The Javier Effect

"Even in the second-half I felt we were really close but we were still losing, so I brought on Peter Crouch for Javier Mascherano.'It allowed us to take more risks in attack but then we lost control of the midfield." - Rafael Benitez

This sums up the contribution that Mascherano made in the CL finals. He was undoubtedly the best player for Liverpool subduing Ricardo Kaka, currently the best player in the world, and even thwarting Pirlo from making those telling passes. Mascherano was phenomenal in that game, I just enjoyed watching that little monster play :-). I have been a vociferous supporter of Mascherano (I have to admit he is one of my favourite players in the world) for the last 2 years and I guess prior to the time he joined Liverpool many-a-people would have really wondered wht-on-earth is this guy telling ??- If Mas is that good why isnt he playing in Europe...etc...I guess all those queries have been answered about his quality with his performance in the CL games. To me it was personally very gratifying to see Mascherano deliver that performance at the highest level. It was as clear as daylight that Kaka and Pirlo were finding more space after Mascherano was substituted which actually resulted in that second goal. One knows he is not just an ordinary talent when at the age 22, he is already being touted as the next captain of the Argentine National Team and has won an astounding 22 caps for the NT. Lets also not forget the fact that he made his national team debut even before he was given the first cap for his beloved River-plate at the age of 18. I still remember the first time I saw him play for Argentina against Brazil at the Monumental Stadium where he shielded the defense brilliantly from the likes of Ronaldinho etal. To me he was the Man of the Match in that game without a doubt. He had a good world cup 2006 also where his job was to essentially cover for the short-comings of the magnificant Juan Pablo Sorin and thwart any counter-attack, needless to say he did it brilliantly.

The good part about Mascherano´s game is that he doesnt resort to a physical game rather relies on anticipation, positioning and reading of the game. Mascherano reminds me of Cannavaro, who has similar traits though they play at entirely different positions. Additionally, his passing is also pretty decent, he can start a few good moves as well, he will have to work on that part of his game. It would also be very interesting to see the way Mascherano adapts playing against players with low centre of gravity. Players like Messi, Tevez who rely on the opponents to commit - a strength of Mascherano´s game. I, for one, know who would come trumps in that case :-).

Check this video of Mascherano against Arsenal. Amazing :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-7q8sbiYxs