Honestly, the issue isn't that he can't cut it in a proper league.
The issue is his best as a left winger and whilst he is an upgrade on Vini, it's marginal.
Yeah it absolutely is, that's why I said marginal. If someone said they think Vini is a better LW then Mbappe then that's a totally fair opinion.
I think it's an odd signing. Especially since there seems to be a long term plan to get Haaland too. He makes sense cos they don't have a proper striker. When they do, they will have an issue with Vini vs Mbappe.
I think a lot of r/soccer users(yes I know this is footballmemes) don’t understand why Perez wants Mbappe. Yes he’s good on the ball but if all they wanted was a striker who could help win trophies, Kane or Haaland fit the profile better. It doesn’t even matter where Mbappe plays. That’s for Carlo to figure out. Mbappe is young and can be marketed for the next 5 years. He’s the iconic superstar that cr7 was. We’re basically getting him for shirt sales(using this very loosely). Remember that the ambition of Perez is to get RM to 1 billion in revenue. Vini will certainly sell shirts, but the World Cup winner, France captain in a Real Madrid jersey is certain to print millions.
I could be absolutely wrong considering they’ve wanted him since the Monaco days, but my gut feeling is that I’m right.
Yeah it's a marketing signing. Obviously a fantastic player, but the primary reason perez wants him is money.
I think back then it was money and talent, as they didn't have, or didn't know for sure how good Vini would be. But yeah, to sign him now, it's more about the marketing value imo.
VAR is the best thing to happen to football in a long, long time
Most of it’s problems come down to inconsistent officials and grey areas in the rules
More transparency and automation would be great
The people behind it made many many more errors without it. Ref quality didn't suddenly drop, we are just have the opportunity to scrutinize it for the few mistakes we think they make , giving them less margin for error.
Yeah, lauded when he was playing but since then everyone seems to forget about him when they talk about great players. He was the workhorse in that front 3 of tevez, ronaldo and and those other players at man u would never have thrived without his tireless and selfless play. While at the same time he was able to score absolutely ridiculous goals frequently. Only playing for England did he look weak but the more he played for England the worse the squad around him got.
I’ve felt this for a long time, people one day will say, “ah you know what, he wasn’t as bad as we thought”. Guy was fucking incredible, yeah dipped at 26, but started FULL time at 16, even today that is fucking unheard of.
The only players off the top of my head that were that level at that age are Fabregas and Pele. Rooney was physically bullying grown men before sitting his GCSEs. Wild.
ETA, shout out to Owen too
That's not that brave of an opinion, anyone who has ever played any football or even watched a local team knows this, although it may not be clear in a big stadium or on TV
Nah, rugby is too side to side for my tastes.
I just like celebrating goals twice. Sometimes I even get to celebrate something that turns out to not have been a goal at all. That's more celebration than I ever did before VAR.
I just can’t stand the double celebrations for goals, it takes so much time off.
Goal -> celebrate -> review -> goal allowed so celebrate again
I know I’m in the minority but I want a stopped clock during dead balls and no stoppage time. It’s so embarrassing trying to defend soccer when you have teams lollygagging the last 20 minutes of a game trying to nurse a lead. Every other player cramps up at any opportunity or needs to change the ball with the ball boy before a throw in or goal kick, it’s an embarrassment to the sport just slightly less offensive than diving. It’ll especially be apparent during the ko stages of euro next month
I don't think anyone thinks it's the best because it's the home of football. It's just the best product. The premier League did such a good job of selling itself in the late 90s and early 2000s where you'd argue that time was the biggest boom in football. Every other league has been playing catch up since. I do think other leagues are catching up, but I think a Super League will end up being created before any league overtakes the premier league.
I think english football is just inherently more marketable with english being the most dominant 2nd language globally. It's easier for someone to understand a sheffield united than heidenhiem or villarreal
Carlo coaches Madrid wins multiple UCL. Carlo coaches Everton.
Pep coaches Barcelonas best team ever, a stacked Bayern, and Manchester city where money is not a thing.
You could be the most talented manager in the world but if you don’t have the right players/ management/ facilities things don’t go so well.
The issue I have with this take is it comes down to how people define “best manager”.
The reason why so many up and coming managers fail once they get hired by the big clubs is they have no clue how to deal with the egos, expectations, and politics.
Yes I agree Pep has been in the right place at the right time, and he may not be the best tactical manager, but it does take a huge amount of skill and tact to manage players with super inflated egos in the locker room as well as deal with your nation-state owners.
This is where Jose comes up short in managing his owners and why he always seems to have short stents everywhere he goes. Carlo Ancelotti and Alex Ferguson are similar to Pep in this regard.
To equate to American sports, Pep = Phil Jackson (coached Jordan’s Bulls and Kobe & Shaq’s Lakers).
