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Impossible argument. One of: Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Cruyff, Maradona, Best, Matthews, etc etc. Remember the older players had to perform on worse pitches and with less protection. I think we have recently been privileged to witness the Messi Ronaldo eras
Isn't that also evened out by the fact the quality of football was much much worse too though?
No, it's practically a different sport so direct comparisons are impossible to make.
Watch an 80s game and you may question the quality but also that the games would be 5 vs 5 with the amount of red cards.
All the penalties in the final extremely unlikely to be given in the 80s but the goals are all included in GOAT discussions.
I reckon a lower quality relegation battling Premier League team today would compete for a title 20 years ago. Which is quite crazy really isn't it for an evolution of a sport.
They would be kicked off the park playing the rules 20 years ago while dominate playing the rules today.
Give a preseason or so for man u 2000 and they would compete.
The big change is Pele to Maradona. Pele the average distance covered by players was about 4k, same with Maradona when he started but when Maradona finished it was 10k+ and he excelled in both versions.
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Now it’s better everything. Better pitches, more protection, better conditioning, better coaching, better lifestyles, more money. Every advantage for the skilled
He's got Neil's seal of approval.
It’s impossible to say if he’s the greatest of all time, you can’t compare the era he’s played in to that of Cruyff, Maradona, Pele, Best etc
But in terms of this generation, he’s absolutely the greatest player I’ve ever seen. Ronaldo is a finely tuned athlete, a physical monster. Messi is gifted with something I’ve never seen in anyone else
But in terms of this generation, he’s absolutely the greatest player I’ve ever seen. Ronaldo is a finely tuned athlete, a physical monster. Messi is gifted with something I’ve never seen in anyone else
100% this. Undoubtedly one of the greats. Will let others argue over who is the greatest of the greatest.
We have been lucky to have seen him play against Spurs too.
Not sure where I first saw the term he’s like an alien come to play football.
But it definitely described the different level he’s at on the pitch to others.
The video footage of him as a kid here is staggering. He's tiny, clearly much smaller than the other lads but he dribbles through them as though they are not even there. Nobody seeing this live could doubt his was an other worldly talent.
Charly Rexach deserves a medal as well. Agreed to bring a 13 year old midget to Barcelona when plenty of others would have said forget it, the kid's far too small.
I don't believe in god but there is something fated about his rise to the top of football. He's just a genius.
I agree. It’s how George Grahams Woolwich won a double
The advantage for the skilled back then though was surely that everyone else round them was pretty much lacklustre.
Whereas today, your decent player would likely be world class in 1960.
Fuck me, imagine prime Aaron Lennon playing in the 1970s. You'd think England would have produced a fucking Garrincha regen.
I don’t think you understand football at all.
Alright Bernard Matthews.
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It's hard to really put them in the same category as Messi, football in that time was a lot less professional. Some of the "defending" in all these players' highlights is hilarious.
Complete disorganisation, lack of athleticism and some of them look like they were running on slippery ice, I don't know if their studs were a bit shit or what, but it looks so amateurish.
An environment like that has a lot more variance and individual players can thrive. Today's football is like a top end sports car, there's very little room for improvement or for the very best to stand out from the rest. It's absurd how Messi makes such elite, professional athletes look like amateurs.
I've been watching /following football for over 55 years, and find subjective questions like this 'the greatest player ever' ridiculous.
This Topic (Messi - The Greatest Player Ever), was created 7 years ago.
The first reply was, "who cares?, would be pointless comparing great players from the past, different era different game" That should have been the end of it. But no, 76 pages and 7 years later...
This Topic (Messi - The Greatest Player Ever), was created 7 years ago.
The first reply was, "who cares?, would be pointless comparing great players from the past, different era different game" That should have been the end of it. But no, 76 pages and 7 years later...
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Oliver Skipp's Norwich side from season before last would look like a top "total football" side in Cruyff's era, but their sleek passing couldn't keep up with the pace and power of the PL.
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Completely the opposite. In every field of human endeavour you see convergence, not divergence as things become more professional, and more fine tuned. People are working tirelessly to eke out a fraction of an advtange over their rivals.
People start to discover what works and what doesn't. You go from all sorts of different concepts to everyone adopting what works. E.g. Panes, cars, ships etc. all used to have wildly different shapes and sizes, you had dozens of different engines, suspensions etc. but nowadays they're all the same except for niche use cases.
Same is happening with football.