Mole_Toonfan

Did i write 2010? iam sorry i assure you i meant 2006

First of all, well done for interpreting stuff to your own advantage. 2nd of all, World Cup is the biggest football tournament in the World, like it or not, just because your national team is f***ing s*** doesnt mean the rest of the World doest see it like that. With that said the Argentinian people wont consider Messi the best until he wins a World Cup. Also with comfort zone I dont mean leaving Barcelona, absolutely not, if you had read my post prior to the one you quotes I have said over and over again that Messi should stay at Barcelona for ever. However, he needs to produce at international level with Argentina. You cannot say you are the best ever if you cant make a team consisting of the best players in the World a top national side. Argentinas national team is quite embarassing and Messi inability to adapt to different systems is a large part to it. Also Di Stefano, Eusebio, Cruyff are not top three of all time because they never wonthe World Cup. Di Stefano won 4-5 straight Champions League titles yet never considered the best in his country (when will Messi do that?? ). Please understand where I am coming from. If you put Messi onto the pitch with Pele, Messi would be a much better player, but I try to view it from the perspective of who was the best with the resources they had? Pele was treated 10 times worse than Messi by opposition. (yellow card or subs didnt even exist back then and just watch footage of the 1966 World Cup and you will see what I am talking about) Pele was more dominant in his era than Messi is in his. Pele was more complete as a player. Pele stopped a war. (Nigerian Civil War) Pele won three World Cups. (although one was all due to Garrincha) Pele scored over 1000 -official- goals (many of those games are considered friendlies nowadays but wasnt the same back then if you read about past football history. I mean those -friendlies- came against top European sides who Pele refused to sign with and who he absolutely dominated.) Pele also managed to get sent off and put back on the field by the oppositions president as they told the referee to leave the arena for being unfair towards Pele for sending him off. (wont happen nowadays obviously, but just shows how big and important he was in his time) I love Messi, I always discuss how Neymar is from a different planet, but how Messi is from an even further one. So dont get me wrong, just dont get the wrong impression of Pele or Maradona for that matter. Oh right i knew not reading the other 20+ pages would do me in For whats its worth i agree with what you have said, also btw my father is Spanish and Spain are the best in the world and i am inclined to support them so it has nothing to do with that. Just the overall level of WC's since the 80s has been easily lower than club level IMO, i just think WC has far too much weight on someones career and how people remember it. I used the Zidane and Ronaldo example for a reason, no one seems to remember the great work they did for thier clubs for years and just remember those handful of games at the WC. For sure WC should be used in the discussion to decide if someone's career is all time great worthy but it shouldnt be a deciding factor. Take Cannavaro for example, without 2010 WC no one would even talk about him and rightly so as thiers atleast half a dozen CB's that during his time that was better than him.

This strikes me as very defensive, tbh. As I've discussed with Sewelly before, no one bases "world's greatest ever" purely on their World Cup play, but why do Messi fans seem so absolutely dismissive of it, as though it were a pre-season friendly or a kick in the park with your son? It does not provide a full measure of a player's greatness, but why can it not be a component part of an assessment? I am not a Messi fan, i just find it weird how WC is rated so high above everything else...... For example, people rate Ronaldo and Zidane pretty much purely for thier WC performances when ever you say to the average football fan they would say " did you see him for Brazil at that WC" It's like thier club performances is completely ignored and its not like the level of football at WC's in recent of years have been any higher than a standard CL knockout phase. Oh and it can be part of the assessment i just dont think it should be the defining factor to decide who is a GOAT or not.

Let's not pretend the Journal has'nt printed off some bullocks over the years they are the same as everyone else, they need stories to print for cash the only difference is its local and probably not printing stories to unsettle our players like the London and Manc rags do.

Yep i wouldnt pay much attention to any type of Media its all bullocks.

The must win WC is rubbish imo, Di Stefano, Cruyff, Puskas, Eusebio etc etc never won it why does Messi need to? he has already dominated the club scene for nearly half a decade and shows no sign of letting up. Plus Club level is a higher level than WC now imo and has been since the 80s. Also whats this rubbish about having to prove yourself outside your comfort zone? No one ever said Maldini had to leave Milan, Eusebio had to leave Benfica, Di Stefano had to leave Madrid etc etc. He's not there yet as far as iam concerned but he can get there if he keeps dominating at club level the way he has been in the last few years. I for one think its stupid how much hype is around winning a WC,a month long tournament that happens once every 4 years after playing around 50+ game season. European Cup/CL > World Cup, Always has been and always will be.

They have been running on Irish leprechaun luck ever since MONg arrived hopefully its finally running out and its not like his expertise's in the transfer market will save them 18.5m for Reo Coker and Curtis Davies ffs

Interesting, probably because they are moving on to the germans lol.