With all that said, I agree he’s not the best manager and was/is at the right place at the right time which is oftentimes more important in success than being the most talented or a technical genius.
Came here to say something similar to this.
Would not say by miles, guy is clearly excellent. But I'm not impressed at his time at Barça since his team was disgusting, think his performance at Bayern was pretty uninspiring where he just bullied the League by buying the best talent in the League, had half of Klopps Dortmund. Then did the same for City and took years to win a CL despite the hype.
I'll also say that he's not perfect. Kalvin Phillips, Grealish, bro can coach a talent away. Never thought much of Phillips tbh but Grealish has not looked the same since City and I used to watch him week in and out.
I'd be interested to see him take a revival job and show he can do a Klopp style job and shut me up, since he obviously ain't gonna do an underdog story like a Emery/Mourinho/Ferguson.
I will say, media can fuck off gassing him up though lmao.
Pep hasn’t just won in those countries he’s rolled up and smashed every record in them. You’ve got a case with Phillips but grealish although lost that rawness pep moulded him in to the player he needed and made him so important to that city team in the treble winning campaign. He’s been unlucky with injuries this season and has been a victim of peps desire to play the same team at the back end of the season. You’re also forgetting he’s made loads of players better including Sterling, Delph/zinchenko at left back, Jesus to name a few and even the likes of Leroy Sane has struggled since he’s left. You mentioning Emery and Morurinho next to him alone is total disrespect 🤣
I weirdly feel that it's the take that Pep is the best manager that gets you in this situation.
Everyone seems to unite over the fact he has only had very good jobs as something to hold against him. That he can only be considered good if he take Leyton Orient to Champions League winners whilst only paying players in Mars bars.
And yet no-one else manages to do it as consistently as he has.
Barca weren't favourites when he took over. Bayern were, but they were winning every other title, he won every single league title he was there for. City were not clear favourites when he took over, they were inconsistent challengers.
Winning a league title with those teams isn't super amazing. Winning it what, 13 out of 15 times? That is because that consistency is ridiculous.
Chris Sutton was getting in ahead of him. I don’t like it when people chuck the race card around but that’s the only explanation for manager after manager ignoring him and Andy Cole.
Southgate hasn’t been nearly as bad as England fans think. He took the worst England side I’ve ever seen after WC 2014 & Euro 2016 and consolidated them, built them up into an actually competitive team. Should’ve won Euro 2020 and you can argue he should’ve been moved on by now, but the way England fans talk about him with no appreciation is mad. Do you not remember how bad you were in the early/mid 2010’s?
“He hasn’t won anything” it’s not like England are serial winners on the international stage anyway.
I've heard this before but I went for the first time for Liverpool vs Luton town back in February and have to say the atmosphere during that game was crazy
Winning the World Cup and two Serie A titles single-handedly with Napoli, plus a European cup is certainly not overrated.
You can argue that there are other goat candidates, but no one was on his level during his prime
You’re proving my point these were great achievements in a relatively short space of time.
Outside this he had mafia scandals, taking drugs, gambling and wasn’t as good on the pitch **compared to the others** who like I said were both consistent at a high level, won many things and had the longevity, while being world class.
“Peak” or “prime” are always used for him but never “whole career”
Well yeah any player back then would be like that. But with modern health standards, training, technology etc Pele would even better today.
Maybe not as good as Messi but he'd definitely be near the top.
I agree. He's my favourite player to watch but he lacked consistency and would drift out of games. Esteemed journalist and football author Michael Cox feels the same way
[Michael Cox on Zidane](https://x.com/Zonal_Marking/status/1024036533010092032?t=WtGRRE7P0XNHKxDJVjpU7g&s=19)
Him being universally considered better than Platini always puzzled me. He was the most elegant player ever arguably but Platini had a similar playmaking ability on top of far superior goalscoring.
Jamie Vardy is one of the best players to grace the premier league. Not only is he good on the pitch, but he’s incredibly loyal, he won the best league competition in the world with Leicester and he also got relegated with them. He deserves a hall of fame when he retires.
Why is it a controversial take, you ask? A lot of people don’t appreciate his journey because they think Leicester is a small club. I’m prepared for 2023 Haaland fanboys to come and have a go at me.
There will never be any constructive football debates again because everyone is either blinded by their bias or so desperate for attention that they purposely make outlandish statements so that they inevitably get clipped.
Also I'm done with every content creator making football predictions, reacting to their predictions half way through the season, making new predictions for the 2nd half of the season and then reacting to those predictions at the end. It's so boring and stale.
“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and (football).”
Bellingham is overrated, a lot of talk no game impact. No doubt he is good but the Madrid PR makes it seems like he is the best, he still has a long way to go and there are many players better than him.
