Claudio Maldonado

[A-SK]

Name: Claudio Andrés del Tránsito Maldonado Rivera



EXPLANATION:

Spoiler: show

Attack/Aggression: Never lends a helping hand to our attackers. Likes to stay well out of the opposition half and provide cover. Lugano and Edu seem more keen at going forward than this guy.

Defence: Pretty good actually. Good at closing down the opposition before they have the chance to shoot or cross.

Stamina: Can handle a full 90 minutes, but only because he does fuck all during a game.

Speed/Acceleration: He cant really pounce on his man quick enough if there's a fair degree of gap between 'em. He's quick enough close his man if they're within a close proximity. With that said, quick strikers find it easy to burst him aswell.

Agility: Has a really nice turning circle and uses it to his advantage whenever he gets pressured to lose the ball.

Dribbling/Technique: Is the most comfortable in possession compared to the rest of our DM, but never ever tries anything fancy while in possession of the ball.

Response: Really alert, really responsive to loose balls. One of his better assets. Reacts quickers than most of our central defenders, wingers and some of our defensive midfielders. Definitely one of the best in our squad when it comes sharpness.

Passing: He's our most conservative passer, by a mile. Even Edu and Lugano are more daring than this guy. Hell, he doesn't even cross to anyone, that's how simple he likes it. He likes to gain posession and play a 5-10 meter ground pass to an open teammate playing on his right hand side. He crosses so rarely that I can't even remember the last time he actually even crossed.

Jump: Likes to saty firmly glued to the ground. He poses the least aerial threat in our squads and has no input at clearing crosses made into our box.

Mentality: As I mentioned in the old forum, having this guy in the starting 11 is like starting the match 1 man. He has the least presence out of all his teammates and rarely ever tries to get noticed by anyone. He can go entire match doing practically nothing. He's even less noticeable than Alex

Teamwork: Constantly stay communicated to Edu and Lugano and is very aware of everyone around him. Definitely one of his assets. Always looks around to make the pass to the man he intended to. One of the best at this in our squad.

Weaker Foot Frequency: Not only does he never use his weaker foot, but he won't even play passes to players playing on his left side. He doesn't even use his left foot to play the simplest of passes.

STARS: *Covering is the star he honestly deserves. It's the only thing he knows how to do anyways.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, he sticks to centre of the pitch ALOT so I added the star. Downgraded his FKA, isn't a regular scorer.

[.Maguss.]

Never said 81 is average, I said it is ABOVE average.

[p1rha]

yes i'm comparing, and if you compare when these champions confront, brazilian teams win 3 and europe teams 2. i'm not suposing, its just a fact

tamaguchi what ur trying to compare is the internatinal cup... and m8, no ofense but the fact is that we don't give a damn about internatinal cup, that's not that relevant for ur CV in europe.

About Libertadores and CL ... don't bother

I don't know were this started ... i wasn't such a good idea topost a video of a bad day to prove the point u meant A-SK.
Ur right about brazil being known for not having the best CBs, though they have been improving. But it's mostly the brazilian style of play that doesn't benefit defenders.

But if u brazilians feel ur league is underated just take a look at this: Luisão, brazilian international CB, he's playing for the glorious Benfica and he is rated as the slowest player in the portuguese league (71/74) and he has 83 for defense! What do u think bout that? And i'm not trying to say he should be raised, i'm just giving an example of a player u know.
About brazilian league having more clubs at the top... u work in a diferent way with the state championship and stuff so u can't compare that!

One thing is true though: the brazilian league is competetive in the way that it is more balanced and there aren't such gaps between teams as in someother european leagues. That's because there are loads of good players in brazil, even in weaker teams, and because the ones that r really excelent don't play there because there's no $$$. Meaning that brazilian clubs can't aford expensive players like the french or turkish leagues do... anyway this is going too far, just chill...

[.Maguss.]

Well, IMO, the Brazilian league isn't underrated in this database, neither overrated.

