How good was Materazzi?

paulscholes18

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Be easily out best CB I like defenders like him a no nonsense SOB, someone you would partner with a Rio, Nesta, Van Dijk, Stam, rather than a Vidic or Chiellini.
 

cjj

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I was born into a family full of everton fans and grew up around the time Materazzi was there, and went to a few games at Goodison.


He was no more notable than any other defender at the time.
 

Snow

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Only a relevant player because Inter got a free pass to the Serie A for a while and because Zidane wanted to make a point of how much of cnut he was in his last match. Not many people that are going to be headbutted like that and still come away as the bad guy.
 

Cloud7

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Honestly I remember very little of his career besides that moment with Zidane, and that photo of him with Rui Costa in the Milan derby with the flares.
 

ti vu

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He had tournament of his life that World Cup 2006 when Nesta was out injured. Overall he's decent for bit part role in the squad, but never anything more than that. So Nicky Butt of CB position.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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He was bang average and not worthy of such a thread
Wouldn't say bang average but agree not worthy of a thread. The only reason he was playing in the World Cup final was because Nesta was injured. It's sad Nesta, the best defender of his generation, missed out on most of Italy's World Cup win and Cannavaro ends up in greatest ever lists instead of him. Otherwise Materazzi was only ever top 5 defenders in his league in 2006-07 when Juventus had been relegated, Milan docked points. and it was very easy for Inter. I don't think he ever touched world-class level.
 

André Dominguez

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He was a solid CB most of his career- Not really amazing, since nowadays he would be red carded very frequently due to VAR.
 

Lay

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He was decent. His trophy haul is quite extensive.
 

giorno

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Pretty much the italian Maguire, except for those 3 glorious weeks in which he turned into Franz Beckenbauer :lol:

EDIT might be ingenerous, idk, he was very good - you don't get to play for inter all those years and be a regular for the italian NT of the time if you're not a really good player - but prone to absolutely hilarious feckups, and a colossal cnut. Come to think if it maybe Pepe is a good comparison
 
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André Dominguez

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Pretty much the italian Maguire, except for those 3 glorious weeks in which he turned into Franz Beckenbauer :lol:

EDIT might be ingenerous, idk, he was very good - you don't get to play for inter all those years and be a regular for the italian NT of the time if you're not a really good player - but prone to absolutely hilarious feckups, and a colossal cnut. Come to think if it maybe Pepe is a good comparison
Pepe was not as malicious as Materazzi and was actually more talented (IMHO, off course)
 

giorno

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Pepe was not as malicious as Materazzi and was actually more talented (IMHO, off course)
Mmmm i don't know about that. Pepe was more consistent after he finally managed to tone down the bs perhaps. I'd say he was more reliable at his best
 

Eplel

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There's a particular type of player that attracts a particular type of fan, and the attraction has nothing to do with football ability. If the fan thinks the player has a badass personality, they automatically rate them: Materazzi is a prime example, along with David Luiz. Other, lesser examples are Xavier, Riise, and Ljungberg.

On the other side, this particular type of fan doesn't rate players that they think they look soft, like R.Carvalho and D.Fletcher.
 

RooneyLegend

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He was great. Unfortunate to play in an error where elite defenders were a dime a dozen.
 

kode

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I loved him, that aggressive side in his game .... no wonder why I hate our current defense
 

TwoSheds

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He was very marginally above average at the time but very good for getting the team going. Now he would be regarded as world class :lol:
 

André Dominguez

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Mmmm i don't know about that. Pepe was more consistent after he finally managed to tone down the bs perhaps. I'd say he was more reliable at his best
I was actually refering to his on ball skills who are actually very underrated. Not a great passer, but his ball control was actually very surprising.
 

izak

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Didn't watch him early in his career but did watch him late from his 26 still he stopped playing, He was an aggressive defender that loved defending, he's one of those defenders that pride thnemselves in a way to say an "attacker won't dribble pass me" something you don't see today in the modern game.

Growing up as a kid i and my younger brother used to play one vs ones, my younger brother was always the attacking player, we used to choose professional players names before we started our duals... i remember calling myself Materazzi, Rio, Stam, Nesta, Maldini a few times and i recall always telling him you can't dribble pass me.
.:D:wenger::D
 

Andersonson

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Pretty much the italian Maguire, except for those 3 glorious weeks in which he turned into Franz Beckenbauer :lol:

EDIT might be ingenerous, idk, he was very good - you don't get to play for inter all those years and be a regular for the italian NT of the time if you're not a really good player - but prone to absolutely hilarious feckups, and a colossal cnut. Come to think if it maybe Pepe is a good comparison
Pepe was a very different player. The only thing they have in common is being a cnut. Pepe had blistering pace and was a top notch defender.
 

giorno

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Pepe was a very different player. The only thing they have in common is being a cnut. Pepe had blistering pace and was a top notch defender.
Materazzi lacked lateral quickness but was a pretty fast player, and Pepe didn't have blistering pace either. They were both physically dominant, mostly aggressive, solid/great in most respects, with an unfortunate tendency to lose their goddamn minds and do really dumb shite. Materazzi more than Pepe in that regard as his decision making was worse

Materazzi offered more on the ball as his left foot was great for a defender at the time
 

Gio

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Materazzi lacked lateral quickness but was a pretty fast player, and Pepe didn't have blistering pace either. They were both physically dominant, mostly aggressive, solid/great in most respects, with an unfortunate tendency to lose their goddamn minds and do really dumb shite. Materazzi more than Pepe in that regard as his decision making was worse

Materazzi offered more on the ball as his left foot was great for a defender at the time
Aye agree with all of this, perfect summary.
 

Renegade

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Was simply okay back in his day. Probably world class if he was playing now.
 

Foxbatt

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You do not win everything there to win if you were a terrible player. Lots of foreign players come to England and do not make it but go abroad and make a better one. Scored in a WC Final and scored a penalty to win the World Cup.
 

jesperjaap

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Wouldn't say bang average but agree not worthy of a thread. The only reason he was playing in the World Cup final was because Nesta was injured. It's sad Nesta, the best defender of his generation, missed out on most of Italy's World Cup win and Cannavaro ends up in greatest ever lists instead of him. Otherwise Materazzi was only ever top 5 defenders in his league in 2006-07 when Juventus had been relegated, Milan docked points. and it was very easy for Inter. I don't think he ever touched world-class level.
I genuinely think he was bang average. Big, strong, decent pace, read game reasonably well....so he was good all round, but didnt really excel at anything for me....certainly never ever world class. Nesta and Cannavaro were both fantastic defenders of course. I think Nesta was the more elegant one but one on one Cannavaro was fantastic, one of my favourite centre backs of all time for sure. At Madrid he was totally exposed the way they played but in Italy he always looked to get the better of the person he was marking...apart from Ronaldo who made a mockery of him, did same to Nesta too
 

JJ12

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