not struggling without Xavi,with all due respect thats just not true.You wont find a single Barca fan in the whole world who agrees with you.Also dont agree that Messi is far more integral to our setup.IMO Xavi is our MVP.
he is not our best player.Messi is by far but Xavi is our MVP and for a big game he is my first name on the team sheet.
When xavi leaves I can guarantee that the complete midfield domination will be gone and we will no longer dominate possession 70-30 against the biggest of teams on the biggest of stages.In short he is irreplaceable.

Also why do you bring Messi into it?His job is completely different.By your definition a player can dominate the midfield.
Xavi is a midfield playmaker whose job it is to dominate the game and dictate the pace at which it is played and he does it better than anyone to have played the game.
Neither Bastian nor anyone else for that matter comes close.

Again Xavi dominating the MF depends on his team mates, do you think if he played for tottenham they would be averaging 70% possession? Thiago is 20 and by 28 I am confident he will be far better than Xavi,, he offer more than just short passses. Pirlo will never Dominate the MF in the way Xavi does because he will not even see the ball ahlf of the way Xavi sees it because only Barca plays that way hece why in history according to you method of domination, no one will ever dominate the MF like xavi, he gets so many touches of the ball becauise most of his team mates llok out for them. WHat other team plays like taht? In terms of individual ability Bastien offers more hence whu he would probabably not settle for Xavis role tbh. Cavi offers nothing else if he is not passing. Hence hwy he is comfortable just passing. Bastien has been incerdible this season and has been centralto bayern success, Pirlo has not DOMINATED the MF according to your definition but has been pretty much dictating juves ghames as much as any one else can do with the emaount of the ball they see plus he just moved to a new twam as well. He is more integral to juve than Xavi is to Barcelona because if he gets injured, there is NO adquate replacement, Xavi has Cesc (Cesc can't dictate games but you get what I mean, Barca aren't short of creating options anyways).

Sushi Master wrote:Schweinsteiger can do what Xavi does (just not as good) and more, which is why he gets my vote. He can fit into any system, while Xavi is tailor made for Barca.

But really, at this level it's mostly a matter of opinion, since they are both world class players any club would love to have.

To say that he can do what Xavi can do is a bit of a myth. Where has ever been in a position to do what Xavi does? With how far up the defence line is and how deep messi playse and the forwards, Xavi sees more of the ball than any CM I have ever seen hence his is bale to influence games more easily. But he HAS doen this where as Bastien has NEVER been in any posistion to do this so there is no point in saying that except he moves to Barcelona. I compare people by their influenes and their succes of their teams. No one would talk abiut Xavi if Barcelona and Spain didnt win. Juve and Bayern are wiiningand the afformentioned CM are a big reason for that.

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

Well what do you expect him to do?
Dominate the midfield,pass the ball into the third and get on the end of it to score.
Ofcourse he needs teammates and he would be the first to admit.But he is the one who makes Barca tick.When he is on song Barca are on song and you could see it that night.That was a masterclass of a performance.Busquets was great in the final too but not Iniesta.He had an off night by his standards.
I will admit the United midfield wasnt that great but you make it sound as if thats the first time he has done it.When in fact game in game he does the same no matter who the opposition or the stage.Infact bigger the stage and the opposition better he is.
Ever since Pep handed him the reins to the midfield he has been outclassed just once and that was against Banega at the Mestalla last season.
Just once in well over 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I am sorry if I scoff when someone mentions Pirlo and Schweinsteiger as being better.Not even close.
I think everyone seems to have forgotten the result the last time xavi met Schweini.It was the 2010 WC SF.
Xavi put on a masterclass and Schweini was left chasing the ball.

But you make it sound that it is because of Xavi that people chse the ball after Barca and it sin't it is the whole team and the way you play, when Thiago played, people were still chasing. It's just the way your team is set up tbh. Your team is above Xavi, but not messi. As Guardiola said, Messi takes your team to unseen heights. Messi is by far more intergral to Barcelona than Xavi ever will be. And what was Xavi doing when Chille where hammering SPain? They had to bring Iniesta on to change the game. Pirlo has been intergral to the way Juve play and if he gets injured, they will struggle, If Xavi gets injured, Barcelona will not struggle, They might be less fluid, but they will not struggle. BAstien chased the ball as did the whole germany team and it wasnt down ton xavi it was down to the whole team, one player cant make players ball chase (bar Messi and possibly Iniesta)

I am a huge Thiago fan but there is no way he can replace Xavi.
I will just provide 2 examples.The Super Copa games against Stoke.Stoke in 3 years have never been that close to us.The possession in the first game was close to 50-50!!!
Ofcourse there were other factors but what do you think is the primary reason for that?
In the first game Xavi didnt start and in the second he was clearly way short of fitness.
Hence Stoke were much closer to us and it took Messi's genius to win us the tie.