Yep its fantastic partnership defensively but a 2 man partnership in this day and age where the midfield is key can only do so much add a quality player to play infront of them or alongside them in a 4-2-1-3 or 4-3-3 and you will get the best out of Cabaye and Tiote. It's no coincidence that Cabaye's best and most consistent work has come in a midfield 3, it will also allow us to play the front 3 of HBA-Ba-Cisse and not worry too much about the defensive work and also have a player to can provide the link between Cabaye and Tiote and the front 3. So suddenly you have a midfield that is fantastic defensively but not great when you have possession to a midfield that is great at stopping play and also able to link and start attacks. Obviously its all hoping and dreaming atm but its a feasible scenario.

Ah yes and yh i expect Madrid to win aswell but going from 10 points to 5 points will surely effect them and dont expect them to play in thier usual swagger.

Ah Cheers

Pretty much every game that either Cabaye or Tiote are playing, we're told by a commentator what a fantastic partnership they've been for us. After a quick check, I can't believe they've even managed 16 starts together out of 29 league appearances. Doesn't feel like it at all. They are a fantastic partnership....... defensively. They are fantastic at closing the spaces between the lines and preventing teams from getting at our defence but going forward its very meh which is why a 3rd midfielder is required to make it work and some how fit Ba-Cisse-HBA together. I actually think Ben Arfa could play that role in a 4-2-1-3 formation but he would need drop alot deeper and more tactical discipline than he does atm. We will see what the summer has in store. Very true. Just been so stop-start that I forget they've played that much together. Agree with you in pretty much everything there, too. Random, pointless thought. With Cabaye's long-range pass attempts, could you imagine if we had him last season with Barton and Carroll still here? It could of worked it will be absolute long ball bombardment with Barton and Cabaye both in the same midfield bombarding the box with floating passes for Carroll to knock down for Nolan etc etc..... Would'nt have been nice to watch but it would have been effective.

Full back or Centre back? cant say i have a clue who he is tbh.

Pretty much every game that either Cabaye or Tiote are playing, we're told by a commentator what a fantastic partnership they've been for us. After a quick check, I can't believe they've even managed 16 starts together out of 29 league appearances. Doesn't feel like it at all. They are a fantastic partnership....... defensively. They are fantastic at closing the spaces between the lines and preventing teams from getting at our defence but going forward its very meh which is why a 3rd midfielder is required to make it work and some how fit Ba-Cisse-HBA together. I actually think Ben Arfa could play that role in a 4-2-1-3 formation but he would need drop alot deeper and more tactical discipline than he does atm. We will see what the summer has in store.

Yep he will break the record IMO tonight, also as Barca play first and pretty much certain they will win it will be down to 4 points before Madrid go to Villarreal. Anyone reckon that its possible that they could start to feel the pressure?

LOL, id pay to see this happen

Yep sounds like the plan...... Santon at RB, Simpson out and someone brought in at LB. I dont necessarily want Simpson out, just relegated to the bench but it does seem like this is what we will see happen.

If we beat these and avoid defeat against Liverpool the following week, 6th is ours to lose IMO

No one expects Brazil, we just expect better than Stoke........

Other than Ba, everyone of our top players are on long contracts so if anyone wants them they will have to pay massive fees. So if Tiote leaves i wont be too disheartened as long as the money is re-invested back into the squad and tbf the Carroll money was. It took 2 windows but eventually it was so i believe it will again. BTW the Krul story is so much BS it aint even funny, 10m for one of the best GK in the league who just signed a new contract when Chelsea already have one of the most young GK's in europe..... Just usual media trying to unsettle our players as usual.

Pardew not play Jonas? Ha ! i do like the team that Venkman posted tho. BTW i f*ckin hate that Tchoi he never does anything against anyone other than us

I'd let him have a full pre-season under his belt so he's fully fit for next season tbh.

10m too difficult to turn down for one of the best goalkeepers in the country and someone who just signed a new 5 year contract. What are they smoking unfortunatly theres going to be loads of idiots around the country that will actually believe this crap.

What a load of rubbish that is

Probably because Wolves and Wigan pass the ball sideways and backwards so it can be a very misleading stat they are not looking to try risky passes to open up the opposition. While i want us to play a better form of football i want it to be effective aswell and passing sideways and backwards all day and having no clue how to create chances is a waste of time. If we are going to be passing team in the future, we have to pass with a purpose and put the team on the back foot with movement and passing and not just passing for passing sakes. We would also have to change to a variation of 4-3-3 to pull this off imo, you cant pull of a passing style in a 4-4-2 IMO its too open and too easy to dominate as been shown this season many many times.