I can literally find similar angles for Fellaini it proves nothing
Uncanny.
Iniesta vs Zidane
- Thread starter TheNewEra
- Start date
Actually does if you have watched those players play and understand what the images are trying to represent.
I think Zidane is overrated. He was a wonderfully gifted player, but to put him in the same pedestal as Messi and Maradona is outrageous.
Peak Zidane was beautiful to watch, but he had too many inconsistent performances in-between wonderful displays. That was both for club as well as country.
I doubt he'd have been considered half as good if it wasn't for the most incredible WC win. (which later paved his way to become a "Galactico")
I like to compare Iniesta to a well oiled machine producing goods season after season for an entire generation. He never reached the artistic heights of Zidane, but IMO, he is the greater player by the sheer number of trophies won, his contributions in those major trophies, and his longevity at the highest level both for club and country.
Peak Zidane was beautiful to watch, but he had too many inconsistent performances in-between wonderful displays. That was both for club as well as country.
I doubt he'd have been considered half as good if it wasn't for the most incredible WC win. (which later paved his way to become a "Galactico")
I like to compare Iniesta to a well oiled machine producing goods season after season for an entire generation. He never reached the artistic heights of Zidane, but IMO, he is the greater player by the sheer number of trophies won, his contributions in those major trophies, and his longevity at the highest level both for club and country.
Obviously you need to put it in context.
Have to go with Iniesta. The only CM I've seen live to rival Scholes. Xavi and Keane just below. Wouldn't put Zidane in with them as a 'cm'
I go with Zidane just because he's the "bigger" player for me but I may be a little biased.
Zidane for me definitely edges this and as great as Iniesta was - he would never be able to win a huge trophy on his own back as the de facto leader or icon of the team.
For Spain he was subservient to Xavi (not to a great degree but there was that slight element of deference) whereas Zidane was always the man in his teams.
Talent wise Zidane has much more to his game, better set pieces, long shot, two footed (Iniesta is one footed for the most part), greater passing range, far superior crosser, able to move across both sides of the pitch and be effective (though like Iniesta favoured left side), better finisher and shot technique, stronger in the air, far more tricks in his locker and generallly greater flair and overall less reliant on others to help dictate the game on his terms. He had more drive to his game to and an innate ability to push the tempo of a game and become more direct if need be.
Iniesta will go down as one of the greatest support acts in history but Zidane is a contender for the greatest lead acts the game has seen (his consistency lets him down in this regard) but for me we’re talking about players in two different stratosphere’s. Iniesta was a player in the right place at the right time and great enough to maximise that to the fullest but Zidane would be a great player in any era, at any club and be the star of the side.
Just taking that performance v Brazil in the World Cup, many say Iniesta performance vs us for example was a great performance in the 2009 CL but it doesn’t come close to the complete dominance Zidane showed - his peak performance was different gravy.
Iniesta for all his consistency lacked the sheer numbers in terms of assists and goals - and that has to count against him when you’re comparing him to a fellow orchestrator of the highest order.
For Spain he was subservient to Xavi (not to a great degree but there was that slight element of deference) whereas Zidane was always the man in his teams.
Talent wise Zidane has much more to his game, better set pieces, long shot, two footed (Iniesta is one footed for the most part), greater passing range, far superior crosser, able to move across both sides of the pitch and be effective (though like Iniesta favoured left side), better finisher and shot technique, stronger in the air, far more tricks in his locker and generallly greater flair and overall less reliant on others to help dictate the game on his terms. He had more drive to his game to and an innate ability to push the tempo of a game and become more direct if need be.
Iniesta will go down as one of the greatest support acts in history but Zidane is a contender for the greatest lead acts the game has seen (his consistency lets him down in this regard) but for me we’re talking about players in two different stratosphere’s. Iniesta was a player in the right place at the right time and great enough to maximise that to the fullest but Zidane would be a great player in any era, at any club and be the star of the side.
Just taking that performance v Brazil in the World Cup, many say Iniesta performance vs us for example was a great performance in the 2009 CL but it doesn’t come close to the complete dominance Zidane showed - his peak performance was different gravy.
Iniesta for all his consistency lacked the sheer numbers in terms of assists and goals - and that has to count against him when you’re comparing him to a fellow orchestrator of the highest order.
If a player's greatness is being judged by trophies, then Messi is much inferior to Maradona or Zidane with respect to international football. A 34 year old, semi-retired Zidane, single-handedly dismantled Brazil in 2006, a team which had Ronaldinho and Kaka, both world-class players. However good Iniesta is, he never produced performance like that. And that 2006 France team was nothing special. Zidane had too many wow moments to disregard him as overrated.