The second example is Valencia.Under Pep they are the team who have played us the best by far.We always struggle against them and the primary reason for that is Xavi struggles against them.They are his Achilees hel and he just cant seem to dominate as he usually does against them.

If you watch these 2 games you will realize what i mean about Xavi dominating the midfield.

As for Barca not struggling without Xavi,with all due respect thats just not true.You wont find a single Barca fan in the whole world who agrees with you.Also dont agree that Messi is far more integral to our setup.IMO Xavi is our MVP.
he is not our best player.Messi is by far but Xavi is our MVP and for a big game he is my first name on the team sheet.
When xavi leaves I can guarantee that the complete midfield domination will be gone and we will no longer dominate possession 70-30 against the biggest of teams on the biggest of stages.In short he is irreplaceable.

Also why do you bring Messi into it?His job is completely different.By your definition a player can dominate the midfield.
Xavi is a midfield playmaker whose job it is to dominate the game and dictate the pace at which it is played and he does it better than anyone to have played the game.
Neither Bastian nor anyone else for that matter comes close.

Again Xavi dominating the MF depends on his team mates, do you think if he played for tottenham they would be averaging 70% possession? Thiago is 20 and by 28 I am confident he will be far better than Xavi,, he offer more than just short passses. Pirlo will never Dominate the MF in the way Xavi does because he will not even see the ball ahlf of the way Xavi sees it because only Barca plays that way hece why in history according to you method of domination, no one will ever dominate the MF like xavi, he gets so many touches of the ball becauise most of his team mates llok out for them. WHat other team plays like taht? In terms of individual ability Bastien offers more hence whu he would probabably not settle for Xavis role tbh. Cavi offers nothing else if he is not passing. Hence hwy he is comfortable just passing. Bastien has been incerdible this season and has been centralto bayern success, Pirlo has not DOMINATED the MF according to your definition but has been pretty much dictating juves ghames as much as any one else can do with the emaount of the ball they see plus he just moved to a new twam as well. He is more integral to juve than Xavi is to Barcelona because if he gets injured, there is NO adquate replacement, Xavi has Cesc (Cesc can't dictate games but you get what I mean, Barca aren't short of creating options anyways).

Your hate for him is certainly clouding your judgment.You shouldnt let the fact that he has destroyed United in 2 CL finals cloud your judgment.
Thiago will not be as good.He will be one of the top midfielders in the world if not the outright best but in all probability he wont get to Xavi's level.
Xavi all about passing!!!!!!!Bastian offers more individually!!!!!
Thats just ridiculous.Barring Iniesta there is not a more technical midfielder on the planet and I dont think there is anyone out there with a better first touch(consistently brilliant first touch that is.
But continue to live in fairy land and believe that all Xavi offers is passing.
If Xavi doesnt play the big games Barca will struggle and I have provided you examples and yet you ignore them.
As for Fabregas replacing Xavi got to be a joke.he isnt one tenth the player Xavi is and will never be.All Fabregas is is a glorified Lampard and its an insult to Xavi to compare him to Lampard.
Keep hating.till the next time United meet Barca.

Sushi Master wrote:Schweinsteiger can do what Xavi does (just not as good) and more, which is why he gets my vote. He can fit into any system, while Xavi is tailor made for Barca.

But really, at this level it's mostly a matter of opinion, since they are both world class players any club would love to have.

Not the system argument again.How about I twist it?
Schweini can only play in Bayern's system and he would struggle outside Bayern.The system makes him look good.

jibers wrote:To say that he can do what Xavi can do is a bit of a myth. Where has ever been in a position to do what Xavi does? With how far up the defence line is and how deep messi playse and the forwards, Xavi sees more of the ball than any CM I have ever seen hence his is bale to influence games more easily. But he HAS doen this where as Bastien has NEVER been in any posistion to do this so there is no point in saying that except he moves to Barcelona. I compare people by their influenes and their succes of their teams. No one would talk abiut Xavi if Barcelona and Spain didnt win. Juve and Bayern are wiiningand the afformentioned CM are a big reason for that.

