Lionel Messi | Joins Inter Miami (pg4111)

[01cravend]

When you think about it.. imagine him in Kev's role. Sits between oppo defence and midfield and doesn't have to do nearly as much defensive work as in previous iterations of our squad as Pep has moved Stones to midfield to allow for that.
Messi would be incredible there. From a financal balance standpoint i don't think we should sign him though

 

[14aguero]

Potentially, Messi, Ronaldo, Benzema and Neymar in Saudi Arabia would be interesting. Like Las Vegas, a bunch of old entertainers with residencies for tourists in desert.

 

[Dribble]

I would still love it if Messi came to City. He'd be amazing in our team even if just for 1 year.

For £40m, not including his signing on fee?

I think it best all round if he goes to the desert for the reputed £400m for one season...

 

[ManCityGR!]

Friendlies have never counted, it is a bit pathetic including them in to try bulk up his numbers. Including assits as well is a bit desperate, if also excluding others' ones.

I didn't exclude others' ones.
The top in Europe for 2022-23 season are:
Mbappe has 52 goals and 11 assists for a total of 63 goal contributions
Messi has 37 goals and 25 assists for a total of 62 goal contributions
Haaland has 53 goals and 9 assists for a total of 62 goal contributions

And including assists is a bit desperate is pure crap!
Assists are an incredibly valuable thing in football.
Unless we are so hypocritical and all the praises for KDB for example and his assists were just because we support City or because we like KDB.

Also key passes and dribbles(where as I've said Messi is on top 5 in Europe) are also very important.
Unless you rate players only by their goals.

You can argue that Haaland is unfairly treated here as he didn't play in the World Cup as Mbappe and Messi and that he scored 36 in PL and I would agree of course.
But we should not forget Messi had 7 goals + 3 assists in World Cup, and for me the most important thing is that he had a ton of key passes and dribbles at the top 5 of Europe. We should not forget he is 36 years old too and this makes it even more astonishing to be able to be there with new top generation.

Who had the better season? 2 answers:
Haaland because he was much more impressive in goals in PL and in CL. Clearly.
Messi because he won a World Cup being the absolute leading star and because he was also super great in goals+assists+key passes+dribbles in top 5 Europe Championships.

Who I would pick for Ballon d'Or?
Tough to answer because of that World Cup.
If Haaland gets the treble with scoring 1 or more goals then I can't pick. It's 50-50.
If not, then again it's tough but I will say Messi.

 

[RobinHood]

Potentially, Messi, Ronaldo, Benzema and Neymar in Saudi Arabia would be interesting. Like Las Vegas, a bunch of old entertainers with residencies for tourists in desert.

Bit like in the States (70s/80s) e.g. New York Cosmos.

 

[Coatigan]

I didn't exclude others' ones.
The top in Europe for 2022-23 season are:
Mbappe has 52 goals and 11 assists for a total of 63 goal contributions
Messi has 37 goals and 25 assists for a total of 62 goal contributions
Haaland has 53 goals and 9 assists for a total of 62 goal contributions

And including assists is a bit desperate is pure crap!
Assists are an incredibly valuable thing in football.
Unless we are so hypocritical and all the praises for KDB for example and his assists were just because we support City or because we like KDB.

Also key passes and dribbles(where as I've said Messi is on top 5 in Europe) are also very important.
Unless you rate players only by their goals.

You can argue that Haaland is unfairly treated here as he didn't play in the World Cup as Mbappe and Messi and that he scored 36 in PL and I would agree of course.
But we should not forget Messi had 7 goals + 3 assists in World Cup, and for me the most important thing is that he had a ton of key passes and dribbles at the top 5 of Europe. We should not forget he is 36 years old too and this makes it even more astonishing to be able to be there with new top generation.

Who had the better season? 2 answers:
Haaland because he was much more impressive in goals in PL and in CL. Clearly.
Messi because he won a World Cup being the absolute leading star and because he was also super great in goals+assists+key passes+dribbles in top 5 Europe Championships.