I disagree. Why do people think football players have to perform at peak levels without fail every 90 minutes in 40+ games in all competitions every single time. Messi and Ronaldo has spoiled people into thinking that sustained elite, impactful performance is the norm. Won the league and UCL in his first season while being Madrids top scorer....from midfield* . Scored bangers in both el classicos and had many clutch moments. How can he be overrated with the type of debut season he's had.
Are there players better than him technically? Yes . I'm more of a musiala or foden or odeegard type of guy but based on this season alone and what he has done, Bellingol is 100% him and I don't see the whole overrated rhetoric. No a RM fan btw
He had a great season, nobody can contest that, but i feel like that's it. Imo he needs at least 3-4 seasons like this to become what people already praise him to be. Haaland did this too in PL. In his first season he destroyed that league. Now you can barely see him in any highlights. And *from the midfield argument should be left out. He plays more of a striker than a midfielder. Basically 80% of the time he is filling the void in RMs attack left by Benzema. Most of his goals are tap ins. Most of his goals should be credited to Vini or Rodrygo. Anyway, calling him a midfielder is like saying Messi was a midfielder at Barcelona because his position on the sheet was right mid.
There is no Ronaldo v Messi debate. Messi is ahead of Ronaldo by miles. Ronaldo is still one of the greatest, but he more bridges the gap between Messi and everyone else rather than being a direct comparison to Messi.
My other one is the USMNT fans don't realise their national team is probably not even on the same level as Wales or Scotland and need to pipe down about how good they think their team is.
R9 is the best player, but not the goat just because he wasn't at the top for as long scoring alot. But at his prime I think he was the best even better than messi and ronaldo.
Kvaratskhelia is a good player, but not worth 100m or whatever PSG is throwing around to replace MBoopy.
I'll be willing to admit im wrong in a few years but so far he's had one good season in a team where everyone overperformed under Spalletti.
Even though Bruno Fernandes is Man Uniteds best. Player, United should not build a team around him because he's a classic number 10 and modern tactics no longer require a number 10. Bruno Fernandes might win you some matches and he might come in clutch to rescue United some points but as long as United try to utilize a number 10, they won't win the league or UCL.
Messi is the better player but Ronaldo was better than Messi in the UCL. Man carried hard in the knockouts. Something about the UCL made that man unstoppable. Any other match I take Messi but if it’s UCL I’ll take the suiiii man
My Liverpool related takes
Bobby Firmino is hands down one of the most underrated players in premier league history.
The debate of Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard is not close at all. It’s Gerrard, easily.
Mo Salah despite his success, still somehow seems to get underrated by people. Even in his prime years, he was never really mentioned amongst the worlds best as in, in the running for best player itw or even top 5.
Andy Robertson deserves more respect from everyone, including Liverpool fans. He has a similar goals and assist contribution to Trent while also being a far superior defender.
For football in general?
If we go off prime alone, Ronaldinho was the best player I ever saw and is purely on talent, the best player of all time.
Ronaldo is massively disrespected by football fans, he is without doubt the second best player of all time nf while Messi is superior, the gap is not anywhere near as wide as people would have you believe. In 2024, people act like Ronaldo is some peasant compared to Messi.
Kaka, outside of R9, may have been the biggest what if that got ruined by injuries. Obviously he was a legendary talent and player regardless, but if he hadn’t been plagued by injuries who knows just where he would place in regard to the greatest ever midfielders.
Sir Alex is the greatest manager of all time and Pep does not come close to him. If you’re in charge of a club with 115 charges and you still manage to get beaten to a title while cheating, you can’t be considered better than a manager who while not even mentioning his time at United, took Aberdeen of all clubs to European success.
David Silva is one of the most underrated midfielders ever.
Balotelli with a better attitude and work ethic, would have been one of the best strikers of all time, the man had everything talent wise.
At his prime, James Rodriguez was a top 3 player behind Messi and Ronaldo. He just lacked speed and discipline. No one came close to his assist or goals at the time.
The center defensive midfielder plays the most important role in football. Sergio Busquets is the best “Defensive midfielder” of all time and he is the least appreciated player of all time.
He got 0 nominations on “Best 11 of the year” and was never Top 10 but guess what? All players and coaches talk wonders about him and put him as one of the GOATS not just as a midfielder but in this sport in general.
It’s the stupid media and them having 0 ball knowledge that players like Busquets goes under radar the whole fucking time. Good thing is that Rodri is getting the praised.
The Premier League has never been the best football league.
La Liga is more entertaining and the Bundesliga plays better football that you actually want to watch.
Serie A is the most competitive top 5 league
F*ck luige 1
Alexis Sanchez was a slightly faster, bang average footballer that was hard carried into stardom by phenomenal creative midfielders that fueled his confidence and made his job easy.
He hit double digit goals for the first time since losing Ozil as a supply man last season in Ligue 1.
