Player vs System

neuro11 wrote: some of the points could not be better explained...will greatly help my own performance

i have an issue though with what you said about busquets game. you are not attributing it with talent rather crucial decision making. well, thats also we attribute as talent. i mean talent is something that you can't develop in you over the night or strongtraining. its something of an inherent quality. if what Busquet does is not so easy for other people to do, why cant that be considered part of his talent.

alexjanosik wrote:
I would argue that for the role he plays,there is no one more talented than him.The role he plays requires an exquisite first touch.IMO only Berbatov and Iniesta have a comparable first touch.Xavi has a poor touch once a season.Even under pressure,he controls the ball immaculately.
Secondly the role he plays requires the ability to get out of trouble without the ball,either through dribbling or shielding the ball.Xavi is not a great dribbler but he is arguably the best in the world at shielding the ball.Notice how every single time, he puts himself between the ball and the player,which means that the only option the opponent has is to foul him from behind.Then he also uses the pelopina to get out of trouble.It is practically impossible to take the ball from Xavi without fouling him.I have seen him go a lot of matches without getting dispossessed once.
Thirdly the role requires him to be an immaculate one touch passer.He is the best one touch passer in the world.
Fourth,the role requires him to be an immaculate overall passer who can pass with consistency week in week out.Again the best in the world at that.
So for the abilities the role requires of him(first touch, ability to shield the ball under pressure,one touch passing and overall passing),he is the best in the world.
So I dont think a different player with more abilities would have done better,mainly because there is no one with more abilities for the role required.The first part of my answer to your first question deals with technical aspects of the player.

alexjanosik wrote:

Outstanding post.One of the best posts I have read.Summed him up better than I ever could.I have downloaded a lot of his best games and watch them often.The most striking thing is not the passing,or the touch or the vision.
It is the movement.He is perpetual motion.He is always moving,always providing options to other players.He is always moving into space to receive a pass.And he does it over and over and over again game after game season after season.
It is why I think Enrique's system has restricted him somewhat.Because he is playing a positionally constrained role,he cant move as much to make himself free to receive a pass.Before if a player marked him or if a passing lane to receive a pass was blocked,he would just move to make himself free to receive a pass.Now he plays a more rigid role so he cant move as much to free himself.It is much easier for opponents to restrict his influence on the game.

Just a couple of points more to add to your post.People always say that he plays countless sideways 3 yard passes and that anyone can do that.If analyzed closely,even with such simple passes,he differentiates himself from other elite passers.He plays passes in such a way that it makes it easy for the receiver to control it and advance the play.Xavi passes always to the strong foot,in the right direction and with the right weight to help the receiver advance the play.Even elite passers cant do that to the level of consistency that Xavi does,even for supposedly easy passes.
The second thing I want to mention is he always plays with his head up.I have seen even elite players play with their head down occasionally,never Xavi.The guy has his head on a swivel all the time.Look left,look to the player with the ball.Look right,look at the player with the ball.When the player passes,again look left and right before receiving the ball.
Again seems so simple and basic but it is an incredibly difficult thing to do.And not just one game.But to do it game in game out,week in week out,year in year out.This is what gives Xavi his unparalleled vision of the game.He has a map of the football field and at any point he could tell you where all the players on the field are located.He can do that because his head is constantly on a swivel.

Just thought I would add a couple of points to your peerless post.

The Franchise wrote:

neuro11 wrote: some of the points could not be better explained...will greatly help my own performance

i have an issue though with what you said about busquets game. you are not attributing it with talent rather crucial decision making. well, thats also we attribute as talent. i mean talent is something that you can't develop in you over the night or strongtraining. its something of an inherent quality. if what Busquet does is not so easy for other people to do, why cant that be considered part of his talent.

Your right and I agree with you.

But I think most people, when they think about "talent" and talented players they think of shooting, dribbling and things like that. Messi for example, so talented, he can do anything with the ball.

I agre, what Busquets does, his movement and his decision making is a talent. Maybe even its a bigger talent because unlike shooting...you cant just bang away at untill you improve, decision making and movement takes a player having some kind of unexplainable interpretation of the game.