Although, I believe, Zidane was the second-best player of that 90's generation. The best could only be O'Fenomeno, a player who could not last long at his Inter Milan level due to horrible injuries.
Iniesta is head and shoulders above Scholes or any other English midfielder of this generation, supporters' rose-tinted glass view notwithstanding.
I saw Zidane towards the end. 2002-2006. For me he was a passenger in too many games. I remember always thinking, "yeah, this guy is good but how can a player who everyone tells me is so great, be a non entity in so many matches"?
Iniesta for me.
Iniesta for me.
I'm just saying those pictures on their own don't prove much.
This cracks me up. Everyone looks disoriented. The defender on the left (Barzagli?) looks like he either just came, or felt a Fellaini elbow hammering his arm, or the former as a result of the latter.If Zidane played in the same era as Messi and Ronaldo his legacy and legend wouldn't be the same, and that is one thing Iniesta has to contend with.
Xavi was better than Iniesta.
Xavi below Iniesta and Scholes
I have heard it all now.would have Iniesta in my greatest 11 everytime, wouldn't have Zidane anywhere near it, although Zidane did turn up for final of WC98 and that CL stunner, but he was hardly the best player in the rest of the WC games for France and was never consistent for Madrid.
Xavi was better than Iniesta.
Xavi below Iniesta and Scholes
I would take Iniesta ahead of Xavi everytime as well to be fair, would take Scholes as well as couldn't ever see Xavi being able to control a game in a midfield 2,
Big difference is Diego Maradona has the ball....... Iniesta doesn't.
Zidane was the big momment taker. Never about long periods of sustained brilliance. As long as a huge moment fell to him, he always made the most of it. That knack is still with him as a coach
The luck falls his way and he maximises it to the fullest. A gift un like any other.
The luck falls his way and he maximises it to the fullest. A gift un like any other.
I just posted this about 8 pages later - I think that's the key information many are overlooking with these pics.
And Maradona's pic is deceiving too.
https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.the42.ie/diego-maradona-picture-938745-Jun2014/?amp=1
That's half his career then.
He was a terrifying player for Juventus. The late 90s was his peak . When we played Madrid he didn't bother me as much.
Iniesta was brilliant but there's a reason so many top pros idolize Zidane. He had that extra gear that only a handful of players in history possess.
Brilliant and very interesting - I never realised that. thanks for sharing that
Iniesta for me. For consistency of performance through the years, and his ability to control games from the centre of the park even after Xavi had left.
Iniesta also has the big moments and huge final performances sprinkled through his career that Zidane is more known for.
Iniesta also has the big moments and huge final performances sprinkled through his career that Zidane is more known for.
Zidane has 31 international goals in 108 games (nearly 1 in 3), He also has 106 goals and and 108 assists in 540 games.
Iniesta has 57 club goals and 139 assists in 674 games.
How is Zidane inconsistent again?
Because consistency doesn't mean consistently scoring goals? Otherwise there is no midfielder who is as consistent as Lampard, even more than Xavi.
Zidane was very consistent because his floor was relatively high, it was very rare to see him actually not good, at worst he was your best midfielder and at best he was by far the best player on the pitch. Now the issue is that he wasn't at his absolute best as often as someone like Messi but he also didn't had the type of games that Messi had against PSG.
At least that's what I remember.
At least that's what I remember.
That maybe true but neither does that make Zidane nor Lampard inconsistent if they did score & assist so much regularly.
Scoring or assisting is one action, takes 2-3 seconds of good play, doesn't negate rest of the game.
Not saying Zidane wasn't consistent as I never watched all his games but using goal scoring record isn't the way to go especially for midfielders/attacking mids.
I fairly young so only got to see his Madrid years. Maybe my memory is failing me but in many run of the mill games, he was fairly subdued. I used to think he was a lazy player who came on for a jog.
I understand the impression and subdued is the perfect terms, now it doesn't mean that his subdued mode was at an average or low level, he was still by far one of the best players on the field. Zidane is a strange player, he was able to play like Scholes, Kaka and Xabi Alonso, sometimes he would be all of them in a single game but most of the time he would pick one role. I think that people would have liked to see the all action version more often but it doesn't really change the fact that he was almost always one of the best player on the field against everyone.