Erm, when Bayern were playing under van Gaal, they played a very similar possession football to that of Barcelona. Hell, Schweinsteiger went from "good player" to world class once he adapted the Xavi role. He saw as much of the ball and distributed just as much as Xavi did.

I'm not even sure what you mean to say in the 2nd part of your post.

Lol shweinsteiger

The same guy who got absolutely raped by a xavi master class in 2010 world cup.Shweini is two leagues below xavi.And no, shweini can only dream of what xavi is doing for barca and spain.

And Xavi was Last year CL final Man of the match actually.

Barca > Bayern has NO bearing on Xavi > Schweinsteiger imho.

That's like saying Valdez > Neuer because he went deeper in the UCL.

I don't have a spectacularly sophisticated opinion on whether Xavi or Piggy are better, I just think your point is bogus. :X

VivaStPauli wrote:Barca > Bayern has NO bearing on Xavi > Schweinsteiger imho.

That's like saying Valdez > Neuer because he went deeper in the UCL.

I don't have a spectacularly sophisticated opinion on whether Xavi or Piggy are better, I just think your point is bogus. :X

You dont have a point for it to be bogus.
Nothing to back up the claim that Schweini is better.

Xavi is leagues ahead.The CL final proves that,the CL SF first leg proves that,the 5-0 Clasico proves that.Basically I can go on and on but you get the drift.

Adit wrote:And Xavi was Last year CL final Man of the match actually.

Messi took that accolade

Lionel Messi wrote:

Adit wrote:And Xavi was Last year CL final Man of the match actually.

Messi took that accolade

messi messi messi messi here, messi there oh look its messi messi he's the best messi not xavi it was messi don't forget messi .. oh and did I mention messi?




why the hell do you have to bring him into EVERY thread

xabi wrote:

Lionel Messi wrote:

Adit wrote:And Xavi was Last year CL final Man of the match actually.

Messi took that accolade

messi messi messi messi here, messi there oh look its messi messi he's the best messi not xavi it was messi don't forget messi .. oh and did I mention messi?




why the hell do you have to bring him into EVERY thread

I brought him up actually he was just backing me up... come on man keep it civil...

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jibers wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:Schweinsteiger was sitting at home watching on the telly as Messi ruthlessly decimated United in the CL final.
So how the hell is Bastian better?
No offense,he is a great player and one I would love to have at Barca but Xavi is in a league of his own.No one comes close.Its Xavi and then the rest.
The thread should be 'Who is the second best CM on the planet'?

Messi is the one who dragged evra out of position, Messi is the one that scored the 2nd goal, messi is the cause of Viilla getting the ball after dribbling our defence from the left. Xavi was good but Messi was the reason your team demolished us. He was also the most fouled player and made the moist runs. Xavi is not in the same league.

If we are comparing to Messi,then barring a handful of players in history everyone would lose out.
So leave Messi out of it.Besides he is a last third destroyer.Xavi is the midfield manipulator.And he completely and utterly dominated United.MOM for my money.

And what exactly does atm mean?The CL final was not a couple of years back.
Also I dont agree that Xavi has been poor by his standards.He was brilliant against Atletico,Osasuna and Milan all the while adjusting to a new system.
Certainly dont get what Bastian has done(or for that matter Pirlo lol) to be better.
If Barca meet Bayern tomorrow(or Juventus) there is going to be just one player dominating the midfield and thats the maestro from Terrassa.

Alex when you say Xavi dominates the MF, you make it sound like a one man army which is completely false tbh. He depends on ghis team mates short passes to excel and what did he do to dominate us? We had no MF and iniesta and hell busquets dominated us and Xavi was not man of the match, now you're just being biased, messi was the best player hands down. I stated what Messi did and what Xavi was doing your whole MF was doing to us because we sat so deep, you can't dominate a MF if there isn't one to dominate. Xavi did as well as iniest and busquets. Messi ripped our defence to shreds and made Rio look like a league 1 defender. If vidic wan't there God knows what the scoreline would have been tbh.

