Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
But I disagree with the part where you said he's just talent and doesn't have the guts/character to be the guy someone a top-class team like Juve builds the team around. He DOES! Diego isn't just some silky moves. He's got character. He's got self-belief. He's got drive and determination.
i guess we'll have to disagree on this then.
but let me clarify something. i didn't mean to say juve has to find another player to build their team around... that diego is not good enough for that.
top clubs never build their teams around a single player. that's just not a risk u wanna take. but sometimes clubs have the enourmous luck to get themselves a fuoriclasse (fuoriclasse is a word italians use to describe those players who are just "on another class" those who are just "off the chart"). Each and every generation, all over the world, we have hundreds of great players, dozens of world class players and only 1 or 2 fuoriclasse.
today we have so many world class players.... but just 2 or 3 fuoriclasse.
pelè was a fuoriclasse, maradona was a fuoriclasse, zidane and totti were fuoriclasse.
the fuoriclasse has got an unnatural talent, an unnaturally strong character and the
awareness.....
not self-belief, not confidence.... awareness, wich is different. ibra is confident, balotelli and cassano are confident, diego is certainly confident.... but they're not aware.
they don't accept the responsability that comes from their talent.
when everything around them is going smoothly, they show what they're capable of, they lead their teams to victory......
that's what diego did in bremen. he improved his game a lot. he improved as a player. and his great performances boosted his self-belief and confidence, turning him into an even better player. but that was in bremen, where the team used to play a system that perfectly suits him.
the situation in torino was different. the team was a work in progress and the system was not suited for a player like him.
so he did what every "awesome-but-still-human" player would do.... he didn't deliver.... his performances went down and that was a major blow for his confidence.... it was blatantly evident how worrried he was on the pitch. there were many games last season, when juve was actually playing good...
and yet diego kept hiding himself behing flat passes. he was signed to become juventus fulcrum, and yet never took that responsibility....
not even when his teammates were actually playing well.
like i said, diego is an awesome player.... but he's not a fuoriclasse. a fuoriclasse doesn't let this happen.
a fuoriclasse doesn't let bad performances compromise his confidence... coz a fuoriclasse's confidence doesn't come from his performances.... it comes from his awareness.
that's why a fuoriclasse usually plays his best game when his teammates are doing shit.
when the other players melt (even great players like diego), the fuoriclasse raise his level, he steps up, takes responsibility of his role and litterrally carries the team on his shoulders.
that's what maradona has done in napoli. that's what zidane did in juventus and madrid.... that's what totti has done in roma.
totti has always played at his best when the team was doing bad..... he actually got to the point to reinvent himself for the team. at some point of his carreer, when he wasn't even that young anymore, he was asked to become something different, to undergo the most drastic role change in football.; from trequartista to prima punta (CF). and in one season he became one of the best cf in the world, winning the golden boot and giving a new interpretation, a new meaning to the CF role.
that's what it means to be a fuoriclasse. it's not just confidence...
because confidence comes from experience. i'm very confident in my line of work coz i know i'm damn good at it.. and my past experiences, my successes, boosted and feeded my confidence...... but if u ask me to do a completely different job, then i won't have that confidence, that sense of security anymore.... i'm gonna have to rebuild that confidence again, by succeding....... and if i won't succeed, then i'll hardly earn any confidence at all.
fuoriclasse are different.
their self-belief doesn't come from experience, hence it's not confidence. it's awareness. so when u put them in the worst possible situation, they won't let themselves down.... they will raise their performances!
when u put them in an unconfortable position, they will change themselves, change that position...... or they will instantly adampt themselves and make that "unconfortable position" their new favourite position!!!.
that's what a fuoriclasse is about. and diego most certainly isn't a fuoriclasse (wich is no shame though, as there were 10 maybe 12 fuoriclasse all over the world in the hystory of the game).
maradona wasn't just able to raise his game when his teammates didn't play good..... he was actually able to have them stepping up! he was able to make his teammates play better (like ferrara said once).
zidane carried real madrid and juventus on his shoulders so many times it's ridiculous. people praise him for his huge talent.... but the truth is, his silent leadership and awareness were even more impressive than his talent.
scholes pretty much reinvented himself in a different breed of player (almost a regista) when he was already an over 30 years old veteran!
so getting back to my main point,
u don't build a top team around a single player..... never. it doesn't matter how great that player is. basing an entire project on a single asset is just too risky.... coz if that player doesn't deliver, if he leaves the club or doesn't live up to the expectation, then the whole project is lost, and u have to start again from scratch.
but sometimes, some clubs had the unbelievable luck of having a fuoriclasse in their roster. now, a fuoriclasse CAN'T BE SOLD..... there's just no price for him, coz u won't ever be able to replace him when he leaves. so u hold him no matter what.
if he fits well in your system, so much the better.
but if he doesn't then u have 2 options.
- either he reinvents himself and finds a way to adapt to the new system (and if he can't do that, like diego, that's already a sign u're not dealing with a real fuoriclasse).
- otherwise it's gonna be up to u to change that system in order to fit in the player.
selling a fuoriclasse is just not an option, so if he can't adapt himself to your team, then u're gonna have to adapt your team to him.
and that's the very one case when u can do what is usually a huge mistake; building a team around a single player.
but diego just isn't that kind of player. so if he doesn't fit in your system, u don't change an entire team just to make him feel confortable and confident again.
u know me, Sina, i never judge a player on one season alone. i know better than that. and i'm absolutely sure diego will shine again. coz diego's got everything it takes to lead a team that suits him.
but the true fuoriclasse is the one who is able to lead a team that
DOESN'T suits him, and that's not diego.
Totally underestimating what Roma did last year.
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