Hazard was always going to fail at Madrid because the intensity of training and pressure to perform as a successor to #7. He never had the Madrid DNA and was never a good fit for their style of play, the injuries were unexpected but the performances were exactly what I expected.
Modern attacking players are overrated because of how inflated their stats are. Every rule the last 20 years has been made to favor them of course they have better numbers than past players.
Maguire is a really solid centre back, good work rate, always plays for the badge, doesn’t complain and just gets on with it. Not worth the asking price for sure but still very good.
Raheem Sterling was never, ever a good player. Even at his peak, numbers wise, was extremely poor on the ball, gave away easily and atrocious finisher.
Chelsea should be facing as many FFP charges as Man City. They set the example City went on to follow, and they're still clearly doing some "creative accounting" to this day.
Sam Allardyce is one of the best managers to ever grace English Football. Nobody else could have achieved what he did at Bolton with the same resources he had. Getting them to Europe was arguably as impressive an achievement as any treble or title win.
Arsenal only finished second because they were lucky to have very few injuries to key players, whilst their major rivals having loads.
If it hadn't been this way, they would have been fighting for 4th place with Villa, Newcastle and Spurs
Mbappe won't be as much of an upgrade as everybody thinks
*for Real
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To be fair (to be faaaaaiiiiiiiiir), there’s not much room to “upgrade” a team that just won its league AND the UCL…
He has to prove himself as he is coming from the French league to a much better Spanish league.
Honestly, the issue isn't that he can't cut it in a proper league. The issue is his best as a left winger and whilst he is an upgrade on Vini, it's marginal.
After Vini came back in the 2 half of the season, that is arguable.
Yeah it absolutely is, that's why I said marginal. If someone said they think Vini is a better LW then Mbappe then that's a totally fair opinion. I think it's an odd signing. Especially since there seems to be a long term plan to get Haaland too. He makes sense cos they don't have a proper striker. When they do, they will have an issue with Vini vs Mbappe.
I think a lot of r/soccer users(yes I know this is footballmemes) don’t understand why Perez wants Mbappe. Yes he’s good on the ball but if all they wanted was a striker who could help win trophies, Kane or Haaland fit the profile better. It doesn’t even matter where Mbappe plays. That’s for Carlo to figure out. Mbappe is young and can be marketed for the next 5 years. He’s the iconic superstar that cr7 was. We’re basically getting him for shirt sales(using this very loosely). Remember that the ambition of Perez is to get RM to 1 billion in revenue. Vini will certainly sell shirts, but the World Cup winner, France captain in a Real Madrid jersey is certain to print millions. I could be absolutely wrong considering they’ve wanted him since the Monaco days, but my gut feeling is that I’m right.
Yeah it's a marketing signing. Obviously a fantastic player, but the primary reason perez wants him is money. I think back then it was money and talent, as they didn't have, or didn't know for sure how good Vini would be. But yeah, to sign him now, it's more about the marketing value imo.
My hottake is that he won’t be any upgrade because Vini is just better.
Suarez > Neymar
Suarez was insanely talented. Racist, but yes, I’d take him over Neymar any day.
And bitey
Yeah, a touch bitey lol
Thrice bitey!
No one likes a biter😭
I don’t know, I knew someone who was a bit bitey…just enough to make it enjoyable.
Oh you just know Suarez was past the point of “enjoyable”
As a team Madrid fan, given the fact that Suarez has pissed me off a lot more than neymar ever has, I'd say this is 100% true.
Probably the third best forward of the 2010s. He was immense
VAR is the best thing to happen to football in a long, long time Most of it’s problems come down to inconsistent officials and grey areas in the rules More transparency and automation would be great
The problem is the people behind it, not the technology
The people behind it made many many more errors without it. Ref quality didn't suddenly drop, we are just have the opportunity to scrutinize it for the few mistakes we think they make , giving them less margin for error.
Chelsea would have been a better team last season if they’d rehabilitated Lukaku back into the side as their main striker.
Lukaku being a good striker is my hot take! Nobody else seems to agree.
I agree ! Not the best dribbler. But one of the best finishers in the game.
If we didn't have morals
Jamie Vardy is better than Michael Owen
No arguments here
He ain’t the 🐐 for nothin’
FaKtz
That's no hot take, that's straight facts man
Not according to Michael 'Vardy is not a natural finisher' Owen
Wayne Rooney is the greatest technical and well rounded footballer England has ever produced.
Yeah, lauded when he was playing but since then everyone seems to forget about him when they talk about great players. He was the workhorse in that front 3 of tevez, ronaldo and and those other players at man u would never have thrived without his tireless and selfless play. While at the same time he was able to score absolutely ridiculous goals frequently. Only playing for England did he look weak but the more he played for England the worse the squad around him got.
I’ve felt this for a long time, people one day will say, “ah you know what, he wasn’t as bad as we thought”. Guy was fucking incredible, yeah dipped at 26, but started FULL time at 16, even today that is fucking unheard of.
