ITT: LEO 'KING' MESSI

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...

didn't he have a day off recently at the emirates though?

He was still pretty good in that game. Ok not 4 goals good but he alone took Song, Clichy and Denilson out of the game just by lol good positioning and playmaking.

lionel messi is the undisputed best player in the world, an opinion that's pretty much unanimous within the game at the moment. that's pretty rare.

tbh last year i didn't think anyone would challenge c ronaldo for sheer effectiveness for years to come (while admitting that i have always preferred purely technical players like messi/berbatov/modric), let alone surpass him.

next year it could be someone else, so i do get a little of what lj's saying. but i still don't think that his level of talent is anything to get blasé about.

this is going to seem paranoid but w/e the times have two articles about messi today

Could this be as good as it gets for Lionel Messi?
What a shame if Diego Maradona wastes the genius of Lionel Messi at 2010 World Cup

neither are rly bad articles but it's like they want to hope/pretend this is some ephemeral spark of brilliance which will shortly fizzle out so they can ignore it and go back to fussing over steven gerrard again

well even when cr7 was undoubtably the best, messi was only 2nd best because of injuries. only players that look like they are gonna be in touching distance in the next five years, unless some absolute gem comes out the woodwork, are cesc, rooney and cr9? i mean for as great as pato and kun are, this is a whole diff level- a level messi has been on since he was 16.

iniesta, kaka

i got love for wes sneijder too tbh, even if he doesn't quite hit that list yet.

oh and obviously i dispute rooney wholeheartedly. kevin gallagher scored 30 goals in 1997 iirc.

these names are all good but w/e

c ronaldo got close when messi had injuries/barca were in their late-rijkaard slump

that's it

forgetting bentdner, obviously

only players that look like they are gonna be in touching distance in the next five years, unless some absolute gem comes out the woodwork, are cesc, rooney and cr9?

I'd place Ribery and possibly Robben (despite his advancing years) in the list at touching distance. Maybe they don't stand out as much in a team full of effective team players.

Worth noting that apart from Cesc, anyone else on the list is around four years (i.e. a round of international tournaments) older than Messi.

didn't think rooney/c ronaldo were that old?

25 to Messi's 22. 3 is around 4 :)

Wait Rooney's only 24, though he was 40.

thought*

ah this is depressing. dumb fat dude 5 years younger than me is a billionaire

Could this be as good as it gets for Messi?

Times article pointing out that the top players are ever-younger nowadays. LJ will be delighted. Though the top players were supposed to be ever-taller and ever-stronger too, and Messi's seen those chumps off.