I was talking about stamina/endurance and that kind of stuff. Fitness levels are much higher. It's hard to compare but I think Pele would not dominate like he did back in the day if he would play now..
Pele didn't just play in different league, he played in completely different era. Football is harder now than it was back in the 50s and 60s. Tactically and physically the game has gotten harder from those days so people got a fair point there.
People have always compared players and Pele/Maradona has become the duo of best players of all time so now when there is a player rivaling them people will compare..
But it's just an obnoxious thought that the World Cup would be played in winter. The ridiculous amount of deaths during the construction work doesn't help me like this whole Qatar thing either..
It's not just the players either. Moyes just can't finish these games early. The players have a bad confidence as Rooney and Van Persie are constantly out and close games just don't seem to go their way.
I think Januzaj was the only one that actually made an impact and played okay. Of course he took a horrible penalty afterwards but his playing performance wasn't that bad. United have problems with their players AND manager at the moment..
I'm quite sure he could've been there but he screwed his chances with the biting incident. He missed the last games and therefore didn't even win the premier league golden boot..
But he is definitely there if we are looking at this season only! Hopefully he keeps his remarkable form till the end..
Ballon d'Or is an award for the best PLAYER in the world, not the best team..
I think Ronaldo ensured the trophy with his ridiculous performances against Sweden that took his country to Brazil. Can't see Ribery doing that kind of stuff even though he's a great player.
Messi has scored 18 goals in the last 16 international matches. He is the second best all-time scorer for Argentina and has a better record than Maradona. Your "only good with Barca" is an invalid statement.
Ronaldo might be the best player right at this moment but I think his peak has never exceeded Messi's.. I'll give him credit for playing well in England and Spain but that still doesn't make him instantly the better player..
How freaking long do they have to do this before they realize that slamming every star player there is to one team doesn't make it necessarily a working one.. They already have ridiculously great line up so how about trying to make the best out of it istead!?
@mechlord
I can't quite understand, what should people do to show this "respect" towards Ronaldo?
I'm aware that he has lots of haters but he also has the biggest fanbase in the game, admiring and giving him respect every damn week.. The haters seem to blind you to think he doesn't get any.
@ KinfPin
Oh c'mon he gets loads of respect, just not as much as Messi. It's just a fact that Messi has performed slightly better in the last few seasons and that blinds people a bit. Who even needs respect from the kinds of Blatter and Platini anyway..
I must agree and say that people judge players too much by the titles their team has won.. Winning a title is mostly a team effort and no man on earth can win it alone.
Do it! Sturridge got out and his career has been going up ever since..
@Gamer1982
Hmm.. My logic tells me that if you have less talent around you it's generally harder to score. Sturridge has also bagged 9 goals for Liverpool so Suarez-Sturridge duo has scored more goals than Negredo-Aguero..
Great to see Alexis scroing goals in his international team too.. Barca needs his good form now even more because messi is injured.
Never understand why people take trophies to consideration when looking for the best individual.. They do have an impact but trophies are won by team effort not only by individual play.
It's very hard for me to put anyone on top of messi/ronaldo. They score the most amount of goals in a season and have the biggest influence to their teams overall. Messi did very well even for Argentina this time around.
ok stats aren't everything but you just can't compete with messi or ronaldo with 16G/23A in 53 matches..
I think it's the Cisse goal.. I was watching the game live and when the ball hit the net my instant thought was: goal of the season and one of the best ever.
It's not the most athletic but it's just so random place to shoot like that :O + Cech was guarding the goal..
I kinda agree but I wouldn't call it luck if the worlds best player scores goals in the last minutes..
hellz your "simple logic" is so stupid..
Sweden doesn't have superplayers after Zlatan.. They just play great together and obviously score goals. England has more talented players than Sweden but SURPRISINGLY it doesn't mean that the more talented team will always win !!
I think they key thing here is that Sweden is a good TEAM and England is just a group of great players wondering around the field.
I just think that the reason Xavi is saying this is because Barca has a philosophy of controlling and entertaining football and he doesn't want football to get super defensive..
I understand that smaller teams like Celtic use the "parking the bus" tactic but big teams like Chelsea and Inter few years ago who had huge stars are just standing infront of their goal is not good for this sport..
@krazykombatant
So you're saying that it doesn't mean crap if a good player wins the world cup for example Iniesta who scored the winning goal in the final. But the great players MUST win it single handedly to be considered the best. Quite a contrast you got there..
There is only so much a player can do even if they were the best.