Milito had already played in Serie B, much tougher than La Liga. Mendieta, Guardiola, De La Pegna, Farinos, Josè Mari were all pretty good players when they originally came to Italy...they all failed cause, since, we have actual anti-doping tests, they couldn't keep making use of banned substances like they did (and most probably still do...I hear Eufemiano Fuentes said a thing or two abotu Spain's recen victories) in their home country...Guardiola even got busted.
There's a big difference between Serie "A" now and 10+ years ago especially in terms of defense. Even Robinho looks decent in Serie "A" now and he's rubbish.
How many now? I honestly think your under rating the economics of the game. It's impossible to make a blanket statement comparing argentinians in serie a to spaniards... when the number that play is completely skewed to one side!
I'm not underrating anything...it's just that when Germans came, most of them did well...same can't be said about Spaniards. All those players I mentioned were NT players, not scrubs. And all played in Serie A in the last decade.
Maybe slightly better. I wouldn't say "way better". Most casual observers of La Liga underrate the defences because they only watch matches involving Real Madrid and Barca. So of course those offences will make defences look worse than they are. The best defence in Italy couldn't stop Madrid this season either.
[I tend to agree w/you here: "Ibra" seems to play more like a No.9-type centre-forward while Villa looks more like an out & out striker. Speaking of "Ibra" v. Villa: there's vids of this popping up on YouTube. Here's a few as a sample: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQnEG4hye8c"]YouTube - David Villa Vs Zlatan Ibrahimovic[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP7ei4yop6I&feature=related"]YouTube - D.Villa vs Z.Ibrahimovic[/ame] ]
Apples and Oranges: Ibrahimovic is a number 9 by old school terminology: he is a center attacker with amazing control and playmaking (for a number 9) qualities; great on the aerial game and ... only ok on what would be the first thing you look in a striker .. shooting the ball in the goal's corners! When he came out a few years ago, at the beginning he was the only player who reminded me of the greatest attacker I have ever seen, Marco Van Basten; then, I started to see how he is simply not a shooter. Shooting is instinct and if you are not a shooter (like Ibrahimovic, or Zidane, Rui Costa and I can give you many more examples) you are never going to be great at it. Bottom line: from a technical standpoint, Ibrahimovic that could shoot (would have become Van Basten, maybe too much to ask). Overall he is still pretty good I would say ... Villa is a number 11: the only thing (though very important) he does better than Ibra is .. scoring. He is nowere near to him in all other aspects of the game, creating plays, passing, control, aerial game, and moreover attracting the whole defense on him like Ibra have always been able to do. That is why to me a strong "9" is always a better (more decisive) player than a strong "11". In my opinion, not a strong comparison.
[Agree w/you on the "not a strong comparison" part. What does a No.11 mean in your (presumably Italian) positional terminology?]
Ibrahimovic is not and has never been great in the air. That's actually one of his weak points if you ask me, as he rarely scores from headers. He is very good at holding up the ball, providing space and creating chances for teammates. I always thought he played his best football when paired up with a striker partner like Julio Cruz. The comparison with Villa is a strange one because they are so different.
Every player is different. The comparison is pretty simple: if you had to choose between Villa and Ibrahimovic to be the main striker in your team, who would you choose?
That depends on the support cast among other variables. I would like to see David Villa play in another league first before I made my choice.
How so? The support caast would make the team better or worse, not the player. Why would you need to see Villa play in another league? La Liga not good enough for you? Or there is still the Serie A great defences-La Liga bad defences myth? I thought international competition would put that to rest, apparently not.
By support cast I meant his teammates. Considering how different each striker is, my choice would largely depend on how either one of them would fit in and function in the particular squad at hand. Is this a serious question? Ibrahimovic has done well enough in both Serie A and La Liga. We have only seen Villa play in Spain. I would appreciate it if in the future you did not put words in my mouth. I never said La Liga was a poor league. And just because it is easier to score in a league, does not necessarily make it worse. There is more emphasis on attack than defense in Spian, therefore it is easier to score. This does not make it a worse league. Villa certainly has an excellent record for Spain. I personally hold international performances separate from club ones, for many reasons. Anyway, I think that Villa is obviously the better goal scorer while Ibrahimovic is the better all around player.
Before tv and marketing messed everything up these were the positions and numbers on a soccer field (given slight changes due to different schemes): 1 2 6 5 3 4 7 8 10 11 9
What myth? Besides the top 2 or [maybe] 3 in Spain, the rest are very poor and easy to score against. Even Sevilla looks very poor this season. What does international competition have to do with it? I'm sure even Messi would have a more difficult time in Italy against smaller teams who play with ten men behind the ball. Again you ask who we would choose. The support cast doesn't make the team any better or worse. Ibra adapts better to certain systems... I wouldn't want Villa playing for Milan because I don't think he would be effective. I think ibra is more suited for us and he's certainly proved you WRONG.
I don’t think you would even have to go as far as saying he would have a hard time in another league, when he would probably find it difficult to play for another team in Spain. Barcelona is probably the only squad in the world capable of giving him not only the support, but the license to kill that he has utilized so effectively. Throw him on any other team in the world and he would find himself with way more defensive responsibility and way less time and freedom on the ball. That being said, I still think he is the most individually talented player in the word...*dodges bullet from fanboys* As for your Ibra-Villa comments, you make a valid point about Ibra doing very well to adapt to different systems, but it seems that Villa has done the same himself to a certain extent, playing for Valencia, Spain and now Barcelona. Like I said earlier, this is why I want to see Villa play in another league, just to see how he adapts and fares with a different football climate. Vieri was able to display his excellent form in Serie A, La Liga and for the National team, I would like to see Villa do something like that as well.