1.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 07:57:32
Finally the real Messi is coming out the spoilt little brat who always wants everything his own way.

2.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 08:49:00
Is messi acting like a child or has he got a point, I haven't seen any of the copa except for highlights of Bobby.

{Ed001's Note - both.}

3.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 09:17:33
His comments warrant no attention as they are mid-guided

However how he got sent off I’ve no idea.

4.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 09:24:36
A lad I worked with insists that Messi is the greatest of all time, which is always a subjective thing, and insists he’s better than Maradona. To me that’s ridiculous as Maradona dragged a very average Argentina side to World Cup victory. Something Messi and his ego never have. And he did it without referee’s protecting him.

5.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 09:45:19
Anfield has slaughtered the Goat.

6.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:01:34
I agree 6times. Messi is a phenomenal player but he can’t be considered the greatest ever without s World Cup winners medal.

7.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:06:47
Was Messi better than George Best? I think Pele said Best was the best he's seen.

8.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:09:57
The pressures of a career long ineffectiveness for his national team, are finally building up. Goat? Don't think so. Not ahead of Pele and Maradona.

9.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:10:08
Whilst I concede the above arguments have merit, I'm almost 50 and I've never seen a player do what messi does on a regular basis. He is the best I've seen, regardless of a world cup medal or not. Side note, I care little about international football.

{Ed001's Note - but he does it on billiard tables with defenders unable to touch him, as he gets insane amounts of protection. All the talk of how he doesn't dive from commentators is nonsense, he dives when he gets tackled it is just players are scared to challenge him as referees give every decision in his favour. He is not even close to Maradona's level, who would do the same things Messi did but while being hacked at viciously by thugs trying to finish his career on pitches that were like cabbage patches.}

10.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:14:15
I have no idea why Messi got sent off.

As for the GOAT, I don’t think Messi is the best player of this generation, unfortunately that goes to Ronaldo IMO. He is a bit like gerrard in that he can drag his team through with a never say die attitude. He’s also done it on the international stage.

No idea who I’d class as the GOAT because each generation would argue for who they grew up with I think.

11.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 11:13:41
Comments to the side, the red card against was incredibly harsh. Medel was coming at him and he just stood his ground. Could have dived, but didn’t and I don’t even think he made any forward movement with his head - can’t understand why VAR has not overturned it.

12.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 11:33:16
Watched the incident with Messi, was a load of handbags where was var when it was needed, also great to see Brazil progress to the final without that serial injury feigner, hope all our lads come home safely.

13.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:30:35
I saw the sending off, he and medel squared up to each other then proceed to do some strange form rutting where they both beat their chest against the others. The referee ran over and sent them both off immediately. They must have assumed because there was no head involved they would get yellows but it looked ugly and particularly moronic.

14.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 10:49:16
I understand ed001, but I think it's hard to compare players of different eras. The pitches are better now and old fashioned tackles are outlawed, but the game is also much quicker and more professional. I played a couple of seasons in the old national soccer league in oz and it wasn't unusual to see a player have a quick fag at half time, that was after a big night the night before. Modern forwards are up against real athletes, professional players fully. Messi is also a good yard slower than plenty of other forwards but still bamboozles defenders. Just my opinion of course.

{Ed001's Note - and you are forgetting that if the older players had access to modern training, they would have been even better. If the likes of Messi had played back then, they would have not been able to cope. The skill level of Messi is fine on a billiard table but he has been shown time and time again to fail miserably on a crap pitch, including at this Copa when he had a good whine about one of the pitches because it wasn't perfect.}

15.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 13:34:25
To suggest a player cannot be considered the greatest without a World Cup medal is ridiculous IMO. A tournament is won by a team not an individual. Pele didn't win the World Cup, Brazil did because they had a team of superb players. Many would consider Cruyff to be better than anyone but he never got a WC medal. Same goes for top players like Messi, Ronaldo, Weah, Van Basten, Best, Dalglish and Le Tissier (hey, he had his moments) .

