I’m not sure he was. Modric stands alone but I think most Real fans wouldn’t think Case was less important than Kroos. That setup was really clever though and so you can’t really compare Rodri to Case, you’d more compare him to Kroos given the positions the latter took up.
Keane x Vieira x Rodri aka The Main Midfield Men thread
- Thread starter Desert Eagle
- Start date
Casemiro was a beast of DM with talent that could particpate with anyone distributing the ball.
Regarding this type of CM not that focused in scoring or final balls, but in controlling tempo, holding the ball and defending, Redondo was like a ballerina with an axe, gracious mean MF.
He was perfect bossing his mates and the rivals but I always thought that with such level of talent he SHOULD have be less generous, less worried about the tactical disposition of his team at all times and went free flow attacking more often like in is young days in Argentinos Jrs, the NT and a bit in Tenerife.
Regarding this type of CM not that focused in scoring or final balls, but in controlling tempo, holding the ball and defending, Redondo was like a ballerina with an axe, gracious mean MF.
He was perfect bossing his mates and the rivals but I always thought that with such level of talent he SHOULD have be less generous, less worried about the tactical disposition of his team at all times and went free flow attacking more often like in is young days in Argentinos Jrs, the NT and a bit in Tenerife.
He was never quite the same after doing his ACL multiple times. Always rushed back too. Had all the potential to be in this conversation had he stayed fit.
If making an English top tier comparison for Rodri, it would be Souness who stands out. Both more midfield anchors than Keane and Vieira, both physically imposing but marry class and steel - balancing both more equally than Busquets, Alonso, Makelele etc, and both ventured forward to good effect to decide games when needed.
For me Rodri is basically this era's version of Vieira. Only true difference is he plays in a tactically more rigged era thus is no is not granted the freedom to roam and influence the game exaxtly like the French man often did. But make no mistake about it. He has it in him.
Whilst this era's Keane is undoubtedly N'golo Kante.
Whilst this era's Keane is undoubtedly N'golo Kante.
Incredibly insulting. Vieira gets a comparison to Rodri, while Keane is the plucky little try hard.
Not really, Kanté played a key role in a Champions League and World Cup win, which Vieira can never say. And won a league with Leicester.
Kante is nowhere near the other three.
Well, that's just your opinion, man.
Just so incredibly insulting to be compared to a Champions League, World Cup, Premier League-winning Premier League, PFA, FWA Footballer of the Year and Uefa Midfielder of the Year.
It is, yes. Kante was very limited and not half the player Keane was.
I alao personally don't see ANY players with that two wah ability any longer in the current crop at their peak or coming through.
I feel that currently midfielders are being developed in 4 types:
attacking ball winners in the casemiro mould ( i.e Rice, Caicedo, Endo, Partey),
Holding midfielders, who plamake from deep of the Busquets style (Mainoo, Kimmich, Mac Calister, Tonali, Bruno Guiimares)
Box to box 8s of the Gerrard/Lampard style who are better atackers than defenders (I.e Barella, Bellingham, Enzo, Gallagher, Mateus Nunes, Gavi etc)
and lastly
Attacking midfield play makers ala Modric/KDB (Could play deeper but often used as wide playmakers = Odegaard, Foden, Bernardo, Maddison, Wirtz, Musiala, Pedro etc)
It feels like the proper two way center midfielder, who was equally good at defending and attacking is dying out. Like second strikers died out.
I feel that currently midfielders are being developed in 4 types:
attacking ball winners in the casemiro mould ( i.e Rice, Caicedo, Endo, Partey),
Holding midfielders, who plamake from deep of the Busquets style (Mainoo, Kimmich, Mac Calister, Tonali, Bruno Guiimares)
Box to box 8s of the Gerrard/Lampard style who are better atackers than defenders (I.e Barella, Bellingham, Enzo, Gallagher, Mateus Nunes, Gavi etc)
and lastly
Attacking midfield play makers ala Modric/KDB (Could play deeper but often used as wide playmakers = Odegaard, Foden, Bernardo, Maddison, Wirtz, Musiala, Pedro etc)
It feels like the proper two way center midfielder, who was equally good at defending and attacking is dying out. Like second strikers died out.
Utter hogwash
Not half the player is disrespecting Kante big time, as you'd guess by the name I still think Keane was better than Kante but Vieira was not clearly better than Kanté is my opinion.
It's strange to compare them in the first place, tbh. More formidable in the same midfield than as replacements for one another.
Vieira, like Keane, was in a different stratosphere to Kante.
Would De Rossi fit the mould, albeit to a lower level than Keane / Viera in my opinion? I was always very impressed with him when watching though I was a kid at the time.
