Don ricky talking about the importance of holding up the ball to allow your team to sustain attacks. Which will lead to the team scoring more goals and conceding less as the team will have more attacks and concede less attacks.
I love listening to this guy, we think alike.
The truth is on the pitch. You can never expose hazard if you show him on the pitch, crazy when you think about it. All criticism of hazard isn’t on the pitch, it just contextless spreadsheets. No one can actually show footage of him performing in the way people say.
Cr7 is a better big space dribbler. Messi would not do as well in these situations as he hasn’t got the long distance speed. Mbappe and bale are also better big space dribblers then messi.
Jude Bellingham has the most obnoxious celebrations in world football right now
His overboard “aura” celebration to every goal is half the reason why he’s so overrated, English and Madrid PR shamelessly spread it like wildfire
Very entertaining don’t get me wrong. But many cr7 fans use his long shot ability as a reason for why he is better then another player. For the most part any shot over 30 yards is poor decision making. For every 1 goal cr7 scored like this, he broke down hundreds of attacks.
A far inferior version of neymar compared to his early years at psg. Here he was restricted to 1v1 dribbling and running in behind from wide positions for messi to play him through. At psg he was a more central player who had more influence on the teams attack just like messi.
You’ve listed three athletic ‘attributes’ and three goalscoring attributes.
Your listing the same things in different ways. Just say he was a better athlete and goalscorer. Don’t force it.
Also physique isn’t an attribute, this isn’t modelling. Athleticism is an attribute.
@abzMCFC___
Hazard only had useless dribbling over Bale. Bale was more athletic, better physique, much faster, better scorer, better ball-striking, freekicks, crossing etc
Is ‘average position’ based on in and out of possession? Messi would stay up front out of possession to conserve energy. The moment argentina won the ball back messi would drop deep and his teammates would run beyond him.
Think this might be his peak athleticism. Much more agility and balance here. Had the pace and had the right amount of muscle on him for his strength. Put on too much muscle after this and lost a lot of agility, balance and fluidity in his movements.
Cr7’s strength is his most overrated physical attribute. He isn’t strong. He may ‘look’ strong but he isn’t strong. He doesn’t deal with physical contact well and he doesn’t apply physical contact well. Eden hazard is stronger then cr7.
This is an example of Ronaldo’s terrible balance and horrible ability to deal with physical contact rather than his dribbling
Ronaldo didn’t dive, he fell down because of his horrible balance, and was awarded a very soft penalty for it
Certain individuals average game is a fail comp. Never seen a hazard fail comp. A bad game for hazard is him not breaking down the oppositions defence much. But he will still sustain attacks with his ball retention he just won’t create dangerous attacks.
@Huncholino_
Nah, his floor is really high, so when he plays badly he ghosts but doesn’t really play against his team. I can only think of two performances that could be fail comp worthy and even those will probably only be short comps.
Cr7’s dribbling is one of his most underrated attributes. He was a very good dribbler of wide areas.
Underrated because people think tight space central dribbling is the only form of dribbling. Also because of recency bias as people forget what he was.
Many people say ‘kicking and running’ isn’t dribbling.
If you told maicon that bale didn’t dribble past him in those games he’d laugh.
Dribbling means going past players and it doesn’t matter how you do it. What matters is if you do it.
Depends what you mean by playmaker. Creative passing is a discussion. But neymar is far better if we’re talking about who progresses attacks better. Neymar can create with a pass and a dribble. Has better press resistance and ball carrying.
Notice how he said he wasn’t playing at 100%.
Neymar and ronaldinho are the only players i’ve seen play at an all time level without fully trying.
They often liked to showboat and play out of the flow of the game. Slow down the attack and play at their own pace.
When people use g/a to try to quantify messi’s level i cringe.
You’re only showing the tip of the iceberg.
Messi is the pre assist, pre pre assist, pre pre pre assist and so on.
Messi contributes in the earlier stages of the attack before the goal and assist.
In this video, Messi has 0 goals and 0 assists.
But when you watch, you'll realize that no player can be compared to him, no matter who they are.
He's playing a different sport than everyone else.
