Name: Andrea COSSU



Club: Cagliari Calcio
Number: 7
Position: *AMF
Nationality: Italian
Age: 30 (May 03, 1980)

Foot: R
Side: B

Length: 171 cm
Weight: 63 kg

Attack: 77
Defence: 52
Balance: 75
Stamina: 81
Top Speed: 82
Acceleration: 87
Response: 83
Agility: 89
Dribble Accuracy: 85
Dribble Speed: 83
Short Pass Accuracy: 81
Short Pass Speed: 78
Long Pass Accuracy: 81
Long Pass Speed: 77
Shot Accuracy: 73
Shot Power: 78
Shot Technique: 73
Free Kick Accuracy: 74
Curling: 81
Header: 68
Jump: 70
Technique: 86
Aggression: 82
Mentality: 77
Keeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 84

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition/Fitness: 6
Weak Foot Accuracy: 6
Weak Foot Frequency: 6
Consistency: 6

INDEX CARDS:
P05 – Trickster
P20 – Talisman
S06 – Outside Curve

SPECIAL ABILITIES:
*Dribbling
*Outside

I'd like to introduce a lot of you to Andrea Cossu. His dynamic play inspired me to make my first set of stats ever on PSD. His ability and style of play was so clear to me, and I felt I needed to contribute to the community. Now that I have a better concept of attribute ratings, I'd like to better represent the player I saw almost 2 years ago.

Andrea Cossu spent a lot of time playing for Hellas Verona between 1997-2008. While Verona were in the Serie A Cossu was loaned out to Serie C1 teams Lumezzane & Torres with decent results. In 2002, with Verona dropping to Serie B Cossu finally had his chance to prove himself, and he was unable to. For being an attacking player he managed only 1 goal in 58 games his 1st two seasons. The 2004-05 campaign was his coming out party as he was a key player for the squad who was in a promotion race. After failing to get promoted, he was sold to Cagliari and made his Serie A debut at the age of 25. He showed his quality in that season as well, but failed to keep the momentum in the goals column as he went scoreless in 22 appearances. Following the season, with the sale of a lot of Verona's top players, Cossu returns to the Serie B club on loan to be a staple in the line-up. Unfortunately, due to a lack of desire to train and commitment his loan ended in the winter of 2008 and he returned to Cagliari. He was considered to be at least partly to blame for the eventual relegation of this high profile team to the Serie C1. Oddly enough his addition to a struggling Cagliari sparked them, along with the winter additions of Jeda & Storari, to survive relegation. He showed his quality technical skills and his tactical flexibility under Ballardini. He scored his first Serie A goal just a week after his 28th birthday. Cagliari to this day are one of the most interesting Italian squads. They don't have the best talent, but are a team with very good talent and great team chemistry. Cossu's role as the playmaking attacking midfielder really holds this attack together. His deliveries have been largely responsible for the great scoring record of Matri this campaign, already with 6 assists at the winter break. He plays in almost every match unless he is suspended for discipline. In the past season and a half he has racked up 18 yellow cards and 1 red card.

Player Notes:
Cossu pulls the strings for the Cagliari's attack. He is a difficult player to pick up on the ball, and occasionally off the ball. At times he makes it look very easy to get around defenders when on the ball. His top notch technique also gives him an advantage. He has great passing technique due to his agility, and can pass from really tight angles. His most major flaw would be his finishing quality in Shooting and at times his short passing. Attack arrows should likely be UP/LEFT & UP/RIGHT. At times he plays very similar Argentine Attacking Midfielders Maxi Moralez and Diego Buonanotte, and Papu Gomez to a lesser degree. Not at all an aerial threat.

Pace:
Looking at his straight line speed Cossu is not slow. But he has less pace than Di Natale (Top Speed @84) and Cavani (Top Speed @ 83) But like most players his size (Giovinco and Foggia for example), he is more quick than fast.

