10 - Lionel Messi - v1

[Pepe Silvia]

It was criminal to appoint Maradona as coach and although what's done is done, the very bottom line is that it robbed Messi and the team of any chance at shining this WC. We all hoped for Argentina (or at the very least Messi) to do well and they did to an extent but in the back of our minds, we knew that he and his team were being led to the slaughter house. Tragedy. Leaving behind Riquelme? Cambiasso? Pupi? Why not. Entrusting the midfield to an odd list of players flirting with the most hilarious and equally disasterous trial and error anyone has ever seen: old players on their last legs, murderous defenders and tireless attackers, and sure why not throw the "WPOTY" in there too? He's the world's best player, he can surely run the middle! Why. The hell not.

 

[ryuken]

Gotta say Argentina defence is utter shiet.

 

[SeloBarca]

yeah i thought the same too. but then he had no one to pass to before he goes on a dribble.
they are not moving so much the arg attack line. they are kinda static.
they all wait for messi to do some magical run all the time.

This is ture and also seen in Barcelona. Zlatan are mostly wrongly positioned, so when Messi gets the ball he waits and waits and waits for Zlatan to do something, nothing happens, and then hes forced to dribble and people say hes selifish! it was the same in Argentina, Higuain didnt really take the right runs except 2-3 times, but MEssi wasent in a position to do the dribbling.

 

[Stins]

This is ture and also seen in Barcelona. Zlatan are mostly wrongly positioned, so when Messi gets the ball he waits and waits and waits for Zlatan to do something, nothing happens, and then hes forced to dribble and people say hes selifish! it was the same in Argentina, Higuain didnt really take the right runs except 2-3 times, but MEssi wasent in a position to do the dribbling.

Eh? Messi have no problem going on dribbling runs by himself, it's the player he is. You are not one of the worlds top scorers if you ain't selfish. You do not score 30+ goals over a season if you are looking to pass to your team mates all the time.

If this was a thread about Xavi then you could easilly say he isn't selfish because that's the truth. In Messis case, it isn't. He's still a team player though. But when he scores 3x in a game based mostly on solo work, where he could have easilly set up a team mate instead for the 3rd goal like some other top players would do... well. It proves my point.

 

[Trillske]

Seriously, Messi chooses to ignore (or is too involed in his run to see it or whatever) such clear passes its jaw dropping some times. He can have a really bad angle, and yet not make an easy pass even I could have made 9/10 to a player who´d have an open net. Not saying that extreme scenario happens ever game or anything, but he is the only player I´ve ever seen doing it more than once even.

To his credit, he quite often scores despite the bad angle. But even when he does, you go "messi, wtf?".

^ just realized that was a bit harsh tone but dont have time to rephrase, so read it in a happy voice or something.

 

[Stins]

Haha Trillske, but it's the truth. He gets in -the zone- at times during his runs and it's obvious he doesn't look up to see where his teammates are. Now he has so much skill he scores many of those times and that's why we like him.

But it's not always the teammates who are slow, not making the correct runs and what not when he fails.

 

[SeloBarca]

Im just saying, he didnt do that as much 2008/2009

 

[Barca-for-the-win]

He still better get the best player of the year i dont care about the world cut its not his fault he was played so far back

 

[IbraFTW]

Seriously, Messi chooses to ignore (or is too involed in his run to see it or whatever) such clear passes its jaw dropping some times. He can have a really bad angle, and yet not make an easy pass even I could have made 9/10 to a player who´d have an open net. Not saying that extreme scenario happens ever game or anything, but he is the only player I´ve ever seen doing it more than once even.

To his credit, he quite often scores despite the bad angle. But even when he does, you go "messi, wtf?".

^ just realized that was a bit harsh tone but dont have time to rephrase, so read it in a happy voice or something.

I hated him for that when I started watching Barca. I yelled "Pass to Ibra, bitch!" countless times. I couldn't believe how selfish he was (or as you said, too focused on his thing). And it happened at least once in almost every game. Even in Zaragoza game, when Ibra was at his lowest, when he needed a pass more than ever... :'(
(And unselfish Ibracadabra, only one or two games later, still under heavy criticism, passes to Henry instead of scoring himself :'()
Then I realized his stuff works most of the time so I couldn't really be against it. As long as it works, do whatever you want, I guess.

