This guy isnt human.

[Hank Scorpio]

I'm sure the Argentine population care.

Great players shine in all forms of the game- domestically and at international level.

Messi has done great things with Barca but does **** all with his country.

Zidane is better because he carried Juve, Real and France.

Bale won't be a true great until he moves away from Spurs and wins something. True greats of the game win the top honours.

 

[MattTheTiger]

I'm sure the Argentine population care.

Great players shine in all forms of the game- domestically and at international level.

Messi has done great things with Barca but does **** all with his country.

Zidane is better because he carried Juve, Real and France.

Bale won't be a true great until he moves away from Spurs and wins something. True greats of the game win the top honours.

Hoe did Zidane carry madrid? They had Ronaldo, Carlos, Figo and the rest of the galacticos? Same with France, Henry, Pires, Vieira etc. All great players. Bar Argentinas 3 strikers they have feck all, theure best defender is coloccini for christ sake.

Bale is already a great player and has single handedly beat teams this past year. And let us bot forget the Inter games.

 

[Tuckin]

Without sounding harsh because he is brilliant, his finishing is the best in the world but Best overall player? why are goals considered more important in those votes?

I agree that goals aren't everything... which is why that's an argument that should be used in Messi's FAVOUR, not against him! When you compare him with Ronaldo, the difference that stands out most is Ronaldo's selfishness against Messi's passing, awareness of others and general team play.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Hoe did Zidane carry madrid? They had Ronaldo, Carlos, Figo and the rest of the galacticos? Same with France, Henry, Pires, Vieira etc. All great players. Bar Argentinas 3 strikers they have feck all, theure best defender is coloccini for christ sake.

Bale is already a great player and has single handedly beat teams this past year. And let us bot forget the Inter games.

Did you see him for France in 1998? Euros in 2000? At Hampden Park Champions League Final for Real v Leverkusen? 2004 v England (single handedly beat us)? In those tournaments everything those teams did went through him.

Not saying the other Galacticos aren't great players, but he was cut above.

 

[MattTheTiger]

Did you see him for France in 1998? Euros in 2000? At Hampden Park Champions League Final for Real v Leverkusen? 2004 v England (single handedly beat us)? In those tournaments everything those teams did went through him.

Not saying the other Galacticos aren't great players, but he was cut above.

As is Messi...

 

[The FRENCH TICKLER]

Messi's 91 goals last year in order. Some of the lobs are just sensational.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP-wlyT8QVc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

As good as he is technically,, Messi would be nowhere near that amount back in the days when defenders could actually defend. The rules have been changed so much to make it all that more easier for skills to be shown as defenders are now shackled. The game is soft, The balls are soft and its almost akin to basketball.

I love watching Messi but just wish i could take him back to the days of Pele Best Cryuff and the like to see how good he could be. Coming up against players such as Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter, Ron "chopper" Harris, Dave Sadler and the like would not think twice about taking Messi's legs away from him.

 

[MattTheTiger]

As good as he is technically,, Messi would be nowhere near that amount back in the days when defenders could actually defend. The rules have been changed so much to make it all that more easier for skills to be shown as defenders are now shackled. The game is soft, The balls are soft and its almost akin to basketball.

I love watching Messi but just wish i could take him back to the days of Pele Best Cryuff and the like to see how good he could be. Coming up against players such as Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter, Ron "chopper" Harris, Dave Sadler and the like would not think twice about taking Messi's legs away from him.

Fairly certain certain neither pele, best or cruyff played against norman hunter.

The gamrs got a lot faster though. Its all well and good saying that he wouldn't be as good but I doybt those players mentioned would get near Messi

 

[Happy Tiger]

As good as he is technically,, Messi would be nowhere near that amount back in the days when defenders could actually defend. The rules have been changed so much to make it all that more easier for skills to be shown as defenders are now shackled. The game is soft, The balls are soft and its almost akin to basketball.

I love watching Messi but just wish i could take him back to the days of Pele Best Cryuff and the like to see how good he could be. Coming up against players such as Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter, Ron "chopper" Harris, Dave Sadler and the like would not think twice about taking Messi's legs away from him.

So you don't think he's that good because defenders can't kick the **** out of him? Maybe you should think about supporting rugby? The days of seeing career ending tackles and the "hard men" are thankfully over, the game is better for it.

The more skillful players from the current game would just run rings around the thugs of old, whose only response would be those leg breaking tackles.

 

[originallambrettaman]

I love watching Messi but just wish i could take him back to the days of Pele Best Cryuff and the like to see how good he could be. Coming up against players such as Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter, Ron "chopper" Harris, Dave Sadler and the like would not think twice about taking Messi's legs away from him.

They wouldn't get near him.

I can't believe someone just put Messi in Norman Hunter in the same sentence.

 

[PLT]

As good as he is technically,, Messi would be nowhere near that amount back in the days when defenders could actually defend. The rules have been changed so much to make it all that more easier for skills to be shown as defenders are now shackled. The game is soft, The balls are soft and its almost akin to basketball.

I love watching Messi but just wish i could take him back to the days of Pele Best Cryuff and the like to see how good he could be. Coming up against players such as Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter, Ron "chopper" Harris, Dave Sadler and the like would not think twice about taking Messi's legs away from him.

Sorry but that's bullshit.

Defenders in your day wouldn't have got anywhere near Messi because they'd be too busy being drunk and overweight on the pitch. Football as a whole is a miles better standard than it was a few decades ago.

 

[MattTheTiger]

The above three posts are spot on.