Dribbling/Agility/Technique:
He can beat players with his Dribbling Ability or Dribbling Speed. His Dribbling Ability is very tight and keeps the ball close. His Dribbling Ability is better than his Dribbling Speed. His Dribbling Ability combined with his excellent touch and agility is his best weapon. Definitely more agile than Simplicio(83). He is just able to go from a first touch, to have the ball in some space looking for a pass so quickly, it is like one fluid movement. He needs the *Dribbling because he usually takes the dribble into space before passing, and will occasionally take on the defender. With his technique it isn't necessarily the best touch, but he is so smart with it. He is able to get a good amount of space from where he takes the first touch. Often using cheeky moves to do so using his outside foot as well as flicking the ball over his own head to get separation. Not to mention his previously mentioned ability to make a touch and turn in one movement. But not to overlook the fact he has a very neat and silky simple first touch.

Passing:
I think his Teamwork and Playmaking ability is better than his actually passing. His vision is great, and at times will deliver a perfect pass. But I just don't think he is very consistent in that area of his game. The shape and accuracy of his Long Passing make his middle range Long Passes much better & consistent than his passes from deeper.

Free Kick:
Is the second Free Kick option after Conti. His Short Free Kicks are not feared, as he usually passes from them. But 5 seasons back he did have success with Verona in the Serie B with some excellent kicks. His Long Free Kicks generally have good shape , but lack the distance. If he gets power behind it he usually loses the shape.

Balance:
He gets pushed around a bit, and it is hard to tell if it is due to his size or lack of strength. He does have intelligent use of his body, which can mostly be credited in his Agility ability. He is still able to keep his feet in challenges unlike a Mauro Esposito type player who falls on contact.

The Big 4 + Response:
There is no questioning that he is an attacking minded midfielder. The question is finding the balance of Defense, Mentality, Aggression & Attack to make him play accurately. He is good at finding space in attack, but doesn't take too many runs into the box. As far as defense & mentality goes, he is good in midfield interceptions due to his good response and overall read of the game. He also is good at tracking back to receive the ball in midfield. But he rarely is tracking back to really be a factor in defense. His mentality shows up in spurts.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-LbDWRK5PU[/youtube]

I am Just have to finish watching the Palermo match. 70th min.

I posted a set of stats on Evo-Web. You can see them HERE.

Now please take a look at the thread. I spent a lot of time trying out these stats to make sure they feel right. Please comment there, and then I'll update them here.

just a question about his AGI value.........even with his Short height he is really lite.....is H/W ratio is again in favour to him......with those 10 cms and 14 kgs less,for example,hed be by far most nimbler than Menez.....this said,i know that Cossu is really twisting and turning....you really feel that the value is appropriate for his loow H/W ratio?

another thing.....probably you didnt give him *passing cause the big part of times his style of play isnt about killer balls......but now im testing Cassano without *Playmaking and only *Passing....and i noticed that without *Play his passing is a lot more vertical,he plays that horizantol long ground balls less...and so he's more dangerous. what i want to say,is that if you keep him with *play only he wouldnt have that high assist ratio.....what do you think?

Very good questions actually. You bring up a number of good points.

1. His agility values given his height and weight was comparable to other players with similar size. Slightly bigger Mascara(90) & Foggia(91) and slightly smaller Buonanotte(94), Moralez(90) & Gomez(90). His style is most similar to Buonanotte and I don't find Foggia necessarily more agile than him. So I tested him out in the game from everywhere between 87-91. I felt a MASSIVE difference between 89 & 90. I could basically do anythink I wanted with him at a 90, but at 89 he felt much more realistic. I also tested out DA, Tech & BB ranges in comparison with his Agility and this was the mix that felt the best.

2. Menez is at 89 also in agility. There are a couple factors at work here. There is the idea that Agility is a skills and not only a gift. Menez has the physical tools, like Giovinco, to be in the "god-region" for agility. But he hasn't really proven himself that consistent or to the level of quality as a CR7. But I definitely could see an arguement for raising his agility, but I'm sure that is why he is only at 89 given his height.

3. Now the *Passing vs *Playmaker is very hard to test when using a player, so I will admit I have not tested this out by playing against him. But, I gave him the *Playmaking before he was racking up assists. He is a playmaker, so that was why it was given to him. But IMO he doesn't rely on trying killer passes, he can but he usually is playing it into space. Recently his good quality mid-range LP has been a large contributor to assists.

not sure about agility + high TS and ACC, then his height, won't he be too elusive? I find Menez is sometimes like this, I have to resort to fouling the bugger in the end. Also I would've upped ACC by 1pt more and then dropped TS to 82

Not sure about the aggression drop, he's not exactly deeplying either, like Sneijder and Hamsik he's very mobile and is often one of the furthest forward of the fowards. Not sure why mentality was lowered, he does quite a bit of hounding, in the opponents half however. ANd the rise defense seems unnecessary, he's not particularly good at tackling is he?

