This was filthy from Van Dijk 😭 pic.twitter.com/DqKf8dZZlj— Bayek of Siwa (@appoe_jr) February 23, 2022 🤯 Virgil van Dijk has not been dispossessed of possession in a Premier League match since January 2020 (vs Tottenham) pic.twitter.com/t6T4BfLslW— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) January 5, 2022 Too good again; time to kick, hack and write him down. Or take him for granted in the 'awards', like Bergkamp or De Bruyne even. In reality, like Van der Sar in the post-backpass rule period, he contributes to changing the model type for his position (but someone else, of the big cartel powers, in the future will get the credits for that in due time...).
@PuckVanHeel , he had a good dribble yesterday down the left side. Similar to the one leading to Matip's goal but actually dribbled past a Leeds midfielder, unfortunately he didn't receive the pass by either Mane or Diaz and it won't be remembered but I thought it was a really elegant dribble that could have had an end product or at least threatened one.
Hmmm I didn't see that. Do you have a video? I was switching between the CL and then also this PL game. In his Southampton and Celtic years he had it sometimes and more frequently (including the CL and EL level and against Liverpool too, creating a direct chance).
Where are the Busquets haters at these days? 😜 https://t.co/pOg9i5HNtE— La Masia (@Youngcules) February 28, 2022
This might just be the best Champions League quadruple of all time..Just wait for Zlatan's hat-trick goal. 🚀🇸🇪🎥 @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/ZuP9dWmPOr— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) August 25, 2022
Mykhailo Mudryk https://youtube.com/shorts/21siGyLMTFk?feature=share Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Maybe Berbatov ? Happy birthday to Dimitar Berbatov, who turns 42 today. 🤩Any excuse to watch this first touch again. 😮💨pic.twitter.com/v3eZgaPUbQ— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) January 30, 2023
Bergkamps vision & passing technique/weight of pass has to be up there with the best ever. Even in 03/04 where he was 34, he still pulled off some incredible passes in big games and moments (chelsea away in the league, spurs away, an amazing assist vs celta vigo, created 2 goals on the last day vs leicester to stay unbeaten).
How did I forget Busquets !! Riquelme last year: "Busquets confused world football. He is the only '10' playing as a '5.' We forgot that in that position, they were there to defend, to stick between the centre backs. We now expect every '5' to have great passing... There is only one Busquets."
Riquelme doesn't realise about Ernst Ocwirk in the 1950s though probably to be fair! He should know about Redondo obviously, though it might be argued he wasn't always/completely a true anchor midfielder like Busquets (and that'd be partly why he'd actually have had more in common with a typical '10' than Busquets did overall in the way he played and his effect on the game). Also Pirlo (who was much more like a '10' for sure), but then he was only nominally the anchor midfielder I suppose (in effect it was Gattuso moreso, doing the defensive side).
I should probably have mentioned Bozsik too who actually wore number 5, though as 'right half' (and on the subject of technique, going forwards he had more technical capacity and variety than Busquets IMHO), or even Ardiles because of how he played at times at Tottenham (though he was never intended to be used as either someone to sit 'between the centre-backs' obviously, or as a basic anchor player with playmaking aspects who still sat deep like Busquets, so maybe fellow Argentine Riquelme would consider him a player of a different role even when he was at the base of a diamond midfield in essence). Tigana would be too much of a stretch really I think, but is sometimes labelled as a DM, and did play as one of two deeper-lying midfielders in the French team that used the Magic Square. I do get what Riquelme is saying in terms of influencing the trends in football since that Guardiola Barcelona team (btw maybe Guardiola is also a great example because he played as the deepest midfielder in Cruyff's Barcelona himself and was a terrific passer, moreso than Busquets over longer ranges). But on the other hand, skilled and creative, assured and technical deep midfielders (or number 5s in Argentina/perhaps Brazil, and in the old days with players like Ocwirk even if he played as left half vs England in the 1953 game that can be seen in full rather than in his old-fashioned centre half position as such) did exist long before Busquets was born even....
It could be Nottingham Forest bias, but I'd be tempted to even throw John McGovern's name in there for that particular technical/creative anchor midfielder discussion (though it might be argued it was moreso a 4-4-2 he played in - he still tended to be considered the anchor player in the partnership though, and although he occasionally got in or around the box and did score a few goals he mainly did back up things deeper in midfield and then set his team on the attack with good passes). I'll stop short of adding David Phillips too (for the mid 90s in Forest teams), as maybe that'd be my bias going a step too far!
