[Guerlain]

I'm bored of this discussion, there simply isn't one to be had.

The only discussion you can have is whether a player is better as compared to his contemporaries - i.e. at the time was he the best by a higher margin than anyone else has ever since.

Every footballing position is filled by the fastest, strongest, most well conditioned and well trained players of all time. Unless there is a catastrophic collapse in the standard of football over the next few years, the best player in the world is automatically the best who has ever lived.

You wouldn't contest that Carl Lewis is the fastest 100m runner of all time would you? Put Bolt/Powell/Gay in the same race and he'd be decimated.

The standard of the game is so much vastly higher as compared to the 70's/80's/90's that even the most mediocre players in the modern game would be revered as gods back then.

This is the truth, spread it widely.

[Stu Laverty]

Yes, I totally agree. It is impossible to compare various players.

Undoubtedly, Messi and Ronaldo are the two best players around today, just as Zidane was the best years ago, just as Maradona was the best. The only true measure of a player's ability is their effectiveness relative to the time period they played in. To try and compare Messi with someone like Pele is absurd in many ways.

[Deshi]

Agreed. Don't see the need for a "best player ever" thread every other week.

[Kevmeister]

(Original post by Deshi)
Agreed. Don't see the need for a "best player ever" thread every other week day.

I fixed this for you.

Totally agree with the OP.

[Sharpshooter]

(Original post by Guerlain)
The standard of the game is so much vastly higher as compared to the 70's/80's/90's that even the most mediocre players in the modern game would be revered as gods back then.

This is the truth, spread it widely.

I disagree with this, you have to understand that players are only as good as what their generation at that time allowed them to be. If Messi was born in the 1960s, he would have grown up conditioned to a footballers lifestyle that existed 80s/90s.

Yes technology and fitness levels have improved which helps, but this is not the be and end all of a sportstar. Mental toughness and desire has a lot to do with it.

The Liverpool team in the 70s and 80s are regarded by many as greatest British football team of all time, winning 4 CL's in 7 years, but because people think the standard of football was weaker, people dismiss them, which I think is wrong as they were the best of their generation that time and proved they were as mentally tough as anyone, if they had grown up in a different era, with different fitness levels, they would have adapted and that mental toughness would have still come through.

[UnWise]

I concur.

[Jim-Jam]

Agree. Sick of MESSI MESSI MESSI, it's a waste of post and time tbh. Andy Carroll wins more headers than him. Just think about that...

[Mastermind`]

I think it's a bit absurd to say the best player in the world is automatically the best player that has ever lived - there is more to it than just that.

It's difficult to measure who is the greatest player of all-time but it can be done. It largely depends on the measures you use, but it is doable.

Admittedly, I don't watch Athletics except from the Olympics or the World Champs but I'm sure Lewis' greatness to, say, Bolt is measured by how well he performed in the races that mattered rather than mere timing. Like I know Asafa Powell has a knack of bottling it despite his impressive times (I may be wrong). And I think Lewis' athleticism goes beyond sprinting as he won a lot of other events. Either way, it's largely an individual sport, I don't think you apply it to football, even on the fitness sides of things as Sharpshooter says.

Out of interest, have you ever downloaded/watched a full match from the 1970s/1980s? Even in the 1990s, the standard of football was very good...just mostly not in England.

(Original post by Sharpshooter)
I disagree with this, you have to understand that players are only as good as what their generation at that time allowed them to be. If Messi was born in the 1960s, he would have grown up conditioned to a footballers lifestyle that existed 80s/90s.

Yes technology and fitness levels have improved which helps, but this is not the be and end all of a sportstar. Mental toughness and desire has a lot to do with it.

The Liverpool team in the 70s and 80s are regarded by many as greatest British football team of all time, winning 4 CL's in 7 years, but because people think the standard of football was weaker, people dismiss them, which I think is wrong as they were the best of their generation that time and proved they were as mentally tough as anyone, if they had grown up in a different era, with different fitness levels, they would have adapted and that mental toughness would have still come through.

Great post.