BEST TWO EVER?

[Magic 20]

Messi and proper Brazil Ronaldo

 

[DifferentClass]

Thought this'd be a tits thread

 

[blade too long]

never put Best in a top 10

anyone who is born with talent and flushes it down a toilet deserves to be side stepped

Johann Cruyff and Messi

both played brilliantly but both worked at being even better
the difference being balance , like they had built in gyroscopes to ride tackles

beckenbauer was worth a mention too along with Zidane

best in this country Cantona and Bergkamp, no english unfortunately

 

[snootyfenooty]

never put Best in a top 10

anyone who is born with talent and flushes it down a toilet deserves to be side stepped

Johann Cruyff and Messi

both played brilliantly but both worked at being even better
the difference being balance , like they had built in gyroscopes to ride tackles

Cruyff especially seeing as he smoked 60 a day.

 

[Bladesthorpe]

Hammond and Nosworthy.

 

[blade too long]

Cruyff especially seeing as he smoked 60 a day.

probably where he got the idea for the "drag" back

 

[snootyfenooty]

probably where he got the idea for the "drag" back

TC was doing that before him with his Currie Shuffle. They were both great "Players" though!!

 

[fireblade]

Watched a fair bit of European football on TV over the years, and two players that come to mind that performed to a consistent high standard and were vital to their teams performances are Iniesta and Maldini. Can hardly recall a mistake by either for club or country.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

OP states in your lifetime. I'm 34 so my answer is still valid (for me).

Plus - the trajectory of both their goals/games ratios, particularly Messi will be better than the others. We're talking about athletes who could be judged on games/goals ratios at present, they're that good, they've flipped the chart (Messi in his career and Ronaldo at real madrid)

I appreciate your comment about lifetime, you're too young for your own good.

In that context, based on consistency it would be hard to argue against the pair, but although I'm not doubting that Messi & Ronaldo are great players, neither will equal, let alone beat Gerd Muller's goals/games ratio. Both have peaked & are on the way down to a greater/lesser extent. Ronaldo is at 0.7, Messi 0.78 & Muller 0.93. Both would need to score a goal a game for the remainder of their careers to get anywhere close to him and it won't happen. 20% of Ronaldo's goals come from penalties, only 10% of Muller's did. Plus he was an alcoholic and played the game when defenders could tackle. People rightly lauded Kane for scoring 56 goals in a calendar year in 2017, Muller's best was 85 in '72. A different level. Muller did it at every level of football he played at domestically, continental, continental international and global international. The other two's ratio's soften as the competition gets stiffer.

Same goes for Greaves to a lesser extent. Both phenomenal players who get overlooked, because football only started in 1992. Ronaldo is currently at the same ratio as Romario, and his name rarely crops up in conversation (outside the Romario household).

 

[blademark]

Willie Donachie and Phil Babb.
What a partnership.

Gutted no one liked my Donachie Babb partnership, or is it just not funny ?

 

[Carlton Blade]

Zidane was unplayable. Could do everything

Fat Ronaldo was a phenomenon - at PSV and Barcelona it was just something I'd never seen before.

But I'm probably clutching at straws. It's Messi and Ronaldo. I just preferred the other 2

 

[Carlton Blade]

I appreciate your comment about lifetime, you're too young for your own good.

In that context, based on consistency it would be hard to argue against the pair, but although I'm not doubting that Messi & Ronaldo are great players, neither will equal, let alone beat Gerd Muller's goals/games ratio. Both have peaked & are on the way down to a greater/lesser extent. Ronaldo is at 0.7, Messi 0.78 & Muller 0.93. Both would need to score a goal a game for the remainder of their careers to get anywhere close to him and it won't happen. 20% of Ronaldo's goals come from penalties, only 10% of Muller's did. Plus he was an alcoholic and played the game when defenders could tackle. People rightly lauded Kane for scoring 56 goals in a calendar year in 2017, Muller's best was 85 in '72. A different level. Muller did it at every level of football he played at domestically, continental, continental international and global international. The other two's ratio's soften as the competition gets stiffer.

Same goes for Greaves to a lesser extent. Both phenomenal players who get overlooked, because football only started in 1992. Ronaldo is currently at the same ratio as Romario, and his name rarely crops up in conversation (outside the Romario household).

Gerd Muller was a human bowling ball. He just bounced off people (before my time but I've always watched a load of old football). The goal in the 74 WC final where he somehow managed to pirouette and put the ball back in the opposite corner was ridiculous. Perfect goalscorer

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Yeah, he sometimes looked clumsy.

Van Basten is another that gets overlooked. Where as Muller was the complete striker, Van Basten was the complete centre forward. He was finished by the time he was 28, and probably was only playing at 3/4's from 26. But between the ages of 19 & 26, he was scoring 3 goals every 4 games at Ajax & AC Milan. Scoring in Serie A when it was a high standard. All types of goals as well, with both feet.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Yeah, he sometimes looked clumsy.

Van Basten is another that gets overlooked. Where as Muller was the complete striker, Van Basten was the complete centre forward. He was finished by the time he was 28, and probably was only playing at 3/4's from 26. But between the ages of 19 & 26, he was scoring 3 goals every 4 games at Ajax & AC Milan. Scoring in Serie A when it was a high standard. All types of goals as well, with both feet.

Scoring goals in the late 80s/early 90s Serie A was no joke. I think that first Football Italia game on C4 (Samp 3 Lazio 3 i believe) might have cluded peoples judgement!

So many CFs failed (Papin, Pancev etc). Van Basten dominated

 

[benn5712]

Gutted no one liked my Donachie Babb partnership, or is it just not funny ?

How's that pal ?

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Gutted no one liked my Donachie Babb partnership, or is it just not funny ?

I'm laughing on the inside.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Currie and Salmons, end of.

Sorry Alan but they said two.

 

[BarcaBlade]

Are we allowed defenders?

Puyol and Maldini