triggs

Zarate looks class

Well done Perez

Brilliant Haidara

Dat captaincy

What the fuck is that sub

He's not, obviously. It's direction from the manager. It's not even that he kicks it long all the time its that he's shit at kicking long

Not like Keane to walk away when the going gets tough. Fucking cunt

He's quick, he's fast and he's got pace

But would bringing the best out in their teammates and thus probably reducing their own scoring be the best for the team? Yes. They've achieved the best success when they've been part of the best teams. each time they've won the CL they've been part of the very best teams. And in most cases they weren't the difference in finals or semi's. Obviously both played big roles. I've banged on about this before but a part of selling the sport and taking it to another level as a business you must create behemoth teams and superstars. I call it the Jordan effect. You now have players who have grown up thinking the game is all about individualism. As such a lot of the very best players can be loosely described as greedy players and they don't reach that level of acclaim typically - unless they are actually fairly self-absorbed. Gareth Bale went onto another level when it was decided he shouldn't bother to defend and concentrate on scoring as much as he could. He almost fired them to the CL but the times they actually finished in the top 4 was when he was more of a team player and the focus was on the team - not the individual. Messi wasn't like that but he has become that. The way the Argies talk about him is disgusting "we need to play so that he can win us the world cup" or words to that effect. The last 3 teams to win the World Cup didn't have a Messiah type figure to fire them to glory. Nothing to do with losing one of the best midfielders in the world

But would bringing the best out in their teammates and thus probably reducing their own scoring be the best for the team?

I agree, but he was no Lionel Messi at his best, not by a long chalk. Not even Ronaldo at his best was. There I'll have to disagree completely with you. Both at their peak were as good as Messi in my opinion if not better. Difference is Messi has been able to maintain the same level for so many games in a row, so many years in a row it's become something we haven't seen from a player in this generation and that's what makes him the best of his generation in my opinion. Nah, sorry like. Just no. Messi scored in every match at his peak, as in he scored 33 goals in 21 games in a row, he scored f***ing 91 goals in 69 games man, again including the important ones. He's scored in: 2009 and 2012 Copa Del Rey Final 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Supercopa Finals 2009 and 2011 Champions League Finals (he was also man of the match in both) 2011 Supercup Final 2009 and 2011 World Club Cup Finals He's also scored 21 goals in 27 el clasicos with 15 assists. Messi was the better player at his best or at his worst and literally the only reason to suggest otherwise is Zidane's goals in the '98 final and Messi missing in the '14 final. Even then it's ridiculous tbh. Messi is the best player that we've seen in our lifetimes and even the slightest suggestion otherwise is nothing short of preposterous contrarianism. That last paragraph is bollocks. I'm not being contrary and Ive seen better than Messi in my lifetime. Ive seen one or two on the same level too. Who were those players as a matter of interest?

This happens me a lot too. This is a very reasonable post and I agree Dummett is not an excellent player, he has played well at centre half for us though and I also think the guy comparing his hoofing to Puyol is funny. However since this very fair opinion people are jumping on KI thinking that he said Dummett was shit when he said nothing of the sort. Similarly I have a post where I say Samaras isn't an utterly shit footballer and all of a sudden people think my opinion is that Samaras is some kind of great footballer when he clearly isn't.

If you need someone to build a team around I'd pick Suarez while if you needed a finisher for an already brilliant team I'd pick Aguero. I'd pick Aguero for Real Madrid and Suarez for Liverpool

Hart should do better there

Alonso

There's no guarantee that dropping Gerrard will allow them to start winning games. He is a problem but not the only big problem they have

It would pretty difficult for anybody to play professional football without a right foot

Bruce

Such an awful challenge

Do they think Kane is a good free kick taker now after getting that lucky deflection a while ago?

Don't think Lloris is as good as many people think

Steve Bruce reminding everyone he was a professional footballer there

Liverpool are really poor. Very few quality players. Gerrard is finished. I don't think Allen is any better than Colback. Sterling is class I think but hasn't been great recently. Lallana and Coutinho can be good but are inconsistent