Who is the second best passer in the side?

Ok,we had the best first touch thread,the best in tight spaces thread.
Time for another one.Except this is not about the best.
We all know who is the best passer in the side.So we wont go there.
But who is the second best passer in the side?I think its very close as to who is the second best because even taking Xavi out(who is the best in the world),we have 3 of the 5 best passers in the world.

Imo the competition is between Messi,Iniesta,Fabregas and Busquets.
First I will talk of Fabregas,the new player in our team.I think he is an exceptional passer,both long and short and is one of the top 3 in the business at giving the final pass.
Unfortunately he has not shown his full range of passing abilities for us so far.I think he can do much much better.I am confident as he settles his passing too will improve.

Coming to Busquets,the most consistent passer out of the four mentioned.He is also in the words of the maestro himself(and I tend to agree) the best one touch passer in the world.An exceptional short passer, he has improved his long passing this season.Whats more he has started passing with his left.Deceptively good passer who is only going to improve.

Iniesta needs no introduction.An exceptional short passer,every now and then he pulls out a pass that leaves you wondering 'What the hell?'.Also a wonderful long passer.Never gives the ball away cheaply even while attempting tough passes.Any other team and he would be the best passer in the side.

Finally the Argentine.Out of the four mentioned he has the least pass completion percentage but still its very high,especially for the position he plays.The best final passer out of the four mentioned.
An exceptional short passer,he can pull out a wide array of passes.Chipped balls,through balls,flicks,crosses etc etc.
For sheer ingenuity and difficulty of the passes,imo he is unmatched this season.And the amazing thing is he pulls off a couple of jaw dropping passes every single game.
Can work a bit more on his consistency and not give away passes that he should be making.

Overall I think Messi is the second best passer in the side.The sheer genius of the passes he makes coupled with the high pass completion rate(it could be higher but still for the position he plays its very high) means he is the best of the lot.
I have Fabregas behind Messi.Iniesta comes third with Busquets a close fourth.

Thoughts and votes.

I think iniesta is.

Hmmm. Using statistics busquets. Not sure though. It's too hard to tell tbh. I'm inclined to say Iniesta.

I think this is the hardest one of all Alex, and I didnt even answer the best first touch thread properly..I was happy to sit on the fence.

Messi´s final pass is so good, its seems wrong to have anyone above him. He gives too many final balls which are just amazing.

But Iniesta who plays deeper, still gives so many great ones himself. He also gives the pass before the final pass, which is often the most difficult of all.

I like Cesc in this, but for a midfielder he misplaces too many, far more than Iniesta for example.

So, again, I will sit on the fence for this. But gun to my head, I might say Messi.

Fabregas is too inconsistent for me, at least at Barca. We all know what he's capable of doing at Arsenal, but if we're talking about final passes then he has Messi as his competition and it's not exactly clear who is better. Until he starts playing like he did at Arsenal at Barca I don't think we should grant him the title of second best passer in the team.

Busi is great, but also plays in a position where he gets the most amount of space and options. The others also, naturally due to their positions, try more dangerous passes so this also plays against him.

So it's between Iniesta and Messi. I'd say Messi is also inconsistent at times (I think the game against Valencia was particularly bad, if I remember the right team), and we've discussed before how he doesn't do as many passes through two lines as Xaviesta. While Messi is certainly an amazing final passer, there are also doubts about his long-range efforts. He's probably able to do them well, but is rarely in a position to pull them off given how close to the goal he plays.

Iniesta, on the other hand, has always had a great range and degree of accuracy. Additionally, I can think of many instances where his sublime passes won us points. I think taking range, consistency, accuracy and importance into account he comes up on top.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Fabregas is too inconsistent for me, at least at Barca. We all know what he's capable of doing at Arsenal, but if we're talking about final passes then he has Messi as his competition and it's not exactly clear who is better. Until he starts playing like he did at Arsenal at Barca I don't think we should grant him the title of second best passer in the team.

Busi is great, but also plays in a position where he gets the most amount of space and options. The others also, naturally due to their positions, try more dangerous passes so this also plays against him.

So it's between Iniesta and Messi. I'd say Messi is also inconsistent at times (I think the game against Valencia was particularly bad, if I remember the right team), and we've discussed before how he doesn't do as many passes through two lines as Xaviesta. While Messi is certainly an amazing final passer, there are also doubts about his long-range efforts. He's probably able to do them well, but is rarely in a position to pull them off given how close to the goal he plays.

Iniesta, on the other hand, has always had a great range and degree of accuracy. Additionally, I can think of many instances where his sublime passes won us points. I think taking range, consistency, accuracy and importance into account he comes up on top.

This

The Franchise wrote:I think this is the hardest one of all Alex, and I didnt even answer the best first touch thread properly..I was happy to sit on the fence.

Messi´s final pass is so good, its seems wrong to have anyone above him. He gives too many final balls which are just amazing.

But Iniesta who plays deeper, still gives so many great ones himself. He also gives the pass before the final pass, which is often the most difficult of all.

