Was Pele better than Naymar and Messi?

Gilly said:
You simply cannot judge modern footballers against the legends of the game. They smoked and drank FFS! It wasn't realised just what an impact that had.

Today's footballers are standing on the shoulders of giants. Diet, coaching, training, dedication, the cream of football gets everything, and every generation has a leg-up on the previous on due to the previous one's experience.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to say that Kevin Pressman is not one of the all time best goalkeepers in the history of football :mad:. The flying pig :D.
 
Gilly said:
He is. He's very average. He's living purely on his name. The fact that he's a big money buy and is Brazilian.

He's in the fourth or fifth tier in the world. Not even to be discussed with players such as Messi, ronaldo, Robben, Suarez, etc.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

At the moment he is average. He may come good one day but at the moment he isn't anything special at all.
 
Well I just don't think you can compare them really. For what it is worth I think Messi has benefited from being in a great team and he has done it at one club and he has never reproduced his club football consistently at an international level (maybe as he tends to play deeper). I never saw Pele but speaking to my dad and other people they say that he was excellent but that Eusabio was the better striker at his peak. I have seen Maradona play and I think he produced the goods at an international level and dragged weaker teams along with him.

In today's climate I would say Ronaldo (Portugal) is the best athlete and Messi is the better footballer. However, this woefully ignores the other positions on the pitch. Schmeichel, Brehme, Baresi, Matthaus etc get ignored because they aren't running past people and scoring but I would wager over time they would actually benefit a team more. I wonder whether Pele's appeal is linked in with the popular rise of TV at that time. Maybe the first great player people got to see. From watching videos though I would say Maradona is better than all of them. Neymer hasn't done enough yet to be anything other than a top 5 player in the world at this time.
 
Last edited:
No1newts said:
Thank you.

At the moment he is average. He may come good one day but at the moment he isn't anything special at all.
Click to expand...

The Running Man said:
Look, antonio valencia is an average (international) player. Neymar is loads better and hardly average.
Click to expand...

Another fantastic example of the pointlessness of football debates it seems for modern fans either a player is amazing or rubbish no in between Neymar is clearly more than average as an international or club footballer yes he's still obviously below the Messi and Ronaldo level but to call him average is ridiculous.
 
Gilly said:
You simply cannot judge modern footballers against the legends of the game. They smoked and drank FFS! It wasn't realised just what an impact that had.

Today's footballers are standing on the shoulders of giants. Diet, coaching, training, dedication, the cream of football gets everything, and every generation has a leg-up on the previous on due to the previous one's experience.
Click to expand...

Messi is a great example of this. Wouldn't have even played without the hgh treatment.
 
awaybreaktoday said:
Would the players of today survive the seasons of the past, the answer is no....
Click to expand...

The players of today are fitter than the smoking boozers of yesteryear.

For example George Best, despite being such a heavy boozer, was great in his time and could compete against his peers. In todays environment, if you turned up drunk to a game, you would be roasted. In the 70s and 80s you could smoke and booze and still compete for the ball. Today if you did this, you probably wouldnt even get a contract, let alone get to play a game.

BUT its too difficult to compare directly, sports people of differing times, as nutrition, training techniques, number of games played, etc have all changed.
 
sunama said:
The players of today are fitter than the smoking boozers of yesteryear.

For example George Best, despite being such a heavy boozer, was great in his time and could compete against his peers. In todays environment, if you turned up drunk to a game, you would be roasted. In the 70s and 80s you could smoke and booze and still compete for the ball. Today if you did this, you probably wouldnt even get a contract, let alone get to play a game.

BUT its too difficult to compare directly, sports people of differing times, as nutrition, training techniques, number of games played, etc have all changed.
Click to expand...

I really dont think the players of the day could survive the physical aspect of the games of the past...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom