Pirlo, worthy of a mention

[WILF 44,187]

Andrea Pirlo retired this week, I just thought the retirement of such a great player was worthy of a mention.

Probably one of the greatest examples of how football is played with your brain as much as anything and one of the great exponents of the creative midfielders art.

Thanks for the memories......and for making Joe Heart look a cock with your penalty skills ! 

[j j m 6,479]

yes good memories

[pesky1972 4,926]

He was a class act.

I liked what his team mate Gattuso had to say about him when asked if he made Pirlo a better player: "Don’t talk nonsense, let’s not confuse Nutella with shit. When I saw him play it made me think I had to change profession. Nobody knows that better than me. In difficult moments I just gave the ball to him."

[Rabbit Hunter 6,608]

Good player I agree, but I think he was one of a bunch of good Italian midfielders of his era, and didn't excel until his early 30s.

And it doesn't take much to make Hart look crap! After Pickfords performance last night I'll be surprised if Hart plays for England again(thank god).

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

Totally overrated, the cantona of the instagram generation 

Great players shine in great games , in arguably the two greatest games of his career , he was bullied by alonso and harry kewell in Istanbul 2005 an absolute passenger in a team of superstars against a Liverpool side 3 nil down!!!

 

and if my memory is right, in euro 2004 final against Spain , he was absolutely terrorised by xavi and iniesta , they tortured the Italian midfield and leathered them four nil , don't think Andrea had a kick !! 

 

A good player, agreed , however not a patch on the great midfielders of the last twenty years , a luxury to have at a top team

 

now if only England had a player like him... we did and he got fed up and went home to watch telly !! 

[jukel123 6,570]

Good retort Stiff but you picked out the times he was poor. He was, for 20 years,different class.

 

 

 

 

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

no retort at all mate. All of personal opinion, I just always thought that like so many Italian players, he had the time in the pace of seirre A to develop his game , and this laid back too cool for school attitude , but in reality he played for juventus and Milan, two sides that were absolutely fantastic in their pomp and he could be carried when having a poor game by the likes of David's, gattuso, Baggio, del Pierro , inzaghi 

a players greatness should always be about being exceptional at all levels of the game , in the international scene and in Europe, 

for me , pirlo was always too easily got at, where are his great games against Chelsea or Barca? 

Am enigmatic player arguably born 20 years too late imho 

[Rabbit Hunter 6,608]

All of them in every major tournament

[ArchieHood 3,692]

I always thought Pirlo was ridiculously over-rated, a good player who was surrounded by good players. He often needed two team mates to cover for him, even though he was stood right there anyway. He was a luxury player who was great in the Italian league, purely because the level was so low. Shevchenko was nowhere near as good as made out, hence his struggles at Chelsea.Likewise Kaka at Real Madrid.Position wise not a patch on Alonso.......

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

If you can't figure it out, your not really a fan ...

 

lets just say say he scores goals 

[WILF 44,187]

I have to totally disagree with you my brother, I have watched him in games absolutely mug players off.....they just could not take the ball away from him and he was cool as you like about it.

They didn’t call him “the architect” for nothing.

Read what Gattuso says about him  

[gaz 284]

Pirlo imo was a Rolls Royce of a player....enough said.

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

23 minutes ago, WILF said:

I have to totally disagree with you my brother, I have watched him in games absolutely mug players off.....they just could not take the ball away from him and he was cool as you like about it.

They didn’t call him “the architect” for nothing.

Read what Gattuso says about him  

Funny how different people interpret players isn't it? 

I'd firmly place him in the bracket of cantona, ibrahimovic , ginola , zola , le tissier, 

maverick types , great to watch for the neutral and a throwback to a time when physique and fitness meant little, however not truly world class, a term which belongs to fewer players than you think . 

i was always of the opinion pirlo was far too slow a player, fantastic and a good outlet , but when hurried, ineffective. If you watch the istanbul final, look at his reaction to the first Liverpool goal going in, he was beaten after that, 40 mins left and he was done. Might as well have been in the crowd , his abject penalty was an indication of this. 

World class players do not perform like that at 3 1 up in a champions league final 

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

As for the player I'm alluding to, 

for the life of me, I'll never ever understand why Steven gerrard and frank lampard were the fulcrum of the England side when the greatest player of that generation was sat in Oldham looking at his league titles ...

[WILF 44,187]

“World class players do not perform like that.....”

Well, you know I’m going to totally agree with that last sentence.

He lacks everything that we think is required of a player with regards to strength, pace etc but by f**k he had vision.....he could see things other players could not.

Thats what was special.

Edited November 11, 2017 by WILF