I like Cesc in this, but for a midfielder he misplaces too many, far more than Iniesta for example.

So, again, I will sit on the fence for this. But gun to my head, I might say Messi.

Hehe.Its too tough isnt it?
Its amazing that even discounting Xavi who is the best in the business by far,we still have 3 of the top 5 or so passers in the world.Just seems so unfair to other teams.
Fab,as much as I am not a fan of his play,is a terrific passer and I dont think he has shown his full range of passing for us.I think he will improve.

Messi,as pointed out can be inconsistent and has the least percentage completion.But that is inevitable considering some of the passes he attempts.He should get props that he pulls off a couple of those genius passes every game.
I also dont agree that his passes dont multiple layers of defenses.Last season this might have been true.
But this season he has dropped even deeper and I remember plenty of passes where he has split multiple layers.
There is the pass against Bate to Abidal which is a contender for pass of the season.I still dont know how he saw the gap or how he pulled it off.
Then theres the one to Villa against Atletico where Villa was a shade offside.That was delivered from the halfway line.
Also dont quite agree about the range argument.I think he has shown enough range in his passing this season.Against Al Saad he played a long perfectly weighted ball over the top for Alexis and he was caught just off.I am sure there are more passes he has made like that.
Overall I believe he can comfortably play CM for us and rake up a 90 plus pass completion percentage.
He has the vision,the range and the consistency for it.
Right now the consistency is not there as he plays further up the pitch and tries the outrageous passes a bit too often.

Fabregas is the most Versatile passer you guys have.

2nd best is a tough question........Impossible to answer really.

Messi
Iniesta
Busques
Fabregas

could all claim it depending on the criteria.

So tough indeed Alex.

Yeah, I think Messi has everything in terms of final passing now tbh. He can see those balls and play them, even the most difficult. The one and only issue is he wont play them with his right foot so sometimes he wont give it. Thats his one and only isssue with final passing.

His % stats I dont pay attention to, you have to speculate to accumulate I think is the term and he does that. He plays in the most congested area, its normal the % goes down in there. It would for any player trying to do what he is doing.

messi for me... the kid has everything

Iniesta imo is an overall better passer then messi, messi has a monster final ball. Did you guys see that pass vs BATE in the CL?

Hard to pick,but I picked Iniesta he needs some love.

For me its messi he has 7 assists already this season ........second to only di maria who has 13

For me, Iniesta too.

Why would you even put Busquets in the poll? He can't pass farther than 15 feet.

Omniscient wrote:Why would you even put Busquets in the poll? He can't pass farther than 15 feet.

Shows how little you know about him. Jog on son!

I feel that Xavi isn't even half the passer Messi is.

Don’t feel like bad. There are doctors who can help you with this problem

Fabregas 0 vote

I think fabregas is the best passer. He can do any passes
Short passes
Long passes
Intelligent passes
Chip passes
One-two passes
Through passes

Xavi's strength is his control, vision, agility, intelligence and experience add here his fabregas like passing skills. passing alone is not xavi's main strength

As for messi he is the best final passer

Hold on...Cesc and Messi better passers than Xavi..

Thats blasphemous.

You should be banished from talking about football for a year for such comments lol

billionmillion wrote:Fabregas 0 vote

I think fabregas is the best passer. He can do any passes
Short passes
Long passes
Intelligent passes
Chip passes
One-two passes
Through passes

Xavi's strength is his control, vision, agility, intelligence and experience add here his fabregas like passing skills. passing alone is not xavi's main strength

As for messi he is the best final passer

In no way shape or form is Fabregas a better passer than Xavi.Not even close.Same with Messi.
Although I do agree that Fabregas is an underrated passer.
He is technically average compared to Xavi,Iniesta,Messi,Busquets and Thiago.
But his passing is world class and elite.

billionmillion wrote:Fabregas 0 vote

I think fabregas is the best passer. He can do any passes
Short passes
Long passes
Intelligent passes
Chip passes
One-two passes
Through passes

Xavi's strength is his control, vision, agility, intelligence and experience add here his fabregas like passing skills. passing alone is not xavi's main strength

As for messi he is the best final passer

The reason because no one has voted for him is because he has not showed it here at all.

Although I like the calm Busi displays when passing, no matter what pressure he is under, especially his ability to perform the Xavi turn, I can't shake of the fact that I haven't seen him take on adventurous passes. Whenever he has had the opportunities to play a little higher up the pitch (e.g when Xavi has not played, admittedly it's been long) I haven't seen him attempt these type of passes. Nevertheless, he is a brilliant passer.

For that reason I rate Fabregas above him. Also, in passing, I rate Iniesta > Messi, though it is really really really close. And Fabregas, I'm not sure. Irate Iniesta above him. But is Messi above him? Not really sure.

Since the second best is being asked, I say Iniesta.

Messi, the best final passer. And those passes are the hardest to make.

by the way shadeslayer welcome.
I haven't seen you for a long time mate