Well what do you expect him to do?
Dominate the midfield,pass the ball into the third and get on the end of it to score.
Ofcourse he needs teammates and he would be the first to admit.But he is the one who makes Barca tick.When he is on song Barca are on song and you could see it that night.That was a masterclass of a performance.Busquets was great in the final too but not Iniesta.He had an off night by his standards.
I will admit the United midfield wasnt that great but you make it sound as if thats the first time he has done it.When in fact game in game he does the same no matter who the opposition or the stage.Infact bigger the stage and the opposition better he is.
Ever since Pep handed him the reins to the midfield he has been outclassed just once and that was against Banega at the Mestalla last season.
Just once in well over 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I am sorry if I scoff when someone mentions Pirlo and Schweinsteiger as being better.Not even close.
I think everyone seems to have forgotten the result the last time xavi met Schweini.It was the 2010 WC SF.
Xavi put on a masterclass and Schweini was left chasing the ball.

But you make it sound that it is because of Xavi that people chse the ball after Barca and it sin't it is the whole team and the way you play, when Thiago played, people were still chasing. It's just the way your team is set up tbh. Your team is above Xavi, but not messi. As Guardiola said, Messi takes your team to unseen heights. Messi is by far more intergral to Barcelona than Xavi ever will be. And what was Xavi doing when Chille where hammering SPain? They had to bring Iniesta on to change the game. Pirlo has been intergral to the way Juve play and if he gets injured, they will struggle, If Xavi gets injured, Barcelona will not struggle, They might be less fluid, but they will not struggle. BAstien chased the ball as did the whole germany team and it wasnt down ton xavi it was down to the whole team, one player cant make players ball chase (bar Messi and possibly Iniesta)

I am a huge Thiago fan but there is no way he can replace Xavi.
I will just provide 2 examples.The Super Copa games against Stoke.Stoke in 3 years have never been that close to us.The possession in the first game was close to 50-50!!!
Ofcourse there were other factors but what do you think is the primary reason for that?
In the first game Xavi didnt start and in the second he was clearly way short of fitness.
Hence Stoke were much closer to us and it took Messi's genius to win us the tie.

The second example is Valencia.Under Pep they are the team who have played us the best by far.We always struggle against them and the primary reason for that is Xavi struggles against them.They are his Achilees hel and he just cant seem to dominate as he usually does against them.

If you watch these 2 games you will realize what i mean about Xavi dominating the midfield.

As for Barca not struggling without Xavi,with all due respect thats just not true.You wont find a single Barca fan in the whole world who agrees with you.Also dont agree that Messi is far more integral to our setup.IMO Xavi is our MVP.
he is not our best player.Messi is by far but Xavi is our MVP and for a big game he is my first name on the team sheet.
When xavi leaves I can guarantee that the complete midfield domination will be gone and we will no longer dominate possession 70-30 against the biggest of teams on the biggest of stages.In short he is irreplaceable.

Also why do you bring Messi into it?His job is completely different.By your definition a player can dominate the midfield.
Xavi is a midfield playmaker whose job it is to dominate the game and dictate the pace at which it is played and he does it better than anyone to have played the game.
Neither Bastian nor anyone else for that matter comes close.

Again Xavi dominating the MF depends on his team mates, do you think if he played for tottenham they would be averaging 70% possession? Thiago is 20 and by 28 I am confident he will be far better than Xavi,, he offer more than just short passses. Pirlo will never Dominate the MF in the way Xavi does because he will not even see the ball ahlf of the way Xavi sees it because only Barca plays that way hece why in history according to you method of domination, no one will ever dominate the MF like xavi, he gets so many touches of the ball becauise most of his team mates llok out for them. WHat other team plays like taht? In terms of individual ability Bastien offers more hence whu he would probabably not settle for Xavis role tbh. Cavi offers nothing else if he is not passing. Hence hwy he is comfortable just passing. Bastien has been incerdible this season and has been centralto bayern success, Pirlo has not DOMINATED the MF according to your definition but has been pretty much dictating juves ghames as much as any one else can do with the emaount of the ball they see plus he just moved to a new twam as well. He is more integral to juve than Xavi is to Barcelona because if he gets injured, there is NO adquate replacement, Xavi has Cesc (Cesc can't dictate games but you get what I mean, Barca aren't short of creating options anyways).