16.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 13:43:36
ed001 am with you on Messi, and for me Ronaldo there has been loads of players better than them but they did not play on the pitches they play on today and got kicked from pillar to post. and I don't think the quality of defenders are anywhere near as good as the past. Am 44 and Maradona is the best player I have seen in my time but I would put Zidane, Fat Ronaldo all above Messi and Ronaldo. Then there is Pele, Cruyff, Di Stéfano, Puskás, Eusébio, Garrincha and best to name just a few from the past that I did not get to see who like you said played on awful Pitches. I would love to see them players playing on these pitches with the light weight boots and balls they play with to day and see what they could do.

{Ed001's Note - exactly mate. It is not even true that all modern day players are fitter, the likes of Shankly and Matthews were incredibly fit and could have easily lived in the modern day football world due to their dedication to training. And yes I do mean the great Bill Shankly, as he was very much a fitness fanatic who didn't drink or smoke to keep himself as fit as could be.}

17.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 14:32:07
I watched nearly all the matches at the Copa. Messi was poor mostly, but the refereeing against Brazil was atrocious, as was the red against Chile.
As per the GOAT discussion, Messi isn't it. For me, it has to be Maradona first and Zidane second.
What Maradona did in 1986 World Cup was unbelievable, and the way Zidane turned the 2006 French team around after coming out of retirement and taking them to the World Cup Finals is remarkable. Plus his performance against Brazil in the quarter-finals is probably the best individual performance I've ever seen.

18.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 16:15:32
Spot on, Ed re: old vs modern day fitness levels of players. Take Pele for example. You can say what you want about Pele and whether he was the greatest ever player but what you simply cannot take from him was his natural ability and most importantly, his fitness level. The guy would be a monster in today's game. Messi would not survive the era Pele played in when there was no protection from refs. Anyone remember the way he was decapitated vs Portugal in the 1966 WC? Yeah, let's see Messi survive that.

Same with Maradonna. He was almost decapitated by Claudio Gentile who literally did whatever he wanted to Diego and ref just waived play on. He then kicked out at Gentile's man jewels cos he was fed up. Diego then came back and won the WC in 1986 basically on one good ankle as the other had screws in it. Do you have to know how fit you have to be to play at the highest level in a WC on one good ankle?

As for whether Messi is the GOAT, that is just ludicrous. IMO, he is not even better than his then Barcelona team mate, a certain Andres Iniesta.

{Ed001's Note - Iniesta I love as a player and, at his peak, he was the key to Barca's play. They are a shadow of the team they were since he has gone.}

19.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 16:50:47
Speaking of Iniesta Ed, did you see that beauty of a goal from him I think it was last week, maybe the week before? he's still got it, bloody incredible player. Him and D. Silva are way up there with the very best for me. You're right, Barcelona just don't look the same without him, players like that aren't easy to replace and imo we'll see the same when City lose Silva.

{Ed001's Note - I haven't seen it no. Not seen anything of him in Japan at all.}

20.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 16:59:54
It was against Toyko I believe mate and no me either, it's not something I'll be watching anytime soon lol.

21.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 17:34:39
ed001 with this old vs modern day I can remember the great emlyn hughes saying, yeah we could not run like them but once we got the ball they would never get it back. the closes to the old players from are era would be paul scholes nothing like what footballers are now but was all ways in control.

{Ed001's Note - the improved facilities etc have made the game more watchable, but they have meant kids don't have to develop the same skill level as they had to in the past.}

22.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 21:01:59
Ed001, do you remember the absolute mailings that Pépé had to endure? Neymar, Pogba, Suarez, Messi and the like have absolutely no idea what abuse is.

{Ed001's Note - Pele you mean? I can remember well - particularly as I have had to listen to the story of him having to be taken off at Goodison Park for his own safety during the 66 World Cup, because it was my uncle who was the sobbing St John's lad who put the blanket round his shoulders and the pair of them went off in tears together.}

23.) 07 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 21:38:39
Pele, yes. That’s a great story about your uncle. Unfortunate but what a story.

24.) 08 Jul 2019
07 Jul 2019 23:38:30
What the Bulgarians, and then the Portuguese, did to Pele would be considered criminal by today's standards. No surprise Pele declared he'd never play in a World Cup again. Luckily, they got him to change his mind in 1970.