ITT: LEO 'KING' MESSI

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.

he's like a glorified ritchie humphreys

ronaldinho 04/05 vs messi 09/10 tho.

nah fuck it i'm a major ronaldinho stan and everything but it's messi

wow, arsenal defending there is pretty lol.

guy on the bbc sport text commentary yesterday statically proved that mike newell was better than messi.

fourth hat trick of the new year

there are some aspects where even now ronaldinho is superior - his vision from deeper positions and manipulation of the ball at close quarters (not when running).

since messi began playing predominantly in this sort of false-10 position he is showing his understanding of the game is or at least has become superb, it's tempting to privilege ronaldinho's capacity for wtf moments like the toepunt vs chelsea or the chip to giuly vs milan but those are only a small part of a playmaker's job.

a lot of the time it's to elect instantly from several fairly obvious options, none of them especially esoteric and messi's instinct here is uncannily good.

similarly his sangfroid in 1v1's is exceptional, better even than the best 'pure' finishers i can think of and unlike his mesmeric dribbling that is a facet of his game that others could at least hope to emulate but they simply don't.

so when lj was saying messi does 80% of the time what craig fagan does 2% of the time or whatever that is kinda true but i don't think it diminishes his greatness at all, in some respects it even enhances my respect for him because it shows the quality of his thought and aptitude for learning rather than simply getting by on whatever freakish neuroanatomical gifts he was born with.

when lj was saying messi does 80% of the time what craig fagan does 2% of the time or whatever

yeah tbh in what way is this not a magnificent compliment? consistency of brilliance is an outstandingly rare trait in any field.

never got the ronaldinho hype. he does tricks, I guess. messi is the real deal.

is there an 04/05 ronaldinho highlight reel?

just look up his top 10 goals on youtube, mostly from that era iirc.

well, messi is clearly amazing at the moment but I still have fond memories or roni at his best.
I remember a game against real when he scored 2 goals IN A ROW (I mean scores / kick off / runs / scores. he got iker/real disgusted/amazed and he got bernadeu cheering for a barca player !).

the 3rd goal right after the kick off following his 2n goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H0vdHfVMhk&feature=related

sorry "bernabeu" !

lopped gif of casillas at .14 pls someone

yes lopped, i want him decapitated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cflrToeqq0E

when lj was saying messi does 80% of the time what craig fagan does 2% of the time or whatever

yeah tbh in what way is this not a magnificent compliment? consistency of brilliance is an outstandingly rare trait in any field.

― Jesse James Woods (darraghmac), Wednesday, 7 April 2010 16:21 (54 minutes ago) Bookmark

I said this to dispel the notion that Messi is a supernatural event, but yes, it is a massive compliment. The guy doesn't put his feet wrong much at the moment.

I am merely a little bored by how it is always him who can operate at such a level - his brilliance has become cliche, and it would be good to see it countered by equal brilliance from others - but in this complaint I concede he is at a level well beyond anyone else atm

i beat three men and lobbed the goalie in half-height goals last monday, tbh when i do that it's a supernatural event, when messi does it it 'o that messi lol' so the fact that he's still impressing people is a sign of his talent.

speaking to a fabled tough nut full back of yesteryear (he's 65) today at work, and the wistful tone in which he spoke of the violence he would once have done upon messi was beautiful to behold.

are left footed strikers common?

― armando white (dyao), Wednesday, 7 April 2010 16:14 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

More often than anywhere but left back. You are even more likely to see a left footed striker than a left winger, such is the modern game's way that lw are asked to come inside ala pires a lot more these days. Messi is def. 2 footed though. At times I think he has a 3rd one somewhere but this is a theory i've yet to prove.

Ronaldinho from 03-05 was pure joy, if only he didn't make a drunken twat out of himself, to think what he could have done in the past five years.

lj- is yr opinion on usain bolt the same?

obv if anyone deliberately injures Messi I will be up in arms - not for the act so much as the artistic statement - very poor taste

Usain Bolt is awesome and great and has a lovely personality - but he's in a sport where statistics are everything, and he has destroyed all the statistics - he has, literally, proved himself the best *possible* at the moment - Messi plays a team sport where he simply does very good things with great consistency - Bolt's runs don't really have a football analogue

I am merely a little bored by how it is always him who can operate at such a level

bored of the rankings table while ignoring the activities being ranked?

nobody's asking you to do it, nobody else is doing it, it's serving no apparent purpose and it's missing the point completely.

enjoy, there's no way that he'll play at this level for much longer.

that first shot is so sick, so is the forward pass of the head on the third goal, and the fake-right deke to the first defender on the fourth goal

bolt's got to do one thing right for < 10 seconds, and the entertainment is in the perfection of execution.

messi, yeah there's something in the perfection of execution, but the creativity and flair and the sheer unexpectedness of some of his maves?

different levels imo. messi is bolt in 3D.

xp yeah i think the shot for the first goal is maybe the highlight, just ping

maves = moves, obv.

different levels imo. messi is bolt in 3D.

I am not saying Bolt is a more entertaining or watchable sportsman - but in his discipline, he is indisputably the GOAT and the joy of watching him is in observing how far ahead of his peers he is. With Messi, it's not how far ahead of his peers, it's how easily he conquers his peers. Football is a game of direct combat and synergy, running is a game of linear excellence, and neither are anything less than 3D. Bolt's defining moments were as unexpected as anything Messi does - and as nakhchivan says, Messi isn't so much one for the 'WTF DID HE DO THERE MIND IS BLOWN' move as the 'SHIT HE KEEPS NAILING THAT' move

'SHIT HE KEEPS NAILING THAT'

pretty sure this is ashley cole ur thinking of, tbh

http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/images_6/Bolt3D.jpg

smh @ u lj

dude i'm not disputing messi's excellence - i'm basically arguing a very tenuous contrarian position but one that's wary of bestowing every absolute under the sun upon messi, when he is far from transcending football, merely the players currently up against him

one could argue that transcending all yr contemporaries is transending yr discipline but w/e. basically you are bein a challopy cap'n save-everyone-else-who-plays-football

also when a player KEEPS NAILING THAT it's a sign of greatness. a handful of amazing moves or goals or whatever isn't.

there is a reason that MJ is a great and all the dudes from the And1 videos aren't.

speaking to a fabled tough nut full back of yesteryear (he's 65) today at work, and the wistful tone in which he spoke of the violence he would once have done upon messi was beautiful to behold.

^^^ important post

also when a player KEEPS NAILING THAT it's a sign of greatness

I have at no point claimed Messi is not a great! He's a massive great! But he's not, I believe, a singularity. Also caek otm :D

i'm very drunk though

the ankle shattering 'challenge' by goikotxea on maradona will have to suffice yr bloodlust there, at least until saturday when sergio ramos will try to make up for failing to break messi's legs last time

would quite like to see ramos try to break messi's leg and break his own leg in the attempt

I'm still amused by the idea of Messi coming to the Prem and having to play against Stoke, Notlob and Birmingham. Hoping Chelski or Citeh dig deep and make the dream come alive.

But he's not, I believe, a singularity.

This is what gets me I think. Of an age where every game is televised, who else has performed so expertly in every match? Baggio? Zidane? Fat Ronaldo for a couple years? I can't really talk about these players but I dunno, for all the talk (much done by lol over enthusiastic me) of henry and dinho etc. even they had off days. Whereas Messi... well he looked like he was having an off day in the first half against Valencia earlier this year and scored a hatrick the second half...