Bloody hell...
He hated it, actually
It was supposed to be ironic, that Boniek isn't up there. For the role Boniek played, you'd want Boniek ahead of loads of other bigger star names and I wouldn't want to see many defenders(if nearly any) kicking out Gentile in the Zona Mista.Bloody hell...
Agree he has to be there, and will do a fine job. GOAT stratosphere? While saying Boniek isn't one? No. There's truckloads of players who can do what Gentile does in defence, not a single one that quite did what Boniek did, the way he did it. I'm not even claiming he should be regarded as one, but at least he is unique, which Gentile certainly wasn't.
I would have been surprised if he didn't. As big a cnut as he was, he's still human and it's a horrible nickname and even he didn't deserve to get that tag.
90% is Gentile discussion though
Ehem... That's a discussion best left for the final, don't you think? Probably a good thing Aldo isn't around any more, you would never hear the end of it
His family left Libya in anticipation of an anti-Italian backlash. When asked to be the Libyan NT manager, he said he happily would, but not while Gaddafi was still around. So no, I don't think he fancied it.
I don't mind it. Fair enough, this is just about the only scenario where it made sense to also have Alaba, but if there's someone disciplined enough to be assigned an unfamiliar task and put in a fine performance that would be Lahm. Not that he will be the only source of width with Iniesta on that side.
Why not?
Because he plays as the right-back or a central midfielder for Pep mostly? When was the last time that he played on the left? I think that was years ago. He certainly can do a job here, as I said earlier, but it's clearly not his best position.
It is not even his best position, a position he has not played for any kind of consistency for ages. People were aghast at Zanetti playing at left back last draft, here Lahm doing so under Pep who actually wants to use him as a midfielder instead of a full back is even more absurd.
I have? Cool!
It's different, as Zanetti got picked in a reinforcement round to play leftback ahead of 4-5 clearly better leftbacks. What TRV is doing here is using his squad. Lahm won't be MotM there but, from a defensive standpoint, he will be fine. It's going forward that he won't be the same, but it isn't a big issue seeing as it is Iniesta and not Lahm that the magic is expected of. If it were Alaba I would say he is defensively poorer and what he would add in attack is irrelevant when facing Bergomi anyway. Sort of Joya/Garrincha vs. Maldini revisited
It's the other flank where things are at with Cabrini facing Robben, Gentile facing Messi and possibly Robben when Cabrini gets beaten/caught upfield while Scirea has his hands full with Eto'o.
Lahm, who on the left is an inferior attacking threat than Lahm on the right, has Boniek to reduce his influence (and vice-versa), Iniesta has Furino on him so it frees Bergomi who will help Scirea and Gentile with Eto'o. If Iniesta goes on the left, than Bergomi is staying on the flank to control him and Furino is going to help them. Tardelli is also going to contribute massively there and will cover for Cabrini or Gentile.
So, we can only play players in the positions and roles they played under the particular manager? That totally defeats the purpose of the draft then because you can't try anything new.
Boniek played both as ala destra and as seconda punta. Gentile played as a stopper, terzino sinistro and terzino destro.
They played few games here and there, may be. But their primary roles and what they were best at, was in a different role/position like you are implying about Lahm.
I don't think that anybody is questioning this pick, of course he is an upgrade on Pique. It's more of an issue with Pep's pool
I'm sorry, but you are just wrong here.
Which is quite clearly what Iniesta will do most of the time the way this is laid out. Basically, Bergomi will be tucked in a fair bit while the tiki taka takes place in midfield but the moment it moves into the final third Iniesta will drag him, i.e. exactly when him supporting Scirea would be relevant.
How? Are you saying Boniek's best was as an ala destra?
The team this current formation is based on, Bayern's current super team, presented Dortmund with as many chances in the first half of their recent encounter as they themselves created through dominating possession. If both sides had taken their chances, the score line could have been 3-3 at half time.
You are simply showing one video where they had a bad game and lost. Every teams has bad games where they lose. Its not like Trap's Juve dominated Europe or something or were invincible. Even in the European Cup final they won against Liverpool, a Liverpool side without Souness and Kenny Dalglish past his peak, gave them a tough game. They didn't have a dynasty like Madrid in 50s, Michel's Ajax, Bayern of 70s, Liverpool of late 70s and early 80s, Sacchi's Milan or Pep's Barca. It was a great side but it had its faults like any great side including the ones I mentioned above.
Assuming this is the current Bayern side is just mental. The core of this team is quite clearly the Barca one, both in midfield and upfront, you just have Boateng as an upgrade on Pique and Lahm as a left-flank-more defensive version of Dani Alves. If anything, it is more defensively robust. In the only way it isn't is Robben's directness not being in line with the ball hogging... but then you have the problem of Robben's directness first and foremost.
They need to get the ball first, which was always the trick. Eventually they will score, agreed, which is why I think it's 3-2 to TRV.
Of course it had, and the main was, actually, goalscoring - they didn't had the right personnel earlier, though their defensive peak came before their European success. But this isn't Juventus side - this is a side from two Juventuses, actually, from the late 70's and from the first half of 80's (Platini's and Boniek's one), with 3 GOAT players added on the problematic positions.
I agree on Furino being a good call and that pre-82 Juve had a better defensive record. But then, Serie A was shit pre-82 so it isn't at all surprising. Juve were a far, far, FAR more defensive side offering very little going forward and the league was largely a mediocre domestic league with no one, absolutely no one, anywhere near the calibre of Messi/Robben/Eto'o/Iniesta and so on. Post-82 the influx of great players started, not just for Juve but every single other team, it was a completely different league and a far more competitive one.
You're probably right, judging by how the game goes, but I will still have to think about that.