Creative passing is the most overrated ‘playmaking’ attribute. Hazard who is apparently ‘just a dribbler’ progressed belgiums attacks better than kdb. Press resistance, dribbling and decision making is what KDB lacks. Build up play is underrated and the final pass is overrated.
No dribbler has as many tools as neymar. Stepover, body feint, sole roll, reverse elastico, la croqueta, nutmeg, rainbow flick, tap the ball over your head, maradona spin, both feet, kick and run. I can go on…
Multiple players contributed to this goal happening and didn’t get a ‘goal contribution’. Griezmann had the least impact in this goal happening and got a ‘goal contribution’. This shows how flawed it is to think you can measure the impact a player has on a game using g/a.
Mbappe had a way bigger contribution to Tchouameni’s goal than Griezmann, yet the latter got an assist for a simple sideways pass
Using assists to judge a players performance in an individual game is downright stupid
Facts. Cr7 while he was athletic his athleticism is overrated because people think athleticism is just long distance speed and strength. He lacks agility and balance. He’s also not strong but because he’s ‘muscular’ people think he’s strong. This isn’t bodybuilding it’s football.
Neymar combined skilful dribbling and body feint dribbling like no one I’ve seen. He has so many dribbling tools which is why he has both goat level central and wide dribbling. A very complete dribbler.
He had already lost loads by this point. It was just masked because he was playing more central then in his MSN days. Which is why 14/15 messi is his peak because he had a good balance of technical and athletic ability at that stage.
Perfect example of tight space bias.
Bale is one of the best dribblers in big spaces ever.
In this guys mind salah is a better dribbler in tight spaces (he’s not, but let’s go along with it). So in his mind that qualifies him as a better dribbler.
I’ve come to the conclusion tezza that you have a fetish for pace and run in behind merchants with limited technical ability. You seem to mainly rate wingers and strikers. You don’t seem too keen on attacking midfielders. Palmer is a CAM, he isn’t meant to run in behind as much.
Garnacho is a bigger talent than Cole Palmer, he’s got a higher ceiling
Obviously he has major issues right now but once he figures things out he’ll be a much more dynamic and threatening player. Palmer is completely dependent on having the ball at his feet whereas Garnacho can
I stand with you tezza. I only agree with 20% of what you say. But your posts are entertaining nevertheless. People get very attached to players so when you criticise them it hurts but it’s no excuse!
Twitter X has provided me with a platform to express(sometimes rant) my football opinions and analysis
However, the racism and abuse is absolutely ridiculous. It’s yet again crossed the line, all in response to a very tame video. Shameful and pathetic
Mbappe is underrated as a dribbler because fans think tight space dribbling is the only type of dribbling. Big space dribbling is also dribbling and mbappe is one of, if not the best big space dribbler ever. He’s also underrated in tight spaces.
It’s actually crazy how different messi is talked about after he won the world cup compared to before he won the world cup. If he retired having not won the world cup his status would be so different based on a couple game tournament won by a team. Completely illogical.
Neymar’s youtube highlights has a bigger legacy then all them put together.
Trophy, ‘farmers league’ and availability merchants don’t understand that what you do on a football pitch has the biggest impact on how and if you are remembered.
The football lovers keep names alive.
“Thomas Muller”, “Mane“, “Salah”, “Ribery. Look at all the scrubs people say have a better legacy than him.
He has the entire next generation of ballers on his hands. Musiala, Leão, Williams and Yamal, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Endrick, Foden, Saka, ALL IDOLIZE HIM. Untouchable 😌
Saka takes progressive passing, first touch/control, dribbling, finishing, ball protection, defending, positional versatility.
Saka makes the right decision with the right execution more often. Meaning he plays better throughout the game whereas salah plays more in moments.
There's not a single aspect of this sport Saka has and ever will be better than Salah at. His catalogue isn't better, he's never been a better passer or a creator, he ain't a better finisher nor is he more intelligent or better in tight spaces. They wonder why he gets underrated.
None of that generates romantic attraction. All that generates is lifestyle attraction. Looks is what generates romantic attraction.
She was in it for the lifestyle not the romance.
Look at the difference in their facial expression, picture tells a thousand words.