I'm not sure if i'm more appalled by the initial comment or this one
Yep. Kante > Vieira. Easily. Vieira gets massively overrated on here. Arsenal replaced him with an 18 year old who was immediately better than him ffs. Yes Fabregas was special, but still. Vieira wasn't. He was great, but that's it.
also, Rodri's level over the last 2 years is much higher than Vieira's ever was probably higher than Keane's too, but it's harder for me to say. Don't remember Keane(98-2001) as much plus his team was comparable to City.
Yeah not as good as you say, but a bit more of a respectful choice.
Should have just said that, rather than the previous bollocks. Vieira was class.
Stahp.I'm not sure if i'm more appalled by the initial comment or this one
Yep. Kante > Vieira. Easily. Vieira gets massively overrated on here. Arsenal replaced him with an 18 year old who was immediately better than him ffs. Yes Fabregas was special, but still. Vieira wasn't. He was great, but that's it.
also, Rodri's level over the last 2 years is much higher than Vieira's ever was probably higher than Keane's too, but it's harder for me to say. Don't remember Keane(98-2001) as much plus his team was comparable to City.
Kante's shooting was so bad, it was a literal running joke at club and national level. Although able to play a decent pass or keep a chain going, his ability to thread anything over distance or by expectation is fractional.
By default, from the above, he has no business being compared with Vieira and Keane.
By default, from the above, he has no business being compared with Vieira and Keane.
Nice to see a bit of common sense.
Kanté's ball winning was one of the best ever, so good that he was probably Chelsea's best playmaker when they won the CL, he created so many chances from winning the ball high up the pitch. He is hard to compare to the others really because of his playing style was unique but in terms of influence on the pitch it's similar. At the very highest level of matches, he was a menace for the opposition.
Joke, watched all and for me Rodri by a distance. He combines physicality and technique, a rare combination.
Rodri is the best of the lot for me. He makes the difference for city, he is their most important player.
Kante’s ball-winning was exceptional; it has absolutely nothing to do with what I said, however. You compare him to aggressive runners like Davids, Gattusso and so on, not proper two-way CM’s who could control a game of football or provide a little of everything a team needs.
There’s no comparison between him and them, either in brief or capability to affect a game outside of proactive haranguing of the opposition.
Kante was a key player on a WC winner and a CL winner. Vieira? The guy who was getting pantsed in CL by his 18 year old replacement? Puh-lease.
Not a clue.
He can be both an effective player and not comparable - you wouldn’t have one in to do the job of the other, but you could pair them to devastating effect.
You've not seen a lot of Davids(he was class on the ball and very much a DLP in his own right), you hilariously overestimate Vieira, and you're ignoring the actual impact those players had. Vieira never ever could "control a game or provide everything a team needed" at the highest level. Having a wider skillset doesn't make him better, it just makes him more versatile
Pogba had far better overall attributes than Kanté but I'd say Kanté was better because he was more effective at the few things he did and was much better mentally. Similarly, Van Nistelrooy couldn't score from outside the box and was limited in many ways but I'd say he was still a better striker than Tevez, who was more of an all-rounder.
Not a Joke, I place Rodri above Scholes. Hope you are Happy with that. I stop short of cuddles though.
Am more of a fist bump. Anyway, totally different player profile Scholes vs Rodri
It's incredible that time and again we still read that someone to give praise to a player has to in the meantime trash another one. Silly as fvck with the majority of names threw here. Suddenly Kante, Viera an such become trash.
BTW fellas like Rikjaard, Guardiola and Redondo, all different, were also increible versatile midfielders. Pep as a coach has created sadly a notion that he wasn't that much of a player and he was formidable.
BTW fellas like Rikjaard, Guardiola and Redondo, all different, were also increible versatile midfielders. Pep as a coach has created sadly a notion that he wasn't that much of a player and he was formidable.
You are aware he played the majority of his career in England? By the time he came to prominence internationally (post-Deschamps), he was asked to play a different role for club than country. Vieira’s entire profile in the PL revolves around something different than what he was asked to do to facilitate the bigger name at international level.
Davids had many iterations throughout his career, but he’s still the better comparison to Kante. There is practically no overlap between Vieira and Kante compared to the other two.
And yes, versatility does play a hand, which is why they shouldn’t be compared in the first place; as a specialist runner/harasser Kante gets a great amount of plaudits; as a two-way CM, he is not even a part of the conversation, so immediately you go from one of the best specialists for the runner role, to a non-entity as a true two-way CM.
I am intrigued. You think Scholes and Rodri played different sports?
Yeah, one plays baseball the other tennis.
I realised you were talking about those sports when responding to my post.
They were different in a bunch of ways, they could play together without clashing much.
Scholes and Rodri might be different, but they both played in similar logistics, and both are technically sound, and a mere decade separates them.