Yeah, that's definitely true. I probably was a bit harsh against Neymar in the heat of the moment, primarily because I disliked the fact that Neymar allowed it to drag on until the very end of the transfer window - therefore making it more difficult for Barca to sign a lesser player, but necessary replacement for Neymar. In any case, I hope that Neymar is a big hit in the Champions League - the CL desperately needs another club not named Real Madrid and/or Barcelona.
apparently you took this statement out of context without relevance to the rest of the conversation. i made this comment because someone said that dani alves pass accuracy was not very good. in addition, i made this statement because it is contradictory to the myth that messi could not do anything (score goals) without the help of xavi and iniesta. dani alves having more assist shows how good his passing accuracy is, especially when you consider the fact the xavi and iniesta are the 2 players that play right behind messi in a team that favors to create plays down the middle even when spaces are tight as opposed to playing outside and making crosses.
While I agree, I don't think the likes of PSG should be the types of clubs we aspire to break this 'hegemony'. It's actually worse than the present structure we are maligning. It's state-controlled clubs breaking up mega-clubs that are owned by 'socios', aka the people. It's like trading a bad case of gonorrhea for cancer, the latter being potentially corrosive and destructive on an entirely different scale. I hope Neymar, PSG, and the rest of these oil-funded, state-supported ventures crash and burn, but the state of affairs only seem to be going increasingly that way.
The fact you think i attacked you is your business... nevertheless how somebody should take the point that you said that he is not making those type of passes because it is not his role to do so? He plays each game 90 minutes, he gets in contact with the ball more than 30 times per game and if he was seeing them and knew he was capable of producing the type of pass to make his vision come true, he would do it 10 out of the 10 times, because that's benificial for his team. Since he is not doing that on regular basis conclusion comes naturally. That's were it stops. It is closed statement. I see you getting all phylosophical about it to defend your claims. I am not looking for productive discussion because there is nothing productive that could led from your rambling about what it means or what it doesn't mean. I am just stating what you are clearly wrong about. How many contexts are there to "despite being a full back"? I am not saying you are wrong, i am just further clarifying your claims. Fullbacks and wide midfielders generally average more assists than central midfielders. That's my claim Passing accuracy is passing accuracy, it is a stat and it is independent of assists, but i see your point. You are talking about usefulness of each pass
Do you think we deserve anything else? Barcelona basically won 2 ucls with la masia and how many people are actually appriciating the results? I reckon City will be high up there with PSG as a new serious contender for UCL.
What an ugly comment! why you want to crash and burn Neymar? because he wants more money or because he's an ambitious player who want to step out of Messi's shadow, what crime does Neymar commit exactly that make you feel that Neymar deserving crash and burn? where is your humanity? Did you feel the same about B. Silva and Man City? or it's different scenarios. If it's something we learned about you guys on this board, is a nation of cry-babies, of course you are free to be anti Neymar, anti anything you don't like, it's ok for you to be anti Neymar, which is fine by the way except for 'crash and burn' part, but why alot of you guys are complaining everytime about anti CR7 then starting saying why you hate my ronaldo, you are just anti portugal, why you make me mad and sad! although it's all about criticise his football and ridicule through his behavior, you'll never see any poster hoping CR7 crash and burn! more than 10 years ago, of all people on earth you guys are the most who laughing about Greece and mocking their ugly football, now you still don't get it about people criticising unattractive ugly Portugal winning the euros, yelling so loud saying why the world hate us? hilarious haha
lol oh no, you think my comment is 'ugly', @comme can you delete it accordingly? I sincerely regret it now. Fact is, I think Neymar's transfer is a pure representation of everything that is wrong with the sport. And yes, I don't like Neymar because of it. Messi, if he wanted to, could receive ungodly sums of money, relative to his current Barcelona contract. He doesn't, due to his virtues and morals, both seemingly towards life and the sports in general, of which I value and appreciate. I like Messi, relative to what I know of him, as a person and a footballer. From what I see, I'd rather hang out with him in reali life over CR7. But... I really don't care for Neymar. For me he's a rare example of someone who is both extremely talented and purveying to the worst aspects of the sport, of which is not uncommon of Brazilian players. How many of them end up like Messi/CR7, reaching their maximum talent capacity? Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, etc. all recent examples of such players that failed to reach their potential due to their inability to overcome some respective trait of theirs. I don't care if this statement offends you or anyone else, I'm concerned with the truth and if you could present examples that are contrary to what I just stated I'd like to hear it. I don't think Neymar is an inherently bad person but, from the information available to the public, he seems to be the type of footballer that is very self-centered and void of any actual 'team'-focused ambitions, of which I consider crucial in this sport. For that, his crucial, centered involvement of an overall movement of the sport that I consider inherently corrupt, I hope he fails. Miserably, to be honest.
