I wasn't as impressed as some on here were, I thought he absolutely should at least have had a goal and assist. It's strange to read the praise when Neymar is so disliked around here, and I usually find it a bit harsh but this time I find the praise a bit much for all the chances he's missed and the last chance where he could have laid it off to Mbappe for an easy goal and got dispossessed trying to go on his own. Yeah, he's a great player, but people should know that already, I expected more from him tonight but to be fair he's not had much match fitness, and I think he's going to keep going up in strength if he doesn't get hurt against St-Etienne or something before the semi-final.
The natural successor: Has Neymar blown it?
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He an outrage of a footballer, simply magnificent. Almost doesn't deserve to be clinical.
Apart from Messi, is there a better player to watch than Neymar when he gets going (which is almost all the time btw), the way he can change any move into dangerous one is just brilliant.
I hope we will see more players like this than the robots.
I hope we will see more players like this than the robots.
When he was too short to get the ball? Yeah he could have moved better but that's not a missed 1v1.
No he hasn’t because there was no 1 to play against. Missed an open net. Along with another sitter which was 1 v 1.
In full flight he is a joy to watch but does bottle scoring chances when it matters.
He's thoroughly unlikeable but on his day he's totally unplayable. I'd say Messi and Ronaldinho are the only ones who are in the same bracket of natural talent as him over the past 20 years or so.
He's kinda like a more talented and more aggravating version of Pogba. Their off field antics can drive you crazy but when they turn it on the pitch, there aren't many better sights in today's game.
He's kinda like a more talented and more aggravating version of Pogba. Their off field antics can drive you crazy but when they turn it on the pitch, there aren't many better sights in today's game.
He set up all 3 goals to win that won them tie. Yeah he missed chances but he directly helped them win the match ultimately and performed great overall.
As for your broader point, I agree he isn't the sucessor due to his age and injuries. He has surpassed CR7 as the second best player in the world and on his day is as good as Messi but he's more of an interim successor. Mbappe/Haaland will be the successors and possibly a couple of others but I think both don't quite have the talent to match Ronaldo/Messi.
Seemed to play really well. Some of those chances weren't as easy as they seemed. For example the first one-on-one, it was a slow pass to him where Neuer had already cut out a lot of his angles by the time he got the ball.
He's better than both Messi and Ronaldo at this point. I agree with your broader point.
Yeah, he pretty much missed one chance where he was odds on to score.
I think so as well. If every player today were at his absolute best, only Messi would stand out as better than Neymar.
I wonder whether he's being underrated due to his off-the-pitch antics because he's simply sensational.
He is underrates because he blew it playing in France. Great players need to play in the best leagues. For hype too. Has to be the premier league or Madrid/barca/munich.
Definitely. If he carried himself the way Ronaldhinio did, he'd be celebrated. And the PSG move doesn't help of course.
We seem to have different opinions, but imo he missed a lot of good chances, let’s put it like this. He was creative and all, but in the end they didn’t score. It’s hard for me to say he was amazing when he screw up so many good opportunities.
No he is not.
I absolutely agree that on his day he’s amazing. But to be compared to Messi and Ronaldo it’s about making impact over a long period of time. Like being the player that made the difference for your team to win 4-5 Champions league titles. It also doesn’t help to play in a team, which already when he arrived, won the domestic league every year.
I think it's superficial to only look at trophies. You can be the best footballer in the world without winning a single title. The argument you currently bring up looks nice only on the surface.
Yes maybe if you play in Napoli or Leicester, but if you play in a team like PSG, I would say you need to produce some output to be mentioned in the discussion of the best player of all time.
It seems absolutely insane to be talking someone up as one of the very best players ever (like Messi/Ronaldo) when he isn’t even the best player on his own team.
I think it's a bit harsh to criticize him for not winning the UCL when PSG usually crashes out when Neymar is injured. I read yesterday that the only KO match Neymar lost with PSG is the final against Bayern. Not sure if that's true but even if it isn't, there's a clear tendency to be seen here. In general, knockout tournaments like the UCL are so reliant on luck that it's very difficult to use not winning it as a stick to beat a player. Even the most dominant winners like Pep's Barca could've gone out with a little less luck in key situations.
Also, the one thing is legacy and the other is quality. And quality-wise, I only see Messi ahead of Neymar. No player outside these two can have a game like he had yesterday, even if he didn't score.
I don't think anyone is making the argument that he's on a par with Ronaldo/Messi over the course of his/their careers - certainly not me. I was just disagreeing with your original point that he didn't have an impact yesterday/over the two legs just because he didn't get on the scoresheet.
Just to add to this. Based on last night’s game you could argue he was PSG’s third best player. Di Maria has a good case for being a better performer on the night.
Hernadez blocked the pass through to Mbappe with excellent positional defending. Neymar was clearly looking for that pass and even his attempted dribble was only to make room for the pass I think. That’s all.
Mbappe and Di Maria were quality last night and all three had great performances but it's one game, if you watch them regularly Neymar is usually a notch above Mbappe and comfortably better than Di Maria - he is the best player on his team. I'm sure the majority of PSG fans would agree.
Messi can't do anything in big games these days and Ronaldo is stuck in a battle for 4th in serie a and didn;t even move the needle vs Porto.
Fair enough. I don’t watch PSG regularly. Just find it weird seeing that game used as endorsement of his status up alongside Messi/Ronaldo.
No way, he was the best player on the pitch. He was making things happen front improbable situations all night.
Yeah I'd say so. Nobody else has his ability to tear up an elite defence like he does. He's just in that limbo stage where the performances are there, he just needs to deliver it at the business end of a tournament to coronate the crown and gain the wider recognition.
They lost the tie in the first leg buddy where he did nothing.
Literally a couple of weeks ago
That is literally my point.
In a heartbeat! Currently in his prime and he would massively improve us. Issues would be he tends to pick up a few injuries every season, primarily down to how much beating he gets from opposition players and the same would happen in the PL! If he was to sign a new deal, PSG won't be desperate for cash and if they agree to sell he would cost us at least around the fee PSG paid Barca for him, which is around £200m. With other areas of the pitch needing a fix too, would we really shell that much out on him?
Only way I see us signing Neymar would be if he doesn't sign a new deal and letting his contract run down and we sign him next summer on a free (his salary etc would still be insane and would cost us a lot like Sanchez). But for that to happen he would want to come to us over the likes of Barca and Real, which I doubt sadly
Just a cheating brat. Hope he never wins anything
Your first sentence is one comma too long.
I don't think its controversial anymore to say that Messi and Ronaldo are no longer the best in the world. They are good for their ages, but the rest are in their prime.
Messi and Ronnie are in their mid thirties so that’s no surprise. You can no way compare Neymars career to those two, he’s way off.
He is the best player on his own team. If you watch PSG regularly, it’s undeniable.
Quality wise he is absolutely one of the best, even if his availability due to injuries and red cards is not so good atm.
His game yesterday, I don't agree at all., but that could of course be a question of how we define quality. An attacking player in a team that score no goals might have been ok/good but not a top quality performance imo. Its like a CB who had a great game, apart from two mistakes that cost two goals.
OK, understand. I meant impact over time, not just one single game in the CL.
Not sure what playing for Bayern would prove given how they dominate their league.
Right so you've gone from Messi can't do anything in big games to Messi can't do everything in all games.
Either way, he also scored a penalty that he helped win in the first leg and set up a couple of chances.
Messi is the only player where he can score in both legs, including a wonder goal and people will come out and say he didn't perform
Anyway I don't want to derail the thread further