[tamaguchi_japa]

well i'm not saying brazilian league is under or over, imo is fine.

but even if you european dont care about international cup, why your teams play with the best squad in this cup? imo they could dont care about it, but they want to win it.

and about money, of course we cant compare it, even greece has more money than us.

but lets not discuss it here, his thread is from maldonado, and not about Brazilian League , Libertadores, CL or any other thing

[A-SK]

ok, this is how i feel about maldonado. he was a solid defensive midfielder and one who was extremely comfortable on the ball. he was quick to react but his legs let him down. he was only ever capable of closing down his man in close quarters but if the opposition even had the slightest chance of bursting past him, they did. he was terrible at closing down people when the gap between him and the central defenders was big. anyone even remotely quick didn't find it hard to slip past him. it wasn't his agility or response that let him down, but his lack of pace and positioning. you rarely see maldonado actually block someone off. he doesnt face the opposition like a CB would. he just plays ahead of the central defenders and pounce on anyone who got even remotely close. he didn't pressure people, but just waited in silence. having him squad was like playing with 3 CBs but one who was shit in the air and slow on the ground. he also lacked sufficient power in his tackles and rarely barged people about like mascherano does. the truth is...maldonado loved to sit back and provide *Cover (hence the star) but he doesn't confront the opposition face to face. he just hovers around in his own half not drifting out to the wings playing in the centre of the pitch (hence the star). do i think he desrves a green value for defence? no. even Can Arat did a better job of blocking out crosses and shots. he just doesn't position himself to block out crosses and etc. he just closes down people before they have the chance to shoot or pass. understand? he doesn't have a strong positional sense in the penalty box! Mehmet Topal is currently one of the best defensive midfielders in the Turkish league and he only has 75! why? it's simple. give him a figure close to 78/79 and he's basically a CB in the midfield! i know you lot didn't say 78 or 79, but 76 would make him a more reliable defender than Yaya Toure and that's just not the case!!! if he were as defensively reliable as Flamini, why on earth would fenerbahce release him?! in all the games he made appearances for, the club either lost a game or finished the games as a draw! he just fails to provide back bone to the midfield! Our league isn't played at a high tempo yet maldonado just failed to cut in our league and he sure as hell can't cut it in europe! while flamengo might be defensively solid now, they aren't playing strong opposition week in, week out. think of it like this...

74 - *Jorge Henrique (Corinthians), *Neymar (Santos)

73 - *Ciel (América - RN), *Lulinha (Corinthians), Paulo Sérgio (Flamengo)

*Registered as SS or WF, help to know if he is a CF with bad positioning or a player that is not so close to the box.

According to attack ladder for the Brazilian league, wingers/strikers that aren't positonally aware are given 73/74. True or not? That's how Maldonado is!! he doesn't have a strong positional sense in the penalty box! Look, I've spent far too long discussing a player I really don't care too much about. You lot either take it or you don't. The discussion somehow became about the quality of the league when in reality, i was talking about the unorthodox defending the Brazilian defenders seem to display. Enough with the petty "our league is better than yours" thing it's not funny or very mature

[squallzinn]

I think we have to set the stats about how the player is peforming not because he is on league X and Y.

I have a good example here. Why have André Santos at Corinthians had a set of stats and when he was transfered to a turkish league his stats have to be raised?

Luisão is DEF: 83 because he is playing on Benfica. If he was playing on Man Utd, Real Madri or in others top teams, problaby his Def would be raised.

[pedala robinho]

Okay, let me stat my point here:

Personally, I'm with squallzinn that we need to rate a player basing on how he's playing, not where he's playing. Sure we need to make use of the good sense, we can't rate our defenders at world class level, let's remind that our football is slower than English or La Liga, and, indeed, our defensive players aren't our best attractive. But, like said by Maguss, I believe that we made a great work here with Brazilian Série A, and everything is fully well-rated, in my humild opinion. Sure some changes are need, but nothing really drastic.
Just to give some examples, Thiago Silva is shining on AC Milan and already took suggestions of smalls boosts, but, substantially, he's really well-rated.
Also, I don't believe our league is so behind than Europe teams. I remember of an Internacional, of Índio and Fabiano Eller (two centre-backs that aren't neither Top-10 on Brazil) simply stopping the Barcelona of Ronaldinho at his prime. And U can't say to me that Barcelona wasn't interested on the victory.
Another point: see how Naldo is rated at Bundesliga. He was a good centre-back here at Brazil, but he sure wasn't our best centre-back here. Or even Fábio Bilica, who was a shit here at Brazil.
I'm not trying to say that our football is as strong or fast as internacional leagues, and, indeed, our players neither aren't rated like this.

