Andres Iniesta

[Phatroonaldo]

Xavi* never has a bad game, Mr. Consistency himself

Again, depends on the standards. According to the standards Xavi has set last season, he's nowhere been consistent this season. I'd rank the top 5 like this.

1.Abidal

2.Messi/Iniesta.

3. Valdes.

4. Xavi.

 

[Elite-BkD]

Messi has been the most consistent player the last 3 years. Not just in Barcelona, but out of all players.

08/09: 38 goals + 15 assists
09/10: 47 goals + around 10 assists if Im not misstaken
10/11: 52 goals + ~25 assists.

And aside from the stats, he has been awesome generally.

No he hasn't, that's ridiculous. Just because he scores a lot he's consistent? Plus, everyone makes WAY too much of Messi's goal count, he's THE forward player for the best side ever, who regularly dominate games with 70%possession and 20 shots a match or w/e.
By New Years Messi was on track to score over 70 goals this season, what happened eh? A LOT of wasted chances and way too many matches without a goal considering how the side played.

 

[Ode to Django]

Again, depends on the standards. According to the standards Xavi has set last season, he's nowhere been consistent this season. I'd rank the top 5 like this.

1.Abidal

2.Messi/Iniesta.

3. Valdes.

4. Xavi.

Well he's not about stats though, he controls games without fail where's the stat for that?

 

[Catalonian Devil]

No he hasn't, that's ridiculous. Just because he scores a lot he's consistent? Plus, everyone makes WAY too much of Messi's goal count, he's THE forward player for the best side ever, who regularly dominate games with 70%possession and 20 shots a match or w/e.
By New Years Messi was on track to score over 70 goals this season, what happened eh? A LOT of wasted chances and way too many matches without a goal considering how the side played.

Reducing Messi's goal ( and assist ) count to the fact the he plays as a (false) forward for the best side ever is simply ridiculous...

 

[Phatroonaldo]

No he hasn't, that's ridiculous. Just because he scores a lot he's consistent? Plus, everyone makes WAY too much of Messi's goal count, he's THE forward player for the best side ever, who regularly dominate games with 70%possession and 20 shots a match or w/e.
By New Years Messi was on track to score over 70 goals this season, what happened eh? A LOT of wasted chances and way too many matches without a goal considering how the side played.

Yep.Stats don't really show how influential Iniesta has been to our game. Messi has wasted lots of chances , gone a long time without scoring, and with Iniesta, there were games where he was not visible at all. That's why I am saying Abidal has been our most consistent player this season. I can remember exactly 2 mistakes that he's done in this whole season and only one has led to a goal. ( mispass to busquets - penalty vs athletic) He's kept every attacker he's faced quiet, what a change from last year.

 

[Fourteen]

Just because he scores a lot he's consistent?

Yes...

That post was absolutely pants. Kinda hoping it was a troll...

 

[Elite-BkD]

Reducing Messi's goal ( and assist ) count to the fact the he plays as a (false) forward for the best side ever is simply ridiculous...

Ignoring it is also ridiculous though. His goalscoring is so overrated, that's not even the best part of his game or why he helps make them the best ever.

Yes...

That post was absolutely pants. Kinda hoping it was a troll...

Right, so you don't have to spend five seconds out of the season watching a player to determine with certainty how consistently he plays well. That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Catalonian Devil]

Ignoring it is also ridiculous though. His goalscoring is so overrated, that's not even the best part of his game or why he helps make them the best ever.



.

No one said it is. That still doesn't mean scoring 52 goals and providing 25 assists is an absolutely awesome achievement and its definitely not just down to him playing in the best side ever...

 

[Phatroonaldo]

Well he's not about stats though, he controls games without fail where's the stat for that?

I never said anything about stats did I? I have kept a defender at no.1 ffs.

You've provided no arguments, just talked about the role Xavi plays. That's why I talked about standards. Look at abidal or iniesta. The number of poor games they have had can be counted on fingers. Alves, Messi and Iniesta have been the major creative outlets for us this season and I'm not talking just about stats. Last season, Xavi set the standards so high that he's nowhere been the same player this season.

No one said it is. That still doesn't mean scoring 52 goals and providing 25 assists is an absolutely awesome achievement and its definitely not just down to him playing in the best side ever...

What he's trying to say in simple words is that Messi has had more poor games than Iniesta. Stats don't clearly so how influential say Iniesta, Abidal or valdes have been to our games this season does it?

 

[Catalonian Devil]

I never said anything about stats did I? I have kept a defender at no.1 ffs.



What he's trying to say in simple words is that Messi has had more poor games than Iniesta. Stats don't clearly so how influential say Iniesta, Abidal or valdes have been to our games this season does it?

Erm, I wasn't even arguing that point...

In fact in a sense I do agree that Iniesta is more consistent...

I just responded to the comment rubbishing Messi's goal tally...

 

[Phatroonaldo]

Erm, I'm not even arguing that point...

In fact in a sense I do agree that Iniesta is more consistent...

I just responded to the comment rubbishing Messi's goal tally...

Oops. Wrong quote.

Sorry dude.

 

[Myrmecophile]

No he hasn't, that's ridiculous. Just because he scores a lot he's consistent? Plus, everyone makes WAY too much of Messi's goal count, he's THE forward player for the best side ever, who regularly dominate games with 70%possession and 20 shots a match or w/e.
By New Years Messi was on track to score over 70 goals this season, what happened eh? A LOT of wasted chances and way too many matches without a goal considering how the side played.

Forwards - all forwards - lose form at some point during a season. Messi should have scored 65+ this season if we're going on his best form but it's unsustainable over 9 months.

Even if you think of the best individual seasons players have had in the recent past (Dinho 05/06, Messi 10/11, CRonaldo 07/08) they've gone 3-5 or more games losing a bit of their brilliance.

 

[Birdy]

Again, depends on the standards. According to the standards Xavi has set last season, he's nowhere been consistent this season. I'd rank the top 5 like this.

ok... he seems below last season performance, but slow down the last two years he has done everythig... he was awesome.. Dictating himself the md in almost every game.. You would not expect this going on forever

 

[Phatroonaldo]

Forwards - all forwards - lose form at some point during a season. Messi should have scored 65+ this season if we're going on his best form but it's unsustainable over 9 months.

Even if you think of the best individual seasons players have had in the recent past (Dinho 05/06, Messi 10/11, CRonaldo 07/08) they've gone 3-5 or more games losing a bit of their brilliance.

Of course. But that doesn't exempt them from being judged on their consistency, does it?

 

[Metaphysical]

Forwards - all forwards - lose form at some point during a season. Messi should have scored 65+ this season if we're going on his best form but it's unsustainable over 9 months.

Even if you think of the best individual seasons players have had in the recent past (Dinho 05/06, Messi 10/11, CRonaldo 07/08) they've gone 3-5 or more games losing a bit of their brilliance.