The things Wolfe says at time to down play Barca's players
He is a real Barca fan I can respect that
Eh?
Would you say that Semedo’s ridiculously low amount of keypasses is due to him being shitty offensively or Valverde’s tactic? He is averaging 0.3 keypasses which is shit for a Barca RB. No wonder we create absolutely nothing on the right.
He is a bit boneheaded and doesn't seem very smart, but lots of things you can talk about that are holding him back. It's probably fair to say he's a victim of not having the right coach to unlock his potential and set him straight. It happens. Much like Zidane doesn't like certain controlling habits in midfielders, but at least he doesn't seem to lie to them and simply replaces them with guys he connects with i.e. Ferland Mendy, Fede Valverde, preferring Isco over James in 16/17.
Semedo is a good player, but needs continuity and the right coach. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be the manager, can be one of the assistants that helps him understanding what he's doing wrong. But I don't think it's going so well between him and the current staff.
Carlos is a RM ambassador and a humble guy. It's his job to big up Madrid players. He was a degree better than Marcelo. That's why in his 14 year career for Brazil he picked up 125 caps whilst Marcelo has only 58 in the same time span. Unfortunately, Felipe Luis and Alex Sandro took 63 caps off Marcelo in that time. Hardly world beaters .
Ron and R9 won the world cup and had great international careers. Marcelo for Brazil has been average and that's generous. You can't compare R9 whose years were ravaged by injury to someone who had years of poor form, that's not reasonable.
Marcelo is just a guy that was the best left back in the world for maybe 3 years and unremarkable the rest of the time. Not a sniff near GOAT level. Not sure where this massive overating of Marcelo has come from though you do have a tendency to overate Madrid players. But then again some here think Cr7 is better than Maradona so you get all sorts.
Better defenders will always take caps off a player who isn't a great defender, particularly in a national team that had one good CB in the last 15-20 years. Marcelo is no sprinter, makes mistakes in positioning, often causes the team shape to go haywire, but he's an absolute GOAT talent on the ball. Indisputably so.
And CR is definitely better than Maradona at many things.
Ronnie having only 3 years of prime is not the same as Marcelo having only 3 - Ronnie drank it away; whereas Marcelo was just not good enough; it took him years to start performing at the level he does now and it won't go on much further, hopefully! It's a joke to say he is/was better than Dani.
Never said he was or implied anything as such. The remark was about ranking offensive talent. Marcelo, without the flash, is just as gifted offensively as any of his legendary compatriots. Same applies to the likes of Neymar for that matter.
Also want to point out Alves (whilst i like him and respect what he did in his time at Barcelona) doesn't have much of a legacy outside Barcelona, not in the same way as Roberto Carlos who is renowned everywhere as an all-time great, people will still be watching Roberto Carlos highlights and his goals in 50 years time. But Alves didn't do great at Juventus and didn't do great at PSG, he's tribal legend (ie:- legend just among Barcelona fans) and also won't be talked about in 20 years outside Spain/Brazil.
It's normal, because many players of that Barcelona side have had their image marred by Busquets peekaboo moments and Alves was a known diver. It's normal he's not necessarily remembered as fondly as the likes of Carlos, particularly in hardass countries like the UK who hate any player that either plays a provoking style (actively trying to embarrass an opponent) or embelishes contact. Alves was famous for the latter at least.
Carlos used to score emphatic freekicks and was the first player to be broadcasted on global TV and do the things he did from leftback. You have to recall the different age of football at the time. 1998-2006 era was the time of Joga Bonito, a lot of style over substance, very often people used to create legends out of players who didn't necessarily perform according to their talent all the time. Then from 2008 came the age of monitoring every player's performance and statistics that nobody paid much attention to on a weekly basis. Mistakes aren't as tolerated these days. Gareth Bale for instance would be a massive star in the foregone era and he would be on the Pantheon of the greatest players ever largely because of his memorable goals in the finals. It was a different time and hence a different legacy. But talent is something no one can take away from any of these players.
