Controversial football opinions

[kellzfresh 7,229]

To be fair Nesta was one of the best one on one centerbacks I've ever seen.

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

Here mine

Cristiano Ronaldo is a limited footballer whose contributions is limited to goal scoring only (modern day Gerd Muller with pace)

Prime Xavi is the best central midfielder/DLP of the last 50 years

There's no single defender currently that belongs in the same class as the top defenders of previous generation ala Nesta,Stam,Thuram,Canavaro etal and it's a sad reflection of mediocre standard of defending today.

The Maradona solo effort against England is by far the most overrated solo goal of all time. As solo goals go, Zlatan vs Nac Breda, Messi vs getafe, , Giggs vs Arsenal, Messi vs Madrid, Messi vs zaragoza and Grafite vs Bayern were all better both in terms of aesthetics and degree of difficulty

Agreed with everyone but that last bit

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

Nope.

Ronaldo's goals and ages:

1993: 20 goals in 21 matches. (16-17 years old)

1994-1995: 24 goals in 26 matches for Cruzeiro, 35 goals in 36 matches for PSV. (17-18 years old)

1995-1996: 19 goals in 21 matches. (19 years old) PSV.

1996-1997: 47 goals in 49 matches. (20 years old) Barcelona.

1997-1998: 34 goals in 47 matches. (21 years old) Internazionale.

1998-1999: 15 goals in 28 matches. (22 years old) Internazionale.

1999-2000: 03 goals in 08 matches. (23 years old) Here starts his major injury problems.

2000-2001: 00 goals in 00 matches. (24 years old) His injury was so bad he missed an entire season.

Total: 197 goals in 236 matches. 0,83 goals per match.

Ronaldo didn't even get to hit the best years of his career before fucking up his knees. It's like if Hazard got severely injured in this season, he's just entering his prime years. When you say he's an icon of the early 2000's says it all. In the 2000's he was already about half the player he previously was and was still amazing. Let's see Messi.

Messi:

2004-2005: 01 goal in 09 matches (17 years old)

2005-2006: 08 goals in 25 matches (18 years old)

2006-2007: 16 goals in 40 matches (19 years old)

2007-2008: 38 goals in 51 matches (20 years old)

2008-2009: 47 goals in 53 matches (21 years old)

2009-2010: 53 goals in 55 matches (22 years old)

2010-2011: 73 goals in 60 matches (23 years old)

Total: 236 goals in 293 matches. 0,80 goals per match.

As you can see, they're about evenly matched until Ronaldo got injured. In addition, Messi only started scoring more than a goal per game in the exact same age as Ronaldo barely played because of his knee injury. Also keep in mind that in those last seasons before the major injuries Ronaldo also struggled with minor ones (see how he's only played 28 and 08 matches in the last two) and moved to the Italian league, where, let's face it, defences were WAY better than anything we see in La Liga these days, especially at the time when it was one of the strongest if not the strongest league in the world.

CR7 bloomed even later than Messi, so there's really no comparison.

Not only Ronaldo did manage to score as much, but also OUTSCORE CR7 and Messi in his early years of career before injury. You're wrong. That's why people wonder how good he could have been if not for his fucked knees. If there was a player with similar skill (because he was so much more than number of goals per match) and numbers as 22-23 years old Ronaldo today, my brain can't even fathom the amount of hype he'd have. People would be oozing all over themselves everywhere on the internet.

You forgot to add it was until the 2011 season Messi started to play in the CF role whereas prior to that he played out wide.

[TheOneChan95 225]

Here mine

Cristiano Ronaldo is a limited footballer whose contributions is limited to goal scoring only (modern day Gerd Muller with pace)

Prime Xavi is the best central midfielder/DLP of the last 50 years

There's no single defender currently that belongs in the same class as the top defenders of previous generation ala Nesta,Stam,Thuram,Canavaro etal and it's a sad reflection of mediocre standard of defending today.

The Maradona solo effort against England is by far the most overrated solo goal of all time. As solo goals go, Zlatan vs Nac Breda, Messi vs getafe, , Giggs vs Arsenal, Messi vs Madrid, Messi vs zaragoza and Grafite vs Bayern were all better both in terms of aesthetics and degree of difficulty

I think Cole at his peak can be classified at that level. Unless you're talking about CBs only of course.

Also, I think the stats don't lie when showing Ronaldo's drop in goal output when he moved to Serie A that they had a much better defence back then. Definitely the biggest "what if" in football for me. Plus his solo goal from the halfway line was breathtaking too.

