Ronaldo. Messi. Zlatan. Bale?

Bale's not even the best player in the Prem, let alone the world. To compare him to Messi and Ronaldo is ridiculous.
 
Argentina have tried to hard over the years to try and emulate the Barca model to help Messi. They panicked when Veron retired and its the reason why they like Gago and Benega i.e decent passing players. Could Messi do what he does in a side who don't play "his" way, i have my doubts.

Carl... what do you think Messi did before he was a number 10? Barcelona have never always played his way. That's the whole point. He became so good on the right, they decided to MAKE him the focus of the side. And then the little freak got even better.
 
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Hyped because he is British, just as Rooney was a few seasons back (when he was in form and scoring regularly, and hyped as the World's third best player). Bale wouldn't even come close to my top 10 players in the World right now, but he's certainly improving and still young enough to develop further.

Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta, Xavi, Ibrahimovic, Van Persie, Rooney, Toure, Mata, Vidal, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Reus, Gotze, Lewandowski, Suarez, Kompany, Neuer, Lahm, Busquets, Alonso, Marchesio, Fabregas, Neymar etc are all more proven and consistent at this stage

I'd throw in Cole, Vidic, Pirlo, Buffon, Casillas, Muller, Cavani, Falcao. And these are just some of the more high profile names.
 
I'd throw in Cole, Vidic, Pirlo, Buffon, Casillas, Muller, Cavani, Falcao. And these are just some of the more high profile names.

Not sure how I missed Cavani, Pirlo and Falcao :/

It's scary when you see that Barca, Bayern and Juve have most of these guys, and the premiership is lacking the top top quality a little at the moment.
 
Carl... what do you think Messi did before he was a number 10? Barcelona have never always played his way. That's the whole point. He became so good on the right, they decided to MAKE him the focus of the side. And then the little freak got even better.

My point i that Barca play a certain way and have done for a long period of time now. Yes each new manager tweaks something etc but the system is still the same and that is what brings the best out in him i believe.
 
My point i that Barca play a certain way and have done for a long period of time now. Yes each new manager tweaks something etc but the system is still the same and that is what brings the best out in him i believe.

But it doesn't really effect Messi, he can and has played brilliantly in a number of systems. The one he came to prominence in, is not the same as the one he broke records in.
 
My point i that Barca play a certain way and have done for a long period of time now. Yes each new manager tweaks something etc but the system is still the same and that is what brings the best out in him i believe.

Each barcelona manager only tweaks something? Did you watch them under Rijkaard, then under pep and now under vilanova three very different systems not little tweaks.

on topic its hard to pick between the two I love how Messi makes dribbling past 4-5 players then dinking it over the keeper look so easy. But Ronaldo My god what an athlete as well as a exceptional footballer I can't separate them personally both bring so much to the game I'm just glad I got to see them both

Bale is also not on this level yet but over time who knows
 
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They're both different so it's impossible to compare the two directly.
Ronaldo is the better athlete but Messi is better with the ball at his feet.
 
'Cristiano Ronaldo rather unexpectedly tops the chart for most shots attempted per game, with 7.'

Unexpectedly!? Haha, he's always having shots at every chance!
 
'Cristiano Ronaldo rather unexpectedly tops the chart for most shots attempted per game, with 7.'

Unexpectedly!? Haha, he's always having shots at every chance!

Was tongue in cheek. You're only the second person not to get it :p (after Frankie)
 
My point i that Barca play a certain way and have done for a long period of time now. Yes each new manager tweaks something etc but the system is still the same and that is what brings the best out in him i believe.

Totally disagree. The current style/model was only introduced by Pep. Rijkaard and his predecessors all used very different systems. As Mike said, he was incredibly effective on the wing, that Pep changed the style to make him the side's focal point.
 