It’s scary that sometimes, no matter what you do, people won’t be satisfied. Yamal took her to the most beautiful places, celebrated the 2nd biggest trophy in world football with her, might become one of the best ever, is rich & still she picked a random gardener over him
Hazard used combination play and flicks to break down defences at a level I’ve never seen before. An extraterrestrial level of spacial awareness. My second favourite part of his game.
Ball protection is an underrated attribute to have.
When your team is being dominated and you need an outlet to relieve pressure saka is your guy.
He’s like a target man playing out wide.
He knows how to position his body and he’s a strong guy. That’s pounded yam strength:)
Mbappe has great short and long distance speed. Tall players have long distance speed but not short. Short players have short distance speed but not long. Mbappe has a medium height so he’s a mixture of both. Perfect for a winger.
Kyle Walker explaining how Mbappe is one of the few dribblers in football history who can destroy defenders from a standstart position, not just rely on momentum
Mbappe is easily one of the best dribblers of all time
Tight space dribbling is the hardest technical attribute. Therefore when referring to a players technical ability, tight space dribbling plays a big part. Odegaard is much more technical then KDB who only has a good final pass and shot. Press resistance/dribbling 404 not found.
Bale had underrated ball control. It’s far harder to control the ball when you’re that fast. He would take close control touches when it was on and large measured controlled touches when it was on. He had better ball control then other speedsters like mbappe and cr7 for example.
Neymar and messi having great dribbling and creative passing is extremely impressive. It is much harder to see a pass when you are distracted with another option. Messi and neymar are always distracted with the option to dribble yet they still manage to see the pass.
Want to know what PR is? Neymar having one of the best final balls of all time yet never getting in those conversations. Both feet, all areas of the pitch from all angles. A much more complete final ball then some of your goats.
This is one reason why I prefer cr7’s personality. Cr7 is honest. Messi is fake humble. The public like when successful people are humble because it makes them feel less bad about their own lives. Cr7 flaunts his success and it makes people jealous.
🗣 Leo Messi: "Am I the best in history? I've never said it, thought it, or even tried to get used to this idea. For me, just being able to be considered or cited as one of the best players in the world is more than enough." 👏
Dribbling is a tool to help progress attacks, create chances and score goals. Dribbling takes opposition players out the game, gets you closer to the goal, creates numerical advantages, overloads and gives your teammates more time and space because you are attracting attention.
This is when he became the best in the world. Messi was past his peak and declining athletically. Neymar was doing what messi gets praised for from a technical standpoint while being a better athlete at this point.
People really forgot who he is. Should of never gone to city where he was restricted to the touchline. Notice here how he’s floating between wide and central areas. That’s how you get the best out of him. Much more direct that way. Thrives of chaos football and floating.
On top of that, off the top of my head his highest non penalty g/a league season is higher then all of them bar neymar. Including the guy below him in this list who gets top 5 ever shouts while hazard is a ‘dribble merchant bum’.
League seasons from top wingers with over 20 G/A (T5 leagues only)
Neymar: 7 (2 w 19)
Hazard: 6 (+ 1 w 19, 1 w 18)
Ronaldinho: 5
Ribery: 5
Bale: 5 (+ 1 w 19)
Robben: 4
Rivaldo: 4
Mahrez: 3
Mane: 2 (3 w 18)
Pires: 2
Nedved: 0
Wonder who gets mocked for inconsistency and G/A?
A far better player then KDB.
Apparently KDB is a tier 1 midfielder yet hasn’t got press resistance, decision making, dribbling, tight spaces, back to goal. Sounds more like an overlapping fullback then a midfielder.
This is one of the big reasons why neymar is one of my favourite players. If someone wrongs him he will try embarrass them. In these moments of anger, is when he does special things. Messi for example, doesn’t try to embarrass people, he does everything by the book.
The fact that the other guy has worse fails in an average game of his then hazard does in his whole career is too funny. Even based on these clips that aren’t even that bad you can tell he’s good on the ball. While the other guy looks like he’s never touched a ball in his life.
@Gigis123i
He’s applied force to the top half of someone while there in the air. Of course they will spin. His strength on the ground isn’t good because of his lack of balance and body positioning.
@salahdalglish
Ultimately maps are misleading if you don’t know how to interpret it. If you watch the games you can see messi is playing as an advanced attacking midfielder. The strikers always infront of him when Argentina have the ball.
