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Must be a full moon.

I also never said stats aren't important. I said that they're not the be all and end all as modern fans would often have you believe and that, yes, the eye test reigns supreme. Stats would tell you there's not much between Penaldo and Messi. But watching them reveals a much greater truth.

Like I say, I am not even talking about Raphinha. You quoted me with no mention of Raphinha and invited me to enter into a wider debate about qualitative vs quantitative. And that is what I did. Then you called me a hippie.

I am not even referring to Raphinha, for all I know he played brilliantly and scored a lot of goals and assists to boots. I am just making the very simple and should be easy to understand point that stats obsessed players are not necessarily the best players in the team. In fact, it's rare the...

Based on Saturday's performance, he's clearly been watching Euro 2024 and taken 'emulate your idol' too literally., given not only his lack of stats but lack of ability in general play.

To give you another example. - how often did we see Messi play the inch perfect crossfield ball out to Alba, who squared for a Suarez tap in. Messi didn't get any credit statistically (until pre-assists were a thing), but he was clearly the main architect/protagonist of the goal. Whether this...

I am saying that a player can score a goal and assist, and be useless for the other 89 mins. And be vastly outperformed by someone who didn't get a goal or assist. Arguments like that would never rate Iniesta as a top player as he wasn't a stats merchant. It's the McTominay, post-prime Ronaldo...

Fair enough. Like I say it's a game of opinions. Flick, Deco and the other are paid to try to get as many decisions right as they can.

'Top stuff' is nearly as good and condescending as 'do better'. Us Scottish lads have some good phrases for sure.

Yeah that sort of stuff should be confined to Ronaldo or Haaland fanboys.

There is an element of Williams being 'flavour of the month' due to his Euros performance. And it is always risky to judge a player based on a summer tournament. However, he does look like he has the potential to become a very, very good player to me. I don't think it's all hype, though as I...

Well I haven't made any comments about other players, so I am not gonna make comments like 'if this guy gets too much credit this guys gets too little'. I am just talking about Raphinha here. I will leave talk of other players to their threads. I know he's a decent player, I am not disputing...

I am not involved in that debate, and I haven't even mentioned Torres as I don't rate him. I am just saying that Raphinha is a decent player, on his day good, but for Barca to challenge the likes of RM again, unfortunately they need better players than Raphinha. Whether that's possible with all...

It just seems bizarre to call people out for thinking Raphinha isn't a world-class player. He's at best a good, serviceable player. He should be nowhere near one of the best teams in the world, certainly the starting lineup. And referencing the season two seasons ago where Barca won the league...

Nah, I am not a Barca fan. But I also don't go by one-off seasons. I seen him at Leeds and others and he has had multiple seasons in his career and that was likely his best. It doesn't mean he's gonna continue to play that way, and in fact I would suggest that he didn't play as well last season...

Anyway I will bow out as I don't really wanna continue criticising him - he seems like he gives his best for your club at least. And he has a degree of quality, albeit far from top level past and present. It'd be easier to insult him if he was unprofessional. But he does seem to care at least...

That's a fair point that I made about myself as I was debating with serghei in parallel. He's not as good and vital as serghei makes out, but you and I are probably being a bit harsh too.

I get that impression too. I'd take guys Like Pedro Neto, Kudus, Kvara over him and they're not at top 3-4 sides. Taking into account different sides of the pitch etc.

If we go by a numbers scale. I'd call him a 6.5, 7 on a good day, if Mbappe, Robben and Vinicius are 9s and Ronaldinho is a 10. I am not really convinced he's better than every winger except the top 3-4 sides. But not in the mood to debate too much more about him. Silly way of expressing it by...

I agree. But it doesn't make him a top player either. It just means Barca are in a tricky position. Let's be honest, if not for the moronic board you reference, Raphinha wouldn't even register (no pun intended) at Barca.