Of course Qatar is horrible (with which Messi has direct ties too btw) but methodically speaking it is a case of an actor spending money that he has, instead of spending money that they don't have. Barcelona and Real Madrid are notorious for spending money that they don't actually have (and then 'hide' the real cost as with Santos-->FCB transfer). This money is provided by the banks, some of them still descending from the Franco era. Those banks are in turn kept afloat by the ECB, the European stability mechanism and the quantitative easing programme that ruins everyone's pensions but makes certain people ultra rich (e.g. former nazi carmaker and diesel cancer spreading Volkswagen, Spanish Franco banks and some other firms with a 'funny' history that are on ECB's QE list). The buyback schemes, with an information advantage on the exact timing, makes some people very rich. And oh, there is also the Madrid municipality that are indirectly also kept afloat by the EU (instead of a 1970s New York scenario). It is a public secret that Gareth Bale was directly bought with EU money - the size and importance of Spain is the only reason why this can happen. Of course Real Madrid has also a big income stream, a more diverse stream of income than PSG (with their inflated sponsor deal), but it is also partially supported by thin air, paper money and ponzi schemes. Qatar is spending money that they have, if necessary in hard cash. That's why some others are scared. That FFP has 'fair' in the name doesn't automatically mean it bears a relationship to fairness. Together with the new UCL model it is an attempt to pull up the bridge.
If players were the way you wished them to be, players like Neymar would never even leave Brazil. Ronaldo probably should have stayed at ManU. How dare he go to RM when ManU were a great team and RM were actually quite crappy !!! Messi has reason to be attached to Barca. Players like him, Maldini, Puyol, Totti, who stay loyal to their team are the exception. And so is the longevity of Messi and CR7 for attacking players. R9 and Ronaldinho did reach their "max capacity" ... but in R9s case injuries messed him up and in Ronaldinho's case he threw it away after he did.
This is categorically false. I respect any player that either attempts to achieve their maximum potential in either sporting or financial terms. I simply don't respect the manner in which Neymar proceeded to go about things, now or previously, whether we're discussing the charlatan ways of his father, his manner of acting towards Nelson Semedo, etc. and it extends to such acts as consistently missing games in March (to the detriment of Barca last year) to attend his sister's birthday parties in Brazil, etc etc He has bad attitudes if we're discussing professional expectations, and I simply don't respect it or him. Concerning the rest of your post, I'm in Porto airport typing on my phone so I can't go into length but the fact that you try and claim that Ronaldinho, specifically, managed to reach his maximum potential is an absolute joke that you can't reason your way out of.
To the point on Ronaldo I'll agree that injuries had much to do with the detriment of his career, in contrast entirely relative to Ronaldinho,but he's still exhibited behaviors, partying and meeting transvestite escorts alike, that are in direct contrast to the general attitudes of professionals like CR7/Messi.
The Semedo thing is a non event. Training bust ups are not rare. Neymar was suspended twice in 4 years around his sister's bday. I guess people can draw conclusions if they wish to do so. Ronaldinho reached his peak potential, he just didn't stay there for long. But I repeat, Messi and CR7 type of forwards who reach that peak and maintain that sort of level for that long are very rare.
Non-event? I don't think so. I understand the occasional training bust up, but one that concerns a new teammate, and that seemingly required said new, younger teammate, to patch things up himself (as seen after the Real Madrid game in the US) is, to me, demonstrative of a a very immature person. On Ronaldinho, I agree he reached his peak potential, but his inability to prolong it is in direct contrast to what you're claiming of CR7/Messi. I agree with you that they are on a certain end of the spectrum, but recognizing that requires further recognition that Ronaldinho is on the opposite end of said spectrum. He did not maintain his longevity in 'average' terms, he reached it and fell basically immediately. That is not normal.
It's an isolated incident. Whatever is the context, it remains a SINGLE isolated incident. Only thing immature here is crucifying person for such thing. Even if it wasn't only case of something like that happening why would that be problem for sport at all. The thing that people like you don't understand, they want things to change to be "the right way" (according to the'r beliefs), is that "the right way" is boring. If all footballers were like Messi it would be boring, if all footballers were like Neymar it would be boring. Variety is spice of life so he should be encouraged to be himself and definitely not punished. Neymar is very unique character and as such he should be encouraged to remain that. He went for money, fame and fun in PSG, makes you appriciate Messi more, depends on your pespective. Have you ever asked yourself why every movie, why every book have a hero and a villain? That's why, because it is interesting and allows you to take a side, identify with a character. You identify with Messi, i, although think he is the greatest of all time, would probably take Neymar's adventuristic path. ...but one thing is for sure, THAT'S NOT WRONG or should be stopped in any way. Having more different type of charismatic people is what any sport needs
For what it's worth I saw a few highlights of Neymar's debut last night and it all seemed to easy for him . It looked like a pre- season friendly , the play seemed slower and he had so much space . Surely a top player wants to face a 'challenge' ? I'm thinking it may work against him whe the Balon d'or votes are given ...