Who I would pick for Ballon d'Or?
Tough to answer because of that World Cup.
If Haaland gets the treble with scoring 1 or more goals then I can't pick. It's 50-50.
If not, then again it's tough but I will say Messi.

I didn't exclude others' ones.
The top in Europe for 2022-23 season are:
Mbappe has 52 goals and 11 assists for a total of 63 goal contributions
Messi has 37 goals and 25 assists for a total of 62 goal contributions
Haaland has 53 goals and 9 assists for a total of 62 goal contributions

And including assists is a bit desperate is pure crap!
Assists are an incredibly valuable thing in football.
Unless we are so hypocritical and all the praises for KDB for example and his assists were just because we support City or because we like KDB.

Also key passes and dribbles(where as I've said Messi is on top 5 in Europe) are also very important.
Unless you rate players only by their goals.

You can argue that Haaland is unfairly treated here as he didn't play in the World Cup as Mbappe and Messi and that he scored 36 in PL and I would agree of course.
But we should not forget Messi had 7 goals + 3 assists in World Cup, and for me the most important thing is that he had a ton of key passes and dribbles at the top 5 of Europe. We should not forget he is 36 years old too and this makes it even more astonishing to be able to be there with new top generation.

Who had the better season? 2 answers:
Haaland because he was much more impressive in goals in PL and in CL. Clearly.
Messi because he won a World Cup being the absolute leading star and because he was also super great in goals+assists+key passes+dribbles in top 5 Europe Championships.

Who I would pick for Ballon d'Or?
Tough to answer because of that World Cup.
If Haaland gets the treble with scoring 1 or more goals then I can't pick. It's 50-50.
If not, then again it's tough but I will say Messi.

Haaland has another 7 goals and an assist inthe league of nations. 9 of the goals you include for Messi are in friendlies. They just don't count, they are not competitive games. You are right to include the world cup ones, absolutely, but the rest you are doing what fanboys do, artificially bumping everything for Messi, and not for Haaland. Don't follow Mbappe enough to know or question the numbers, but Haaland is like 20+ goals and assists ahead of messi, when you count all the real games.

 

[JewelZee]

Friendlies have never counted, it is a bit pathetic including them in to try bulk up his numbers. Including assits as well is a bit desperate, if also excluding others' ones.

But my point was more that I was surprised you stopped there.

No one has to bump up Messi's numbers, ever. Behave...

 

[Coatigan]

No one has to bump up Messi's numbers, ever. Behave...

Including 9 goals and 2 assists from non-competitive matches is doing just that. Those have never counted to players' numbers. Add to that excluding Haaland's international goals in an actual competition, yes, it is exactly what it is. It is dishonest. And has been pointed out before and all.

 

[jrb]

Won’t happen, but Pep, Haaland, KDB, etc, and Messi would rip teams apart.

 

[ManCityGR!]

Haaland has another 7 goals and an assist inthe league of nations. 9 of the goals you include for Messi are in friendlies. They just don't count, they are not competitive games.

These started from 1 August 2022 as per Optajoe where I took it.
So they do not include for example Messi's 5 goals against Esthonia.
I doubt they got these number wrong as I've seen these from various other sources 2-3 days ago.

You are right to include the world cup ones, absolutely, but the rest you are doing what fanboys do, artificially bumping everything for Messi, and not for Haaland. Don't follow Mbappe enough to know or question the numbers, but Haaland is like 20+ goals and assists ahead of messi, when you count all the real games.

Trust me I don't want to favor Messi over Haaland.
While Messi is my favourite player for obvious reasons, Haaland is one of my current favorite players too(as he plays for City and he is an "alien"-special player).
I just post the statistics various big media sources post. Excluding friendlies(which are not that many anyway like 20 goals you said, they are 9 goals in friendlies for Messi) would be tiresome as I would have to do it myself. :)