Could hit a knuckle ball, top spin and curling shot. One of the best strikers of a ball I’ve seen. Also has great finishing in genral. He has one of the highest xg overperformances since the stat came out.
Agreed. Even xa has its limitations. The level of your teammates off ball movement and receiving ability effects how much you can create for them. If it was harry kane in mbappes place in this clip. No chance would of been created as he hasn’t got the pace to receive this pass.
This is how Messi was able to rack up xA over the two legs against Madrid, the best receiving outlet of the 21st century destroying Madrid’s backline again and again with his ridiculous movement and receiving ability
The reason why they don’t rate them is because they don’t play well throughout the game and/or because they aren’t good at the difficult parts of the game. Dribbling, receiving the ball under pressure with back to play, tight spaces, defence splitting passes etc.
Such a unique player, that’s never talked about. One of the best tall dribblers I’ve seen, amazing striker of a ball and just such a graceful technical player. He’s like a mixture of mahrez, messi and hazard.
Notice how differently players/managers talk about neymar compared to the general public.
Notice how the interviewer is surprised by saka’s statement.
Similar thing happened in a tuchel interview.
Tells you all you need to know.
🗣️ who’s the most underrated player ever?
🏴Saka : “Neymar. People talk about him but he needs to be spoke about more. He deserves more respect than he gets.”
KDB got outplayed by hazard whenever they played for the same team. Not once but twice, for chelsea and belgium. What player is considered better then another that got outplayed by them twice lol. KDB is a system player that needs very specific conditions to perform. Overrated.
I wish football clubs would show every training. If they did we would see things that haven’t been seen before.
I remember henry saying that when messi got angry in training he’d get the ball of the keeper and run through everyone and score. That would be fun to watch.
Technical ability=football brain + technique on the ball. The more technical you are, the easier it is executing on ball actions. How easy or hard a player finds executing on ball actions shows in their body language. Therefore your body language shows how technical you are.
I've realized that what people call “technical” is to have a nice body language when executing actions.
Two players could execute the same move but if one threw his hands wider in the air and shook his waist once during the move, he is the more obviously technical player.
Listen to the english guy in the background, ‘Yh, of course’. Notice the difference between how non english people talk about neymar (tuchel) vs how english people talk about neymar.
English football culture is miles behind and it’s why we will never produce a neymar.
Neymar hogs the ball a lot to disrespect his opponent. As if to say, ‘you cant get it from me’. He does it more if the opponent fouls him. Also for entertainment reasons. Neymar could of been more effective then he was but he chose to play in a less effective manner.
Neymar might be the worst teammate to play with.
Most high usage players are, but given how sluggish the release of his pass is, he's even worse than most high usage players.
At least others like Messi recognize movements very early and release passes quickly.
If you were a right winger growing up, mahrez was likely someone you tried to play like.
He had the streets.
I wonder if kids these days try to play like a certain current wide player who can’t dribble. Lord help us if we see regens of that devil.
@salahdalglish
Yh I doubt it’s just in possession. There’s no way the striker is behind messi when messi has the ball. If you watch the games you can see. Maps, graphs and stats can be very misleading if it isn’t used properly.
Why do salah fans clown kdb for his genral play when salah’s is even worse? They recognise kdb’s poor genral play but they don’t recognise salah’s?
Impressive levels of mental gymnastics.
1v1 demon, a true two way dribbler. Real winger! Gets underrated because they compare his g/a to these fake wingers who aren’t actually wingers but infact wide strikers.
Big, medium and small touches are all necessary depending on the situation. Fans conflate a big measured purposeful controlled touch with a big mis controlled touch. Here is an example of bale effectively using big and small measured purposeful controlled touches.
Unpopular opinion: Mahrez’s first touch is overrated
Most people have the misconception that a good first touch is only about keeping the ball close to you
WRONG! In many cases a big first touch(obviously one that’s calculated) is what’s needed. Mahrez doesn’t have the physique
Except, the goalscorer isn’t the only person who contributes to the goal happening. The ball doesn’t teleport to the goalscorer, it has to be progressed. That is just as important because without it the goalscorer wouldn’t score any goals.
