Totti and Del Piero

harms

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You can add a few others here. Raul... or much discussed Cantona and Dalglish. Those second strikers have the worst kind of competition — pretty much the whole GOAT list starting with Pelé and Maradona.

I’d rate Totti a bit higher, especially since he was a top false 9 as well as a number 10 and a more generic forward, while Del Piero was at his best only as a left inside-forward (those curling shots!). And Totti’s peak was a bit higher, although Del Piero was unlucky to get a serious injury at the very beginning of his career.

It would’ve been interesting to see how close Totti would’ve been to the likes of Figo/Rivaldo/Nedved if he went to Madrid when the offer was on the table.
 

Physiocrat

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I think Del Piero suffers mainly from the lack of popularity of two striker systems in drafts. He was very much a creative second striker at his peak.

Totti didn't have an amazing career trophies wise and the standard of Serie A in the 2000s wasn't as high as the 90s so doesn't get the kudos boost that say Batistuta gets despite having very similar club honours. Also I would treat Totti as a peak playmaking 10 which means you really need to build around him. So in many drafts there are better candidates to build around so he's overlooked
 

Indnyc

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I think Del Piero suffers mainly from the lack of popularity of two striker systems in drafts. He was very much a creative second striker at his peak.

Totti didn't have an amazing career trophies wise and the standard of Serie A in the 2000s wasn't as high as the 90s so doesn't get the kudos boost that say Batistuta gets despite having very similar club honours. Also I would treat Totti as a peak playmaking 10 which means you really need to build around him. So in many drafts there are better candidates to build around so he's overlooked
Pretty much this.. I lot of players suffer for lack of 4–4-2 or variations there of..

Maybe we should do a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 draft where we restrict managers to just this formation and a blocked list to eliminate goats.. Probably see AdP and Totti in prominent roles
 

Pat_Mustard

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I think Del Piero suffers mainly from the lack of popularity of two striker systems in drafts. He was very much a creative second striker at his peak.

Totti didn't have an amazing career trophies wise and the standard of Serie A in the 2000s wasn't as high as the 90s so doesn't get the kudos boost that say Batistuta gets despite having very similar club honours. Also I would treat Totti as a peak playmaking 10 which means you really need to build around him. So in many drafts there are better candidates to build around so he's overlooked
I think it was Theon and Gio who used Del Piero as a left-sided second striker behind a CF and ahead of Maradona in a previous draft and it looked awesome. That role in a 3-5-2 is probably Del Piero's natural habitat in all-time drafts and he's probably underused, but it's the most talent-rich area of the pitch and we're conservative as both voters and managers so he gets overlooked.

As regards their respective peaks, my head says Totti was simply the better player, but it's hard to forget the buzz around Del Piero right before his injury. It was an exciting time back then, with Del Piero looking almost like a younger version of Baggio and Ronaldo coming through at the same time and looking like a never-seen-before mutant. Totti was consistently brilliant in a range of roles but I don't think he ever made quite that same initial splash that Del Piero did.
 

Jim Beam

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Totti was a better player, but I choose Del Piero every time to build around.

And that false 9 role is absolute myth, he played it for around 35 games. It's not Hidegkuti ffs...
 

Physiocrat

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Totti was a better player, but I choose Del Piero every time to build around.

And that false 9 role is absolute myth, he played it for around 35 games. It's not Hidegkuti ffs...
I always regard him first and foremost as a 10 best shown in the Scudetto winning Roma side of 2000 (2001 can't remember which)
 

Jim Beam

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I always regard him first and foremost as a 10 best shown in the Scudetto winning Roma side of 2000 (2001 can't remember which)
He is a strange kind. Let me say he never would be so great if he didn't stay in Roma. Contrary what people believes.

Kaka was on another level to him. Imho.
 

Synco

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And that false 9 role is absolute myth, he played it for around 35 games. It's not Hidegkuti ffs...
Didn't he play it a lot under Spalletti (1st spell) and Rudi Garcia (pre Dzeko)? Not that I've ever been a regular Roma watcher, but what games I saw, formation graphics, tactical analysis stuff, everything seems to indicate it happened much more often.
 

giorno

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It would’ve been interesting to see how close Totti would’ve been to the likes of Figo/Rivaldo/Nedved if he went to Madrid when the offer was on the table.
He was quite clearly better than Nedved, better than Figo, not quite as good as Rivaldo
 

giorno

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Well, that's debatable.

And wrong.
Well no. It's neither debatable nor wrong. You have some heavy blinkers when it comes to Totti

Nedved was never in the same league
 

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You can add a few others here. Raul... or much discussed Cantona and Dalglish. Those second strikers have the worst kind of competition — pretty much the whole GOAT list starting with Pelé and Maradona.

I’d rate Totti a bit higher, especially since he was a top false 9 as well as a number 10 and a more generic forward, while Del Piero was at his best only as a left inside-forward (those curling shots!). And Totti’s peak was a bit higher, although Del Piero was unlucky to get a serious injury at the very beginning of his career.
Agree with all of this. Tough company for drafts, which is part of the reason we did that build-around-an-often-forgotten-star draft.

Totti had a longer period of sustained quality at the top of his game, whereas Del Piero was a diluted version after the knee injury at 24. You could randomly choose any season between around 1997 and 2007 or so and Totti would be one of the classiest players around. In terms of peak level, it's probably worth acknowledging that the Del Piero of 1997/98 was a burgeoning talent, tearing it up in a tough league not that far off a peak Ronaldo. But equally I think Totti was unlucky not to get the Ballon D'Or in 2007 and during his career may have had a stronger case for it with the scan voter had he been backed up by a club capable of winning Champions Leagues.
 

Synco

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As the top 20 discussion kind of goes that direction right now:

How would you compare Zico to pre-injury Del Piero as player types?
 

berbasloth4

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unpopular opinion here but I believe Totti was over hyped and a bit overrated. I would have took a pre injury del piero over him every day of the week.

totti was no where near the levels of rivaldo nedved kaka ronaldinho etc. players who played similar roles
 

GodShaveTheQueen

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unpopular opinion here but I believe Totti was over hyped and a bit overrated. I would have took a pre injury del piero over him every day of the week.

totti was no where near the levels of rivaldo nedved kaka ronaldinho etc. players who played similar roles
His peak season was unreal though. Right up there with Goat false 9 seasons.
 

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Where do they rank in GOAT discussions?
Nowhere near the cream of the crop, even Baggio and Rivera struggle to make an impact in genuine GOAT-fests.
Does this group consider them as match winners?
Not really, if we're being honest — unless you're playing an era based Serie A draft or the available pool is otherwise restricted.
What formation/position/tactic is their best fit?
Extraordinarily skillful dribbler...especially before that injury, decent but not outstanding creator, not the most physical player around and didn't always engage the central defenders. You need to have other sources of creativity from central or wider positions (like Zidane in diamond/5-2-1-2 or Nedvěd in 4-4-2), the lead striker had to keep the centerbacks in check via positioning (Inzaghi) or physical threat in the box (Trezeguet), and you gotta have decent width to stop the fullbacks from tracking Del Piero's inward runs. The rest doesn't really matter.


Totti had better vision than Del Piero and was a markedly better passer so he doesn't need a ton of creative support — one of the few great attackers that he could do everything on their own and always drifted deep to influence the game as well. While he was no Platini in the latter regard, Totti is still a really good fit for something approaching Zona Mista...and then you have the False 9 version where it's important to have a point forward for him to dovetail with (like van de Beek for contemporary midfielders). Should also do well in diamond-ishs where he is the focal point and his movement is not overly restricted but that's partly covered by the False 9 formation!