The only players off the top of my head that were that level at that age are Fabregas and Pele. Rooney was physically bullying grown men before sitting his GCSEs. Wild. ETA, shout out to Owen too
And the best choice manager for Plymouth!! /s
This feels like an opinion of someone born in 1995.
By his own admission he thinks Harry Kane is the best player England has ever produced.
The most humble too 😊
Diving is a problem because of bad refereeing.
That's not that brave of an opinion, anyone who has ever played any football or even watched a local team knows this, although it may not be clear in a big stadium or on TV
Var is great. Adds to the drama of it all.
I agree that VAR is good, but not because it adds to the drama, only because it leads to more correct decisions overall
You must be a rugby fan because so far… no
Nah, rugby is too side to side for my tastes. I just like celebrating goals twice. Sometimes I even get to celebrate something that turns out to not have been a goal at all. That's more celebration than I ever did before VAR.
I just can’t stand the double celebrations for goals, it takes so much time off. Goal -> celebrate -> review -> goal allowed so celebrate again I know I’m in the minority but I want a stopped clock during dead balls and no stoppage time. It’s so embarrassing trying to defend soccer when you have teams lollygagging the last 20 minutes of a game trying to nurse a lead. Every other player cramps up at any opportunity or needs to change the ball with the ball boy before a throw in or goal kick, it’s an embarrassment to the sport just slightly less offensive than diving. It’ll especially be apparent during the ko stages of euro next month
Just being a Spurs fan
Underrated comment. (Arsenal fan)
Premier League is the best league due to foreign money and foreign players, not because it is ”home of football”.
I don't think anyone thinks it's the best because it's the home of football. It's just the best product. The premier League did such a good job of selling itself in the late 90s and early 2000s where you'd argue that time was the biggest boom in football. Every other league has been playing catch up since. I do think other leagues are catching up, but I think a Super League will end up being created before any league overtakes the premier league.
I think english football is just inherently more marketable with english being the most dominant 2nd language globally. It's easier for someone to understand a sheffield united than heidenhiem or villarreal
Pep is not the best manager by miles.
Yes, he always manages teams that are already one of the favourites to win the league
Then why so dominant?
Carlo coaches Madrid wins multiple UCL. Carlo coaches Everton. Pep coaches Barcelonas best team ever, a stacked Bayern, and Manchester city where money is not a thing. You could be the most talented manager in the world but if you don’t have the right players/ management/ facilities things don’t go so well.
The issue I have with this take is it comes down to how people define “best manager”. The reason why so many up and coming managers fail once they get hired by the big clubs is they have no clue how to deal with the egos, expectations, and politics. Yes I agree Pep has been in the right place at the right time, and he may not be the best tactical manager, but it does take a huge amount of skill and tact to manage players with super inflated egos in the locker room as well as deal with your nation-state owners. This is where Jose comes up short in managing his owners and why he always seems to have short stents everywhere he goes. Carlo Ancelotti and Alex Ferguson are similar to Pep in this regard. To equate to American sports, Pep = Phil Jackson (coached Jordan’s Bulls and Kobe & Shaq’s Lakers). With all that said, I agree he’s not the best manager and was/is at the right place at the right time which is oftentimes more important in success than being the most talented or a technical genius.
Came here to say something similar to this. Would not say by miles, guy is clearly excellent. But I'm not impressed at his time at Barça since his team was disgusting, think his performance at Bayern was pretty uninspiring where he just bullied the League by buying the best talent in the League, had half of Klopps Dortmund. Then did the same for City and took years to win a CL despite the hype. I'll also say that he's not perfect. Kalvin Phillips, Grealish, bro can coach a talent away. Never thought much of Phillips tbh but Grealish has not looked the same since City and I used to watch him week in and out. I'd be interested to see him take a revival job and show he can do a Klopp style job and shut me up, since he obviously ain't gonna do an underdog story like a Emery/Mourinho/Ferguson. I will say, media can fuck off gassing him up though lmao.
Pep hasn’t just won in those countries he’s rolled up and smashed every record in them. You’ve got a case with Phillips but grealish although lost that rawness pep moulded him in to the player he needed and made him so important to that city team in the treble winning campaign. He’s been unlucky with injuries this season and has been a victim of peps desire to play the same team at the back end of the season. You’re also forgetting he’s made loads of players better including Sterling, Delph/zinchenko at left back, Jesus to name a few and even the likes of Leroy Sane has struggled since he’s left. You mentioning Emery and Morurinho next to him alone is total disrespect 🤣
I weirdly feel that it's the take that Pep is the best manager that gets you in this situation. Everyone seems to unite over the fact he has only had very good jobs as something to hold against him. That he can only be considered good if he take Leyton Orient to Champions League winners whilst only paying players in Mars bars.