Ben arfa has played like 300 career games and played in teams where he didn’t get the ball as much as the others yet still makes this list.
Frightening.
One of the most aesthetic players ever. He’s got that skinny man fluidity like robinho. Elegant. Technical execution of his moves when he got it right was perfect. Best step over execution i’ve seen in terms of how fluid he does it. Leicester mahrez one of my favourites ever.
Yh true. He scammed that reputation because of the following reasons I think.
Listed as a ‘midfielder’
Got a hollywood pass in him
White
All these things people associate with being technical.
Strikers dribble less because they receive the ball less often and less often in positions where it’s on to dribble. They also are more likely to lose the ball as it’s a very congested area. Dribble stats are useless without context.
Love bale but unfortunately some people like this overrate him.
Bale is someone who people change their criteria for. When it’s neymar and hazard they want to talk about longevity, availability etc. But when it’s bale you won’t hear a word.
@exluzemba
Get that fraud of my screen lol. He doesn’t go past players regularly. He does it irregularly because he’s a terrible dribbler. Those couple lucky dribbles he did have fooled you. Good dribblers dribble every game.
Gary lineker the goal poacher knows his place. Inferior to top attacking midfielders and wingers. He recognises goal poaching is a far easier job. Unfortunately, modern football fans don’t understand this which is why they think players like haaland are the best.
Neymar sucking up to messi held him back. If he prioritised himself he would of never gone to barca to the detriment of his development and he would of joined madrid playing as an attacking midfielder (his best position). If he did that, his peak would of been even better.
“Neymar no longer talks about himself he always talks about you, if you asked him [do you have time?] he’ll say Messi is the best” 😭
you need to tone it down imo
@neymarjr
Cook.
Good goalscorer, poor in build up.
That’s ok if your a striker, not as an attacking midfielder though.
Attacking midfielders are meant to be the technical maestros of the sport, now we got the lightskin haaland playing there😭
Why Jude Bellingham is the most overrated, overprotected, and arrogant player in world football.
Today, I do not want to seem like I am fuelled by hatred or agendas. No, I want to highlight to the masses (from a tactical standpoint) his deficiencies, shortcomings, and why it is
Messi’s strength is his most underrated physical attribute. People think because he’s small he’s weak. It’s actually the opposite, he’s strong because he’s small. His low centre of gravity paired with his body positioning makes him a very strong player.
Short strikers have better linkup play and better ability to get a shot of through dribbling. Tall strikers are better at receiving long balls for holdup play and receiving crosses.
I loved watching short strikers like romario, aguero and alexis sanchez when he played striker.
One of my favourite genres of players is the multifunctional striker.
Aguero gets called a poacher a lot but was one of the best dribbling strikers ever. Reminds me of romario.
Same!
Ben arfa’s got the penetrative ‘simple’ dribbling like messi but he attempts the impossible more, dribbles in more areas of the pitch, has more variation of moves and tries to humiliate his man. He’s like a mixture of neymar and messi.
Street baller version of messi.
This is one of my favourite turns of his. So smooth. He created so much separation lol. Notice how he waits half a second and is looking at the defender with his side eye waiting for him to get a bit closer then boom, see you later. He knows what he wanted to do very early on.
Dembele is an example of how being two footed is overrated. You should spend 80% of your time developing your strong foot in training and 20% on your weak foot. Strong foot is the most important. Dembele is both footed but neither of them are good.
I hope we can all finally come together as a football community and put a stop to Ousmane Dembele gas once and for all, shameful footballer that still gets treated like a teenager at the age of 27 today it must end
One of the reasons why I say attacking midfielder is the hardest position in football is because you have no time and space. The more talented players can play without time and space. The less talented get exposed without time and space…
G/a merchants are such hypocrites.
You compare players purely based on g/a and don’t consider overall play.
But when it comes to neymar, (someone who actually plays well outside of g/a) you want to talk about overall play.
Never liked him from what i’ve seen. Comes across as a fake surface level person who just wants to climb the social ladder. No loyalty just wants to fit in with the crowd and be popular.
Type of guy to make fun of his ‘friend’ in front of women to ‘impress’ them. Beg.