What's right with football?

[Posh Red]

Rooney is another example, clearly a quality player but not sure he got much better after the Euros in Portugal. Hopefully Bellingham will get even better

[DiV]

For whatever reason - after Euro 04 Rooney just seemed to lose that explosiveness.
He was still a great player but it kinda felt like almost over night he went from youthful exuberant kid playing like he would in the play ground to late 20s professional player who plays his role in the system & nothing more.

[horlock07]

The thing with Ronaldo and Messi was the longevity. Michael Owen won the Ballon D'Or at 21 (still the last Englishman to do so), but was almost a blusted flush (at club level at least) by 25.

I suspect because so much of his game was pace and when he lost a yard he was much easier to play against. I've always assumed this was why, despite the injuries, Shearer had so much more longevity than Owen, whilst he did have some pace when he ws younger it wasn't what he solely depended upon.

Plus TBH I get the impression that Owen just doesn't particularly like football, seems to have fallen out of love with it when he went to Madrid and that 100x more when he went to Newcastle.

[horlock07]

This could have gone in either thread, but this one was to hand.

Full disclosure I didn't watch the game last night, in fact I had entirely forgotten it was on until I got of my bike at half time, but there seem to be a pretty large number of England supporters who don't think Maguire or Henderson should be near the team, this is really gonna help isn't it.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67142612

[Mooneyraker]

Ronaldo played 47 and scored 12 in the season he was 19/20.
34 in 53 the season he was 20/21.
Messi played 36 and scored 17 in the season he was 19/20.
16 in 40 the season he was 20/21.

…and that’s purely a statistical approach which is apples & oranges depending on position. Strikers always going to be more productive.

The original Ronaldo with a September birthday scored just the 47 goals in 49 games the season he was 20…

The best ever for me. I still look down on people who refer to Cristiano Ronaldo as “Ronaldo.” In the words of Highlander, there can be only one.

[Kinky Tom]

Bellingham reminds me of Zidane with the way he partners his strength with amazing footwork and the ability to just leave three players in his wake.  A joy to watch such a young player dominate games so regularly.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

The best ever for me. I still look down on people who refer to Cristiano Ronaldo as “Ronaldo.” In the words of Highlander, there can be only one.

I think of them as Big Fat Fucker Ronaldo and Annoying Cheating Prick Ronaldo...

[Qunk]

Bellingham reminds me of Zidane with the way he partners his strength with amazing footwork and the ability to just leave three players in his wake.  A joy to watch such a young player dominate games so regularly.

The poise of Bellingham reminds me of Zidane as well. There’s a grace with players like Bellingham and Zidane which isn’t possible to recreate, you have it or you don’t.

[Peter Venkman]

The poise of Bellingham reminds me of Zidane as well. There’s a grace with players like Bellingham and Zidane which isn’t possible to recreate, you have it or you don’t.

Hes no Dan Kemp though

[jayohaitchenn]

The best ever for me. I still look down on people who refer to Cristiano Ronaldo as “Ronaldo.” In the words of Highlander, there can be only one.

Fat Ronaldo was class, but his peak was much shorter than cheat Ronaldo's

[Mooneyraker]

Fat Ronaldo was class, but his peak was much shorter than cheat Ronaldo's

No doubt. But it is still a peak I’ve not seen surpassed.

[RobertT]

This could have gone in either thread, but this one was to hand.

Full disclosure I didn't watch the game last night, in fact I had entirely forgotten it was on until I got of my bike at half time, but there seem to be a pretty large number of England supporters who don't think Maguire or Henderson should be near the team, this is really gonna help isn't it.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67142612

I think we can say with a fairly high degree of certainty that Maguire doesn't understand the reason for Henderson being booed by some fans.

[adje]

I think we can say with a fairly high degree of certainty that Maguire doesn't understand the reason for Henderson being booed by some fans.

He's not the only one. I think it's moronic

[Batch]

I'm assume this was because he's moved to the hand choppy offy league for the money over principle.

[Posh Red]

I'm assume this was because he's moved to the hand choppy offy league for the money over principle.

Yeah, and then said it wasn’t about the money.

Not sure it would have made any difference for some but he would at least have been able to keep some respect if he’d been honest