Luka Modrić

[Aryagorn]

Modric is one of the best mid fielders of our times - denying that would be stupidity. He was brilliant even at Spurs, in fact even when he was still in Dinamo, attracting the attention of Barca who had been known for having the best mid fielders for over 2 decades now! The only reason he didn't play for Barca along with Xavi and Iniesta was the board's fetish for Catalan players and their desire satisfy their own ego by bringing in an ex over-rated home grown player!

Also, saying he is great should not automatically mean that he is better than Xavi-Iniesta who are not the best of just this generation but probably all time.

Modric not doing so great in El Classico's can't exactly be used to downplay him either - The Xavi X Iniesta combo also had a certain Busi making their combination a complete mid field, not to mention the GOAT helping them in the creative field! Modric, on the other hand, didn't really have a lot of help coming in except from Kroos whom our own forum had always said was not the most creative mid fielder!



Give the players their space! As soon as somebody says a particular player was great, PLEASE do not compare them to the best of all time and start saying he's over-rated or something!

 

[serghei]

Modric is one of the best mid fielders of our times - denying that would be stupidity. He was brilliant even at Spurs, in fact even when he was still in Dinamo, attracting the attention of Barca who had been known for having the best mid fielders for over 2 decades now! The only reason he didn't play for Barca along with Xavi and Iniesta was the board's fetish for Catalan players and their desire satisfy their own ego by bringing in an ex over-rated home grown player!

Also, saying he is great should not automatically mean that he is better than Xavi-Iniesta who are not the best of just this generation but probably all time.

Modric not doing so great in El Classico's can't exactly be used to downplay him either - The Xavi X Iniesta combo also had a certain Busi making their combination a complete mid field, not to mention the GOAT helping them in the creative field! Modric, on the other hand, didn't really have a lot of help coming in except from Kroos whom our own forum had always said was not the most creative mid fielder!



Give the players their space! As soon as somebody says a particular player was great, PLEASE do not compare them to the best of all time and start saying he's over-rated or something!

I agree. But it seems people like to compare Modric with Xavi, which is just stupid as Xavi is pretty clearly the better, more influential player. Modric is probably the best midfielder of his generation though, which is already a lot in this midfield centric football.

 

[Joan]

Very good post, Aryagorn. I agree.

 

[Morten]

Xavi was a level above Modric. Makes you realise how much of a great Xavi was if he can be a level above a wonderful midfielder like Modric.

When you speak about Xavi you speak about passing perfection. And the pass is at the base of all team sports.

If you say so...personally i dont believe in this "Xavi is untouchable"-thing, and for me Iniesta was just as good if not better.

 

[vlad]

I will agree with aryagorn also. I admit that i cant be objective about modric as a Croatian, i watched him when he played in Dinamo, then when he was on loan to Inker Zapresic (todays Inter Zapresic) they had a stadium where players needed to walk through someone's yard to enter the pitch, funny stuff, also how he was rejected from Hajduk Split because he was small and skinny, and look now, in WC finals, great football story which i was able to witness.



Barca's biggest transfer miss

 

[serghei]

If you say so...personally i dont believe in this "Xavi is untouchable"-thing, and for me Iniesta was just as good if not better.

Different players. Xavi for me was a highly specialized player. If the discussion is Xavi or Iniesta at CM, Xavi is on a different level to even Iniesta. He basically perfected himself on and one until he became the greatest midfielder, and reached a level when he was basically untouchable. When Xavi had the ball in his prime he was almost immune to pressing. Pressing is basically leaving a player out of options and time. But you couldn't press Xavi because Xavi was always mobile and always looking for spaces. So when you vacated your space to press him he would play a one touch pass to evade it, and already slide in the gap you or your teammates created by moving forward to press him. He was never out of options because he read the game perfectly, knew where a teammate was at all times almost, had a technique and ball shielding abilities to keep even the harder passes under close control, and ran 11-12km a game. Perfect combo of qualities for a ball playing CM.

When people (myself included) praise Xavi, they don't mean it like he was untouchable in a general sense. He had flaws of his own, but the thing is that he was very aware of them, even spoke about them in interviews. He knew very well what he was brilliant at, and what wasn't his thing. He embraced his role to the point that no other player can do it as well. It involved some kind of sacrifice, because Xavi doesn't have the kind of legacy that other, perhaps more spectacular and eye pleasing players have.

But you also have to listen to Xavi talking about football, and understand that it's like listening to Carl Sagan speaking about the Cosmos in the past. He's a visionary. One of the best football minds out there. He saw and understood the passing game better than anyone I've seen. Iniesta may seem better in terms of what talent in football is conventionally perceived by football masses, but if you analyze Xavi's game you can see that he operated at levels that other players don't even understand. The difference between Xavi and Iniesta is that Xavi was an incredible source of comfort for every teammate. Every player out there knew that they had someone in their close range that they could pass to under stress and he would almost never lose the ball. Almost no player in our team got nervous when pressed because Xavi was always in a position to take over the ball and de-pressurize the situation.

 

[El Flaco]

Rakitić: "Modric? I made jokes to him that he's more Culé than I'm. All of us children have had their favorite teams and it's no secret that Modric loved Barcelona back in the days. When we play El Classicos, while exchanging the shirts, i say to him you have your beloved shirt to take home."

https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futb...rdimos-a-modric-ya-es-madridista-al-100-.html

 

[Aryagorn]

Different players. Xavi for me was a highly specialized player. If the discussion is Xavi or Iniesta at CM, Xavi is on a different level to even Iniesta. He basically perfected himself on and one until he became the greatest midfielder, and reached a level when he was basically untouchable. When Xavi had the ball in his prime he was almost immune to pressing. Pressing is basically leaving a player out of options and time. But you couldn't press Xavi because Xavi was always mobile and always looking for spaces. So when you vacated your space to press him he would play a one touch pass to evade it, and already slide in the gap you or your teammates created by moving forward to press him. He was never out of options because he read the game perfectly, knew where a teammate was at all times almost, had a technique and ball shielding abilities to keep even the harder passes under close control, and ran 11-12km a game. Perfect combo of qualities for a ball playing CM.

