Top 5 Things Pele Does Not Want You to Know

David Villa, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero, Van Persie, Diego Forlan...

 

Cant think of any others some fine strikers about. but not with the same footballing skills, Still think ronaldo is still a good bit behind Messi tho

 

Nah teams still did that back then, theres always been teams who would rather shut out than advance.....Rangers watty style, dull as *

 

Not in Brazilian football there wasn't.

Cattenaccio existed but it was always a style Brazilian Football abhorred and would never stand for in the country.

Even the great European teams they faced were very attacking at that point AC Milan and Benfica both. Speaheaded by some of the highest rated players ever.

If you were talking about Italian football at that point I'd agree with you but South American football? Not a chance.

 

Personally don't see what RVP has that Falcao and Higuain don't. Doesn't outshine them for me in any category, maybe apart from shooting from distance.

Rooney and Aguero have it all.

 

More the link up play, the dropping deep and threading passes through. Higuain and Falcao don't do that; although I will admit I was rather debating to myself of adding Van Persie to that list. The fact that he can easily play midfield if needed due to his footballing ability alone.

I think people saying this is doing Pele a disservice though; the best footballer outside of Messi I have ever seen is the Brazilian Ronaldo and he didn't have the same vision and stuff that Zidane had. I can see where people are coming from when they say that about Pele's game but he was a complete genius. Nothing can detract from that.

I think it's the fact that Messi has it all, the insane scoring, the insane dribbling, the insane vision and ability to pull it all off that this point has even came up at all.

 

For me being an exceptional footballer is about doing an exceptional job in your position at the highest level. Whether that's centre half, midfield or whatever.

Football, after all, isn't just about link up play & how you pass a ball.

For the record - Messi isn't an exceptional footballer, he's on the tier above that. Heaven I think they call it? Godly. :icon_mrgreen:

 

Probably about your interpretation then, I would call Beckenbauer and exceptional footballer and Nemanja Vidic and exceptional Centre Back you know?

I know what you mean though mate, it's biasness to the beautiful parts of the game

I'd say Makelele was an exceptional Defensive Midfielder not an exceptional footballer.

If you get what I mean?

 

Yeah, I get you. Defending is beautiful though!

(You've probably already guessed - I'm a centre half.)

 

Spot on.

 

Lets remember he included Diouf in the best living players list, but not Larsson...

 

I was a centre half until everybody realised I wasn't growing, got steadily flung up the pitch after that.

 

i was centre half cause i was fatter and taller most of the team


of course the fact im an awful defender and quite a technical player who is alot better in attack meant nothing

sums up scottish football tbh

 

What?

 

no sweden....

Pele is a *

 

Here's a list of Pele's 100. From 2004.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_100"]FIFA 100 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

Messi is a great and one of the best, no doubt. But for me Maradona is still the better player. Played for Barcelona and came up against Andoni Goikoetxea who famously set out to and broke his ankle in a sickening challenge. At a time when players didnt recieve the same protection that Messi at Barca recieves.

Maradona is also better for me in that he played for unfashionable, and average teams and took them to greatness. With Napoli he took them to two Serie A titles, when the Italian league was the best in the world, and also took Argentina singlehanded to the World Cup in 1986.

Messi, great player etc, also has the benefit of playing alongside a genuine world class set of team mates. The fact he has been unable to recreate the same success for Argentina indicates that he is not in the same class as Diego yet. The argument about CL being the benchmark is bollocks. Its an overbloated money making machine that is weighted in favour of the bigger clubs. I dont believe the opposition is also that strong in the CL, and hasnt been for some years. The EPL is rubbish in Europe, the Italian and German leagues are going through transition and Barca and Real are the only 2 real forces in Europe.

Will be interesting to see how Messi is in a couple of seasons once the Barca team starts to break up.

 

Maradonna played for a very good Barcelona team and failed. He was a master at taking unfashionable clubs to greatness, the teams were just built all around him.

Inlcuding that Argentina team who were very solid and knew there job perfectly well. Maradonna was the star.

A bit like Uruguay with Diego Forlan at the last world cup, a good team with a star set up to suit him.

Maradonna could never match Messi's goalscoring. Messi will get more goals for Argentina than Maradonna and that is with Messi being the closest to Maradonna's close control and vision since the man himself.

That puts Messi infront for me.

The Champions League is absolute quality. The best teams in the world are in there and there has been some amazing teams throughout that time. Outstrips the World Cup for me just now by strides.

 

He hardly failed at Barcelona, illness and a career threatening tackle put paid to his time there. And when you mention unfashionable teams, you are talking about average teams. Napoli were in the doldrums when he took them over and Argentina had few world class players. So based on that assumption, you think Maradonas acheievments were less? The truth is they were greater as he didnt have Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Silva etc. Its telling that whilst Messi has struggled to make his mark on the international stage, the Spanish side, with a heavy make up of Barca players, has been dominant. This would suggest that his team mates make up an important part of his game.

Maradona was never recognised as an out and out goalscorer either so the chances are Messi may score more than him.

Again this thread has been hijacked with the Messi debate. The little argentinian (Messi) may go on to be the greatest player that ever graced the game, but its too early to hand out that accolade. His records so far have been fantastic, but he has also benefitted from being in one of the greatest club sides ever.

If he carries on the way he is going then there will be no doubt, but the lack of international success will always be there. He is a great wee player and has a lot of fans who WANT him to be the best but not at the disrespect of other greats.

At the moment I would have Maradona, Pele, Cruyff and probably Zidane ahead of Messi. Not by a great deal, because I think the truly great players are in a group all of their own and on their day each of them is special.

And for this reason I also feel that Pele (remember him?) should have his achievements underestimated.