El Clasico

[frostlich]

Will this be another dismantling as last time? 5-0 embarrassment may be good to get the rivalry hate going, but too many Barca ass kickings and it's no longer a rivalry.

Will have to watch the replay...daughter has a softball tournament.

[RoadFan]

I actually thought Madrid was the better side today. Barcelona won the possession battle, as expected, but Real counter-attacked quickly and with purpose. Barcelona turned the ball over in their defensive third several times, especially in the first half. Barca was fortunate they didn't concede on at least one of those mistakes. Barca played their style, beautiful to watch at times, but most of it was in the midfield and they failed to create many chances. The way Real played today, they really reminded me of the German national team (meant as a complement).
A draw was a fair result. Neither team decisively outplayed the other.

[Dirtstar]

Part III today.

things have been getting nasty lately, with Guardiola and Mourinho feuding in the press.

[RaoulDuke]

Pretty nasty game with tons of fouls. Overall I thought Real was delivering more than recieving.

Pepe was red carded around the 50th. He's been an animal as of late but with way too much agressivity.

And, Dirstar's 'good player', was able to score 2 goals, the second an absolute gem.

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Pretty nasty game with tons of fouls. Overall I thought Real was delivering more than recieving.

Pepe was red carded around the 50th. He's been an animal as of late but with way too much agressivity.

And, Dirstar's 'good player', was able to score 2 goals, the second an absolute gem.

he's a little biatch and i hate him.

now that we got that out of the way, i do recognize that he's the best club player in the world today.

still won't deserve the "all time great" hype that he's getting until he accomplishes something with the National Team.

[DevsJetsYanks88]

That second goal today was fantastic. I don't particularly care for Messi either, but he's amazing to watch.

[bitonti]

that red card, and the game in general was disappointing

sometimes it's a beautiful game

that was a flop house

people justify the outcome cause Real wasn't as active but all it took was 1 ronaldo chance to go a different way and it could have gone their way... and he had at least 3 excellent chances

the game should be about the players not the refs

[wallstreet123456]

Danny Alves was not touched by Pepe. Danny always tires to get the opponent a red card. Very poor sportsmanship.

Watch this video and you can see how they tried to get players carded for no reason. I also hate when the players surround the Ref and try to make him give a card.

They have the Red card foul in slow motion and if you watch it he actually never hit him at all.

http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satelli...Alves__leg.htm

[Soberphobia]

Originally Posted by Dirtstar

he's a little biatch and i hate him.

now that we got that out of the way, i do recognize that he's the best club player in the world today.

still won't deserve the "all time great" hype that he's getting until he accomplishes something with the National Team.

Have to admit I have always been a proponent of Maradona as the best of all time for a lot of reasons, one of which was he won a World Cup of his own boot and carried his team to another final, but Messi's performances are slowly changing my mind. He is an all-time great at the age of 23, and is the 3rd all-time scorer at Barca, a club over a hundred years old. I don't know why you call him a ***** when he plays the game the way it should be played and doesn't have the ego someone like Ronaldo does. There are *****es in that Barca side, Busquets for one, but not Messi.

Will he win a World Cup like Maradona did? Probably not - but the game has changed since then - he is already in the top 3 players of all time however - he's a freak of a freak.

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by Black Death

Have to admit I have always been a proponent of Maradona as the best of all time for a lot of reasons, one of which was he won a World Cup of his own boot and carried his team to another final, but Messi's performances are slowly changing my mind. He is an all-time great at the age of 23, and is the 3rd all-time scorer at Barca, a club over a hundred years old. I don't know why you call him a ***** when he plays the game the way it should be played and doesn't have the ego someone like Ronaldo does. There are *****es in that Barca side, Busquets for one, but not Messi.

Will he win a World Cup like Maradona did? Probably not - but the game has changed since then - he is already in the top 3 players of all time however - he's a freak of a freak.

the notion of Messi being a top 3 player of all time is laughable.

[Soberphobia]

Originally Posted by Dirtstar

the notion of Messi being a top 3 player of all time is laughable.

I agree its a big call - maybe I'm buying into the hype, but I can't recall a player in my living memory with the talent or production of Messi. Some say Zidane should be in the top 3 of all time - he was an amazing talent, but TBH I actually think there is a player of his equal in Barca's side, and that is Xavi - and others would say that Iniesta is actually a better player than Xavi. TBH if I was to pick a team I would probably first pick someone like Xavi, because of his centrality to what Barca do as a team, but that doesn't mean that he has more talent than Messi. Messi is clearly the best player in that squad, perhaps the greatest club squad ever brought together.