Iniesta was not consistent because he was a consistent player - he was consistent because Barcelona were a consistent team as was Spain. Proof is shown by how players like Pedro was able to add consistency to their game & can't do it away from that fixed mechanical & technical entitity that is their football club. I'm not taking anything away from Andres - I love him but I won't be adding consistency to his list whilst he only did it for one football club that had consistency in their tactics from Pep onwards.
Zidane never had that. He had great players around him but hardly every team work to the levels of Barcelona & played at a time where individuality in attacks were condensed by teams absolutely artistically & cohesively trapping you in defense - ie the defensive era of the serie A.
As some of the other guys said - Iniesta maybe better through the whole nighty mins - but during that time Barcelona would have had 70% possession anyway so it's not surprise. Zidane on the other hand would just manage to pull a rabbit out the hat whenever the team needed it - normally coming to 15-20 mins of the match where you felt like no player in the opposition were good enough to stop him whilst everyone on his team were not good enough to play alongside him as he was carrying them.
Zidane 15-20 mins per match were like a raging bull through a China shop & everyone would be in awe. Non football fans like my farther would love watching Zidane because he saw him almost as a rugby player that can't be stopped from scoring a try.
Fantastic.
Zidane never had that. He had great players around him but hardly every team work to the levels of Barcelona & played at a time where individuality in attacks were condensed by teams absolutely artistically & cohesively trapping you in defense - ie the defensive era of the serie A.
As some of the other guys said - Iniesta maybe better through the whole nighty mins - but during that time Barcelona would have had 70% possession anyway so it's not surprise. Zidane on the other hand would just manage to pull a rabbit out the hat whenever the team needed it - normally coming to 15-20 mins of the match where you felt like no player in the opposition were good enough to stop him whilst everyone on his team were not good enough to play alongside him as he was carrying them.
Zidane 15-20 mins per match were like a raging bull through a China shop & everyone would be in awe. Non football fans like my farther would love watching Zidane because he saw him almost as a rugby player that can't be stopped from scoring a try.
Fantastic.
Even the biggest Itallian club didn't know how to deal with Fellaini, it's crazy... but unfortunately He didn't know what He was doing either.I'm just saying those pictures on their own don't prove much.
I was young so my understanding of the game wasn't that much. I always heard from the older guys if how good he was only to see him play and not be that impressed. I think that stayed with me. While I was a lot older during Iniesta's peak. Think that's coloured my views somewhat.
We have the same age and I had the same impression, it's by watching him again that I realized what he was doing. I used to not like Zidane at all for the reasons that you and other highlighted but the thing about him is that he is probably the best technician that I have ever seen outside of Xavi, he had an incredible consistency in that department and he was also very smart from a tactical standpoint. I really think that the feeling of inconsistency comes from the fact that unlike a lot of great players, he had a clear godlike level, Messi has that too.
From my perspective it's actually the other way round, I think that Iniesta had a higher bottom level. Although while he was always magnificent to watch, making those effortless runs and accurate passes, he rarely imposed himself on the game when it wasn't needed. He was happy to be just another cog in the wheel when everything went according to plan, hence his relatively low goals and assists ratio. And always ready to step up when it was needed (which brings us to his incredible MotM collection in the finals).
Zidane would often stroll throughout the games, at least at the club level (I haven't watch as many France games as you, obviously, and I think that the picture was a little different when he was playing for his national team), despite being pretty much flawless technically. But at his absolute best he was better than Iniesta.
El Cerebro.
That's the thing, I don't think that there is a difference in the way they approached the game. Zidane was also mainly a cog in the wheel and he was perfectly happy with that and he was also ready to step up when it was needed. I don't know who was the better player, I believe that it's close but I disagree with the idea that Zidane was inconsistent. Zidane was also a willing tackler, he was very complete.
Tough choice but it has to be Zidane for me. Maybe the best technician I've ever seen on a football pitch. He was so good in 2006, sad he lost his head in the final. Zizou is one of those few players you feel like you could put in any team in any conditions in any situation and he would still deliver quality. A joy to watch. I niesta never had that same wow factor, though their stats are probably very comparable.
Maybe most of the games you remember are from the 05/06 season? Or you only saw a few games and happened to only catch the ones were he didn't need to dominate? Idk. 02/03 and 03/04 he was consistently phenomenal. The only seasons where he could be called inconsistent are 98/99(were juventus were inconsistent as a club) 01/02(first season in madrid, took him a while to adapt), 04/05-05/06(last two seasons of his career)
Iniesta