Clubs of all sizes... wee and humongous - OTT [R]

Look man, you're usually right and spot on but in this case you're just wrong. sorry man

 

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/bal.../98/07/84/fboawardmenplayer2012-bycountry.pdf

List of Ballon d'or votes.

Some lolworthy ones there.

 

I disagree.

 

The captain of Georgia is a Top Red ....or Amdrag

 

Id like to see what Ronaldo's goals and assists tally is. There are also other statistics I'd like to see. Pass percentage. Pass percentage in forward passes, etc.

I'm sure Ronaldo would score a lot at Barcelona, but would he create as well as Messi? Keep possession? Close down?

I have to add, though, I think Iniesta is better than both of them.

 

Re: creating, keeping possession, clsoing down - i say yes. Theres really nothing cristiano cant do on a pitch and he is very coachable. When he was here, he followed fergies instructions to a T. Real play a counter attacking style thats not always organized or pretty on the eyes but Im conviced he could play tiki taka.

We do agree on Iniesta though. If I could choose any player to play for United, it would be him.

 

close down and ronaldo dont belong in the same sentence.

 

meh, he's never really been asked to do so on a consistent basis. again, i always thought he was very coachable and has the stamina to do it. at barça, he would press up like all the other forwards, no problem. he's not lazy.

 

I'm a huge Ronnie can but I have no problem admitting he would not match Messi's play at barca. I do think though that if their roles were reversed, Ronnie would be closest to optimal performance.

 

Maradona: single handedly (no pun intended) won the World Cup, and 4 years later reached the final game even though he wasn't the same due to injury.
Messi: Failed every competition with the national team.

Maradona: Single handedly led Napoli to their first league title, and their first domestic double. Then led them to their first European championship (UEFA Cup) and reached the final again the following year.
Messi: Has been surrounded by great players, they are as much responsible for his success as he is responsible for Barcelona's.

We can discuss this again when Messi goes to a small team and transforms them into domestic and European champions, and when he wins the World Cup.

 

Interesting ones:
Sneijder voted RVP #1
Gerrard voted Xabi Alonso #3
Someone voted for Balotelli!
Low voted for Ozil & Nauer
Prandelli voted for Pirlo and Buffon

 

are you shi**ing me??? where have you been? under a rock???

 

Some comedy going on in here alright. And we thought RAWK was bad.

 

Algeria voted for Benzema..

 

Are you surprised by this?

 

i meant in terms of your choice of words. singlehandedly and Maradona is a real play on words.

And yes, Maradona clearly handed Argentina the WC in 86.......

 

gala officially talking to inter re: sneijder. guess he wants that 200k at all costs.

 

Bild saying Sahin is 99% going back to Dortmund for 10 million.

How accurate are they ?

 

Perhaps, but there is no question that he was the stand-out performer, and by a distance. I don't think there is too much arguing against this. Mexico 86 is remembered as Maradona... and a couple hundred other players, nobody on any team from that tournament came even remotely close to his level, and in doing so he guided his team to victory - and not for lack of talent in the other squads. He did cheat to get the lead against England this is true, but he then followed it up with perhaps the greatest goal ever scored in any World Cup, which is also undeniable. He also scored the two goals to beat that quality Belgian team 2-0 in the quarters, and the sole Argentinian goal when they drew 1-1 with an Italian team, typically loaded with talent.

Messi on the other hand, failed to guide Argentina to much of anything in 2010. He failed to make them even competitive against Germany (4-nil), failed to score any goals, failed to produce any real memorable moments, failed to be particularly influential, and failed to stand out in any realistic way. He wasn't awful or anything, but he wasn't even one of the top 10 of the tournament... and the overall talent level of in 2010 was far, far lower than 1986 in the overall tournament, while Argentina were one of the most talented squads there.

Had Messi missed the WC through injury and somebody else taken his place, and had this replacement put in literally touch-for-touch identical performances to what Messi had, the (guts of the) football world would have lamented what could have been as [replacement player] failing to do what Messi unquestionably would have just proves further that Messi is the best in the world/GOAT. Because that was not Barcelona's Messi in South Africa.

Simple as, really. I don't even know why we are still arguing this, as we both clearly agree that Messi is most certainly not the GOAT, and perhaps not even the best player in the world at any point in the last few years.

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Also in qualifying they did finish top, but were 9 minutes away from having to go through the playoffs, as they would have finished behind Peru. That is coasting through.

 

by the looks of it 99%