Messi might be the GOAT, but I don’t think he has influenced much because no one can replicate what he has been doing.
Ronaldo on the other hand has. I don’t wanna get into detail, but definitely around work ethic, taking care of your body etc And then you can definitely look at his positioning, how he is getting rid of defenders etc and take notes
I think Ronaldo can be also credited with popularizing the style of wingers pinching in and becoming strikers/center forwards at the ends of crosses from the attacking wingbacks rather than making crosses themselves - puts more pressure on wingers to finish.
Do people only have one understanding of the word influence? I see a shitload of the discussion here saying that Messi hasn’t been influential in regards to the sport as a whole, I don’t see anyone discussing Messi’s ability to influence what happens on a football pitch in any given game. He’s easily one of the most influential players in the history of the sport in that sense.
Hot take.
I’m not talking shit here, I genuinely think Cristiano Ronaldo us more influential.
Well this is an absolute shit post.
Surprised the headline isn’t ‘Arteta SLAMS Ronald as uninfluential’
Aye.
Tapping him up? I like it
Best player - Messi Most influential - Cruyff
Best player: Pelé, Most influential: Pelé
Messi challenged his throne, and that’s legendary by itself
Pele is undoubtedly one of the greatest but he’s more of a pioneer because he did everything before anyone else, but for me, Messi edges it. As for influence, Cruyff literally changed the way football is played, so I think it’s fair to call him the most influential.
We can’t compare players due to era differences, but we can compare careers - Imagine watching Messi get his third World Cup title now instead of his first. That’s why Pelé will edge it for me until someone has a career like Messi’s and Pelé’s club career coupled with total dominance at the national team level too.
If no one has done what Messi has done then has he influenced the game at all?
fraud confirmed
Deep
damn.
Not all that deep though, You don’t need to create carbon copies of yourselves to revolutionize the game.
Messi has pushed the boundaries of how impactful a player can strive to be.
You genuinely think elite trainers all around the world have not studied every strength and style of Messi to train the future generation of dribble greats ?
You alright mate?
Real eyes realize real lies
I never looked at it that way be4
That’s what I was gonna say.
How has Messi been influential to the game when nobody can replicate the way he plays? Influential players are ones who start doing something new that everybody starts copying.
If most forwards strolled around the pitch like Messi for 80 of the 90 minutes they’d contribute absolutely nothing to the game. Messi hasn’t influenced anyone to change the way they play because it wouldn’t work if they did.
I take it as “most influential single player on outcomes/dominance of teams”. He is the player that can single handedly exert the most influence on a game. Certainly true in the modern era and if you consider his longevity it’s hard to argue against the same for all time.
I always thought the same thing, but then again there are different ways to be influential.
I think it could be said he got more people into football - they wanted to learn to dribble, or score, or pass, or make plays like Messi. It doesn’t mean they would do it the same way or to the same level, but it made people strive.
Also, in this day and age of football Adonisis, he shows that you can be a super start without the body of a god or oozing charisma or attitude.
I wonder which player in history has made the highest number of people actually change the way they play.
Ronaldo making everyone kick through the valve?
Roberto Carlos convincing a generation of full backs to stop defending?
Vinnie Jones making droves of sunday league players think “midfield hardman” is a legit position?
What about Pele and inspiring joga bonito?
exactly, compare Messi’s brilliance to that of Cruyff or Beckenbauer who changed the way the game is played with new tactics and positions
This calls for Cruijff’s explanation of the Diamond in a Dutch talkshow.
Same as why The Beatles is considered one of the most influential bands despite no one sounds like them nowadays
The Kinks, Beach Boys, Zombies, The Who, and I could go on.
If you’re saying no one sounds like a band from the 60s in the 2020s then yeah that’s true lol.
The Kinks, Beach Boys, Zombies, The Who, and I could go on.
None of those bands really sound like The Beatles beyond a couple of songs maybe. They all have that 60s sound though so maybe that’s what you’re referring to.
Tame Impala would like a word.
Ever seen how during a direct free kick, one player lays down right at the back of the feet of the player wall?
Guess who forced that…
I was gonna say this, Messi is the best to ever play the game but Beckham was WAY more influential or other players have inspired kids more to be / play like them. Messi is almost uncopyable (if that even is a word).
