Is Messi the GOAT?

[Dr Wolfenstein]

He's certainly no Best or Frank Worthington or Rodney Marsh or Matthew Le Tissier, real entertainers who would often attempt the impossible-& succeed. Players like Ibrahimovic, who have the devil in them & don't play the percentages like Messi seems prone to do.

 

[SquaddieWolf]

Messi is the GOOG (Greatest of our generation) but the GOAT has 3 World Cups to his name.

 

[Brockmoorwolf]

I doubt messi would have ever kicked a ball again if he had met the butcher of bilbao like maradona did.

 

[CelebrityWolf]

Because none of these points are mutually exclusive. There's no way a player survives at the top level of the game into their 40s now, especially if they were a flying winger. You won't see it. That's because of the continual generation of good top-level players. There is no drop-off, the trajectory is consistently up in terms of skill level/athleticism etc. The only point of difference is mentality. You also can't compare rules from different eras - it's a red herring.

Messi is the greatest because he has been the best at the time it's been the hardest to be the best. Football has never been more competitive, sophisticated, athletic and tactical. The better Q is whether the likes of Matthews etc would have managed to play against deep set defences. Messi has proven that

This is how I see it mainly. Football is undoubtedly harder now than it was 30-40-50 years ago. So much more disciplined, tactically aware, athletic etc etc. People like Best among others wouldn't survive the modern game and wouldn't be given a look in at many clubs. His career basically ended at 26 as it is.

 

[wolvesaywe]

This is how I see it mainly. Football is undoubtedly harder now than it was 30-40-50 years ago. So much more disciplined, tactically aware, athletic etc etc. People like Best among others wouldn't survive the modern game and wouldn't be given a look in at many clubs. His career basically ended at 26 as it is.

Do you not think Best might have benefitted from the radically improved player welfare of modern times? Conversely St Leo may have been a raging alcoholic / cokehead in a bygone era

It's why it's a completely futile debate. All good fun (or not) but eternally unanswerable

 

[gullykular]

Do you not think Best might have benefitted from the radically improved player welfare of modern times? Conversely St Leo may have been a raging alcoholic / cokehead in a bygone era

It's why it's a completely futile debate. All good fun (or not) but eternally unanswerable

But that also isn't what happened. You work with the body of evidence you have and make a judgement based off it. People will always romanticise what was, but essentially everything from a sporting perspective is on an upward trajectory.