Federico Valverde

JamDav1982

Senior Member
I'd need to see Puig play more to make that claim. De Jong and Pedri are better than any young player Madrid have in their midfield though.

Base on what seen of both do you think Puig is better than Valverde?

I think folk have a fair idea of what Puig brings.
 

Morten

Senior Member
I'd need to see Puig play more to make that claim. De Jong and Pedri are better than any young player Madrid have in their midfield though.

Well, one set of players get to play, while the others dont, so cant really argue against it at the moment.
Valverde was good, then he just got benched.
Martin was one on top of the chance creation stats last season for Sociedad, but Zidane isnt giving him minutes either.

Could really use a chance creator in midfield, Kroos and Modric are good, but neither are chance creators, Martin could give us something different, but Isco is prefered for some reason....
 

KingLeo10

Senior Member
Idk man, I'd wait until we actually ball out v some of the better midfields to make the claim that FDJ and Pedri are definitively above Valverde.

FDJ probably is already because of his Ajax performances but we need to see Pedri under the big lights.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Well, one set of players get to play, while the others dont, so cant really argue against it at the moment.
Valverde was good, then he just got benched.
Martin was one on top of the chance creation stats last season for Sociedad, but Zidane isnt giving him minutes either.

Could really use a chance creator in midfield, Kroos and Modric are good, but neither are chance creators, Martin could give us something different, but Isco is prefered for some reason....

Being top of chances created for Odegaard doesnt always translate if not a role will get at Real.

At Sociedad may have been on every FK, corner, have team built round him and allowed freedom to move/less defensive responsibility etc.

Extreme comparison but can remember Liverpool buying Charlie Adam on his stats for Blackpool when it was never going to translate to them.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Well, one set of players get to play, while the others dont, so cant really argue against it at the moment.
Valverde was good, then he just got benched.
Martin was one on top of the chance creation stats last season for Sociedad, but Zidane isnt giving him minutes either.

Could really use a chance creator in midfield, Kroos and Modric are good, but neither are chance creators, Martin could give us something different, but Isco is prefered for some reason....

Could be Zidane's fault. I rate Odegaard and Vinicius the highest among all Madrid's young players.

The problem is, whenever facing a defensive team, Zidane's approach is extremely rigid and conventional. I know it by heart already. Opponent sets deep and compact, Madrid drift the game wide and either pour crosses or have Vinicius trying 1 vs 1s.

You either have few players good on short space combinations, or you have a manager who dislikes that, or both. Point is very rarely I see Madrid trying to play trough the more crowded zones. Their by the numbers crossing approach doesn't work without Ronaldo and some inspired fullbacks.

Barca are a bit different. Won't drift the game wide as much. Partly because a crossing game is not in our favor (is not in Madrid favor either after Ronaldo left btw), and partly because our players seem to have superior technique and associative skills for combinations in small pockets of space (what people commonly refer to with tiki-taka term).
 
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El Gato

Villarato!
but Isco is prefered for some reason....

The funny part is that such a big portion of the English-speaking media will rationalise any decision Zidane and Perez make to the extent that nepotism doesnt even figure into discussion in the media around the club.
Back in 2009 the club was struggling so hard to give an apt farewell to Raul and Guti. Now that Zidane is manager it’s as if folks think just because he lived through reality of what RM is, he will make every decision accordingly and correctly.
 
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Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
He can make an assist or he can shoot alright, but don't see that special quality in him that the likes of De Jong and Pedri have. Doesn't strike me as a particularly intelligent player. He mostly limits to doing basic things and play obvious passes, while working hard and being solid defensively. Tjat's fine for some smaller club, but at Madrid, Barca, Bayern etc. you need more.

Valverde is incredible in making the right decision. Watching him I just hope he misplaces a pass or dribbles straight into a defender. But he rarely does.

He's definitely good enough to be a starter for Madrid and was one of, if not the, best player before he got injured.
'Basic' player might be true to describe his playing style. Basic as in he masters everything on the pitch, and it's not like Roberto who's average at most things, Valverde is at least good at everything he does.

Very reactionary post indeed.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Idk man, I'd wait until we actually ball out v some of the better midfields to make the claim that FDJ and Pedri are definitively above Valverde.

FDJ probably is already because of his Ajax performances but we need to see Pedri under the big lights.

I've seen Valverde vs City and him as all of Madrid's midfield been outclassed on Bernabeu without too much trouble. Valverde has to prove himself under the big lights too. He's not even a clear starter for Madrid as of now.

Sure, he's ahead of Pedri in terms of experience and playing time, but in terms of quality, Pedri is the more special player, the one who surprises you with bits of magic. Valverde not so much, for me at least. I see others are in awe of him. To each his own I guess...
 
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El Gato

Villarato!
I've seen Valverde vs City and him as all of Madrid's midfield been outclassed on Bernabeu without too much trouble.

Yeah, the serghei special
'find a match Fede played in and midfield played poorly' -> 'use this as proof for Fede being poor'
:lol:

Imagine thinking this and that Frenkie is not a clown on the basis of being outclassed in the biggest humiliation in Barca's CL history under big lights.

Valverde has to prove himself under the big lights too.
Camp Nou big lights not big enough or what? Direct meetings vs Atleti? Or is the big light only big when you have City or Liverpool on the other side? The hell is Pedri even doing in the argument then? Lmao, mong.

He's not even a clear starter for Madrid as of now.
Terrible argument once again. Fede not starting now is the case, which would be akin to you having Fati an in-form Griezmann, Suarez and Messi and leaving the lad on the bench because the other 3 play well together. Yet here we are being asked to consider it as proof of something. Haha.

Cruyffist dogmatism is a hell of a drug as ever. So easy to predict who serghei will rate and so piss easy to refute the inconsistency in takes.
 

serghei

Senior Member
You can't help it, Wolfie man, can you? Can't keep me on ignore... where's the fun in that, right...

I'm doing fine without our long rants btw.
 

El Gato

Villarato!
I absolutely do keep you on ignore, but a) I see your posts in quotes and b) the browser for whatever reason logs me out whenever I open Barcaforum in a different tab so when logged out I see your nonsense in the sidebar, so might as well reply when I see something that's clearly illogical. Don't worry, it's not like anyone treats it seriously. I've done quite well without seeing your Koeman-esque whining about referee conspiracies too.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Same here. I see no more idiotic posts saying Benzema is shit and Jovic is good. As a matter of fact, nobody even mentioned Jovic much since. Probably because the one clueless guy in the whole forum who rates him is on my ignore list.
 

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