I'm really trying to think of players in the last 30 years who compare to Messi, apart from Maradona - the only ones I can come up with is Zidane, fat Ronaldo and Van Basten. Those last two had careers hampered by injury, and you could argue, as I've done above with Xavi, that Zidane should be picked in any XI ahead of Messi because in any team he was in he was the heartbeat of it - but that doesn't mean he is the "better player" than Messi. Messi, as an individual, probably has more talent then Zidane - Messi scores better "individual goals" - he avoids more defenders and does it more regularly than Zidane ever did.

He's the 3rd best scorer for Barca ever - admittedly La Liga drops away pretty rapidly in terms of talent after the top 2 teams, but Messi's scored bags of goals against the very best clubs in Europe, just as he does it against some of the mediocrity at the lower levels of La Liga. The man is just a machine and acts like a true champion to boot.

Anyway - I can see why people would disagree - he is only 22 years of age, but if you look at the roll call of what he's done in his career up to now its already an "all-time" career. 52 goals and half as many assists in a season at this level is just insane production in the modern game - its the sort of thing you'd see on playstation not in real life. But that aside you just have to watch him play and see his talent - I watch him and compare him to Zidane and others and to my eye he compares very favourably.

[frostlich]

I see a sig bet somewhere in the future where Dirt has a pic of Messi in his sig.

Hmm...might be a nice incentive for the draft? Winner gets to control everyone elses sig for a week. Or something to like that.

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by frostlich

I see a sig bet somewhere in the future where Dirt has a pic of Messi in his sig.

Hmm...might be a nice incentive for the draft? Winner gets to control everyone elses sig for a week. Or something to like that.

Dirtstar is Messi's b*tch.

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Dirtstar is Messi's b*tch.

so you agree that, at this point in his career, Messi is a Top 3 player of all time??

assuming that Pele and Maradona are #1 and #2 (or #1 and #1a, if you will), that means that before he's even turned 24, Messi has already surpassed the likes of Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckenbauer, Van Basten, Ronaldinho, Baggio, Platini, Matthaus, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Garrincha, etc...


i guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Dirtstar

so you agree that, at this point in his career, Messi is a Top 3 player of all time??

assuming that Pele and Maradona are #1 and #2 (or #1 and #1a, if you will), that means that before he's even turned 24, Messi has already surpassed the likes of Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckenbauer, Van Basten, Ronaldinho, Baggio, Platini, Matthaus, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Garrincha, etc...


i guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one

Just bustin balls

I’m too lazy to look up statz or email DWC2, but what he’s done in the past 3 years is most likely unprecedented. He’s scoring as many goals as games played, if not, more. You can argue he’s being served by probably the best duo ever in xavi and Iniesta, and that the team and philosophy as a whole is arguably the best ever. He's still scoring amazing goals single handedly (see 2nd goal vs Madrid).

I admit he hasn’t had the impact of a Maradona or Zidane on his national team yet. I don’t think he’s been used correctly though on his national either.

He’s on track for a 3rd straight golden ball. I think only Platini and Van Basten have done that.

At 23, I don’t think he’s in the top 3 yet just because his body of work isn't finished yet. But if we’re comparing players in their prime…he’s fargin close.

[The Turk]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Just bustin balls

I’m too lazy to look up statz or email DWC2, but what he’s done in the past 3 years is most likely unprecedented. He’s scoring as many goals as games played, if not, more. You can argue he’s being served by probably the best duo ever in xavi and Iniesta, and that the team and philosophy as a whole is arguably the best ever. He's still scoring amazing goals single handedly (see 2nd goal vs Madrid).

I admit he hasn’t had the impact of a Maradona or Zidane on his national team yet. I don’t think he’s been used correctly though on his national either.

He’s on track for a 3rd straight golden ball. I think only Platini and Van Basten have done that.

At 23, I don’t think he’s in the top 3 yet just because his body of work isn't finished yet. But if we’re comparing players in their prime…he’s fargin close.

+1 except the bold

he is not close he's fargin there

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by The Turk

+1 except the bold

he is not close he's fargin there

So, you setting up the draft or what?

[The Turk]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

So, you setting up the draft or what?

Didn't that thing die a horrible death?

What am I supposed to do? I need some guidance from the experienced draft moguls.

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by The Turk

Didn't that thing die a horrible death?

What am I supposed to do? I need some guidance from the experienced draft moguls.

Well things don't look too bright, but it's worth a shot.

First, you need a theme (All time, Current players..)

Then, your work is just logging in everday making sure things are moving along, and occasionally PM a dude who’s sleeping.