ITT: LEO 'KING' MESSI

Who do they think he is, Owen Hargreaves?

to be fair to the Argentinians i don't think i've seen Messi do anything for the national team.

yeah he never scores beautiful important goals for argentina oh wait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IcOd8gdImg

obviously he still scores occasionally but i've seen him be totally anonymous a good few times.

Yeah kids do that, I think Maradona had one good game at the 1982 WC, aged 22. He wasn't anonymous though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefHf4Z2lnY

showing the speed of thought to go Souness two seconds after a high-foot incident

to go Souness

brilliantly phrased

According to Brazil's physical preparation specialists, at the time of that great Dutch side, players were running 5,000 metres per game. By the mid 90s this had doubled, and now some players are covering 13,000.

For all the talk of whether Messi can be considered one of the true greats, why is there never talk of whether pre-Cryuff players can? It must have been piss easy for Pele to play against defenders who never did anything. I mean louisAlan Hanson can talk about how 'easy' it is to play defences but would the current shiiiiite Burnley side whip the Brazil of the sixties because of phyiscal training alone?

(I'm not saying they would, or that the 60s Brazil weren't talented... it is just such a distance jump that for a player like Messi or Zidane to have such physical and technical ability as well as stamina and increased tactical ability to work so well when being tracked harder that they are technically doing double the work every match to say Garrincha or Eusebio...)

If those talented players of yesteryear had today's diet and training regimes wouldn't they still stand out?

60s Brazil were the first to take a scientific approach to diet & training & all that, so they might've been able to compete, but I reckon they'd've been ripped apart on tactical sophistication. As would Burnley to be fair. The Ajax and Holland Cruyff sides were the first properly modern sides I think.

imo there's no merit at all in comparing different eras of the sport.

but cf peter schmeichel pissing off bobby charlton with a 'we'd beat them 10-0' comment in ?1997? for further analysis.

john giles, as always, has the final word on the matter:

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/giles2.jpg

"You can only beat the team out in front of you, Bill"

imo there's no merit at all in qualitatively comparing different eras of the sport.

fixed for otm

well yeah fair enough.

seriously

maxwell slim hopes?

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0g1f89L2hf1bV/x610.jpg

Ossie Ardiles on BBC Radio 5 live: "For Lionel Messi, the World Cup coming up is so, so, so important. He says he would give up all his medals for a World Cup medal and this World Cup could be how he is remembered."

not the 14, 18 or 22 world cups ossie? why does e'erything have to be THING THAT HAPPENS RITE NOW? although i guess he may have lost his pace at 34 in the aussie heat.

itt leo king messi

but if bendtner could have put one or two away.....

arsenal were good out there tonight.

yeah we were alright but really whoever the opposition were didn't matter

yeah that's true

diaby though! he was pretty great. is he an attacking midfielder?

Leo "The Little Fella (© Andy Gray)" Messi

not reading thread but can we lock it please

also itt: karma

lol butthurt

From Pete, London, via text to 81111: "I seem to remember Steven Pienaar scoring a very similar goal to Messi's third also against Arsenal. Don't remember the hype."

dude in f365 mailbox reckons the ref was a major factor- i thought he was excellent tbh- arsenal's goal for a start, and although denilson's booking was a bad call i can't remember a better 90 mins form an official in a game this big.

well it was a bit lol europeans and their diving but yeah it was fine.

even usa ESPN is losing its shit over this 4 goal game from tonight/last night w/e

dude in f365 mailbox reckons the ref was a major factor- i thought he was excellent tbh- arsenal's goal for a start, and although denilson's booking was a bad call i can't remember a better 90 mins form an official in a game this big.

― Jesse James Woods (darraghmac), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 21:56 (Yesterday) Permalink

Yeah that's crazy talk, what decisions he did get wrong went against Arsenal iirc but they were miniscule. That said I don't think you have to be some sort of mecha-Hansen type figure to suggest that all of Barca's goals were preventable wrt positioning/not clearing the damn ball (maybe this has been said in reports, haven't read)

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/04Ir4FQ82q0t9/610x.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05JT80o3jvcSX/610x.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/09UedYRcfA9Lp/x610.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02Cg32Ff3z6ew/610x.jpg

Favorite unintentionally homoerotic sports imagery

this guys house is gonna have to get an extension from all the match balls he taking home

or you know his 5 yr old wish of living in a ball pit gonna be fulfilled soon enough

just watched the highlights and WTF dude is like controlling the game with an xbox 360

where are highlights?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTdO38N8XLI

pretty good quality

he's just so...offbeat that it puts opposing defenders out of their rhythm. kind of like boxing a southpaw. I dunno much about soccer but are left footed strikers common?

he can use both feet well iirc

also he gives hope to people like me cause I am also 5'7" and waiting for my chance to shine in a global futbol match

thanks dyao!

http://i35.tinypic.com/20ud6r7.jpg

they're not common but left footed forwards are somewhat more common than in the general population

sometimes it's an advantage but he has also been neutralized by right-footed defenders, who are often in a better position to take the ball from him when he comes from the right side of the field as he used to do 90% of the time

just watched the highlights and WTF dude is like controlling the game with an xbox 360

wenger says he's more like a playstation

your body is a playstation

his balance/use of his own body weight is amazing.

hope it is revealed that he does some sort of drunken boxing/carrying uneven weights type training in the offseason

there were a few years where i kinda lost interest in football but seeing him vs chelsea in (feb?) 2006 was probably the foremost factor in my renewed enthusiasm.....eto'o, deco and ronaldiho were fairly special too but this nervous looking kid with his hands in his sleeves runs at chelsea and o_0

the biophysical anomaly is a subject unto itself, since previous generation or so the elite players have largely conformed to a sort of ronaldo-henry type, 6'1/6'2, lithe but powerful and sprinter fast, which is unsurprising given they have to compete with increasingly athletic defenders etc

his fourth goal is siiiick

Maradonaesque I'd say - not that that's a great new insight or anything. I had never really seen it properly before last night, but there were a few occasions (inc the last goal I think) where a ruck of bodies came together around him and he emerged with the ball still stuck to his feet. He reminds me partly of Diego, but more so of Tom or Jerry when they go sleepwalking and manage to cross highways or construction sites with nary a scratch.

Except they do it really slowly, and Messi is fast.