Andrés Iniesta

[mecka]

He looks already tired, stopped all our chances in counter atacks, shame to see him like this and without him playing lively very hard to break buses.

 

[evilhita666]

Last time he was on his goat level was right after his baby died. I remember him being incredible for a month and after that his overal play started decreasing. This year he was great for just 1 month. Has he started to decline ?

He has been very inconsistent that's for sure...

 

[Icarium]

He is 30, i still think he can bring out 2 seasons of his best. Just need proper motivation and no injuries. I think he will want to comeback stronger, that is kind of player andres is. Have to change some tactics also i think, give him more freedom to attack.

 

[footyfan]

All my Iniesta expectations like close control and smooth dribbles are currently being met by Isco so I'm not too bummed about his lacklustre displays. Looking back he really hasn't been that great for over 1.5 years now. Not near the conversation of best (performing) midfielder anyway. Certainly not at the level of Ronaldo whom he was always matched up against as second best.

That being said, there was a poor mishit pass by Messi and he controlled it unbelievably well on the bounce.

 

[Ghost]

Sad.

 

[CesDel]

All my Iniesta expectations like close control and smooth dribbles are currently being met by Isco so I'm not too bummed about his lacklustre displays. Looking back he really hasn't been that great for over 1.5 years now. Not near the conversation of best (performing) midfielder anyway. Certainly not at the level of Ronaldo whom he was always matched up against as second best.

That being said, there was a poor mishit pass by Messi and he controlled it unbelievably well on the bounce.

That's not really a fair comparison. C.Ronaldo can have a shit game but if he ends up scoring a goal, it doesn't matter if its a decisive goal or the 7th goal in a 7-0 win over a minnow, everyone will say that he had a good game. While Iniesta has to dominate a game every single second for most to agree that he had a good game..

 

[footyfan]

Ronaldo's role in the team is to score goals. If he keeps doing it, he will keep getting praise. If you think scoring goals is easy, you are spoiled by Messi and Ronaldo. His record is currently at 264 goals in 254 games for Madrid. He has 186 goals in 169 games in La Liga. He started racking them up the minute he joined a new team in a new league and he still hasn't stopped. It is phenomenal and will probably never be repeated anywhere in Spain.

 

[Kerrybai]

Ronaldo's role in the team is to score goals. If he keeps doing it, he will keep getting praise. If you think scoring goals is easy, you are spoiled by Messi and Ronaldo. His record is currently at 264 goals in 254 games for Madrid. He has 186 goals in 169 games in La Liga. He started racking them up the minute he joined a new team in a new league and he still hasn't stopped. It is phenomenal and will probably never be repeated anywhere in Spain.

I'm not so sure, give it 30 years and we'll have another Ronaldo, one who is slightly faster, stronger and more efficient. That is the general evolution of sports.

 

[Alarcón]

I've never understood why people say "there will never be someone as good as yx". How can you say something like this when football has existed for barely 100 years and been really professional for a few decades? So many people get access to this sport every year and the sport is being perfected in almost every way imaginable, I'd say we'll see someone similar to or better than Messi ability-wise in a few decades at the latest, if we're unlucky.

 

[Ursegor]

He started being inconsistent last season but Lucho's tactics don't help him. Look how far the central midfielders are split away from each other.

There is more distance between them than there is between the wide forwards. There is no possibility for intricate passing through the middle, no linkup play between him and Rakitic, no positional freedom to cross into each other's zones. Rakitic and Iniesta exchanged 4 (!) passes against Athletic Bilbao. That's not what Xavi and Iniesta became famous for. Staying wide and covering for the fullbacks. It's obviously the main reason for the clean sheets and defensive stability but it's also the main reason why Barca don't create enough chances anymore save for Messi creating something on his own. Let's see what Lucho will do.

 

[footyfan]

I'm not so sure, give it 30 years and we'll have another Ronaldo, one who is slightly faster, stronger and more efficient. That is the general evolution of sports.

To come to a new league and start scoring like that? Sure there may be someone better than Ronaldo, but that kind of record is going to be close to unrepeatable.

