Lahm v Dani Alves

Who do you reckon had the higher peak?

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Lahm. Lahm is technically (defensive) more proficient, can play in a plethora of positions. Alves on his day is a beast but then again it's more a case of tactical set-up you cater to. Lahm was also a great attacking threat (Euro 08 semi-final goal) albeit not comparable to Alves.
 
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User 72192 said:
I personally find Lahm to have more of a defensive approach to his role, while Alves is much more lethal going forward. Both are gifted technically; can't see much of a difference between both of them, maybe Alves is more flashy and exotic, which kind of explains why he is a bit more admired than Lahm. All in all it comes down to the respective tactic of the squad they are put in, it's a question of balance. Can we afford a lack of defensive power in our defense, or not? Both players rely on the system to be able to show their best qualities. For me, Lahm is on par with Alves, I can't say who is better. Gut feeling: While I think offensive players are more entertaining, good defensive players tend to win your team more trophies. Slidght advantage for Lahm from that point of view.
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Except Alves has 3 champions league and 1 more final to play, 2 europa leagues while Lahm has 1 CL..

GailWynand said:
International trophies?
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Alves has 2 copa americas and 2 confederation cups, lahm has 1 world cup

User 72192 said:
well, since football is a teamgame, trophies do not neccessarily reflect individual skill.
Some kind of ad absurdum, I know, but: Arnautovic won the champions league.
No one knows, how much more trophies Lahm would have, if he had played for Barcelona with a peak Messi etc.; hypothetical causality is quite hard to grasp and usually a topic not worth discussing, since it can become very, very vague. Maybe Barcelona would have been not that good with Lahm, could be true as well, who knows? I personally don't think so, though.
My point still stands: Lahm for me has a slight advantage from that point of view since he's better defensively, which usually suits more teams and can be very vital, depending on the respective system.
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We are not comparing styles of players, or which style of player wins championships. We are comparing Dani to Lahm, and Dani won way more titles.

You can't use the "what if Lahm played for FCB" argument because 1) Alves was a key component in those wins, and in their dynasty. 2) Lahm had many many years to win CLs with Barça "out of their prime", frankly the CL was there for the taking and he failed to do so. There are no what ifs here, the body of work is out there, and with Alves reaching another final being vital to his team, to me he obviously stands in front now.

PS: this 3 post limit is quite annoying.
 
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Moby said:
Semi final. In the final it was his error that led to Torres scoring the only goal of the game. Similarly Turkey in the semi final got a lot of joy down his flank.
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Oh, alright. I remember the finish, something you'd expect from a forward really.
 
GailWynand said:
Lahm. Lahm is technically (defensive) more proficient, can play in a plethora of positions. Alves on his day is a beast but then again it's more a case of tactical set-up you cater to. Lahm was also a great attacking threat (Euro 08 final goal) albeit not comparable to Alves.
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That's nonsense.

Bayern looked awful whenever Lahm played centre midfield. So did Germany in the last World Cup.

Alves could play a host of other positions too if he needed to. He didn't need to play CM because you know Barca had Xavi and Iniesta.

And what Euro 2008 final goal? Pretty sure Torres was only goal scorer that final due to Lahm btw.

Oh and what's this about Alves is a tactical player. He was amazing in a counter attack set up for Sevilla. Amazing in a possession based set up for Barca. Now amazing in a mix of both for Juve.

I have seen now Mbappe, Neymar, Robben and Ronaldo all come up against Alves and get very little against him.
 
GailWynand said:
Oh, alright. I remember the finish, something you'd expect from a forward really.
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It was a great finish and probably the greatest individual moment in his International Career, especially as it was a last minute winner in a game that was 2-2 and could have gone either way. Defensively he was quite poor in that tournament.
 
Moby said:
It was a great finish and probably the greatest individual moment in his International Career, especially as it was a last minute winner in a game that was 2-2 and could have gone either way. Defensively he was quite poor in that tournament.
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Fair enough. It was the debacle in the final, which is highlighted most tbh.
 