Hahaha... Absolutely true... That being said: I just don't think that PSG's format will ever - in the long term nor consistently - be better than real clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid. That appears to be the case in the English Premier League, but that's probably because the English have a seemingly terrible youth system - and it has been terrible for English clubs at Champions League level. English clubs were doing a lot better in the CL, back when they could still produce talents like Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, etc., all in the space of one generation roughly-speaking. I don't think it's a coincidence that oil-clubs have done poorly at the Champions League. But again: I would like to see Neymar break the mold, if only for 2-3 years of glory, before PSG goes back to being good old PSG. Moreover, I think it would objectively be a welcomed change in dynamic for the Champions League, in the short term, and with the hope that Barcelona, Bayern Munich, English clubs, become better in the future - to better challenge Real Madrid, a club that has won 2 consecutive CLs, and a club that could well win another 2 consecutive CLs (if the other traditional big clubs don't get their act together asap).
He got 10 out of 10 in many football rating based websites. I've already said that Neymar will get 30+ goals and 15+ assists in French league alone, get player of the season award few times consecutively, also will get a double (league and cup) multiple times, but still the crucial thing is PSG's result in UCL, which will determine the outcome of ballon d'Or winner. Having that said, i still find him a favorite to win 2019 ballon d'Or, perhapse even 2018.. because this is not where PSG will stop spending money. Money is no issue to the owner so with arrival of Neymar to PSG, many players will want to join PSG for two reason: 1. Big wage 2. Their chances to win UCL. PSG is a hot project now, just like City was 6 years ago when David Silva, Aguero, Kompany, etc. joined them, but the difference is that PSG already has a fantastic squad. This transfer will evoke many different intrests in PSG favor, for example, all of a sudden Mbappe is intrested in joining PSG, even tho his idol is Ronaldo, favorite club Real, and Real is actually ready to pay him a lot to sign him, not to mention that many young, talented Brazilians will be more than happy to join their clan there. So PSG will defintely be relevant in UCL for years to come.
As it seems now, Real will get treble next season, easily. I mean Barcelona really has big issues going on now and even if they sign Dembele and Coutinho, nothing will change. All of that is happening because Barcelona completely ignored change of generations. Now, when Iniesta is 33 years old and far away from his peak for 2 years now, this is the time when they realized that they have to find his replacement. It's all Enrique's fault. Bayern is undergoing change of generations right now, but they dealt with it way better than Barcelona, but still it is tricky business so i am not sure they can compete with Real. United is good, but not that good as we have seen in super cup. City is good, but good enough? Also whatever Juve said that they have better team now than 2015, i am not quite sure there. They obviously didn't stand a chance vs Real in final, and they are worse this season. I just don't see any competition for Real this season, especially because they are even better this season while everybody else is worse, and if they play their cards right, and get lucky with injuries, treble is inevitable.
If he actually gave a shit about truly challenging himself sportingly, and was interested in a move, he'd move to Bayern or one of the EPL top-tiered clubs. Clubs that still offer a proper platform in terms of competition and financial prowess, but that wouldn't spend drunk-on-oil money (both in terms of payments to Barcelona & Neymar). PSG is clearly more of a financial move. I mean, clearly playing away to Guingamp, a town of 7,000 people, will help his Ballon chances than playing against Real Madrid in the Super Cup. Obviously. The thing is, though, he did have to leave somewhere since Barcelona appear to be increasingly a sinking ship, brought on by a clearly degraded, and continually degrading, management/organizational structure. Real have been revived by Uncle Flo's second coming, and are replicating the level of domination Barca had in prior years. MSN was the last breath of that prior generation.
I agree with you. I didn't watch the game but other comments I read mirrored yours, along with how blatantly PSG was working to set up Neymar all game. Appeasing of egos, while in an environment of low competition, a definite recipe for team and individual success. Lol
Technically Neymar was trying to setup the team. He was playing they way he played at Santos and what Messi does at Barca roaming throughout the midfield trying to dribble, make incisive passes, and arriving in the box to score. I see them struggling in the CL vs the good teams if they play like this.
At the end of the day what really matters is how he performs at PSG and the titles he can bring to the team. They have a very stacked team right now to give us a good fight in the CL.