this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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The Barça's Neymar yes, PSG's Neymar not even close. He seems to deal better when he has better company to put him into confortable positions close to the box from the left (who would've guessed), but in Brazil and PSG they insisted to make him a 10 and he absolutely sucks in that position
Astonishing this. Literally every part of this comment is wrong.
Why do people have such strong opinions about players they clearly didn't watch?
Idk what part of my opinion was "strong", i've watched Neymar since his debut in Brazil as he played for my team here and i'm saying that he is a winger that finish the play, not a midfielder as he has been playing in NT and sometimes in PSG. Or you're read my coment wrong or is too much sensible
The entire comment. Starting with saying he was a better player at Barça than he was at PSG (he was not, not even close) and then describing him as a player who needed players to supply him the ball in the final 3rd and then finishing off with saying he couldn't play as a 10. Every single part of that comment was nonsense.
The best version of Neymar, the one we've seen at his peak playing for Brazil and PSG and who we got flashes of at Barça, has always been the one who had the freedom to be the team's main playmaker. Even in Barça times we could see it. The Neymar we got at Barça was great, but he was limited by having to play a secondary role to Messi. Fewer opportunities to playmake and more responsibility of having to provide width and depth and make runs in behind. The Neymar we saw during every international break was the real Neymar. A devastating playmaker and dribbler and easily the 2nd best creative fulcrum (next to Messi) there's been in the past 15 years.
Not a single person who actually watches Neymar thinks of him as someone who thrives best being on the end of chances. What you're describing is a player like Mbappé or Cristiano.
Neymar won UCL and Libertadores, scoring in both finals and being ucl top scorer as a winger. He was fast, great dribbling and finishing with a shot or assist. Neymar as a 10 has no stats to back him, poor performance in UCL KOs except for 1 year and a mid performance with Brazil NT, he carries the ball to much and loses possession all the time as well as wasting many attacking chances by simpy not passing the ball, also can consistenly ping passes like Messi in this role. As a winger He was much more like a Ribery than a Mbappe or Cristiano, and was great at it, if we had a proper 10 in the build up with him in his natural position he would be 3x the player he has been
I'm not saying he wasn't best as a winger, I'm saying he was best as a winger who with the freedom to be his team's main playmaker. That's the way he played in that Libertadores win, in almost his entire Brazil career, in Barça whenever Messi was out and at PSG.
That's a difference from how he played as winger in that Barça treble season (where he was great, no doubt but that treble was about the entire front 3 fittin together and Messi having his peak season. Neymar himself had far from reached his best level). If anything during that treble season should be a reference for the best version of Neymar it's the way Messi player in that free winger role. Receive the ball early and have all the freedom to dribble, pass, shoot, etc while other players are tasked with being at the end of your chances.
And as for him not being able to play the 10, look back one year. He's done it for stretches in his career but that PSG stretch before the WC he was playing some of his best football ever pretty much all from that left 10 position.
If you mean some of his best footbal came from french league i think you're joking. I agree that Barça's Neymar wasn't his best version, but he never reached his best version.
As a winger ofc he would have his moments to drop inside and playmake in moments of the game. But in Brazil he plays as a literal CAM, 3rd man of the midfield and he ABSOLUTELY SUCKS there, you can easily lost counts on hoe many times he gives the ball away (26 against Venezuela) and can't get even close to compensate with chances created.
Again, Neymar should've develop as a player like Ribery, he can make the difference and win games when close to the box from the left or with space in counters. They tried hard to make him like Messi and his career was downfall from there