Please address on Evo-Web...so I don't have to explain twice

I really want to update this 1st post and address your comments Ron, but please post them on Evo-Web. The conversation is dead on there and I want to post my next set of stats for Cassani. All you need to do is re-post the questions you already asked, and I will answer them on there

Overall Update!!

would still rate his ACC @ 87 and TS @ 82. And aggression is a tad low. He doesn't sit in the 'hole' spraying passes, does he?

You are killing me. I asked you twice to please ask that question on Evo-Web. Then I posted your question and answered it on Evo-Web before I made the update. Go check it out my friend

ha, good. to much of a hassle i'm afraid. Plus here we can get a discussion going with other serie a followers/PES players. Do the guys over at Evo-web even know Cossu? So what was your response

Wow Ron, to lazy to even look at the discussion I bet you never even read my explanations Oriello commented on my Cassani stats by discussing Stamina for all Serie A Side Backs. Maicon was mentioned and so was your name... so maybe you need to check it out!!

just a tought......i had see cagliari on several occasions...and feel that Cossu's best weapon and most used too is a kind of short aerial ball passing..both from dead balls and from open play....couldnt his long passing department be a tad higher than his short passing? ...cause the better Departement influences also the behaviour of the player.....i mean,with better LP stats hed be more prone to send air balls.don't know exactly what numbers btw.

Interesting way of looking at it. I don't totally disagree with you either. My problem was when making the stats was that he Middle range passing was probably his best passes. Like placement chips for example. He does take LFKs and they are almost always lacking power. I gave him good curling and LPA to be able to make those accurate mid ranged passes, and lowered LPS so that he would lack power. TBH, I don't think I really compared his Long Passing directly with his Short Passing. Would you want to raise LP or lower SPass?

i think the fact that his low SPS will influence his behavior as you put it. IMO his chip passes are flighted nicely, as if warranting passing* but not more accurate than his short passes. About aggression, you have Cossu level with Ronaldinho who is a very static type of playmaker. Cossu isn't the sort of playmaker who puts the gear in 'park' and sprays passes, he in fact makes quite a few off the ball runs into space or wide positions. He's about as mobile as Sneijder if not more so. What value did you have him at originally?

Before he was a *SS and I think it was 83.

Aggression ladder for AMF's:
It's obvious that Cossu isn't an 82 as he is no where close to as aggressive as Pastore, Doni or Lazzari who act like forwards a lot of the time. Same with 81, I think Valdes, Mauri & Kharja are clearly more aggressive. I'd put Cossu somewhere between 76-80 looking at the ladder. I think Meghni is likely rated too low, and Ronaldinho possibly too high. But I like that Cossu is right under Matuzalem, and on par with Simplicio. Only Simplicio has the well deserved *Reaction and Cossu doesn't make those types of runs. Infact I could argue Meghni could be higher than Cossu. But for ladder purposes I could see raising Cossu to a 79, but no higher. He rarely makes runs into the box, and in all the games I've seen him he only acted like a CF on one play...where Pastore on a regular basis acts like the CF with Cavani out wide on the right and Miccoli wide on the left. Cossu's ability to go wide as well as orchestrate centrally from the top of the box isn't to different from Ronaldinho...only Ronaldinho likes going wide and cross it in ala-Cassano. And Cossu will rarely make a sideline run.

aggression is forward runs or runs into forward positions, not into the area. Cossu makes quite a few off the ball runs. IMO aggression @ 81 level at least with Kharja. I could see Mauri and Matuzalem switiching positoins. Agree about Menghi.

But also look at the other stats in THE BIG FOUR that really tell the story:
So he isn't tracking back too far or often. So as an AMF he will already be playing forward, so any forward runs would be in the box right? Or am I wrong here. I tried it out in the game with these stats and was very happy, but I could be wrong.

Aggression is anyway related about frequency AND the 'deep' of the runs. with low AGG runs are less frequent and a tad less 'deep'. probably i can see even a 79 for Cossu,but no higher as now...........his style would change.....he would do less passing staying deep less time and going more forward.

Added Index Cards.