When people (myself included) praise Xavi, they don't mean it like he was untouchable in a general sense. He had flaws of his own, but the thing is that he was very aware of them, even spoke about them in interviews. He knew very well what he was brilliant at, and what wasn't his thing. He embraced his role to the point that no other player can do it as well. It involved some kind of sacrifice, because Xavi doesn't have the kind of legacy that other, perhaps more spectacular and eye pleasing players have.

But you also have to listen to Xavi talking about football, and understand that it's like listening to Carl Sagan speaking about the Cosmos in the past. He's a visionary. One of the best football minds out there. He saw and understood the passing game better than anyone I've seen. Iniesta may seem better in terms of what talent in football is conventionally perceived by football masses, but if you analyze Xavi's game you can see that he operated at levels that other players don't even understand. The difference between Xavi and Iniesta is that Xavi was an incredible source of comfort for every teammate. Every player out there knew that they had someone in their close range that they could pass to under stress and he would almost never lose the ball. Almost no player in our team got nervous when pressed because Xavi was always in a position to take over the ball and de-pressurize the situation.

The difference between Xavi & Iniesta is the very same difference between Cruyff and other legendary players of his stature - Cruyff used his brain more than his skill set per se, and much better than any other footballer out there. It is his thought process that made him the legend that he is. One could even say that he was probably the least talented, when it comes to the traditional skill-set attributed to a football player, compared to any of them but he gave more to football than anybody else!

Xavi is just like that - He is the ideal student of Cruyff school!

 

[beck123]

Jack fucking Wilshere outplayed your whole midfield in 2011.

Stop overrating Xavi. Every player has his strengths and weaknesses. He excelled at some but in the same time he was vulnerable.

Same with Modric. There is no ,,untouchable midfielder'' like you say. I've seen Xavi being outplayed a lot of times, same goes for Modric, Iniesta, Scholes etc.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

Jack fucking Wilshere outplayed your whole midfield in 2011.

Stop overrating Xavi. Every player has his strengths and weaknesses. He excelled at some but in the same time he was vulnerable.

Same with Modric. There is no ,,untouchable midfielder'' like you say. I've seen Xavi being outplayed a lot of times, same goes for Modric, Iniesta, Scholes etc.

Yeah and got fucked in return leg . i have seen Red cafetards using the same logic to ridicule xavi . I guess you are from that shithole .Every player and team will have bad days in their professional career and it's not like Wilshere is some sunday league player . Xavi has dominated many world class midfielders and big matches more often than getting dominated . Irony is fans of overrated diva's of English football calling xavi overrated . won 30+ trophys in his career for Barcelona , won two euro's and a world cup by being their best player . Overrated

 

[serghei]

The difference between Xavi & Iniesta is the very same difference between Cruyff and other legendary players of his stature - Cruyff used his brain more than his skill set per se, and much better than any other footballer out there. It is his thought process that made him the legend that he is. One could even say that he was probably the least talented, when it comes to the traditional skill-set attributed to a football player, compared to any of them but he gave more to football than anybody else!

Xavi is just like that - He is the ideal student of Cruyff school!

That is true. Players like Xavi and Cruyff are of the rarest type.

 

[beck123]

Yeah and got fucked in return leg . i have seen Red cafetards using the same logic to ridicule xavi . I guess you are from that shithole .Every player and team will have bad days in their professional career and it's not like Wilshere is some sunday league player . Xavi has dominated many world class midfielders and big matches more often than getting dominated . Irony is fans of overrated diva's of English football calling xavi overrated

I see you got triggered so easy.

Xavi is one of the best, but not the best. Stop be deluded.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

I see you got triggered so easy.

Xavi is one of the best, but not the best. Stop be deluded.

That's objective. If he isn't the best as per english fanboys ,that doesn't make him overrated . And yeah english trolls are such a cancer , i get triggered easily. One of the reason why i loved those fucktards getting knocked out by Croatia .

 

[beck123]

That's objective. If he isn't the best as per english fanboys ,that doesn't make him overrated . And yeah english trolls are such a cancer , i get triggered easily. One of the reason why i loved those fucktards getting knocked out by Croatia .

I'm not from England, and I loved when Croatia kicked their ass..

You can have your opinion, no problem. But I don't get why you are so mean, when someone say that Modric/Iniesta are in the same tier as Xavi.

Like I said.... Xavi in 2007-2008 was outplayed in El Clasico by Diarra, Gago. and with this I can bash you, because you always say Modric was crap while being at Tottenham.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

I'm not from England, and I loved when Croatia kicked their ass..

You can have your opinion, no problem. But I don't get why you are so mean, when someone say that Modric/Iniesta are in the same tier as Xavi.

Like I said.... Xavi in 2007-2008 was outplayed in El Clasico by Diarra, Gago. and with this I can bash you, because you always say Modric was crap while being at Tottenham.

Show me were i said Modric was crap while playing for spurs . I said he wasn't at Xavi's level . Read my posts properly before jerking off . Xavi being out played in classico's ? . Dude has won more classico's than he lost and has literally fucked the tactics of Pelegrini , Mourinho and Ancelotti when he was at Barcelona . Number of trophys he won for us ,Says that he is one of the the most decorated player of all time . Modric isn't at iniesta's tier let alone being anywhere close to Xavi's level