 

[ViolentLogic]

Yeah, why judge Messi based on important games against good competition when we can give him the award for scoring lots of goals against the likes of Tenerife and Valladolid?

So how come other players cannot do what Messi did? Even C. Ronaldo or strikers? Rooney also did MASSIVE for Manchester United, that is nothing too?

To be consistently AMAZING is much more difficult. Than when playing with a bunch of people you play with once every four years, especially in that tactless, disorganized shit team called Argentina with MARADONA as the goddamned coach, so useless.

Give Argentina a fucking defence and give them a good coach and they will be a force to be reckoned with. Actually this year's Argentina squad isn't even that strong, shit defence (not Zanetti, Cambiasso either), even shittier coach.

Put Messi in Spain's squad and he will have massive amounts of goals probably.

Also remember, some players simply suck for World Cup. Fernando Torres anybody? If you judge him solely for his World Cup performance then you are stupid.

One of the reasons World Cup is overrated as fuck, if somebody is lucky people will tote them as the greatest fucking ever (Klose anyone?). It is much harder to perform day in and day out especially with Barcelona, all the pressure with Real Madrid biting your heels and could overtake at any single point. That paranoia must be great, LOL.

Champions League is a much bigger prize to me than World Cup. All World Cup is is a bunch of players who don't mesh well together being put on the same team, you get some chemistry but not THAT much (Spain is a good exception though, but it's still not amazing chemistry).

He still better get the best player of the year i dont care about the world cut its not his fault he was played so far back

His team has NO ORGANIZATION, NO DEFENSE, AND NO FUCKING TACTICS.

Maradona as coach:

"Team, just go and.... win. Yeah. GOOD LUCK KKTHXBYE. IMA SIT HERE SNORT COKE AND WATCH PORN."

Messi is not a playmaker... he is not a deep lying playmaker even more. Argentina really needed somebody who can use his brain and look for the good passes, to speed up or slow down play, pull strings in the midfield. That is why Messi is so good at Barcelona with the likes of Xavi and Iniesta absolutely dominating the midfield. Messi is still THE BEST cutting in from the left wing, I don't care what people say. It is predictable but he has the most talent in the world to do it.

Argentina has kind of an average midfield. Also, they lack creativity. And tactics. And organization. And defense, LOL. Even with this kind of environment Argentina still got to quarter-finals. You know why? Because of MESSI MESSI MESSI, he was doing EVERYTHING for Argentina!!! Give Messi the ball, expect him to do EVERYTHING. He is Lionel Messi, the best in the world at dribbling, his best position is inside forward right wing, and he scores loads of goals. But he cannot be the spine, brains, and heart of a team at once.

With Argentina, he had no support. NOTHING. ZERO. It was fucking sad.

 

[ryuken]

Kudos ^

 

[barca96]

you forgot to add the
non existant midfield

 

[Gnegneri]

Messi laid the basis for Spain's win.

'feck these Germans really, I'm gonna play the ball to Müller's hand and ask for a card."


BIN-GO

 

[Barcafan 2304]

Christ, Messi getting criticised. Cant believe it after the season he has just produced! Each to their own but c'mon, Messi was just phenomenal and i really cant understand any criticism aimed at him

 

[Stins]

Christ, Messi getting criticised. Cant believe it after the season he has just produced! Each to their own but c'mon, Messi was just phenomenal and i really cant understand any criticism aimed at him

Maybe because he isn't perfect? I mean he's awesome, but he has areas where he can improve imo. Half the members of this board are satisfied with Messis performance as soon as he walks onto the pitch and always blame the rest of the team if he has a bad day. Actually, they are oblivious to the fact that their football god do have bad days.

There were some games last season for example, when Messi continiously hogs the ball and fail on like 10 dribble runs over the game, and eventually succeeds in the 80th minute and is praised. Sure he gets the job done most of the time, but it's quite frustrating to see when the game could have been over alot sooner if he'd look up abit more and use his team mates.

Imo, FIFA should do a worldwide change to football where assist are calculated as part of the scoring titles like in Ice Hockey. It'd improve the game if an assist was considered about as important as a goal.