How good was Riquelme?

DWelbz19 said:
Needed a lot of leeway and freedom of defensive/tactical responsibility from a tactical perspective, no? I believe that’s why van Gaal binned him off.
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Yep, but he also binned Rivaldo who refused to play as a left winger and went on to be the 2002 World Cup's MVP. He'd be sacked midway through the season.

@TwoSheds @Lay

I think he would have struggled at United too and ended up another Veron/Mata/Berba situation - where Fergie loves the ability but does not really know how to make him fit into the United style.

@FootballHQ

Serie A would have been a good fit for him, really surprised he never featured for an Italian giant as I think he'd have been great for AC, Inter or Juve.

@Fortitude

Actually at Villarreal, it was only in his final season where he played centrally - he tended to operate from the left coming in and even when deployed as a 10 for Boca or Argentina, he drifted to the left side of the pitch so in that sense quite comparable to Zidane positionally.

@GlasgowCeltic

Sorin a massive factor. Bit like how Evra brought the best out of Pogba at Juventus. Players of this ilk who lack pace but like to occupy the inside left spaces, need a energetic skilful bombing left back to make overlapping runs constantly. He was a pivotal presence in Riquelme's increased effect.

@Stacks

I have come across quite a few people who have said he's better than Zidane but I tend to see them as 'fanboys' as I don't think anyone looking at it objectively could say he is in any way superior to Zidane who is a bona fide ATG.

@Maluco

Actually Riquelme was very very strong and his hold up play was one of his best features as a player. Physically he lacked pace and stamina, but not strength.

@Gio @Invictus @Physiocrat

Happy new year lads...

My ideal set up for him would be the following (random collection of players).



He was best in a 4-4-2 diamond. He needed midfielders who could all make runs ahead of him as well as do the donkey work defensively. He needed runners and workhorses as strikers who can also score goals and he needed wing backs who bomb on, and Marcelo is an upgraded Sorin IMO in that he can link up beautifully and hold his own down that flank if need be.
 
Great player but didn't worked at the highest level, best seasons at Villarreal
 
He’s become a lot better since he’s stopped playing, going by how so many people talk about him now. I always thought he was very bright but quite low energy.
 
Yeah I don’t get the whole he lacked physicality. He had the ability to hold off a defender. He just couldn’t sprint away from them.
 
Lay said:
Yeah I don’t get the whole he lacked physicality. He had the ability to hold off a defender. He just couldn’t sprint away from them.
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This. He was very stout and used his body and his arms well to protect the ball.
 
Maluco said:
I think people tend to forget not only how good Zidane was with his feet, but also how brutally strong he was on the ball.

Riquelme was an artist, but he lacked Zidanes body strength and ability to keep possession. Zidane was a brute as much as he was an artist.
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Yes, this is the beauty of watching Zidane play, a large imposing guy with incredible grace and elegance. He is becoming underrated because of the deification of stats.
 
Aimar was the one that lacked physicality and could get dispossessed quite often because of it if he tried to do too much, Riquelme was more like Valderrama, older Zidane and Mostovoi and post-Real Madrid injuries Prosinecki in that he was slow but strong and great at shielding the ball with a mixture of strength and subtle touches.

I thought Aimar was the more overhyped of the two argentinian attacking mids at the time(though still very good) and slightly fortunate at Valencia that Zahovic was a psycho that never kicked on from his excellent level at Porto and got moved on quickly for causing trouble.
 
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Gio said:
This. He was very stout and used his body and his arms well to protect the ball.
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Quite a limited view of physicality though, isn’t it? Obviously his inability to move well meant he couldn’t ever do it a top club and had to play at Villarreal, who could build the team around him.
 
Rocksy said:
Quite a limited view of physicality though, isn’t it? Obviously his inability to move well meant he couldn’t ever do it a top club and had to play at Villarreal, who could build the team around him.
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Indeed I think everyone agrees he couldn't run much and that, ultimately, brings him down a notch or two in the all-time standings. What was up for debate though was his strength to fend off opposing players and a few folk had suggested he didn't have much of it.
 
Raees said:
Yep, but he also binned Rivaldo who refused to play as a left winger and went on to be the 2002 World Cup's MVP. He'd be sacked midway through the season.

@TwoSheds @Lay

I think he would have struggled at United too and ended up another Veron/Mata/Berba situation - where Fergie loves the ability but does not really know how to make him fit into the United style.

@FootballHQ

Serie A would have been a good fit for him, really surprised he never featured for an Italian giant as I think he'd have been great for AC, Inter or Juve.

@Fortitude

Actually at Villarreal, it was only in his final season where he played centrally - he tended to operate from the left coming in and even when deployed as a 10 for Boca or Argentina, he drifted to the left side of the pitch so in that sense quite comparable to Zidane positionally.

@GlasgowCeltic

Sorin a massive factor. Bit like how Evra brought the best out of Pogba at Juventus. Players of this ilk who lack pace but like to occupy the inside left spaces, need a energetic skilful bombing left back to make overlapping runs constantly. He was a pivotal presence in Riquelme's increased effect.

@Stacks

I have come across quite a few people who have said he's better than Zidane but I tend to see them as 'fanboys' as I don't think anyone looking at it objectively could say he is in any way superior to Zidane who is a bona fide ATG.

@Maluco

Actually Riquelme was very very strong and his hold up play was one of his best features as a player. Physically he lacked pace and stamina, but not strength.

@Gio @Invictus @Physiocrat

Happy new year lads...

My ideal set up for him would be the following (random collection of players).



He was best in a 4-4-2 diamond. He needed midfielders who could all make runs ahead of him as well as do the donkey work defensively. He needed runners and workhorses as strikers who can also score goals and he needed wing backs who bomb on, and Marcelo is an upgraded Sorin IMO in that he can link up beautifully and hold his own down that flank if need be.
Click to expand...

Happy New Year!

I probably phrased it wrong. He had good feet and was always able to find space for a pass, but Zidane had an aggressive, almost nasty side to him.

I think people have a habit of seeing older number 10’s as meek flowers who were all about the art, but Zidane was more physical a footballer from what I have seen of both.

Your setup looks good for him, lots of runners and workhorses that he could play off. Good stuff!
 
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