It was more of a flippant comment on my part- I don't doubt he's an Argie and I hope he wins the big one this time.
Lionel Messi | PSG Watch
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Argentina looked really good today after the nerves of the first 2 games.
Alvarez and Enzo have to start, Alvarez's pace is a threat and Enzo offers good passing through the lines.
Alvarez and Enzo have to start, Alvarez's pace is a threat and Enzo offers good passing through the lines.
Nothing!
I think he sees him as a messi-ah
Which is why I don't want to praise it because he is still capable of a lot better. He missed a penalty, he missed an almost open goal chance (99% of the time he scores these types of goals), he was through on goal once but got caught very easily and quickly. No this was not a vintage performance. His passing was good but that is always good.
There are dozens of other players who can play games as good as Messi did today. If Messi was in Lewandowski's shoes today he wouldn't have had a sniff either. It is a lot easier when all play is in the final third of the pitch. A 7/10 what I posted earlier seems about right.
Poland was disgracefully bad. Why shouldn't they be able to do what Saudi Arabia did? These guys all play in their own country, several levels below the leagues the Polish players play in. Pure cowardly scared performance, they didn't even try to win the ball back let alone go forward.
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another butthurt
He's been lively tonight (penalty aside) but I fear that a good team will manage to mark him out of the game, unless he goes up a level. His vision is there and but his pace is seemingly gone. Messi from three years ago would've destroyed this Poland team.
Muted him months ago
Why do people like to swim in the utter swamp that Twitter is?
Because they want higher levels of toxicity
With Messi it's the little things he does so often that is easily taken for granted. He played 3-4 sumptuous diagonal balls to Ortega in the left side of the penalty box and any one of them could have been an assist. Also, an excellent through-ball which probably should have been converted. It's not talked about because it's just a regular occurance in his game. The way he strolls into spaces instead of running there because it's easier to escape someone's peripheral vision if the movement isn't sudden. The way seemingly every pass is a momentum-creating one, with always the right weight to progress the move forward. Or just the give and go's where he slides it into a player and runs onto the return ball. There's always something positive.
Yeah I dont think its the most impressive statistic considering who he has played for over his career but its still good for a pub quiz fact I guess.
Ronaldo's claiming goals trying to take them away from his own teammates...............meanwhile.........
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Messi has more team trophies. More Ballon D’Ors. More European Golden Shoes. Better goal/match and assist/match ratio.
This WC? Messi decided the Mexico match, and despite his missed penalty he played his best overall match in that very same game.
Ronaldo is still on a single penalty goal + throwing a hissy fit and cry calling Piers Morgan for not being credited for a 2nd goal.
This season? Ronaldo has 4 goals and 3 assists for club and country in 20 matches, Messi has 19 goals and 16 assists in 25 matches.
Laughable that some Ronaldo fans pretend Ronaldo is still comparable to the best let alone Messi.
This WC? Messi decided the Mexico match, and despite his missed penalty he played his best overall match in that very same game.
Ronaldo is still on a single penalty goal + throwing a hissy fit and cry calling Piers Morgan for not being credited for a 2nd goal.
This season? Ronaldo has 4 goals and 3 assists for club and country in 20 matches, Messi has 19 goals and 16 assists in 25 matches.
Laughable that some Ronaldo fans pretend Ronaldo is still comparable to the best let alone Messi.
Nice touch
He was very good today. Some of those touches and passes were fantastic. He played a few terrific looping passes early to Acuna who did feck all with them. Immediately you felt he had that control and influence over this game.
The issue is that with his age/ legs and the quality of this team they will not be able to handle the first proper team they play.
The issue is that with his age/ legs and the quality of this team they will not be able to handle the first proper team they play.
Again, a solid fair assessment.He was good, Argentina were ridiculously dominant. De Paul 145 passes for heaven’s sake
He also got caught up in multiple foot races like never before, was very slow releasing the ball on plenty occasions, and missed another pen.
A solid 7.5 performance.
But apparently that was a religious experience and him being the best player in the World.
People lose their minds with these pair.
It’s standard practice to lump the 2 of them on the same side of the spectrum, just to counter balance the narrative. People almost forget that Messi has even “passed” a penalty kick allowing Suarez to complete his hattrick.
Staying on topic, if Dybala were playing, he would probably be first choice. But looking at those numbers, it’s clear as day that the others aren’t great themselves.
