₦airaland Forum

Ibime:
Sharrap dia. No one cares about Iniesta Euro 2012 player of the tournament with zero goals and zero assists all tournament. When Italy were being spanked by 4 goals, it was Xavi providing two of the assists. Keep kwayet about that disgraceful polling booth award.

Xavi 2008 award is backed all through by assists and by midfield dominance.

It does not matter if Xavi was only recognised in 2008. Kante only came to prominence at 25 and Zidane was only recognised by a big club at 24.

What matters is how dominant you are when you take centre stage. From the moment Aragones made Xavi centre stage in 2008 and Barca copied, Iniestas life changed.

Iniesta had been playing with Van Bommel and Deco since 2004 and not a single person put him higher than an Isco of those days. He was Isco till Xavis era of dominance turned him to Zidane.

Before Xavi brought the dominance in 2008, Iniesta would never be mentioned with top midfielders. When nominations for WPOTY or Midfielder of the year go out, nobody even looked at Isco Iniesta. It was Ronaldinho, Lampard, Gerrard, Pirlo all the way.

When Xavi arrived to cut soap for Iniesta in 2008 was when Iniestas life changed.

Even for Spain, Xavi was the difference maker while Iniesta will be taking polling booth award with no quantifiable contribution on the pitch.

Xavi:

7 goals and assists in Spain knockout matches including 3 assists in finals.

2008 Euro final vs Germany 1-0, xavi assist,
2012 Euro final vs Italy 4-0, 2 xavi assists,
2010 WC semi vs Germany 1-0, xavi assist,
2010 WC QF vs portugal 1-0 xavi assist.
2010 WC 2nd rounnd vs Paraguay, 1-0, xavi assist


Iniesta:

Assist against Russia in 3-0 win and 1 World Cup final goal after being carried along all tournament with no contribution.


Iniesta should pray to Xavis picture every night before going to sleep instead of trying to steal flowers from his grave.

If I bring passes per game stat here that show that Xavi was making 100 passes per game while Iniesta was making 50-60 every season, you will see that the commentators usual refrain of the Xavi-Iniesta midfield was the greatest lie ever told to football watchers. There was only one name that should be attached to that midfield and it was XAVI ALONE.

Ibime:
Will you keep kwayet.

Here comes Iniesta still trying to live off Xavi even after death.

In Euro 2008, Xavi made all the assists and was named Player of the tournament. In that tournament, he set the template for how Spain and Barca will be successful going forward.

Xavi cut soap for everyone from Senna to Busquets to Fabregas to Iniesta. None of them could reprise the same thing without Xavi.

All of them were asked to replace Xavi. None could. Fabregas was given the opportunity to do so, he failed. They later dropped Iniesta to Xavi position to do the same thing, he couldn't. Barca had to rely on the most lethal front 3 of the last 20 years in MSN to win that last UCL.

When Xavi was making 100 passes per game, Iniesta was making 60. They will call it Xavi-Iniesta midfield. After Xavi left they asked Iniesta to do the same thing, he couldn't. Barca midfield was no longer dominant.

Instead of facing his fellow AMs who were scoring and assisting in the hundreds while Iniesta was dragging stats with John Terry, you want to leave his fellow AMs and come and steal Xavis glory.

Iniesta is the luckiest footballer that ever lived. 2010 World Cup, Xavi was making all the assist, Iniesta did nothing only to come and steal the headlines in the final with his only contribution.

2012 Euros the mofo didn't even drop a single assist or goal.

That's how in 2015 season the mofo went a full calendar year in the league without a goal or assist only to come and assist in the final and make it seem he's been contributing all season.

Xavi cut soap for all these boys from Euro 2008 where he set the template on how they would play. He controlled, he dictated, he dominated that midfield. None of them did. They were only periphery to what Xavi was doing. From 2008 till retirement, there was only one game Xavi played where Barca did not have the majority of possession. After Xavi bowed out, that midfield dominance turned to shït.

Here we are trying to give Xavi his flowers and the career leach Iniesta is still trying to steal those flowers from Xavis grave instead of talking about how his stats measure up to equivalent AMs of his era. We know how Xavis stats in CM measure up to all the CMs of his era.

He should go and face his fellow AMs and stop trying to live off Xavi until the grave.

Ibime:
Messi, Xavi and Dani Alves were the best in their positions in their era.

All the others were very good players though overrated into being the best in their position.

The only wack player was Victor Valdes. Busquets was wack (as a DM) but very good technically. As a CM, he would be very good. Iniesta was a very good player but could not compare to other AMs of his era.

There were some very underrated players in that team too who were solid as a rock and helped Barcelona when game went physical. I am talking Seydou Keita and Eric Abidal.

Jodera:
falcao, one of the core players who took athletico from top 7 to top 3 team while winning trophies along the way.
Went to Monaco and won the league from psg with most of his goal important goals(as he's Monaco highest goal scorer).

Won super cup against Chelsea with a hat trick. Shone at Porto, elevated his status at athletico.

As for forlan, well his good and his achievement speaks for him. But, he was just a good player at Villarreal, not so great at man u and also a good player at athletico.
Just a top player but not world class in my opinion.

Lana1:
Debroslink Spain is looking good this year.

FirstbornWds:
Pedri and Alba are the best players on the pitch tonight.

andrewbaba44:
Morata no get sense

The coach should be starting Gerard Moreno

BlueMann:
There's little more he can do with the squad and players he plays with, and the manager at the helm of affairs.

Messi not doing a lot against the big teams should not be of any surprise if you actually follow Barcelona. Rather, you should ask yourself: how did the manager plan for those aforementioned big games?