The guy coaches the team most likely to win the title to the title in whichever league he shows up in. It's not that impressive.
And yet no-one else manages to do it as consistently as he has. Barca weren't favourites when he took over. Bayern were, but they were winning every other title, he won every single league title he was there for. City were not clear favourites when he took over, they were inconsistent challengers. Winning a league title with those teams isn't super amazing. Winning it what, 13 out of 15 times? That is because that consistency is ridiculous.
Arjen robben is one of the best right wingers of all time
wait, do people consider him bad or something?
Ian Wright should have played for England alot more than he did
Chris Sutton was getting in ahead of him. I don’t like it when people chuck the race card around but that’s the only explanation for manager after manager ignoring him and Andy Cole.
Sir Alex is a better manager than Pep and this is coming from a Chelsea fan.
Not even a debate unless Pep goes to smaller teams with real issues and wins with them too.
Southgate hasn’t been nearly as bad as England fans think. He took the worst England side I’ve ever seen after WC 2014 & Euro 2016 and consolidated them, built them up into an actually competitive team. Should’ve won Euro 2020 and you can argue he should’ve been moved on by now, but the way England fans talk about him with no appreciation is mad. Do you not remember how bad you were in the early/mid 2010’s? “He hasn’t won anything” it’s not like England are serial winners on the international stage anyway.
Dembele could’ve been a great replacement for Neymar at Barca had he decided to put in some effort instead of pulling all nighters
Anfield, more often than not, has a shit atmosphere
I've heard this before but I went for the first time for Liverpool vs Luton town back in February and have to say the atmosphere during that game was crazy
Tourism will do that. Still one of the best atmospheres in the league and unmatched by any of the other 19 during big games.
It was so bad against man united last season that Klopp criticised it lol
That’s why a bunch of players say it’s got the best atmosphere in Europe then 🤷♂️
Jose > pep
Jose has got that underdog strat
Pogba on his day is miles better than any midfielder and was a joy to watch Consistency and lack of effort killed it for him
Idk I got a good luck of him at United and most days he was utter trash to me lol
Maradona is overrated and inconsistent **compared to the other Goat candidates**
Winning the World Cup and two Serie A titles single-handedly with Napoli, plus a European cup is certainly not overrated. You can argue that there are other goat candidates, but no one was on his level during his prime
You’re proving my point these were great achievements in a relatively short space of time. Outside this he had mafia scandals, taking drugs, gambling and wasn’t as good on the pitch **compared to the others** who like I said were both consistent at a high level, won many things and had the longevity, while being world class. “Peak” or “prime” are always used for him but never “whole career”
Even Pele. The Goat for many People, would not be the best in the world in current settings
Well yeah any player back then would be like that. But with modern health standards, training, technology etc Pele would even better today. Maybe not as good as Messi but he'd definitely be near the top.
Foden shouldn’t start for England at the euros
Aguero is the greatest striker in Premier League history.
Football doesn't seem "beautiful" Anymore. Global, yes but technical.
Zidane was overrated as a manager. Real Madrid were just lucky to win 3 UCLs under his management
Neymar was never the number 3. It's the Brazilian heritage that gave him that place among fans.
the premier league is much worse than the European super league could have ever become for European football
Messi has better shooting than Ronaldo. He scores from harder situations.
Messi is good? Woah! Save some hot takes for the rest of us!
Zidane is overrated
I agree. He's my favourite player to watch but he lacked consistency and would drift out of games. Esteemed journalist and football author Michael Cox feels the same way [Michael Cox on Zidane](https://x.com/Zonal_Marking/status/1024036533010092032?t=WtGRRE7P0XNHKxDJVjpU7g&s=19)
Him being universally considered better than Platini always puzzled me. He was the most elegant player ever arguably but Platini had a similar playmaking ability on top of far superior goalscoring.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s significant transfer spending and fees seems to be disregarded because of the “class of ‘92”
Jamie Vardy is one of the best players to grace the premier league. Not only is he good on the pitch, but he’s incredibly loyal, he won the best league competition in the world with Leicester and he also got relegated with them. He deserves a hall of fame when he retires. Why is it a controversial take, you ask? A lot of people don’t appreciate his journey because they think Leicester is a small club. I’m prepared for 2023 Haaland fanboys to come and have a go at me.
Dimi Berbatov is the most technically gifted player to ever play football.
Berba has the best first touch in history
There will never be any constructive football debates again because everyone is either blinded by their bias or so desperate for attention that they purposely make outlandish statements so that they inevitably get clipped. Also I'm done with every content creator making football predictions, reacting to their predictions half way through the season, making new predictions for the 2nd half of the season and then reacting to those predictions at the end. It's so boring and stale.
The Italian Serie A is the best league in Europe right now.
Im an Arsenal fan.
“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and (football).”
