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Remember the older players had to perform on worse pitches and with less protection.
No, it's practically a different sport so direct comparisons are impossible to make.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.
They would be kicked off the park playing the rules 20 years ago while dominate playing the rules today.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.
Now it’s better everything. Better pitches, more protection, better conditioning, better coaching, better lifestyles, more money. Every advantage for the skilledIsn't that also evened out by the fact the quality of football was much much worse too though?
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
I agree. It’s how George Grahams Woolwich won a doubleI 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.
Now it’s better everything. Better pitches, more protection, better conditioning, better coaching, better lifestyles, more money. Every advantage for the skilled
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.
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.
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.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
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.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.
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.Now it’s better everything. Better pitches, more protection, better conditioning, better coaching, better lifestyles, more money. Every advantage for the skilled