I think what makes Busquets unique is that whether it is Redondo or Pirlo or any name you can think of, there was always an understanding that you would sacrifice some defense for their technical prowess. Pirlo was always played with a defensive midfielder, for example. Busquets was the first modern Old-Makelele-with-no.10-skills type player. Now, to be clear, things have changed a bit and Busquets can no longer be seen as a DM with no.10 skills anymore (the same way a Redondo or Pirlo might have been) because the no.10 has changed so much. As a quick example, can you imagine Busquets working in tight half space the same way a Modric could, or be as productive in the final third like KDB, or roam around like Jude Bellingham? It would be comedic. I think Busquets can only be described as a DM with no.10 skills if the no.10 in your head is like....Gianni Rivera? Definitely not if the no.10 in your head is Maradona or Laudrup. To be clear, I am a huge fan of Busquets (as a player, but for his behaviour, not so much) and I do think he has clearly set a new standard for the DM role. While there were many playmaking DMs in the past, none of them succeeded in setting a new technical standard for the role. In a world of Redondo and Pirlo, there existed Mauro Silva and Van Bommel and Gilberto Silva at the top level. Today, I don't think there is a single elite team that doesn't have a DM who is technically very secure, and the fact that Jorginho was placed 3rd in Ballon d'Or in 2021, is arguably partly due to Busquets raising the awareness and appreciation of the role.
I see what you are getting at and understand why you'd be a fan (like you say of the play rather than behaviour), and Riquelme was coming from the same place I suppose. A designated DM that is also something of a specialist as a contributor in the first line of playmaking is how it could be termed I suppose. I would say that Mauro Silva for example wasn't inept on the ball actually though, to be fair, so it's a matter of degrees and priorities etc maybe. I would tend to disagree on Rivera for sure, but you may have seen some relatively static action/game footage of him, or you just perceive more of a development of number 10s in relatively modern times. Bellingham probably is more of an athlete indeed, but Rivera could roam around to good effect I'd suggest still. Rivera's assists stats (final ball end product) are incomplete here, with nothing showing for the early 60s at all and possibly some missing for other seasons (although maybe a few wide criteria assists included on the other hand), and his chance creation stats in World Cups are great (moreso than De Bruyne's actually), and he could score individual type 'dribble skill' goals (moreso than De Bruyne), and get himself out of tight spaces very well at times evidently I think too: Gianni Rivera - Detailed stats | Transfermarkt
Maybe this is a good video to give an idea about Rivera's capabilities in terms of agility and ball skills, inventiveness and composure, that are the things that help with ball retention: But yeah, calling Busquets a '10' playing as a '5' is a bit of a stretch I think (I guess Riquelme just alluded to him being a technically accomplished ball player playing in a deep midfield role with defensive responsibility in essence, but put it in terms of those numbers - I guess Riquelme probably wouldn't actually feel Busquets did or could do everything he himself could do for example...and Riquelme didn't actually have much athleticism or extremely good agility himself).
I wasn't looking to downplay Mauro Silva. He was one of my first favourite Brazilian player in the 90s and it was great to watch him play for Deportivo against Arsenal in 1998 I think. The likes of Mauro Silva and Gilberto Silva, another favourite of mine, were quite good on the ball, but there's a very significant gap between them and what Busquets could do, and I wanted to make that clear. My viewing of Rivera is actually based on watching the two European Cup finals he won, although admittedly, I paid more attention to Eusebio and Cruyff more. I can see Busquets replicating Rivera more than other no.10s mentioned because I didn't see the Italian doing things that Busquets was incapable of doing. Rivera wasn't exactly dribbling through defenses at high speed or attacking the box. His game was very much about finding pockets of space, being able to retain the ball, dictate the tempo, and making great passes, all of which I think Busquets of an alternative universe where he does develop as a no.10 could do.
I am sure the narratives will erase it (save for the usual faint praise and backhanded compliments) but there isn't that much fundamental difference with how Rijkaard at Ajax played this or various predecessors at Barcelona itself. Basically many midfields in a square or 4-3-3. The idea that there is a link between Jorginho his recognition and Busquets gains more credence if Busquets had received such honors before. That isn't the case. Busquets was nominated for the Ballon d'Or only once, never finished in the top 20 and has been in the ESM team of the month once. It needed a delay of a decade before a successor in his prime received his dues?
He was imho slightly better one season later. His combined non-penalty goals and assists was third of the league in 2004-05 (after Henry and Lampard). https://arsenal-mania.com/forum/threads/youre-roobish.6599/ 10 - Based on the day of their 10th assist, David Silva is the third oldest player in Premier League history to reach 10 assists in a single campaign (34 years 189 days), after Dennis Bergkamp in 2004-05 (35 days 263 days) and Paolo Di Canio in 2003-04 (35 years 262 days). Grace. pic.twitter.com/uGbbjwhyZI— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 15, 2020