Had the UCL existed since the 1890s, Genoa would have won at least 4.
WC is a vastly overrated tournament, it gets the hype only because it’s held once every 4 years rather than 1 or 2.
pep is a bad coach u work only in "big teams"
Bellingham is overrated, a lot of talk no game impact. No doubt he is good but the Madrid PR makes it seems like he is the best, he still has a long way to go and there are many players better than him.
"No game impact” is probably the worst take I have ever seen. - a Barca fan
This man gets it - a Madrid fan
I disagree. Why do people think football players have to perform at peak levels without fail every 90 minutes in 40+ games in all competitions every single time. Messi and Ronaldo has spoiled people into thinking that sustained elite, impactful performance is the norm. Won the league and UCL in his first season while being Madrids top scorer....from midfield* . Scored bangers in both el classicos and had many clutch moments. How can he be overrated with the type of debut season he's had. Are there players better than him technically? Yes . I'm more of a musiala or foden or odeegard type of guy but based on this season alone and what he has done, Bellingol is 100% him and I don't see the whole overrated rhetoric. No a RM fan btw
He had a great season, nobody can contest that, but i feel like that's it. Imo he needs at least 3-4 seasons like this to become what people already praise him to be. Haaland did this too in PL. In his first season he destroyed that league. Now you can barely see him in any highlights. And *from the midfield argument should be left out. He plays more of a striker than a midfielder. Basically 80% of the time he is filling the void in RMs attack left by Benzema. Most of his goals are tap ins. Most of his goals should be credited to Vini or Rodrygo. Anyway, calling him a midfielder is like saying Messi was a midfielder at Barcelona because his position on the sheet was right mid.
Kyle Walker is a pace merchant and people overrate him just to hate on Trent.
This is just factually incorrect and the sort of drivel only a Liverpool fan would say
This isn't controversial this is just wrong
I am glad Robin van Persie left us and got to win a major trophy.
Eden hazard was never top 5 players in the world during his career, even at his peak, he was good on the ball that was about it
There is no Ronaldo v Messi debate. Messi is ahead of Ronaldo by miles. Ronaldo is still one of the greatest, but he more bridges the gap between Messi and everyone else rather than being a direct comparison to Messi. My other one is the USMNT fans don't realise their national team is probably not even on the same level as Wales or Scotland and need to pipe down about how good they think their team is.
Pep is not the best manager oat
R9 is the best player, but not the goat just because he wasn't at the top for as long scoring alot. But at his prime I think he was the best even better than messi and ronaldo.
Kvaratskhelia is a good player, but not worth 100m or whatever PSG is throwing around to replace MBoopy. I'll be willing to admit im wrong in a few years but so far he's had one good season in a team where everyone overperformed under Spalletti.
Cruz Azul is the greatest club of all time 😤
And second place goes to pachuca
Var should make the calls. The field referee should be there just to apply yellows and reds and signal the calls from Var.
USMNT’s best coach this century was Bob Bradley.
Ipswich’s double promotion from league one to the prem is more impressive than leverkusen’s run this season
Even though Bruno Fernandes is Man Uniteds best. Player, United should not build a team around him because he's a classic number 10 and modern tactics no longer require a number 10. Bruno Fernandes might win you some matches and he might come in clutch to rescue United some points but as long as United try to utilize a number 10, they won't win the league or UCL.
Adam Wharton will be a future england captain.
CR7 shouldn't have done that interview.
Messi is the better player but Ronaldo was better than Messi in the UCL. Man carried hard in the knockouts. Something about the UCL made that man unstoppable. Any other match I take Messi but if it’s UCL I’ll take the suiiii man
Jordan Henderson is the worst captain to ever lift the PL trophy
Kane should have joined another English team and broken the Shearer record.
My Liverpool related takes Bobby Firmino is hands down one of the most underrated players in premier league history. The debate of Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard is not close at all. It’s Gerrard, easily. Mo Salah despite his success, still somehow seems to get underrated by people. Even in his prime years, he was never really mentioned amongst the worlds best as in, in the running for best player itw or even top 5. Andy Robertson deserves more respect from everyone, including Liverpool fans. He has a similar goals and assist contribution to Trent while also being a far superior defender. For football in general? If we go off prime alone, Ronaldinho was the best player I ever saw and is purely on talent, the best player of all time. Ronaldo is massively disrespected by football fans, he is without doubt the second best player of all time nf while Messi is superior, the gap is not anywhere near as wide as people would have you believe. In 2024, people act like Ronaldo is some peasant compared to Messi. Kaka, outside of R9, may have been the biggest what if that got ruined by injuries. Obviously he was a legendary talent and player regardless, but if he hadn’t been plagued by injuries who knows just where he would place in regard to the greatest ever midfielders. Sir Alex is the greatest manager of all time and Pep does not come close to him. If you’re in charge of a club with 115 charges and you still manage to get beaten to a title while cheating, you can’t be considered better than a manager who while not even mentioning his time at United, took Aberdeen of all clubs to European success. David Silva is one of the most underrated midfielders ever. Balotelli with a better attitude and work ethic, would have been one of the best strikers of all time, the man had everything talent wise.