About Maldonado... The young Maldonado was a great DMF, I remember of him shining here at Brazil. He was complete, had elegance to pass the ball, a classy to stole balls without commiting fouls, but... Honestly, I still don't see the Maldonado of Flamengo playing, but the last time that I saw Maldonado, he really semeed to loose some of his skills, but his PHYSICAL skills. His TS/ACC declined a lot, his great timing wasn't the same... So, I'm really unsure about his stats.

[tamaguchi_japa]

i'm totally with pedala. imo Brazilian League is well-rated. we not overrate and neither underrate anyone.

[A-SK]

enough already! i never said the stats were overrated or underrated. i was just trying to say how brazilian defenders can be unorthox (please note the word i've used). can we move away from that subject and discuss maldonado?

[general suvorov]

i'm totally with pedala. imo Brazilian League is well-rated. we not overrate and neither underrate anyone.

I have my doubts about it after watching Andre Santos and Cristian Baroni cuz they seem too overrated if I consider them in Turkish Standards ( which are not that good in EU standards). I'm not generalizing my comment, indeed Brazilian League is well rated and there are valuable stat makers who are sparing their time to rate players but I think you guys should consider the mental&physical differences between Europe and South America. A player might give better performance in different league. It's a matter of luck and the adjust ability of player into his new challenge. but you shouldn't forget the fact the a player can't go over his potential that highly like you suggested about Maldonado. the values you suggested (even ASK's suggestion 74 defence) seem to me unrealistic as he proved anything neither in Turkish league nor in champions league or Euro League.

Turkish league that Maldonado failed is based on defensive minded physical play. The main principle of teams is not conceding goals rather than scoring especially when they play against major teams as Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. For that reason I suggest you guys not jump in the fire. 76 defence would make him par with Flamini. One thing I'm sure about Maldonado is his potantial does not allows him to put him into level of a player like Flamini. I'd insist on it even if he could be successful in Turkey.

I hope you guys do the best!

[.Maguss.]

i'm totally with pedala. imo Brazilian League is well-rated. we not overrate and neither underrate anyone.

I have my doubts about it after watching Andre Santos and Cristian Baroni cuz they seem too overrated if I consider them in Turkish Standards ( which are not that good in EU standards). I'm not generalizing my comment, indeed Brazilian League is well rated and there are valuable stat makers who are sparing their time to rate players but I think you guys should consider the mental&physical differences between Europe and South America. A player might give better performance in different league. It's a matter of luck and the adjust ability of player into his new challenge. but you shouldn't forget the fact the a player can't go over his potential that highly like you suggested about Maldonado. the values you suggested (even ASK's suggestion 74 defence) seem to me unrealistic as he proved anything neither in Turkish league nor in champions league or Euro League.

Turkish league that Maldonado failed is based on defensive minded physical play. The main principle of teams is not conceding goals rather than scoring especially when they play against major teams as Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. For that reason I suggest you guys not jump in the fire. 76 defence would make him par with Flamini. One thing I'm sure about Maldonado is his potantial does not allows him to put him into level of a player like Flamini. I'd insist on it even if he could be successful in Turkey.

I hope you guys do the best!

Just to clarify, André Santos was made by RB7, a portuguese member. Cristian is not overrated if you consider how he played there. He just didn't proved his potential in the the Turkish League yet (or he just didn't adapted there). As pedala_robinho said, there are some players that even improve in Europe, like Felipe Melo and Cris, and others that can't repeat the same football there. And it is not just with non european players. Shevchenko was one of the best strikers in the world when he moved to Chelsea. Was he overrated at the time? No, but he didn't showed his skills at Chelsea and become "crap" with the time.