I've never understood why people say "there will never be someone as good as yx". How can you say something like this when football has existed for barely 100 years and been really professional for a few decades? So many people get access to this sport every year and the sport is being perfected in almost every way imaginable, I'd say we'll see someone similar to or better than Messi ability-wise in a few decades at the latest, if we're unlucky.

People exaggerate to drive the point home. Didn't they teach that to you in school?

 

[Flavia]

He started being inconsistent last season but Lucho's tactics don't help him. Look how far the central midfielders are split away from each other.

There is more distance between them than there is between the wide forwards. There is no possibility for intricate passing through the middle, no linkup play between him and Rakitic, no positional freedom to cross into each other's zones. Rakitic and Iniesta exchanged 4 (!) passes against Athletic Bilbao. That's not what Xavi and Iniesta became famous for. Staying wide and covering for the fullbacks. It's obviously the main reason for the clean sheets and defensive stability but it's also the main reason why Barca don't create enough chances anymore save for Messi creating something on his own. Let's see what Lucho will do.

Yeah. This gives more defensively stability, but it's affecting the creativity of the middle. Messi can't be the only one creating. Lucho needs to find a balance for that.

 

[CesDel]

Ronaldo's role in the team is to score goals. If he keeps doing it, he will keep getting praise. If you think scoring goals is easy, you are spoiled by Messi and Ronaldo. His record is currently at 264 goals in 254 games for Madrid. He has 186 goals in 169 games in La Liga. He started racking them up the minute he joined a new team in a new league and he still hasn't stopped. It is phenomenal and will probably never be repeated anywhere in Spain.

I am not saying that scoring goals is easy. I am just that it's easier for C.ronaldo to be acknowledge of having a great game as people don't care about his overall performance. They just care about him scoring goals. While players like Iniesta has to dominate a game from start to finish.

And well, Messi's role in the team is also scoring goals and last season he scored 44 goals I belive, and yet everyone say that he had a bad season. I just think it's weird how for C.Ronaldo to be acknowledge to have had a great game he just have to score, yet Messi has to do that while dominating from start to finish. I mean, just look at the WC. Messi's all around performance wasn't the greatest, but he scored 4 goals and gave 1 assist in 7 games without any help offensively and he took Argentina to the WC final. If that would have been C.Ronaldo everyone would have agreed that he deserved the MVP award of the WC. Yet most seems to think that Messi robbed that award.

 

[Alarcón]

People exaggerate to drive the point home. Didn't they teach that to you in school?

you're really funny

 

[footyfan]

I am not saying that scoring goals is easy. I am just that it's easier for C.ronaldo to be acknowledge of having a great game as people don't care about his overall performance. They just care about him scoring goals. While players like Iniesta has to dominate a game from start to finish.

And well, Messi's role in the team is also scoring goals and last season he scored 44 goals I belive, and yet everyone say that he had a bad season. I just think it's weird how for C.Ronaldo to be acknowledge to have had a great game he just have to score, yet Messi has to do that while dominating from start to finish. I mean, just look at the WC. Messi's all around performance wasn't the greatest, but he scored 4 goals and gave 1 assist in 7 games without any help offensively and he took Argentina to the WC final. If that would have been C.Ronaldo everyone would have agreed that he deserved the MVP award of the WC. Yet most seems to think that Messi robbed that award.

Well yeah of course they will care more about the overall performance for Iniesta than for Ronaldo. Firstly Ronaldo is not a midfielder, secondly Ronaldo is in another planet statistically compared to Iniesta. And tbh Iniesta doesn't really have to dominate from start to finish for people to praise him. He has to do 3-4 silky smooth skills and majority will say he had a great game.

And I don't agree with you that people would've said that about Ronaldo (re:comparison with Messi). In the first half of 2012/13 when Messi was on a brace spree in his chase for Muller's record, his overall game was quite sub-par and he didn't have that many assists either. That didn't stop the media from going crazy over him. In fact I've never seen such a wank-off for one particular player in my time following football. Mind, I'm not saying it wasn't deserved.

Re:WC MVP, The main gripe with Messi was that he didn't do much during the knockouts which was absolutely true. He was the best individual on the Argentina team but from the quarters, it was entirely their collective defensive unit that got them to 2nd place. If the same thing happened with Ronaldo (no goals and 1 assist in the 4 most important matches), nobody would be asking for him to be MVP.