No other player can walk around 80 minutes of the game and still have the most goals/assists/dribbles.
that’s true I give a good example when cr was at Manu I started watching him I was able to do his tricks yeah I know I’m nobody but I was still doing his tricks when I saw Messi I immediately thought of an amazing player with huge skills that can’t be copied you just keep watching him you can’t copy his talent not possible that’s the main reason why some players choose hard work over talent particularly if you are a striker you usually go for ronaldo but overall you have good skilled players like ronaldo brazil ronaldo zidane cryuff Ronaldinho etc but there are 3 big names above them MARADONA MESSI PELE it’s even crime to compare messi to c ronaldo.
everyone was expecting Messi to win the world cup why? to be the best well he did but no one was expecting Ronaldo to win the world cup why?
messi’s critics were always the same he didn’t the world cup so he isn’t a good player I never seen such a comment for ronaldo why Messi had to win the world cup over the years? cause Maradona won it? Messi always had this burden of success of Maradona once Messi won the world cup people started doubting the value of world cup and putting CL ahead of WC lol that can’t be serious
you know who won the world cup in 2006 but you don’t know the winner of CL in 2006 so easy
Unpopular opinion, but I don’t think he influenced much. Mostly because no one else can do what he did or can do. He’s extremely unique. His play influenced other false 9s for a very short time until they all failed and moved on. His play as a RW isn’t even attempted to be replicated. No one plays that position the way he does. New Messis pop up if they can dribble and are short. Until they turn 18 and it’s apparent they are too far off track.
The obvious next big name is Ronaldo who I actually think was influential and the most influential player of the last 20 years. Wingers before Ronaldo were cross merchants. Like Giggs. Like Figo. Like Beckham. Then Ronaldo changed how wingers got involved and they were expected to score as well. Now wingers leave the crossing to the full backs.
But no one more influential than Cruyff.
Figo a cross merchant?! What?!
Yea that’s probably wrong on my part.
Rather wingers were more focused on assists. Figo was the assist leader in La Liga before Messi for example. But he also never scored more than 10 league goals in a season. And won his Balon on a season he scored 11 total goals.
The crossing part of wingers was very prevalent in PL because of the 4-4-2 formation of them being wide midfielders like todays wingabcks. That is true.
The situation with mosern wingers and old school wingers wasn’t Ronaldo. Sir Ferguson wanted to play Ronaldo closer to goal because of certain attributes that he could offer more than a traditional winger. He was morphed like that from 2006/07 season. For 3 years he was more than a traditional winger. Stereotypically traditional. At that point he was used more like a SS with more freedom.
We did see a similar thing with Henry at Arsenal just as a reminder. Usually that happens with pacy players who are tucked in more when they get tactically ready and get better and better.
Wingers before Ronaldo were cross merchants.
Motherfucking George Best crossing his way to 181 goals in 474 appearances at United.
George Best is another outlier bro
Don’t think that’s too uncontroversial - isn’t one of his nicknames “the alien”? It’s not that he does anything particularly unique - he just has incomparably exceptional close control, decision-making & execution. And has done for 20 years, at one of the best club sides ever allowing him to rack up insane numbers and records when he was developing and at his peak. If anything the argument would be that Guardiola is more influential from that Barca team considering his impact on German & English football and tactically how the game has had to change to adopt & counter ideas he’s introduced.
Based
Pelé is the most influential, then Cruyff.
No matter what your favorite player does, Pelé did it first: https://youtu.be/vSpofyhs0P8?si=alNg7YqEo3il-mtq
“In the 1970s, I was a teenager in a country (Germany) that loved football – and in that country, there was no argument about who was the best player of all time. There was no contestation, no hierarchy, although there were many good players at the time. Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff were out of the ordinary. But even they never thought they could be the No. 1 player in the world. It was a time when the Ballon d’Or was reserved for players in Europe, so there was a very clear hierarchy: there were the very good ones, and there was the superstar. This is something we no longer have when discussing who is the best among several great players. None have the impact that Pelé had at the time.”
I think most everyone is misinterpreting how he’s using the word. Messi is among those that can single handedly dictate a game the most, AKA he is outsized influence on outcomes of games. Considering there are 11 players in each team he is the most influential.
Messi and CR7 are the best, but Cruijff is the greatest. He’s one of the best and for sure the most influential.
Whether or not you think Messi is better, Pele is far more influential. I would say Ronaldo is as well.
Messi is influential so people don’t do something like him.
That’s not influence. Influence is people do whatever you do. Cristiano Ronaldo is the most influential person on earth
If you’re talking about who was the most influential figure then it surely has to be Pele right? Countries stopped fighting just to see him play. Cruyff too.
Influential does not mean the best football player.