10 - Lionel Messi - v1

[Ode to Django]

We are so reliant on Messi, and assist from him is not enough, we need his goal. Iniesta and Xavi have spent a long time not giving a proper assist, they expect Messi to do their job. Statistics don't lie

Xavi controls every game he's in mostly from deep, assists/goals will never do him any justice he keeps the side in possesion and never lets Barca down in that, Iniesta & Xavi are mainly for the build up not the ones to give direct assists but are heavily involved

 

[Fourteen]

Definately it does annoy me when i watch Pedro run his ass off and i see Messi walking about like he did last night and a few games ago when he lost the ball and just stood around, thats my only criticism of him but you can't be too harsh as he wins games for us, also shouldv'e definately passed a number of times when Villa/Pedro were completely open and he tries to dribble 4/5 players instead

Yeah, he definitely looks like he get's caught up in the moment on one of his dribbles. Don't blame him though, he's obviously so determined not to lost the ball that he is a bit oblivious for the few moments when he could offload it to another player.

 

[gingerless]

yeah, he definitely gets caught up in the moment after he dribbles past 2-3 players, he just needs to balance it out and know when he should pass and when he should shoot. it's like he gets tunnel vision when that happens sometimes

 

[knicks]

We just must trust in him for any show like last year.

 

[crackh0e]

He was our best player. But his shooting was off in this game. He had some good dribbles, created Villa's goal, should have scored a goal that was wrongly disallowed and should have scored 1or 2 goals on his chanes. But it was mainly Guardiola's fault that we lost. 3 weeks till the second leg, and remember, February is usually our worst month. This reminded me of the matches we've had against Atletico in February these last years.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

His laziness in the 2nd half had me screaming at the TV tbh. I'm sure his teammates were upset with him (Alves/Xavi/Iniesta). I would've been. Pep has to rotate Bojan in with Messi to allow him to recover and prepare for more matches. Right now he is too low energy to make his normal impact. He lost the ball a lot too. Bad performance but he is still Lionel Messi.

EDIT: to the poster above, Busquets and Abidal had far better games than the little magician tbh

 

[beautifulgame]

As Pip said: "burned out."

I've been saying this shit for months on this thread, let the man have rest every couple weeks because he will need in the stretch of the season. He should be made to relax a little bit... If Pep makes him sit out some then he will come back firing in no time.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

As Pip said: "burned out."

I've been saying this shit for months on this thread, let the man have rest every couple weeks because he will need in the stretch of the season. He should be made to relax a little bit... If Pep makes him sit out some then he will come back firing in no time.

The whole world saw how burned out he was and it was painful to watch in the 2nd half. The dis goal took the wind out of his sails and he had NO RESERVE.

 

[Armando929]

Yeah not his best game. Other than this assist to Villa he did miss a couple of clear chances, and was often selfish, ignoring Pedro or Villa whom were wide open and instead trying to dribble through 4 players and shoot. Similar to Cristiano Ronaldo at times.

I agree he needs a rest. Pep has played him alot and we'll need his energy coming down the stretch.,

 

[gingerless]

messi being compared to CR for his selfishness. dear god.

 

[Hatem Ben Arfa]

Messi was not selfish! I only saw Villa open for one chance. Messi could easily have scored 4 last night. Just unlucky.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Credit Arsenal def for keeping Messi at bay off the Alves cross from the right late in the game. Great stop by defenders to keep a sure goal from going in. Messi's chip was a little late imo and he felt gutted from the miss. The header looked offside at first but tbh I didn't see any replay and I'm at work so if someone has a pic please up it. That sucks that it was disallowed. Thanks.

 

[Corb]

He was not good last night. Fortunately he doesn't forgive twice.

 

[deelio]

His laziness in the 2nd half had me screaming at the TV tbh. I'm sure his teammates were upset with him (Alves/Xavi/Iniesta). I would've been. Pep has to rotate Bojan in with Messi to allow him to recover and prepare for more matches. Right now he is too low energy to make his normal impact. He lost the ball a lot too. Bad performance but he is still Lionel Messi.

EDIT: to the poster above, Busquets and Abidal had far better games than the little magician tbh

this.

I hated how everyone else was running to close down or to get open, while messi was always just strolling around. i mean, you don't have to be pedro, but show some effort.

 

[Cal-FCB]

Hahaha look at this WUM^^^

Jog on you total bellend