A quick look at the World cup schedule and you begin to realise this could be one of Messi's biggest tests ever in his career. The result was not the issue in my opinion as a point is always a decent place to start irrespective of the opponents. The performance was a huge problem and their coach will be scratching his head trying to make adjustments to get the best of his team which is never a good thing at the start of a tournament.
Yesterdays performance still needs to be taken in context as it is not easy to breakdown teams that put 10 men behind the ball, however Messi on several occasions let himself down as he failed to make the necessary adjustments to lead his team to victory. Thats what seperates Neymar from the rest in international football. The ability to improvise hence why Brazil are overwhelming favourites despite the world cup being played in europe.
This tournament will tell us everything we need to know about him. Dont buy the nonsense about him not delivering when it matters, Messi was doing it at a much younger age than Ronaldo and is judged at a much higher level due to what he has achieved in the game.
Argentina & Messi
posted on 17/6/18
Obviously team work comes into it. I just don’t think it’s comparable to a sport like football. Carrying four players compared to ten isn’t an accurate comparison.
posted on 17/6/18
Irrelevant of whether you rate Messi or Ronaldo higher one thing that I think we have now that we haven’t had in the past is such a rivalry where both inspire the other to be even better. I guess the fact we live in the internet age where everything is magnified and scrutinised 24/7 has a greater effect on Messi and Ronaldo in their pursuit to be the best. Maybe these types of rivalries will exist in the future but the greats of the past never had it as the technology wasn’t there, the lack of technology also probably helped create some myths of the greats. Where as now we have evidence of what Messi and Ronaldo achieve in the past what players like Pele did could only be told through word of mouth and some of these could have changed over time.
posted on 17/6/18
comment by Ledders the King - 2017/18 FF Enders league champion 🏆 (U20121)
posted 1 hour, 9 minutes ago
comment by Greg- (U1192)
posted 33 minutes ago
Messi is facking shiet mate.
Missed a pen
Missed some chances that Ronaldo would have slotted home with either foot.
Argentina don't play like Barce so he struggles and doesn't know what to do, so tries to be more selfish as he doesn't trust his team mates, then ends up trying too hard.
When it comes to the ultimate big game player, Ronaldo is and should be everybody's first pick.
Also fyi, Messi is not shiet. I love watching him play but outside of Barcelona he's just another player that doesn't quite cut the mustard, unlike Ronaldo, who wins titles for Madrid and Portugal single handedly
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Nonsense post
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Your face is nonsense
posted on 17/6/18
Messi needs to have more faith in his midfield and lookup pick the ball up higher on the pitch. They also need to drop Biglia for Banega against the teams who park the bus.
posted on 17/6/18
Messi gets compared to Maradona because of his nationality and style of play ffs
Nobody ever compares him to Pele or other supposed greats do they?
posted on 17/6/18
Messi is past it, still world class obviously but it is clear Ronaldo has overtaken him.
This GOAT stuff does my head in though, how can anyone say who is the GOAT unless they've seen every era in detail? All you can measure with is trophies won and individual awards but even they don't tell the full story. Maybe Sandy could give us some insight?
posted on 17/6/18
Maybe Sandy could give us some insight?
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posted on 17/6/18
Maradona's shadow looms over every great Argentinean no.10 and as good as Messi is, he's a completely different personality. He seems more reserved or aloof, Diego was a fiery, passionate guy and a scrappy fighter as well as extremely talented. I don't know how much that really counts for but I think it gives you some sort of edge on the biggest stage.
posted on 17/6/18
comment by Alexis The King Sanchez (U10026)
posted 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
Maybe Sandy could give us some insight?
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posted on 18/6/18
Any player can choke or have an off day on the big occasion. That said, today's two greats have been rather prone to it given the amount of chances they've had though.
Fair to say Ronaldo's improved overall in big games, but he still has a tendency to let the pressure get to him on the biggest occasions.
He's only really played 1 good game in Madrid's 4 CL winning campaigns, the one against Juve. He was pretty crap in the other 3. As for the first group stage game in a World Cup being classed as the big occasion, well, it's a pretty laughable statement regardless of which team is in front.
On Messi, he's shown time and again that he struggles when he isn't in his comfort zone. He's a bit too reliant on his tried and trusted formulas, and can be found to be a bit lacking in inspiration when they don't work. Maradona, by contrast, was far less predictable. He was a creative genius who was more capable of pulling the completely unexpected out of the bag. In that regard, I'd say Ronaldinho's probably been the most similar player in recent years.