Caporegime
I think he meant the bit about kids in a playground.
Ronaldo was finished 6 months ago then had one of his best finishes to a season ever btw.
Ronaldo was finished 6 months ago then had one of his best finishes to a season ever btw.
Is Messi finished?
- Thread starter jonneymendoza
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Don
I am not comparing the two, the thread was about Messi being finished. Stop turning it into the same old boring Vs argument, it's pathetic and stuff I expect my kids to harp on about daily, not adults.
Soldato
If you could have somehow played Ronaldo instead of Messi in that Argentina team last night it wouldn't have made any difference IMO. The Argentinian squad is top heavy with center forwards and not a great deal of talent behind them to get the ball up to the strikers and they were setup wrong. Portugal isn't blessed with talent either but their manager gets the most out of what he has so the failings for Argentina lay with their coach and his staff not Messi.
However if Ronaldo could somehow drag Portugal to a world cup victory and score the winner then I wouldn't have a problem with anyone calling him the greatest player ever.
However if Ronaldo could somehow drag Portugal to a world cup victory and score the winner then I wouldn't have a problem with anyone calling him the greatest player ever.
Man of Honour
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I think it would have made a little difference though largely insignificant. I might be wrong as I don't watch a lot of football but from what I've seen Ronaldo isn't shy of imposing himself while Messi tends to rely more on being played in by the team then executing (I've rarely if ever seen Messi going in for a brutal tackle, etc. while Ronaldo seems to thrive on it). So I think Ronaldo would probably have made a few more chances but ultimately been up against the same problems troubling Messi.
At the end of the day though they just weren't leveraging him with the setup, the manager had no response to what was going on on the pitch other than to yell at his players and the other team's players. It was like watching England's failings of the previous world cups, etc. when it was clear they needed to change things up nada the manager still seemed to believe that if they just continued doing what they'd practised and did it harder they'd win while everyone else could see it wasn't happening and I'm pretty sure Messi knew that as well as anyone from the look on his face.
Messi is a quality player and a great dribbler of the ball - he can keep the ball close to him and change direction quickly because of his short stride/legs. Lets face it though, you could have put any footballer in the Barcelona team of the last 10 years and they would have looked half decent. Messi had an exceptional group of players around him which helped him to create chances and play with a lot of freedom.
It's similar to Rooney playing in midfield for me, he pulled it off all of those years at Man UTD largely because of the players around him and generally inferior opposition, once you put him in a team that is not so good (ie. England or Everton) he's bang average there. I'm not saying Messi is a bang average player just that in order to excel he had a lot of support from the rest of the team.
It's similar to Rooney playing in midfield for me, he pulled it off all of those years at Man UTD largely because of the players around him and generally inferior opposition, once you put him in a team that is not so good (ie. England or Everton) he's bang average there. I'm not saying Messi is a bang average player just that in order to excel he had a lot of support from the rest of the team.
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Manchester United vs Yeovil Town 2015 was an interesting one for me - they played a lot of the substitutes, etc. with 1-2 star players on the field and Rooney really looked very very average having to do some work and it was Herrera that looked like a quality footballer.
InthiI thiweryyh
I think Henry was better than Messi!
This has a lot to do with it. Messi is a fantastic footballer, amazing technical ability, but has struggled on the world stage. Plays brilliant in friendly games and against lower class opposition like Ecuador, even Panama are higher rated than Ecuador, but has always struggled when the pressure is really on.
Messi doesn't inspire players around him to get better, that's why he needs good players around him. And it's the difference between him and Ronaldo. Not saying Ronaldo is better than Messi, but, he does have a really strong personality. He is larger than life and players respond to this and play better than they normally would.
Compare Ronaldo on pitch in the last two games to Messi. Ronaldo has his head up, is sprinting from defence to attack, working hard on both ends. Messi is just standing around, rarely moving, not looking like he wants to play at all.
Look, I know the manager might be crap and things might not be going well, but, this the World Cup. The hopes of nation were/are on Messi's shoulders. I believe truly great players find a way to influence the game on the biggest stage of all. There is no excuse for not putting in effort. Show some passion for the Jersey that you are wearing.
I don't think he is finished, He will go back to club football and play his usual game for a few more seasons, don't think he will play for Argentina again though, maybe he should have stayed retired.
Caporegime
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you are talking as if the rest of the argentina team is full of nobodies like Denmark and Eriksen.
argentina has plenty of quality in their side. yes they are lacking quality creative midfielders a la modric, de bruyne, however they have it sorted pretty much in every other position.
all they needed to do was play attacking football. look at liverpool for instance.
messi > salah
aguero > firmino
dyabala > mane
it's 100% the managers fault. wrong tactics. wrong player choices, etc.
He's not finished but I think it highlights the difference between Ronaldo and Messi these days. Ronaldo can drag a low quality team like Portugal, who have a first team that includes current and ex Southampton players and take them to success still by forcing things to happen and being that leader and inspiration. When things aren't going his way he gets frustrated and tries harder and harder.
Messi needs more of a team to allow him to function and doesn't grab games by the scruff all on his own the same way. If things aren't going well he seems more inclined to give up and start moping around the pitch.
Ronaldo seems 100 times more driven to constantly succeed still and at their age that is starting to tell.
Messi needs more of a team to allow him to function and doesn't grab games by the scruff all on his own the same way. If things aren't going well he seems more inclined to give up and start moping around the pitch.
Ronaldo seems 100 times more driven to constantly succeed still and at their age that is starting to tell.
Caporegime
I’m one too, what’s your point??
Tbh I feel sorry for Messi, the whole squad is utterly disjointed and that’s all on the manager.
Not once have I seen Argentina play as a unit. I’m pretty sure they struggled to even qualify for the wc too.
For me I’ll always say Messi over Ronaldo, that’s not to say Ronaldo is not any good...immense player but don’t like his arrogance on the field.
Soldato
Ronaldo has always been the better player of the two imo
If their team is so good then they should have had no trouble beating Iceland no matter what tactics or players their manager picked.
Blaming the manager is always the easy option and it seems to all Argentina are good at, 4 managers in 4 years? They haven't won anything since 1993!!
Don
Didn't Hodgson get blamed for Eng cocking up against Iceland?
Caporegime
No.barcelona is a team of great players and Messi was the exceptional one. Well him and iniesta but in different ways.
You could put any footballer in the barcelonavteam and they might look good, bad or indifferent depending on how good they are.
Messi has like 552 goals in 637 games for them.
It's not because he's an average player it's because he's been one of if not their best attacking player for 10 years.
He can come to Arsenal if he wants
Of course he isn't finished! Argentina are just pants. Turns out that you can mark Messi out the game if you don't have to worry about the other players.
Every few months someone posts something like this thing like this on the internet about Ronald or Messi. Even if they're on the decline they're both still better than anyone else in the game.
Check out this article from 6 months ago. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/896036/Cristiano-Ronaldo-Real-Madrid-La-Liga
Balague is a "football expert" and now everyone is saying how amazing Ronaldo is. The truth is he has been for about 10 years. The same is true for Messi. People are just idiots.
One of the reasons why I hate international football. It attracts part-time football supporters and I don't have the patience to listen to their mad views. That and ****ing mexican waves.
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