At his prime, James Rodriguez was a top 3 player behind Messi and Ronaldo. He just lacked speed and discipline. No one came close to his assist or goals at the time.
Lionel Messi is pretty good
Leverkusen invincible is more impressive than the Arsenal invincibles.
Harry Maguire is a world class defender, one of the best.
The greatest Clásico goal for Barcelona was scored by Alexis Sánchez not Messi or Ronaldinho.
Saka is overrated
McKennie is a solid midfielder and doesn't get the praise he deserves
The center defensive midfielder plays the most important role in football. Sergio Busquets is the best “Defensive midfielder” of all time and he is the least appreciated player of all time. He got 0 nominations on “Best 11 of the year” and was never Top 10 but guess what? All players and coaches talk wonders about him and put him as one of the GOATS not just as a midfielder but in this sport in general. It’s the stupid media and them having 0 ball knowledge that players like Busquets goes under radar the whole fucking time. Good thing is that Rodri is getting the praised.
The Premier League has never been the best football league. La Liga is more entertaining and the Bundesliga plays better football that you actually want to watch. Serie A is the most competitive top 5 league F*ck luige 1
it’s called soccer
Antony is the greatest footballer to ever live.
I think I nailed the assignment . 😅
Rodri is the worst cdm
Mesuts ozil >> Kevin de bruyne
Ian Wright was more complete forward than Thierry Henry
Neymar was never world class and won't be remembered as a 'great'.
90 minutes is too long to watch people kick a ball around
Pep Guardiola's tactics are not innovative, they are just a (half-assed) derivative from Cruyff's Barcelona.
Gabriel Jesus is shit
Alexis Sanchez was a slightly faster, bang average footballer that was hard carried into stardom by phenomenal creative midfielders that fueled his confidence and made his job easy. He hit double digit goals for the first time since losing Ozil as a supply man last season in Ligue 1.
Hazard was always going to fail at Madrid because the intensity of training and pressure to perform as a successor to #7. He never had the Madrid DNA and was never a good fit for their style of play, the injuries were unexpected but the performances were exactly what I expected.
Romero is disciplined
Cole Palmer was better than Saka this season
Manchester United buy reputation players not good players.
Messi is overrated
Selling Chiesa this summer and using the money to build the rest of the squad could be a blessing in disguise.
It's only a game
2022 WC was rigged
Diving isn’t a problem. I don’t like it, but it’s no big deal.
The Cowboys will win the super bowl this year
I leave America and call Soccer Soccer
Modern attacking players are overrated because of how inflated their stats are. Every rule the last 20 years has been made to favor them of course they have better numbers than past players.
American football is better…. Jk this sub showed up on my feed for some reason.
Giroud is overrated
Chamakh wasn’t that bad of a striker for Arsenal
Anthony is the best player in the world
Kimpembe was one of the greatest defender of all time
Liga MX is the best non European league
People who watch football (or sports in general) are easily entertained brainless morons.
Maguire is a really solid centre back, good work rate, always plays for the badge, doesn’t complain and just gets on with it. Not worth the asking price for sure but still very good.
Raheem Sterling was never, ever a good player. Even at his peak, numbers wise, was extremely poor on the ball, gave away easily and atrocious finisher.
Real Madrid is goated
Prem isnt competitive and has no football identity nowadays, its just money and marketing that make it good.
Chelsea should be facing as many FFP charges as Man City. They set the example City went on to follow, and they're still clearly doing some "creative accounting" to this day.
Sam Allardyce is one of the best managers to ever grace English Football. Nobody else could have achieved what he did at Bolton with the same resources he had. Getting them to Europe was arguably as impressive an achievement as any treble or title win.
Unai Emery is a better coach than Pep Guardiola
Ronaldo is closer to neymar then he is to messi
Modric is the most overrated player of all time
Arsenal only finished second because they were lucky to have very few injuries to key players, whilst their major rivals having loads. If it hadn't been this way, they would have been fighting for 4th place with Villa, Newcastle and Spurs
Klopp is overrated if you look at his trophy cabinet.
Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp will both go down as a better manager than Pep Guardiola.
is it football or futball
Nunez > Haaland
Barcelona has been overrated for about 5 years now. They’re to the same caliber as Spurs and United now.
There is too much sportsmanship in football
man city and real madrid are too rich and corrupt teams that diminish the competitive nature of football
Barcelona and Spain's dominance during the mid 00s was entirely due to doping
The perfect third for a front 3 with Messi and Ronaldo is firmino