I'm sorry but it has to be Messi, I struggle to consider the historical greats better due to the poor opposition they generally played against. Of course they are some of the most gifted players to ever play the game but they were playing against pub players 80% of the time.
If a player was the best of his generation in the past, he would be in modern times as well if he underwent modern training methods. Modern methods polish talent, but you have to have the talent in the first place.
Every single player..? I suggest we buy the entire Espanyol team then. We're obviously wasting our time with the cloggers we've got.
I probably already gave my opinion earlier in the thread but since it has been revived I will reiterate it I suppose, personally think this kind of conversation is always fairly fruitless as almost all will pick players from their era. Hence why I would have to vote for Messi, I've not seen any of the players from older generations in anything more comprehensive than highlight reels, how could I possibly call them the best player to have walked the earth? For that reason I chose Messi as he is the best player I have seen, and that's probably the reason he heads the list when in reality he probably is not deserving, or at least not by the margin that he leads by.
He kicked Mark Lawrenson in the face? My God, he should IMMEDIATELY be installed as favourite on this poll!
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have never proven themselves at international level so can't possibly be in the shake up for me. When I think of past eras I value International level over anything. I have to vote for Pele. Incredible amount of goals and assists at club and international level. Di Stefano was also up there for me. He would defend a lot. Sometimes the furthest player back to defend and would drop deep to pick up the ball. And on top of that obviously scored plenty goals and had plenty of assists.
I think you have to forget what levels they've "proven" themselves at. Messi has so far been part of a sub-par Argentina team, and it's not really fair that that could detract from his ability. What's Giggs ever done at international level? Not a lot, but that's hardly his fault. If you know anything about football, you should be able to judge their ability without looking at their achievements. I don't think there's ever been anyone who could do as much with the ball as Messi, though Pele probably comes close.
They aren't sub-par at all in terms of attackers. It's amazing desperation to compare him to Giggs and Wales. That's laughable. Some attackers Messi would have played with in internationals: Tevez, Aguero, Higuain, di Maria, Milito, Crespo, Maxi Rodriguez, Banega, Lavezzi. That's just quickly off the top of my head. Yet you're comparing him with Giggs?! Messi has the same goals per game record at international level as Rooney but is worse at linking with other players and doesn't work as hard when his team loses the ball. England haven't had anywhere near as many world class attackers as I've listed above. Messi has been extremely poor in internationals for a player some people claim is the greatest player ever.
They've haven't made it past the World Cup quarter-finals since 1990. They haven't made it past the Copa America quarter-finals since 1993. For Argentina, that is sub-par. What confuses me most, however, is how you think I'm somehow comparing Messi to Giggs, and despite how I made it pretty clear I don't think a player should be judged on international achievements, you seem to have taken that to mean the exact opposite.
I haven't been evesdropping, just modding, but I swear you've been misunderstood at least 3 times in the last few days.