Bojan11 said:
Alves could play a host of other positions too if he needed to. He didn't need to play CM because you know Barca had Xavi and Iniesta.
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But that's not the point I'm making. Lahm was made to play holding mid by Pep as he wanted to use Lahm's intelligence in a position from where he could influence more than on the wings (constricted); Barca had Busquets in that role but it wasn't because of Xavi, Iniesta - it's the managers preference for a particular tactical set-up (Bayern had WC CM's too).
 
amolbhatia50k said:
How was Lahm almost as good in attack? Maybe I didn't watch Bayern as closely but I don't remember him ever being the devastating force in attack that Alves consistently was.
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He is more inclined to combine with his winger and make dummy runs, plus his crossing is always spot on (probably one of the best crossers in football today). Can easily play the role of a secondary playmaker from the wing too. Alves is more dynamic and is a force of nature in a way that Lahm never was, but Lahm is/was absolutely top class offensively. It's just that Alves in an all-time great tier for that category, alongside Brehme, Cafu, Kaltz etc.
 
They are both fantastic players. The context of either of them being better depends on the type of team environment they are in.

Lahm is more balanced but Daniel Alves adds an extra attacking dimension and options that is perhaps out of Lahms physical capabilities.

They are both highly intelligent as you need to be to play in Josep Guardiola Sala's position game.
 
totaalvoetbal said:
They are both fantastic players. The context of either of them being better depends on the type of team environment they are in.

Lahm is more balanced but Daniel Alves adds an extra attacking dimension and options that is perhaps out of Lahms physical capabilities.

They are both highly intelligent as you need to be to play in Josep Guardiola Sala's position game.
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So rude.
 
I think Alves' attacking profile is more obvious because it's that of an attacking winger, whereas Lahm's is more that of a #8. Both are easily all time greats and if I had to pick one I would probably decide purely based on tactical context.

Lahm's backheel tackles could do with a bit more appreciation though:
 
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do.ob said:
I think Alves' attacking profile is more obvious because it's that of an attacking winger, whereas Lahm's is more that of a #8. Both are easily all time greats and if I had to pick one I would probably decide purely based on tactical context.

Lahm's backheel tackles could do with a bit more appreciation though:
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Even though Lahm played in CM for a while I'd say it's the opposite, Dani Alves could regularly make the final through-ball pass and is great at one touch football while Lahm is better at timing the overlapping runs and putting in dangerous crosses more consistently.
 
totaalvoetbal said:
They are both fantastic players. The context of either of them being better depends on the type of team environment they are in.

Lahm is more balanced but Daniel Alves adds an extra attacking dimension and options that is perhaps out of Lahms physical capabilities.

They are both highly intelligent as you need to be to play in Josep Guardiola Sala's position game.
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No mention of Lord Cruijff? I'm in the mood to be enlightened. Teach all of us stone-age 'kick and run' English football lovers a lesson or two about quality tactical continental football, played with the mind and not with the body of course.
 
NYAS said:
No mention of Lord Cruijff? I'm in the mood to be enlightened. Teach all of us stone-age 'kick and run' English football lovers a lesson or two about quality tactical continental football, played with the mind and not with the body of course.
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A snake looks up and sees the hawk soar above the clouds. The snake tries to soar into the clouds but alas, the snake is forever condemned to crawling on its belly.
 
totaalvoetbal said:
A snake looks up and sees the hawk soar above the clouds. The snake tries to soar into the clouds but alas, the snake is forever condemned to crawling on its belly.
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Beautiful. Snake sounds like the disgusting failure of a manager, Jose Mario Dos Santos Mourinho Felix, and the hawk seems eerily similar to the eternally successful football revolutionary Saint Josep Guardiola Sala. I feel alive again. Thank you.
 
A better comparison would be Zanetti against Lahm imo. Both well balanced full backs who were excellent defensively whilst being capable of making significant offensive contributions.

As far as the Alves vs Lahm debate goes, the former was brilliant offensively whilst the latter was a more well rounded and defensively excellent full back (not to underrate his wing play which was at a high level too). I'd give Lahm the edge in general unless the side is more in need of Alves's skill-set.
 
Always believed it was Alves. He had a much greater impact going forward and he was always much better defensively than people gave him credit for. Lahm is a great player and a wonderful FB, 2nd best of the last 15 years and better than Marcelo (who I love to watch the most and is technically maybe the best going forward but actually can be a bit shakier defensively), Cole or Evra (though absolute peak Evra for maybe a 2-3 year period was probably as good).

Barcelona were, at their peak, the best team I've ever seen. After Messi and Xavi, I'd say Alves, Iniesta and Busquets all had a fair claim to be the 3rd best player (Pique was brilliant but more inconsistent back then) on maybe the best team of all time.
 
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