Was tongue in cheek. You're only the second person not to get it :p (after Frankie)

:p = tongue out of cheek ;) haha (or one of the few to pick up on it, with Frankie (K))

I thought it was a bit odd lol
 
Totally disagree. The current style/model was only introduced by Pep. Rijkaard and his predecessors all used very different systems. As Mike said, he was incredibly effective on the wing, that Pep changed the style to make him the side's focal point.

No where near as effective as he is more through the middle and in this system.
 
The answer to this is in the first two replies.

Messi is compared to everyone. Ronaldo is compared to Messi.

I also wouldn't rate Zlatan or Bale anywhere near these two.
 
No where near as effective as he is more through the middle and in this system.

Right. What's your point? He was still incredibly effective, and arguably still the best player in the world, out on the wing. It's a laughably poor argument. A player who thrives on being in the centre doesn't play as well when he's out on the wing and not the focal point of the side. Lionel Messi in 'doesn't play quite nearly as well out of position' shocker. I mean ​really.
 
Bale is going to be a 'good' player, but he's not going to be anywhere near the level of Cronie or The Flea.

Ronnie and Messi are a Maradonna and Pele, at the same time, in a generation.

The chances of something similar happening again in our lifetime is nigh on nil. The incredibly painful thing is that Zlats could be as good, as influentual, and repeatedly stunning, but doesn't balance the ability to the ego in a way that works like Cronie.

Bale is 2 tiers back in quality. Yeah he's got the this n that ability, but the regularity of his potential/abilities being on show just is not there. It's the consistancy that's the difference, in the same way that Roons isn't World Class.
 
Right. What's your point? He was still incredibly effective, and arguably still the best player in the world, out on the wing. It's a laughably poor argument. A player who thrives on being in the centre doesn't play as well when he's out on the wing and not the focal point of the side. Lionel Messi in 'doesn't play quite nearly as well out of position' shocker. I mean ​really.

Ah so because i think differently its wrong. Of course, this is becoming a trend. All i said was Messi plays in a certain system and it works fantastically well, Ronaldo has played in many different sysyems across many different teams and adapted well. But that is 100% wrong obviously.
 
Ah so because i think differently its wrong. Of course, this is becoming a trend. All i said was Messi plays in a certain system and it works fantastically well, Ronaldo has played in many different sysyems across many different teams and adapted well. But that is 100% wrong obviously.

No, you're wrong because you're wrong. 'All you said' was something that had no factual accuracy at all. Messi DOES play in a certain system and it works very well, but he HAS BEFORE played out on the wing, from both sides, and even behind the striker. And he excelled massively in each and every one. So to go back to your original point, that Messi is more effective in his CHOSEN POSITION, yes, he is. Totally unsurprisingly. If that's to be used as an accusation, then every single football player in the world is behind Park Ji-Sung and James Milner.
 
No, you're wrong because you're wrong. 'All you said' was something that had no factual accuracy at all. Messi DOES play in a certain system and it works very well, but he HAS BEFORE played out on the wing, from both sides, and even behind the striker. And he excelled massively in each and every one. So to go back to your original point, that Messi is more effective in his CHOSEN POSITION, yes, he is. Totally unsurprisingly. If that's to be used as an accusation, then every single football player in the world is behind Park Ji-Sung and James Milner.

My opinion is that he suits this current Barca system, even Argentina has had to change their system to try get the best out of him. Says it all for me.
 
My opinion is that he suits this current Barca system, even Argentina has had to change their system to try get the best out of him. Says it all for me.

Your opinion is seriously flawed, since you pointedly ignore the fact he was playing in a totally different system, he became a star in a totally different system which suited him under Riikjaard (sp) and was easily one of the best in the world then.

You also ignore the fact that Argentina were not trying to fit a system around just him, but also with as many of their forward stars as possible, thats actually what made it unbalanced. Their current system isn't actually built around him either, you could shift him wide, or bench him and they could still play it very well.

Messi suits a number of systems, as he has already proven throughout his career.
 
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