This is like comparing Vieri to Ronaldo, clearly Ronaldo is the better player, endowed with incredible natural talent thanks to his brazilian/samba roots but guess what.... they're both world class players only their style of play is different.
Mazzari's stubbornness stunted Kovacic's game. Like Xavi early on in his career, Kova is under-rated and misused. He's under a new coach surrounded by a new batch players for the umpteenth time while we embark on another year zero. At 20 I don't expect much from a midfielder. Instead criticizing, let him grow.
And by the way, as good as Thiago is, he's also inconsistent (over flamboyant, unnecessary mispasses) and and injury prone.
Imo, kova is actually overrated. He has absolutely fantastic close control dribbling and is very quick with the ball. He had that at a very young age. That's it. When you look at his attributes technically and tactically, he's actually overrated. His passing is average (under pressure, range and types of passes). His receiving technique is a little above average. He is not "instantaneous control". His shooting is a little below average. How is he underrated @ 20 years old?
As far as being mis-used, I also STRONGLY disagree. You see it as mis-used. I see it as kova is a complete tactical noob, which is actually a really big problem. I put 50%-75% of that blame on Inter coaches, because I'm not sure what talking points and actual COACHING they're giving to kova, but he has a huge responsibility on becoming better tactically.
He doesn't interpret different roles. All he does is do the same thing in a different position on the field. He gets the ball and if under pressure, first instinct is to dribble out of pressure COMPLETELY, then look for a killer pass. No matter what position you put him in, that's what he's going to do. AM, LCM, RCM, SS, LW, RW, DM....he'll do the same thing. When he's put in these roles, I expect the 80/20 or even 70/30 rule. Conform to the role (80%) but use your individual ability in certain situations to break the pattern (20%). Not 20/80 or 10/90, which is what kova is doing. Like I said, a lot of that has to go onto the coaches and what they're telling him, but he's got to be better tactically.
Strama put him in DM. DM is a role that requires maximum safety, because you're right in front of the defense. You're in the defensive third. Kova plays there and what does he do? Almost always, dribbling out of pressure. Was he successful? Marginally. But to FiF, it was great because he was able to bring the ball up the field. But keep in mind he was playing against mostly shit opponents. You play against better teams, faster players, forwards who pressure a lot e.t.c., and he won't have the luxury to dribble out of pressure every time. You have to be smarter, quicker thinking, quicker execution, tons of movement, drag people away from the defenders e.t.c.. And that's on the offensive side. There's no point discussing the defensive side cause he was a noob.
WM comes in and plays him as a box-to-box CM. Again, no point discussing defensively. He is simply a noob. Offensively, same thing. Dribble until completely out of pressure then look for the killer pass. Works against some shit teams. Does not work against better teams and better players. Not interpreting the role (again, could be coaches not coaching). Everybody complains, he is not in his "ideal" role. Okay...more on that later.
Plays for NT. Obviously, rakitic and modric are waay better than him technically and tactically. So they get the CM positions. Kova gets the AM position. What does he do? Look like shit because he, AGAIN, tries to receive, turn, dribble completely out of pressure before doing anything. Well, obviously, AM is higher up, in the offensive third (opponents defensive third). So more defenders, tighter spaces. Does he interpret the role and try to play a little differently? Try to create space? Move the ball quicker? Make dummy runs to create tight window spaces to deliver a pass? Do we blame the coach for not coaching him?
Ok. Now we're onto Mancini. Mancini puts him in a wide attacking midfield role. You can call AM or LW. Don't care. He's wide left and attacking. Tight space again and tight marking. What does he do these few games? Same shit. Gets the ball and if under pressure, tries to dribble out before delivering. And has poor games because the spaces and marking is tight.
And we haven't spoke about defensive side of the game.
So, back to this "ideal" role thing. What is this "ideal" role? You can't say DM. Well you can, but I strongly disagree. You can't say CM (box-to-box). You can't say AM. And you can't say any of the forward positions. LW/SS/RW.
You guys will then say, a free role in the CM area, with 2 DMs. Well, that time has passed. This is structured football. Players today who play free roles are very, very rare, but also very, very good at all facets of the game.
Let's look at all the young and very good midfielders today. Thiago, bastian, alaba, lahm, Kroos, goetze, modric, isco, james, Yaya, D. Silva, Cesc, gundogan, Oscar, Iniesta, rakitic, Pogba, vidal, strootman, e.t.c. Do you know what they all have in common? Through their development, they've been put in ALL ROLES IN MIDFIELD. It is developmental. They learn to be much better players because of it. Sticking a young midfielder to one role or trying to find the "perfect" role for a young midfielder is simply stupid. Shit...remember that bastian used to be a winger FFS!! Then he ridiculously improved his technical skills to become a world class midfielder. Thiago has played AM, CM, DM. Kroos has played AM, DM, CM, winger. Alaba is technically a WB. Lahm WB. Modric has played CM, DM, AM. Isco has played CM, AM, wide attacker. Yaya has played DM, CM, AM. D. Silva has played CM, wide midfielder. I can go on....each time in those roles, these players don't play the exact same way and don't look like noobs in different roles.
All I'm saying is, kova has a long way to go. Technically, I'd like him to sharpen up his receiving and passing. If he is to break through and become a world class player, he is simply too limited in those technical aspects to be able to develop further tactically. You can't play quicker and in tight spaces if you need 2 or 3 touches to bring a ball completely under control. With this in mind though, my biggest concern is tactically. His lack of interpretation of different roles in midfield is kinda alarming. Boggles my mind really and if he doesn't make it to the next level, it will be because of tactics. A lot of people on this forum think it is easy/no brainer to be able to shuffle and play different roles in midfield, when in fact, it is what separates the boys from the men.
My biggest hope for Kova is that studies/improves and models his game after iniesta. Fantastic, fantastic dribbler of the ball, yet he can and has played DM, CM, AM, winger and has been good in all roles. He can pressure, tackle, play the quick game, play in tight spaces, great off the ball movement, but also uses his killer dribbling to great effect. Technical and tactical level is exceptional.
My biggest fear for kova is that he ends up like a dzagoev. Great young player (way above average ability for 15-17) who then fizzles out because they don't improve their skills or get pigeon-holed into certain roles.
fuck off
