Bobo32
Senior Member
Alba has, or had, amazing pace and endurance. He times his runs amazingly, especially when the ball was served by Messi. His cutbacks are a little suspect most of the times. Defensively if he can't use his speed to sweep long balls he is not good on an organized defense. His mentality is that of a 10 year old child being bullied in school. That's my evaluation of him.
Sure, this is the evaluation of a Barcelona fan that has tired of him as years passed, who knows his weaknesses and has taken his strengths for granted.
Marcelo is not as fast or as physical overall, he is sometimes 5kg overweight, he is as unreliable defensively, not only because he lacks the skills, but because he sometimes doesn't even bother. He is technically excellent, but mostly wants the ball on his feet. He dribbles very well and can open up defences that way, but sometimes he loses the ball in these situations giving away good counters for the other team. His mental age is that of Albas badly raised son...
Alba, like Carlos or Marcelo, is an attacking left back. To compare him to Maldini is like comparing Makelele to Zidane. But Alba is more reliable defensively than those Brazilians, and he offers about as much offensively, although not in the same way.