Claudius wrote:

Messi and Ronaldo still have another 2-3 seasons of boring us with fortnightly hat tricks against championship caliber defenses in La Liga, so Neymar will have to wait. He's a special talent though

You do know that Neymar plays against the same defenses? But yeah, I'm sure Messi couldn't do it on a cold winter's night at the Britannia.

The defending is diabolical though. Messi scored a hattrick the other night and yet if he was more clinical he could have had 6. It's so easy to break the back line at times.

otfgoon wrote:

The defending is diabolical though. Messi scored a hattrick the other night and yet if he was more clinical he could have had 6. It's so easy to break the back line at times.

When you have 3 World class attackers, breaking the lines becomes easy. Neymar, Suarez and Messi are ridiculously talented players.

He's the all time leading scorer in the CL at 27, I don't doubt for a second that Messi would score as many in England or anywhere else.

jones wrote:

He's the all time leading scorer in the CL at 27, I don't doubt for a second that Messi would score as many in England or anywhere else.

He'd score more in England, and probably suffer more injuries. Spanish are better defensively than our bunch. We're all about defending through physicality, rather than tactical or positional defending.

He always struggles when playing Arsenal, though.

ultimate_warrior wrote:

otfgoon wrote:

The defending is diabolical though. Messi scored a hattrick the other night and yet if he was more clinical he could have had 6. It's so easy to break the back line at times.

When you have 3 World class attackers, breaking the lines becomes easy. Neymar, Suarez and Messi are ridiculously talented players.

Of course, but some of these chances are not created by a bit of genius, it's just really simple balls from one unmarked player to another. 

I'm not doubting that they'd score goals in England, I wouldn't bet against them breaking records here too. But 46-50 league goals in a single season? Can't see it.  

ultimate_warrior wrote:

jones wrote:

He's the all time leading scorer in the CL at 27, I don't doubt for a second that Messi would score as many in England or anywhere else.

He'd score more in England, and probably suffer more injuries. Spanish are better defensively than our bunch. We're all about defending through physicality, rather than tactical or positional defending.

Agree, most players that have played in both leagues have said as much.

@Quincy - Not sure if you're serious, Kos had a couple of good games against Messi but surely you haven't forgotten his four goals against us couple years back?

It was sarcastic, yes.

That goal where he chips it over Almunia is one of the best goals I have seen.

It was so embarrassing

It was, and especially so since it came off that stupid back heel pass from Cesc.

Oh, I thought you talked about the other goal where he chipped it over Almunia. Kind of sad that he has more of them.

I'm talking about the goal where he in the blink of an eye chips it over the onrushing Almunia and then calmly slots it into an empty net.

I remember that I was on a class trip, so didn't get to see the match. Knowing the result, I didn't bother watching that goal before a couple of days had passed. It brought all the anger back immediately.

Nearly.......

Just at the last moment Luis remembered: "aya, biting no good!"

He clearly spotted the camera.

Lol. Defending in La Liga is diabolical. It's a far cry from the uber-competitive league it was 10-15 years ago, in the heyday of Depor, Sevilla and Valencia. Even Villareal. People don't put in tackles, and too often there is a gap between midfield and defense that attackers just exploit, and there is little physicality. Ronaldo and Messi would score about 20 goals less a season in England and Italy. It would still be more than everyone else, but they wouldn't find things nearly as easy as they do in La Liga.