Lionel Messi

He won a CL with a 'head in'!

'Can't stick the head in'....

 

He's no Larsson when it comes to headers, not even close. Indeed, Larsson had the same ability of Xavi in being able to influence a game without even touching the ball, something Messi doesn't have. The kids got relentless spirit and indomitable will, but true legends like Larsson and Xavi achieve greatness effortlessly.

Ultimately we have to judge Messi by the team he plays in and in my opinion Barcelona's tiki-taka style of play doesn't even come close to the Lisbon Lions.

4-2-4: Two CBs, two FBs, two CMs, two Wing Forwards and two world class strikers that can dribble, pass and most importantly stick the fecking head in.

David Beckhams right foot and Ruud Van Nistelrooy's head are superior in every way to Messi. Early ball from the halfway line, no need for 50+ overworked passes or expenditure of energy in a mazy dribble.

Alan Thompson's left boot and Henrik Larsson's head; Messi who?

The British 4-2-4 as exemplified by the Lisbon Lions of 67 is far superior in every way to this "total football" balls the Dutch-Spanish, and I suppose, most football pundits seem to love.

What style of play do La Liga's leaders utilize? 4-2-4. Something Mourinho learned from Alex Ferguson, who learned it from Jock Stein, dominating English football for decades with it.

United would have won last season's Champions League finale if only they had a midfield. Carrick.....Fletcher.....Valenica.....the best player on the pitch was Park Ji Sung, the only player that had the stamina to keep up the pressing game. The first 20 minutes of the game United dominated, getting right into Barca's face, Rooney and Hernandez continually breaking on the counter, but the midfield was, and continues to be * poor, simply not having the athleticism or technique to match Xavi and Iniesta.

Let's just get this straight here, so we're not under any lllusions; if Roy Keane and Paul Scholes where playing midfield that night, the result would be in United's favour.

And if Bertie Auld and Bobbie Murdoch were in that midfield........with Jinky and Lennox on the wings......Wallace and Chalmers sticking the head in....


Messi - 204 apps, 153 goals for Barca

308 Apps, 312 Goals..... Who could it be? James Connolly Johnstone. And he didn't even play in the centre forward role like Messi.

 

eh? Where you getting they stats from? Jinky scored something like 120 goals, not 312 lol.

 

Messi would never have made it with the way Scottish football is run. Nor Xavi or Iniesta.

 

its sad that you are absolutely correct. My stepbrother got dropped from his U-15 team for being too small. even at that age group coaches prefer big 6 footers to smaller guys with technical ability. ridiculous.

 

and that is why scottish football has gone down hill, until recently the US youth set up was the same way, it is still pretty bad but getting better, but it has cost the national team talented players like neven subotic

 

Definitely the best ever for me.

I see what you are trying to say, there's good points there. The hatchet men and horrible pitches would do a job on him but he wouldn't struggle, he would rip the league to shreds.

 

The highlighted bits are total *, Man Utd were played off the park by Barca in not one but 2 CL Finals and with this current team even a Keane/Scholes partnership wouldnt get near the ball. As for judging Messi by the team he plays in, are you trying to say hes not the best in the world??

 

Keane or Scholes would have done * all.

 

Besides the fact I disagree with the majority of what you say, you have either made a typing error or just plain made up the Jinky stat. 312 goals is not even close to what he got. Just because someone edited his Wiki page does not make it fact.

Official club merchandise states he got 129 goals for us. And made over 500 appearances in total. (515). The Celtic Wiki and the club website concur with these figures as well, except contending he got 130 goals, not 129. Definitely not 312, not even close.

 

LOL no offence mate, but wat a load of *,

 

I'll have to second that

 

This is an excerpt from an article in the Guardian

Watch him and watch those numbers and their inexorable rise. The statistics are almost surreal, utterly stupid. They belong to a different era. He is on course to be the Champions League's top scorer for a fourth consecutive season. Last year he equalled the competition's best ever tally; he needs one to surpass it this year. He has already scored more goals in a season than anyone else in Spanish history. And who would bet against that 54 becoming 60 or more? At 24, in his eight seasons, Messi's record is better than the very best. At this stage, Maradona had 196, Ronaldo 153, Henry 226, Cruyff 229 and Charlton 133. George Best got 179 in 11 seasons.
No one had as many trophies at this stage of their career either: Messi has 18. He has earned them: he scored in the final of the Copa del Rey, twice scored in the final of World Club Championships and twice scored in the Champions League final. Twice. Tuesday night was only a league game and his victims were only Granada. It might have been just another hat-trick except that it took him to 234 official goals for Barcelona. More, at 24, than anyone else has ever scored.

 

Beyond incredible.

 

WOW. Just....................wow.

That is just wrong on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin.

 

Maniac.

 

I'm guessing you took that bit about Jinky from Wikipedia. I know it says 312 goals in 308 appearances but in the first paragraph it also says he scored 129 goals in 515 appearances for Celtic.

 

I'd agree until Subotic. The guy is 6'4" first of all and second of all he was a lying * who had no intention of representing the US at the full stage. He used Bradenton as a platform to get back to Europe, only played for the US because it was a requirement there, tried to play for Germany once he signed there, and when that didn't work he decided to play for Serbia. He was never going to play for us.

But yeah, Messi would be passed over here... although we have a kid Mejia-Flores from DC who's like 5'4" or something and is the best player on our U-17 team. But even other Argentines passed over Messi... the kid was small.

 

ledley is better than messi