He's scored hundreds of goals, made hundreds of assists, won numerous trophies, and has a highlight reel of stunning goals, passes, dribbles and outrageous skill that puts every other player in the world to shame. He could have retired years ago and he'd have still been the most talented player to ever kick a ball. What's this need to micro analyse him on a game by game basis as if that has any relevance to how highly he's rated in the sport?
Because this is basically a performance thread, not a "who is the GOAT?" thread.
I'm.no Ronaldo fanboy but he's almost 38. Messi would be moving with the speed of a turtle by then. Not much use comparing them in retirement ages.
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I also don’t think think I’ve seen a single poster comparing the other bloke to the best currently.
Mac Allister is an Argentinian name?
He is of Irish & Scottish descent..Mac Allister is an Argentinian name?
Dozens means a minimum of 24? Would you name which names are going through your head?
"I remember everyone called me Colo, which is 'ginger' in Argentina. I don't like it much and Messi told the teammates, 'He doesn't like to be called Colo, so don't call him that!'"
Even off field, Messi fights for the oppressed and Gingers, true goat
Messi doesn't need speed or physical attributes. He's technically a lot better than Ronaldo, when goals dry up Messi can still contribute to a football game, Ronaldo just can't, when you age and lose your physical attributes what's left is your ability on the ball and Messi still has that and will never lose it. If he did decide to play at 38 he'll still be a better footballer than Ronaldo at 34-36.
In fact, some of the passes Messi was playing today, Ronaldo couldn't do in the prime of his career....
Sorry I will just disagree, everything seems to go to shit with age, including first touch and get your body to align with your anticipation. Neither Xavi or Iniesta went on beyond 35 and 34. Zidane retired at 34. It happens to everyone including the best. Yeah they could probably keep playing at lesser and lesser clubs but the greatest don't want to apart from going to the mls or other non leagues to cash in.
There are about 1 billion Messi vs Ronaldo threads on the internet where the fanboys of both camps bore each other to death with stats. Why don't you go there?
Zidane retired at 34 but was probably still the best player on the planet, if he didn't get that red in the final and won the penalty shootout he would've won the Balon D'or that year. Xavi and Iniesta decided to leave Barca and most Barca fans will tell you that they left too early, they chose to leave and give the keys to the team to Messi and the new generation. Modric is still going strong at 37, Busquets is getting a new contract at 34. Benzema just won the Balon D'or. Of course when you reach 38 it is different but Modric is fundamentally a lot better than Ronaldo technically which is why he's 37 and still does the things he does with the ball.
Absolutely love this version of old man Messi walking around, bursting to life in bits, and still looking levels above most of the players on the pitch.
He was alright. A bit selfish at times and it's funny how wank he is at pens
Yeah you'd imagine that brain would have more than just "I'm going to hit it hard and to the side" going on as it jogs up.
That said, Chesney is a monster at pens.
I think the whole penalty thing is a brillant example of how different measuring sticks are applied to Messi. Apparently he has a conversion rate of 77.2% which is slightly above average (~75%). So nothing exceptional but not bad either. Ronaldo by the way has 83.4%, which is indeed exceptionally good.
I dont know how anyone can watch current Messi and see how much he has declined. In infrequent bursts he can look closer to the his younger self but in general his deline is pretty visible. Everyone have different milage. He wants to retire while still somewhat on top. Recency bias is very real. Players with the status odlf someone like Messi doesnt want hang around just because he can still do a job. Busquets has been average for a long time now. Just because he got a new contract it doesnt mean much. Messi is one of the top earners in football, hes expected to perform like one of the best consistently. There is lowered expectations for players not in the running for best ever.
You don't have to take everything literally, you can't deny there are a bunch of midfield players who are capable of replicating the match Messi had yesterday. At man utd we have Eriksen who has played matches at that level this season at united. Fred even had a great game in midfield a few weeks ago against Spurs (8,4/10 here and this is not an exaggeration).
We have Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne who play like this (and better at times) week in week out. There is Alcantara, Kimmich, Musiala, Foden. I mean really with only watching 1 or 2 football matches a week I can name a lot of players playing at that level at this moment...
I cannot say any longer that Messi is the single greatest player in the world for a couple of years now. I also cannot name someone else. After the extreme heights Messi reached in his prime everyone else feels disappointing and this includes current Messi as well.
I'm guessing you meant to say this.
I would definitely agree with you too , he's a shadow of the player he was at his peak right now.
It's just a testament to his outrageous talent that even with his physical decline he is frequently the best player on the pitch (at least for Argentina).
Well if Eriksen or Fred played the game yesterday there is no way we would be calling it "decent", people would be bending over backwards to praise the performance.
Messi is just judged to a higher standard.