[A-SK]

at the moment, i don't rate christian's defensive capability considerably higher than his attack. in the european games he's been in, he's done a shit job of providing cover and he sure as hell doesn't man mark!! these are european games, not league games

[sauce]

Ok let me jump into this discussion, I don't know if you guys remember me but I had similar discussion like this on the old PSD same Maldonado thread if I remember,
by the way should I register myself again like I did? Nobody told me that But I never felt like posting again until now.

I do agree with A-SK that Brazilian defenders aren't that reliable, mostly because they search for different qualities here, some Brazilian still thinks Cris was 'crap' here, but explain to me how he was an idol at Cruzeiro and one of most important players, I tell you this those who follow him closely realized that although he wasn't that good with the ball he was a monster of defender. And the overall media is just stubborn and blind to teams of-axis.

But now lets go to the topic, Maldonado at his prime, not 2003 where he won everything but 2004 when everybody left and he stayed, he was just superb, thats why he is another legend at Cruzeiro, good defending was all he was about, he tackled, stoled balls, intercepted, covered better than most CBs, and thats why he has a huge credit with Brazilians in general, but in Santos already he wasn't the same, the lost of pace was a huge problem for his game, he started to lost his time of the game and yet still managed to be sold to Fenerbahce thanks to his history.

And that is the thing, did the lost of pace affect his defensive abilities? Or he wasn't that great and was pure form?
I stay with the first answer, he was never a physical player, barely won pure physical charges, he had game intelligence and that is something the player doesn't forget from a day to another but since he can't physically dominate anyone and he doesn't have that good speed anymore he now intercept and tackle much much less and he chose to just close the space like A-SK said so a drop in his defence makes sense 73-74 would just fine.

[A-SK]

sauce, i remember you well, mate. You helped me when i was trying to rate Edu and you even posted in the Lugano thread aswell. I'm glad you signed up again because your opinion is very appreciated in the forum. I'm glad you agree with my suggestion. btw, let's chat sometime on msn.

[pedala robinho]

And that is the thing, did the lost of pace affect his defensive abilities? Or he wasn't that great and was pure form?

Perfect! Exactly what I thought in the last time that I saw him. My thought was that the natural lost of pace affected a lot his performances. And we also need to remember that at his top at Cruzeiro, he had as partners players like Alex de Souza, Cris, Luisão, Maurinho (who was simply a demon of SB at his prime: Maicon was his sub) and Leandro.
So, A-SK, as you can see, I'm not disagreeing or agreeing with you. Indeed, if I would base my suggestion on the last time that I saw him, I would even say that first post is fine now. But as I'm not seeing him at Flamengo, I just prefer to reserve my thoughts for the future.

[A-SK]

i wasnt looking for approval. i just wanted to have my say on this thread before any changes were made. nothing more

[sauce]

sauce, i remember you well, mate. You helped me when i was trying to rate Edu and you even posted in the Lugano thread aswell. I'm glad you signed up again because your opinion is very appreciated in the forum. I'm glad you agree with my suggestion. btw, let's chat sometime on msn.

Well that wasn't that much time ago was it? But it feels like light years for me, I'm proud to say that my understanding of some stats are much better, but I'm also proud to say that I still can't understand others specially the speed ones thats why I don't contribute that much to the site.

But for players I feel conformable posting I will, at least I will try to.

My msn is matheussauce@hotmail.com

[brazilianpesfan]

just a OT note...bom te ver aqui,sauce!
O master dos kits agora ajudando aqui !

[A-SK]

just a OT note...bom te ver aqui,sauce!
O master dos kits agora ajudando aqui !

having sauce back is a valuable gain for the forum. you're right. is he really good at making kits?

[sauce]

just a OT note...bom te ver aqui,sauce!
O master dos kits agora ajudando aqui !

Hehe you do know I was into stats way before I was into graphic editing, I will try to participate more here.

@A-SK we still haven't met in MSN, I barely there these days.

Back on topic the games without conceding are over at Flamengo, 3-3 yesterday, very exciting game.