The real GOAT

[Leo]

Yep.
He's phenomenal too.
It's absolutely astonishing the amount of goals that those two are scoring.

 

[peterhague]

Well it's an opinion. I can't really imagine thinking Cristiano Ronaldo's a greater footballer than Maradona, but fair enough.

 

[Judge Jules]

A player that basically retired at 27 shouldn't be even in the discussion.
Best was an excellent dribbler and a supremely gifted player but he was dribbling at players who weren't as physically or tactically drilled as the defenders playing today.
It will be scary the day that Messi retires and his final stats will be revealed.
He'll become the greatest player of all time when he retires.
Absolutely no doubt about it.

The length of his career isn't relevant to what Best or any other player could do at his peak. The question wasn't which player had the greatest career. All sorts of cloggers and plodders could well qualify for that award.

The drilling of players isn't relevant either. Attackers were no more physically or tactically drilled than defenders (and BTW defenders were allowed to get away with one heck of a lot more than they ever would today).

 

[Leo]

The question was who's the greatest of all time so length of career should be extremely relevant.
Best could have been the greatest ever it's all about opinions but if we're going on bare faced stats which is probably the defining factor Georgie doesn't even come close imo.

 

[Judge Jules]

The question was who's the greatest of all time so length of career should be extremely relevant.
Best could have been the greatest ever it's all about opinions but if we're going on bare faced stats which is probably the defining factor Georgie doesn't even come close imo.

"All time" has nothing to do with the length of any individual career though. It means the history of the whole game, which is a totally different point.

Those stats are important but they'll never be enough on their own. Plenty of geniuses of the game have had short careers. That doesn't detract from the skills they demonstrated when they were at their best.

 

[Leo]

If someone offered me a player that's a supreme athlete who averages over a goal every game over a flawed genius who averaged one in 3 and was fond of alcohol I know which one I'd be taking.

 

[peterhague]

Something tells me Leo isn't really entering into the spirit of this conversation.

 

[Leo]

Nah I'm just not very nostalgic.

 

[Halmeister]

Messi taking the royal piss out of Man City almost single-handedly. Sorry, but other players were great and all that, but Messi IS the greatest ever. Even now, at 27. I refuse to entertain any other nomination.

 

[Halmeister]

Another thing, I've noticed posters on here use the fact that Messi has stars around him as a bit of a sleight and that diminishes his claim to greatness, yet the same posters say the opposite when putting forward a case for Dalglish as our best ever. Surely if Messi can stand out amongst the likes of Suarez, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, Henry, Eto'o etc etc surely that only proves how great he is? How is Dalglish doing the same for a great Liverpool side, while not dragging an average Scotland side to glory, different to Messi standing out alongside modern greats, while not really doing it for Argentina? And you could argue he does play well for Argentina now. It's double standards. He's the best ever.

 

[Ryan]

Messi can never be the greatest player of all time cos he's never played for Napoli.

 

[Halmeister]

Oh well yeah, I forgot that.

 

[peterhague]

I understand Messi produced a load of nutmegs tonight which means he's clearly better than Pele and Maradona.

Or something.

 

[dantes]

Perhaps if he nutmegs Ronaldo on Sunday.

Even the greatest George Best fans had to admit, by 1976, that his best days were well behind him. 30 years old. Addicted to alcohol. Kicked out of Manchester United. George Best, many argued, was now a pale shadow of the genius dribbler he used to be.

That’s also what Dutch journalist Bert Nederlof thought. With the Holland vs Northern Ireland World Cup qualifier approaching, Nederlof was assigned the task to write a portrait of George Best. Nederlof flew to London to watch Best play for his new club Fulham against Southampton. After 90 minutes, Nederlof had seen enough. He wrote that Best was a fallen superstar no longer able to do what it takes to be a good footballer. Nederlof would soon regret those words.

A few hundred miles away, British journalist Bill Elliot was traveling with the Irish squad to the stadium where they’d meet Holland. The Orange squad, and their captain Johan Cruyff, in 1976, were synonymous with greatness. Elliot asked Best what he thought of Cruyff. “Outstanding”. “Better than you?”. George looked at the journalist and laughed. ‘You’re kidding aren’t you? I tell you what I’ll do tonight… I’ll nutmeg Cruyff first chance I get.”

What follows is Elliot’s description. “Five minutes into the game Best received the ball wide on the left. Instead of heading towards goal he turned directly infield, weaved his way past at least three Dutchmen and found his way to Cruyff who was wide right. He took the ball to his opponent, dipped a shoulder twice and slipped it between Cruyff’s feet. As he ran round to collect it and run on he raised his right fist into the air.”

“Only a few of us in the press box knew what this bravado act really meant. Johan Cruyff the best in the world? Are you kidding? Only an idiot would have thought that on this evening.”

While there doesn’t exist video evidence of this historic scene, Nederlof confirms that Best had played an absolutely incredible match, inspiring small Northern Ireland to a 2-2 draw against the best team in the world. “After the game, I caught the eye of the Dutch coach, Jan Zwartkruis. He gave me the most cold stare I’ve ever witnessed. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told him before the game that Best was nothing to worry about”.

 

[Halmeister]

I understand Messi produced a load of nutmegs tonight which means he's clearly better than Pele and Maradona.

Or something.

And a great assist to add to god knows how many assists over the years alongside over 400 goals at 27 years of age.

 

[peterhague]

I hadn't heard about the assist!

 

[rurikbird]

Messi was sublime, too bad Neymar and Suarez kept missing the chances he was creating for them. Hart with a few great stops as well; I think he had about 5 1-vs-1 in this game and won them all.

 

[Brizzle]

Messi was phenomenal last night.

 

[tony]

A player that basically retired at 27 shouldn't be even in the discussion.
Best was an excellent dribbler and a supremely gifted player but he was dribbling at players who weren't as physically or tactically drilled as the defenders playing today.
It will be scary the day that Messi retires and his final stats will be revealed.
He'll become the greatest player of all time when he retires.
Absolutely no doubt about it.

Maybe not but they were very adept at kicking the shit out of him. Todays football is almost non contact - apart from pulling shirts