Quique Setien

As for Peps work at Barca, he did great but sometimes he gets credit for things he perhaps shouldnt, such as playing Xavi and Iniesta together, which had already been done to great success by Luis Aragones, but people forget that.

Who wouldnt have played them together, after watching 2008 Euros?

Morten said:

As for Peps work at Barca, he did great but sometimes he gets credit for things he perhaps shouldnt, such as playing Xavi and Iniesta together, which had already been done to great success by Luis Aragones, but people forget that.

Who wouldnt have played them together, after watching 2008 Euros?

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Probably the current Barca board + their managers

I've never seen people overly praise him for playing Xavi and Iniesta but selling both Ronaldinho and Deco was still a bold decision, assuming Pep was the driving force behind that because i can't really remember how all that went down.

KingLeo10 said:

Alves, Marcelo, Cafu, R.Carlos is the best FB quartet.

All Brazilian.

Also, re. the discussion above. Modric has a better cross in him than Xaviesta IMO. Xaviesta were significantly better at incisive through balls.

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That's like United fans on redcafe saying Scholes was better at long balls than Xavi. Just because Xavi didn't use crosses and long balls that often, doesn't mean those executions weren't in his bag of tricks. That cross in the CL final is a perfect cross if I ever saw one.

Nothing at all crazy in saying Xavi and Iniesta top Modric at everything. Modric is a tier bellow them. Simple as that.

Maybe you could say Modric had a better shot. That's it.

serghei said:

That's like United fans on redcafe saying Scholes was better at long balls than Xavi. Just because Xavi didn't use crosses and long balls that often, doesn't mean those executions weren't in his bag of tricks. That cross in the CL final is a perfect cross if I ever saw one.

Nothing at all crazy in saying Xavi and Iniesta top Modric at everything. Modric is a tier bellow them. Simple as that.

Maybe you could say Modric had a better shot. That's it.

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They’re either better at everything like you claim, or they’re not. You’re the one using sweeping terms pretending like it doesn’t make a difference.

And they weren’t. Iniesta’s shot was a meme with the few quality ones he scored being as famous as they were partly because he usually sucked at it and Xavi barely took them. If someone barely uses a tool and success ratio doesn’t make him famous for it, he’s not better than someone who did it regularly. Modrić, especially early, was better at the classic #10 tasks when arriving through the centre. Granted not by much, and yet it is simply untrue sweeping statement to say there’s nothing he did better.

Scholes was an all time great at the switch/cross-field pass, so was Alonso. Both were either as good if not better at that than Xaviesta. Schweinsteiger also up there. Pirlo had the same quality on the ball with less dynamism, not as good in defensive press (if you compare it to tiki-taka era only).

MTL_Barca said:

Probably the current Barca board + their managers

I've never seen people overly praise him for playing Xavi and Iniesta but selling both Ronaldinho and Deco was still a bold decision, assuming Pep was the driving force behind that because i can't really remember how all that went down.

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Of course the driving force was Messi behind everything as per usual. He hired pep and dropped his two best buddies, Ronhi and Deco. The little dictator.

Xavi is two tiers above Modric, and is better at every attribute a midfielder needs.

Modric only compares to Xavi and Iniesta because in his prime he was the only elite midfielder at the time. In Xavis an Iniestas prime, midfielders like Lampard, Pirlo, Gerrard, Alonso, Sneijder, Silva, etc. were also in their best years, and yet Xavi and Iniesta stood out.

Wolfe said:

They’re either better at everything like you claim, or they’re not. You’re the one using sweeping terms pretending like it doesn’t make a difference.

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Ever heard of the notion figure of speech, where you exaggerate a statement on purpose, for dramatic effect? You don't have to intervene every single time demanding proof or evidence.

Catta said:

n Xavis an Iniestas prime, midfielders like Lampard, Pirlo, Gerrard, Alonso, Sneijder, Silva, etc. were also in their best years, and yet Xavi and Iniesta stood out.

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Modric and Iniesta are same age (just one year difference) and their prime was in close time line.
Iniesta prime was around 2008-2016, Modric around 2012-2018.
Modric would be considered elite in any age and era. Sure he is a tier below those two, but the comparison is warranted.

Wolfe became a scientist demanding concrete proof all of the sudden

te amo barca said:

Wolfe became a scientist demanding concrete proof all of the sudden

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I thought he is en route to a PhD unless I'm misinformed. So, at least, it makes some sense.

Xavi

1/2 a tier behind: Iniesta

1/2 a tier behind that: Modric Pirlo

Then,

Lampard Gerrard Alonso Sneijder Silva Scholes

My main metric is NT and CL dominance. The first 4 are either world champions or multiple CL champions. Xavi was so dominant in his heyday that he was an entire system of play. I have to admit, I'm envious RM got Modric. He was IMO easily the 2nd most important cog in their CL dynasty.

I will never understand why Xavi is supposedly so much better than everyone else, Iniesta is the same level as Xavi for me(and i even prefer him as a player).

Morten said:

I will never understand why Xavi is supposedly so much better than everyone else, Iniesta is the same level as Xavi for me(and i even prefer him as a player).

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Watch his 08-09 season. I think he scored ~10 goals and had 30+ assists.

Also, watch him in the 6-2 v RM. He had 4 assists and absolutely ran the show.

Iniesta was a player of genius like ZZ. Xavi was like a machine. Unrelentingly good. Like a more technical CR7.

KingLeo10 said:

Watch his 08-09 season. I think he scored ~10 goals and had 30+ assists.

Also, watch him in the 6-2 v RM. He had 4 assists and absolutely ran the show.

Iniesta was a player of genius like ZZ. Xavi was like a machine. Unrelentingly good. Like a more technical CR7.

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I have watched both plenty, so there is really nothing at this point that can convince me.
Iniesta is my prefered player, and is on Xavis level, in my book.

serghei said:

Ever heard of the notion figure of speech, where you exaggerate a statement on purpose, for dramatic effect? You don't have to intervene every single time demanding proof or evidence.

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Didn't demand proof or evidence at all. No need to project from other discussions (same to you @te amo, not even sure what's so attractive about mocking data-driven approach, whatever).
Only pointed out a hyperbole you use to convince yourself and others that what you say is true, and which you very often don't even pretend to admit instead often doubling down on it and passing it off as fact. Can be seen in many of your takes in the past few months, which others have also pointed out. Proper Trumpian thing to do "I say x, but I mean y" or fall back on something like "I'm only joking".

Xaviesta were not better at everything than Modrić. Simple as.

Catta said:

Xavi is two tiers above Modric, and is better at every attribute a midfielder needs.

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Depends what kind of midfielder. And no, he doesn't have it all. No point pretending he did.

Modric only compares to Xavi and Iniesta because in his prime he was the only elite midfielder at the time. In Xavis an Iniestas prime, midfielders like Lampard, Pirlo, Gerrard, Alonso, Sneijder, Silva, etc. were also in their best years, and yet Xavi and Iniesta stood out.

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All the others stood out. It's why you're mentioning them.

No need to get territorial about any of this anyway. Xaviesta were arguably two of the best at what they did and are getting their dues without the need for 2,3 or 15 tiers above the rest - they weren't that different from other generals, just in a better team with a uniform character and understanding of tasks at hand. Nobody is questioning their class. But maybe take it down a notch, because they have weaknesses like just about any other player?