 

[rovertiger]

Well i'm an old bugger and can remember Pele and Best,who I still can't choose between. Pele was by far way ahead of his time football brain wise and IMO Best would still cut it in today's game.

 

[MattTheTiger]

Modern footballers are a different class in terms of older ones. No ones gonna dispute the affect they've had in the game but the.fitness, speed and technical ability of a modern footballer are all far superior to pretty much any player that played 30+ years ago

 

[tigercity]

nah.. 23 of them were offside, the ref awarded him 10 soft pens, the defending was **** on the others and he hasn't ascored against Carlisle on a wet monday night..

 

[BigotAlertAnalRimMan]

I agree with Golaccio.

Zidane for me was a footballing god. Because he was the ultimate footballer. Messi is only up there because people make reference to the number of goals but football is more than that.


I do also think that to be considered the best you need to prove yourself on every stage.

Done nothing with Argentina and yet to prove himself outside of la liga (probably never will though). I just think banging in all these goals when it's such an unbalanced league with two heavy weights smashing all these teams week in week out is a little bit easier.
You still got to score them but he's getting so many hat tricks a season because barcelona get something like 30 chances a game against some teams, that doesn't happen in our league very often.

 

[BigotAlertAnalRimMan]

Matt are you just a little fanboy?

The point about Zidane is that no matter where he went he was a legend.

You put Messi in Wigan's team and he'll be lucky to get half the goals in that video. He's only that fruitful because Barcelona have tailor made everything for him. The passing and vision is always to try and reach messi.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I'm saying everything is pretty much put on a plate or much as possible to make it as easy as possible for him.
People call Ronaldo selfish but it just means he has to do a lot more to get his goals.

A good 50 of those goal would not have happened were it not for intricate passing (pedro,iniesta,xavi) to basically gift it to Messi.
Put him in a different environment and he won't come close to being as fruitful and for me that's why he isn't the greatest.

 

[Erik]

Overrated little spic ****

 

[Beverley_Tiger_998]

Matt are you just a little fanboy?

The point about Zidane is that no matter where he went he was a legend.

You put Messi in Wigan's team and he'll be lucky to get half the goals in that video. He's only that fruitful because Barcelona have tailor made everything for him. The passing and vision is always to try and reach messi.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I'm saying everything is pretty much put on a plate or much as possible to make it as easy as possible for him.
People call Ronaldo selfish but it just means he has to do a lot more to get his goals.

A good 50 of those goal would not have happened were it not for intricate passing (pedro,iniesta,xavi) to basically gift it to Messi.
Put him in a different environment and he won't come close to being as fruitful and for me that's why he isn't the greatest.

I'm sorry but you are talking absolute bollocks. How can you call anyone a fanboy when he is accepted by many professionals in the game as the best ever. Even if he did play for Wigan and only scored half the goals... 46 that would still be far in excess of anyone in the league currently. That's outstanding. You are talking about a player here who is averaging more than a goal a game across the league and champions league.

What does he have to do score 200 goals a season? crap

 

[MattTheTiger]

Matt are you just a little fanboy?

The point about Zidane is that no matter where he went he was a legend.

You put Messi in Wigan's team and he'll be lucky to get half the goals in that video. He's only that fruitful because Barcelona have tailor made everything for him. The passing and vision is always to try and reach messi.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I'm saying everything is pretty much put on a plate or much as possible to make it as easy as possible for him.
People call Ronaldo selfish but it just means he has to do a lot more to get his goals.

A good 50 of those goal would not have happened were it not for intricate passing (pedro,iniesta,xavi) to basically gift it to Messi.
Put him in a different environment and he won't come close to being as fruitful and for me that's why he isn't the greatest.

Yes of course, what was I thinking? Rating the worlds best playe silly Matt! If coursr he'd struggle at any other team because he obviously doesn't score nothing but gifts. And that's not because he plays for the best team on the planet who happen to play the best football, but because his positional play is that dire he always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

Can't believe I'm not one of these people that think Ronaldos better because he scores long rangers against lesser teams but rarely performs in the big games.

I forgot I must slate Messi for being the best because his country haven't won the world cup even though international football is nothing compared to club football anyway. Silly Matt...

 

[The FRENCH TICKLER]

Fairly certain certain neither pele, best or cruyff played against norman hunter.

The gamrs got a lot faster though. Its all well and good saying that he wouldn't be as good but I doybt those players mentioned would get near Messi

Pele and Cruyff played against similar types for those who remember. Best played against all and more of the kind of names i mentioned and ran them ragged.

As for saying they would not get close to Messi is rubbish.

So you don't think he's that good because defenders can't kick the **** out of him? Maybe you should think about supporting rugby? The days of seeing career ending tackles and the "hard men" are thankfully over, the game is better for it.

The more skillful players from the current game would just run rings around the thugs of old, whose only response would be those leg breaking tackles.

That is why Messi would not be as good if he had played back then.

They wouldn't get near him.
I can't believe someone just put Messi in Norman Hunter in the same sentence.

I was using Norman Hunter as an example of the type of defender or thug as siome on here think. I would take Pele Best and Cryuff any day over Messi. Messi is todays player. Fitter and faster yes but more skilful ? doubtful. The fact is that todays defenders are not allowed to do anything. Leg breaking or not.

Sorry but that's bull****.

Defenders in your day wouldn't have got anywhere near Messi because they'd be too busy being drunk and overweight on the pitch. Football as a whole is a miles better standard than it was a few decades ago.

The view of the modern day football fan ^^^ this.