Barca's tactics against them big boys was mostly pass to Messi and Inshallah. So once you lock Messi, the whole team becomes predictable and stale. Did you see the game against Real Madrid, when they lost 2-1? Did you see the tactics employed by Koeman? Busquets at DM, and an extremely high line featuring Pique against a Real Madrid side that were more than happy to sit back and hit on the counter, which is probably their biggest strengths. The moment the lineups were released and the formations predicted, even Barca fans knew they were in for some trouble. The only reason the scoreline was respectable was because of profligacy.

That has been the theme for Barca in most of the big games. And you expect Messi to do it all by himself? Which of the supporting cast raised their game? Griezmann? Dembele? Or is it youngsters like Dest, De Jong, Pedri, Ilaix Moriba abi Puig wey Koeman no even gree play? Abi na Braitwaithe? Sergi Roberto?? Lenglet?

And even against PSG, he got both their goals. Against Atletico nko, when his best chance came when he dribbled like four or five players before drawing a fantastic save from Oblak? And when Dembele had a clear chance, he nodded over.

That has been the theme of Barca's season, especially in big games.

My point is, you cannot conveniently say Messi is finished just because he "failed to turn up in the big games". That would be conveniently ignoring Barca's problems.

And I dare say if you remove Messi and put Mbappe, Ronaldo, Haaland, Neymar etc in that Barca team, they would not fare much better.

ThierryJay:
Villa scored 186 liga goals. Forlan scored 128.

pu7pl3:
For people that didn't know Forlan


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wlX2y-nZfk

This guy could easily have been the talisman for a big La Liga team like Real or Barca too...

ThierryJay:
As a footballer, if you are good enough, you will eventually find yourself among elite team mates. That Forlan was demoted from elite company to Europa-tier teams is an indicator of his class.

And Villareal of 05-06 was mainly powered by Riquelme and Marcos Senna. How many goals did Forlan score that UCL season? Less than 4 goals and you are calling that "carrying" when he doesn't assist much.

I'd say their world cup 2010 feats cancel each other. They both scored 5 goals. In fact Villa scored higher percentage of Spain's goals than Forlan did for Uruguay. Meanwhile, Villa's Euro 2008 was better than Forlan's Copa 2011.

Forlan is good but not in Villa's class.

ddippset:
Lol

This thread don kolo.


From Suarez to Benzema to Aguero to Villa to Forlan to everybody..

ThierryJay:
Villa wasn't far behind in Pichichi race on the 2 occasions. Scored 25 goals when Eto won it with 26 goals. Again scored 28 goals when Forlan won it with 32 goals.

More significantly, Villa won the Spanish player of the season award in 2005-06 which is a better indicator of individual impact than Pichichi. Forlan never won a player of the season award. So why can't we compare.

David Villa was a reliable striker highly sought after by top clubs. Forlan was reliable for only 2 seasons and grossly inconsistent in the others.

Not even in the same class for me.

ThierryJay:
Yes, Forlan played for Inter and flopped badly.

ThierryJay:
Nah bro. Apart from scoring up to 29/30 league goals for Valencia in one season, Villa was Spain's highest goalscorer at Euros 2008 & 2012 and World Cup 2010. He also chipped in his quota for Barca's UCL win in 2011; scored a delightful goal in the final.

Meanwhile, Forlan was a misfit at Man Utd, then went to Villareal to redeem himself. Did decently at Villareal and Atletico Madrid but not as good as Villa at Vàlencia. It was with Uruguay at 2010 WC that Forlan truly excelled, but unfortunately Villa's input to Spain's WC and 2 Euros win trumps Forlan's Uruguay exploits.

ThierryJay:
The top 5 greatest La liga strikers in the past 20 years are Raul, Suarez, De Lima, Eto'o and David Villa. The best La liga striker in the past decade is Suarez.

pu7pl3:
Just clocked that Bray is the only remaining member from the Wyatt family in WWE

This whole development sucks

Qu3sT:
Bray took time off for mental health issues so can't pin that one on WWE, let him take his time and work things out.

jpmoriarti:
you'll be the first to say, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

coded01:
Sell off those mediocre players...Then you get what you need...

jpmoriarti:
Barca shouldn't sign Aguero biko. This guy can't dribble any player again. He is done. Shouldn't come to Barca and delay our rejuvenation.

jpmoriarti:
Maybe a 20 something year old Messi. Not this present Messi, who defenders easily crowd.

Chelsea's formation tonight is ideal for nullifying false 9s. Talk and aggressive defenders who give very little away. ManCity had only one shot on target all game.

coded01:
Barcelona's last uefa champions league trophy was 2015... And I have seen a gradual decline ever since...

We now have LaPorta that many of us thought should know better...Imagine bringing in Aguero...a 34 year old that only played about 13mins in a " Uefa Champions League Final"

Barca

coded01:
@ Debroslink

Let's not disregard Eto, Xavier, Iniesta and the rest...

But we all understand that Messi made it easier for Pep...

He is very stubborn and arrogant

Since Barca days, he never won a champions league... Ever wondered why

This is what set Klopp, now Tuchel apart from him... 8

coded01:
Pep's ego cost Man City this Trophy...

It's not new, in fact he tried this in barca but it worked only because we had the best players MESSI in the world then but we should not even consider him for managerial position...
Very arrogant
Tuchel I hail oh...

jpmoriarti:
ManCity couldn't trouble the keeper at all. I dont know if Mendy had any saves of note. The absence of a DM actually hurt them in the first half. In the second half, they brought in Fernadinho but it was too little too late.

jpmoriarti:
Tuchel the best coach of the season.

Very tactical and inspirational.