Maybe not so controversial but I think that players in the PL are overhyped and overrated plenty of times.

[Tomo 21,751]

You must be trolling if you don't think that's ridiculously controversial as Nesta is mentioned in the same breath as Maldini,Baresi,Stam, Scirea et al and consistently makes the top ten list of knowledgeable writer and pundits all time best defenders and is recognized world wide as one of top 4 best defenders of the last generation alongside Stam, Cannavaro and Thuram while the same can never be said of JT.

JT is in the same class as the Vidic, Ferdinand, Puyol, Adams, Hierro's, just a level or two below the very greatest which is a compliment.

Honestly i would put all off JT, Adams and Ferdinand in that top section, ultimately the primary job in defending is to defend and when they were at their prime they were amoungts the best i have ever seen defensively. All 3 captained sides that broke all sorts of defensive records.

[Spike 12,049]

My writing style is just fine. thanks very much for the unsolicited advice.

As long as you are not implying JT is in the same class as Nesta, I have got no problem with that.

I don't care if you have a problem with it or anything else.

[Nike 373]

JT cant be better than Nesta.

Nesta was JT, but with athletic ability.... JT had the intelligence and leadership, but Nesta had everything JT had and great athletic attributes...

Nesta is the best 1 on 1 defender I've ever seen..

[lionsden 4,689]

To be fair Nesta was one of the best one on one centerbacks I've ever seen.

Definitely.

What made him unique was how cleanly he won most tackles. A contrast to the typical old school defenders who get both the players leg and the ball. That quality makes him a defender for any generation. He would fit right in and standout in todays watered down game.

[lionsden 4,689]

Honestly i would put all off JT, Adams and Ferdinand in that top section, ultimately the primary job in defending is to defend and when they were at their prime they were amoungts the best i have ever seen defensively. All 3 captained sides that broke all sorts of defensive records.

Those defenders had weaknesses and it could be argued that they were lucky to have played with another worldclass/top qality defensove partners in their prime.

JT obviously wasnt very athletic and slow. Fedinand had concentration issues and was a rash defender at times especially in westham and leeds days and adams had similar weakness to JT.

The top tier defenders had no weakness at all. None that anyone could pick out

anyway and were more consistent as well.

[lionsden 4,689]

Agreed with everyone but that last bit

What do you disagree with

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

What do you disagree with

The overrated part and how you feel those mentioned above were superior to Maradona of 86', whereas when you take into consideration the teams they were playing for, the occasion, the circumstances they were in, and the strength of their opposition.

The fact he managed that after the whole 'hand of god incident', against one of the top nations in the World at the time that was England when that was their period of European club dominance, the fact it was against a strong England side listed them as favorites and let alone it was during the World Cup finals, the grandest of stages, and the sole variable that Diego was playing on a mediocre Argentina side at best, those circumstances alone outweigh any you've mentioned imo.

Still to this day the greatest goal in history imo.

[iseah100 5,612]

JT is a good guy.

[Nike 373]

Thiago is better than Cesc.

Only controversial in London and the rest of England...

[iseah100 5,612]

The overrated part and how you feel those mentioned above were superior to Maradona of 86', whereas when you take into consideration the teams they were playing for, the occasion, the circumstances they were in, and the strength of their opposition.

The fact he managed that after the whole 'hand of god incident', against one of the top nations in the World at the time that was England when that was their period of European club dominance, the fact it was against a strong England side listed them as favorites and let alone it was during the World Cup finals, the grandest of stages, and the sole variable that Diego was playing on a mediocre Argentina side at best, those circumstances alone outweigh any you've mentioned imo.

Still to this day the greatest goal in history imo.

Lolololol. That commentary. "Quiero llorar".

Good goal, but not the best ever.

[Tomo 21,751]

Those defenders had weaknesses and it could be argued that they were lucky to have played with another worldclass/top qality defensove partners in their prime.

JT obviously wasnt very athletic and slow. Fedinand had concentration issues and was a rash defender at times especially in westham and leeds days and adams had similar weakness to JT.

The top tier defenders had no weakness at all. None that anyone could pick out

anyway and were more consistent as well.

Terry didn't have pace but he more than made up for it with his anticipation and football brain, i remember David Villa saying something on them lines years back when asked who the toughest defender he ever faced was. Adams was the same he had such a high footballing brain that his lack of pace wasn't even a remote issue, both him and JT captained (atleast statically) the two best defences in English football history.

Regarding Rio he had concentration issues when he was younger, but between 2006-2010 he was up there with the very best, at one point he didn't commit a foul for two years or something ridiculous like that.