Your hate for him is certainly clouding your judgment.You shouldnt let the fact that he has destroyed United in 2 CL finals cloud your judgment.
Thiago will not be as good.He will be one of the top midfielders in the world if not the outright best but in all probability he wont get to Xavi's level.
Xavi all about passing!!!!!!!Bastian offers more individually!!!!!
Thats just ridiculous.Barring Iniesta there is not a more technical midfielder on the planet and I dont think there is anyone out there with a better first touch(consistently brilliant first touch that is.
But continue to live in fairy land and believe that all Xavi offers is passing.
If Xavi doesnt play the big games Barca will struggle and I have provided you examples and yet you ignore them.
As for Fabregas replacing Xavi got to be a joke.he isnt one tenth the player Xavi is and will never be.All Fabregas is is a glorified Lampard and its an insult to Xavi to compare him to Lampard.
Keep hating.till the next time United meet Barca.

lol I don't hate him at all.
Without his short passing he offer nothing else, albeit his short passing is a pretty big deal, not trying to belittle him.
Why the fab hate? If he gets coached by Pepe I'm sure he can offer something, maybe not the same, but he would reach Xavi's level eventually.
No offence, I hope we don't meet again becasue I don't want another 90 minutes feeling depressed.
WHat examples did you provides? The super cup? The whole Barca team was unfit mate, Xavi being fit would have made sod all difference if his team weren't pressing. As he said and as you said, he depends on his team mates as he is not capable of moments of brilliance by himself. Barcelona players in that game werent even making themselves available for a pass as much, they where doing less running around. One player being fit would have made no differencve, and what was the difference? Messi. Messi IS the MVP of Barcelona as pep said, he takes them to another level. How you can put both of them on the same importance is beyond me tbh. Now your love for Xavi is clouding your own judgement....

alexjanosik wrote:

VivaStPauli wrote:Barca > Bayern has NO bearing on Xavi > Schweinsteiger imho.

That's like saying Valdez > Neuer because he went deeper in the UCL.

I don't have a spectacularly sophisticated opinion on whether Xavi or Piggy are better, I just think your point is bogus. :X

You dont have a point for it to be bogus.
Nothing to back up the claim that Schweini is better.

Xavi is leagues ahead.The CL final proves that,the CL SF first leg proves that,the 5-0 Clasico proves that.Basically I can go on and on but you get the drift.

No, I don't need to back up the claim that Schweini is better, because I don't actually think that. I don't know who of the two is better.
My point is just that Xavi will always look better, because Barca is better than Bayern.

Your arguments even help prove my point - when you say the 5-0 Clasico proves that Xavi is better than Piggy, I'll say that it proves that Barca is a world class team, and Xavi is a world class player. But it tells us nothing about who's better, because that's not a situation where they go head to head.

If Piggy was playing with Messi in front of him and Iniesta next to him, who knows what you'd be writing about him now?

VivaStPauli wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

VivaStPauli wrote:Barca > Bayern has NO bearing on Xavi > Schweinsteiger imho.

That's like saying Valdez > Neuer because he went deeper in the UCL.

I don't have a spectacularly sophisticated opinion on whether Xavi or Piggy are better, I just think your point is bogus. :X

You dont have a point for it to be bogus.
Nothing to back up the claim that Schweini is better.

Xavi is leagues ahead.The CL final proves that,the CL SF first leg proves that,the 5-0 Clasico proves that.Basically I can go on and on but you get the drift.

No, I don't need to back up the claim that Schweini is better, because I don't actually think that. I don't know who of the two is better.
My point is just that Xavi will always look better, because Barca is better than Bayern.

Your arguments even help prove my point - when you say the 5-0 Clasico proves that Xavi is better than Piggy, I'll say that it proves that Barca is a world class team, and Xavi is a world class player. But it tells us nothing about who's better, because that's not a situation where they go head to head.

If Piggy was playing with Messi in front of him and Iniesta next to him, who knows what you'd be writing about him now?

So now its because Barca make him look good.
I have seen you claim numerous times that Bayern are on Barca's level or very close and can get to that level.Now you pull out the Barca are far better than Bayern card to belittle Xavi.
End of the day Schweini got dominated by Sahin in a league encounter towards the end of the season when a win would have made things interesting.
Xavi invariably always brings his A game to the big games.
Come the end of the season if Schweini manages to guide Bayern to serious silverware then we can talk.
Until then Xavi is clearly better.

Lionel Messi wrote:

Adit wrote:And Xavi was Last year CL final Man of the match actually.

Messi took that accolade

Xavi owned that game,from start to finish he ran the game.He assisted the first goal.He was actually clear out and out one and only man of the match in that match.

Forget the goals dude,you should be able to look beyond the goals.Also pass that Argentine bias glasses to me.

oh and xavi only suits barca system logic


He was by far the best player in Euro 2008 in which spain played a very direct fluid attacking football.These logic are put to death a long time ago.