10 - Lionel Messi - v2

[SeloBarca]

Messi probably made one of his crappiest game and should be critizised for it, yet theres no need for the other crap posted about him

 

[Cule4life]

He may have scored 90 goals but the fact is that Messi has been off form by his standards compared to his from in 2010-11. He drops too deep and is cut out easily by disciplined defences. He is not making threatening runs often. His dribbling has also declined and he is losing possession twice-thrice as much compared to 2010-11. Why does he have to dribble across the entire length of the pitch . His quick touch passes with Iniesta are also missing. The mngt has to put its foot down. He should be told to reduce his dropping too deep. All this "walking to save energy" crap has to end. the best way "to save energy" is to rest during unimportant matches. Too much indulgence towards him has marginalized other attackers like Villa Deco etc. Barca should not be a one man team. And also he does need a kick up his ass as he's lacking intensity and looks casual. Even the best player in the world needs a reality check regularly

 

[evilhita666]

He may have scored 90 goals but the fact is that Messi has been off form by his standards compared to his from in 2010-11. He drops too deep and is cut out easily by disciplined defences. He is not making threatening runs often. His dribbling has also declined and he is losing possession twice-thrice as much compared to 2010-11. Why does he have to dribble across the entire length of the pitch . His quick touch passes with Iniesta are also missing. The mngt has to put its foot down. He should be told to reduce his dropping too deep. All this "walking to save energy" crap has to end. the best way "to save energy" is to rest during unimportant matches. Too much indulgence towards him has marginalized other attackers like Villa Deco etc. Barca should not be a one man team. And also he does need a kick up his ass as he's lacking intensity and looks casual. Even the best player in the world needs a reality check regularly

Do you have stats to back up those claims? I mean, his one-two passes haven't been sharp lately and he is losing the ball more often when he dribbles, but is it really that bad? How are those stats compared to the same time last year?

 

[Garrus]

He drops back too deep because he isn't receiving balls from the midfield, He's forced to do this, And how many players he's supposed to dribble, 2, 3 ,4?!!.

 

[beautifulgame]

Absolutely. It's not his fault he is the only one that can beat his man, the problem is he always has 3 more to beat at least. Only other person that can beat one or two markers is inie.

In my opinion, he should made to stick to the byline for the majority of the beginning. Do not start him in middle or false nine, instead have him stick to the line. Also, start Villa if fit.

 

[Cule4life]

Also, start Villa if fit.

Asking for Villa to start is like flogging a dead horse. Its not gonna happen with the mindset of our mngt. He will be sold in the summer to Arsenal. Neymar is too big a gamble and may turn out be Sanchez 2.0 The pessimist in me sees the Messi dependency continuing

 

[beautifulgame]

The question is why Messi dependence continues..

Is it really an issue of Messi sharing the frontline in Barca?

 

[DonAndres]

He may have scored 90 goals but the fact is that Messi has been off form by his standards compared to his from in 2010-11. He drops too deep and is cut out easily by disciplined defences. He is not making threatening runs often. His dribbling has also declined and he is losing possession twice-thrice as much compared to 2010-11. Why does he have to dribble across the entire length of the pitch . His quick touch passes with Iniesta are also missing. The mngt has to put its foot down. He should be told to reduce his dropping too deep. All this "walking to save energy" crap has to end. the best way "to save energy" is to rest during unimportant matches. Too much indulgence towards him has marginalized other attackers like Villa Deco etc. Barca should not be a one man team. And also he does need a kick up his ass as he's lacking intensity and looks casual. Even the best player in the world needs a reality check regularly

+1

Stats don't always tell the whole story and Messi hasn't looked that sharp all round on attack. Sometimes the opposition is only able to neutralize him because he doesn't even try to make runs or lure them out of position. I understand why he doesn't have a high defensive workrate and tends to walk around when the ball is nowhere near him but nowadays it's come to the point where his teammates are right next to him and about to play a pass to him and he is barely ready to collect it. These flaws are masked by his goal record and if he were to sharpen up and stay alert, the beast would be unleashed. He is an immortal, but even he (like everyone else) loses it sometimes and does need a reality check.

 

[Garrus]

There is no such thing as messi dependency, It's just some non-sense made up by madridista to undermine Barcelona, Unfortunately it started getting passed down by barca fans themselves.
Some equate having messi on our side the same as bringing a bazooka into a knife fight, And that's just not true, This will always be a team sport, Messi on his own can't do much.

 

[beautifulgame]

I think should stick him on the line next game.

Messi as creator from wing.

 

[hellsangel1]

He may have scored 90 goals but the fact is that Messi has been off form by his standards compared to his from in 2010-11. He drops too deep and is cut out easily by disciplined defences. He is not making threatening runs often. His dribbling has also declined and he is losing possession twice-thrice as much compared to 2010-11. Why does he have to dribble across the entire length of the pitch . His quick touch passes with Iniesta are also missing. The mngt has to put its foot down. He should be told to reduce his dropping too deep. All this "walking to save energy" crap has to end. the best way "to save energy" is to rest during unimportant matches. Too much indulgence towards him has marginalized other attackers like Villa Deco etc. Barca should not be a one man team. And also he does need a kick up his ass as he's lacking intensity and looks casual. Even the best player in the world needs a reality check regularly

You actually think Messi likes to drop deep and dribble past 3 or 4 defenders on a less than ideal playing surface???? Messi has had plenty of runs and tap ins for goals when he has had the service this season. Our midfield had a terrible game and were frequently pressured and hassled off the ball, that's why Messi had to drop deep. What is Messi supposed to do ???? He is getting isolated and surrounded by too many guys. Unless he goes berserk like he did in the last Clasico at Nou Camp, against the good defensive teams like Madrid etc, he is getting isolated and having to dribble past too many players just to have a shot at goal.

His quick touch passing with Iniesta is missing because Iniesta is largely operating on the wings and they are too far apart from each other to make those connections.

The only aspect of his game that I thought was bad was that he didn't do enough to win the ball back. Milan worked much harder at closing down our players and pressing. That is what we are known for but the entire team including Messi were pretty poor at that. I mean look at how Xavi fails to pick up Muntari's run for the second goal.....

 

[hellsangel1]

I think should stick him on the line next game.

Messi as creator from wing.

I remember he went wide early on in the game and even got the better of Constant when he did but as usual there was no one to cross to in the box. I saw towards the end of the Celtic match that Messi was playing wide as well. For a club with the ambitions and resources of Barca, the fact that we had to send our CB forward (Pique) towards the end of the match so that we could have someone to cross to was pretty ridiculous to see . There was no one on the bench that was a quality replacement or who could change the dynamic of the game or add a different element. I mean , look at what happened in the Bayern-Arsenal game, Bayern actually subbed in Mario Gomez and Robben, both of whom if I remember correctly had 60 goals between them last season. We didn't have a natural goal-scorer on the pitch or on the bench outside of Messi.....

 

[beautifulgame]

I disagree to some degree with the point about Pique.

Piqué has proved be be a very good plan B as a forward. I like to see him up there.

With that said, you are right in eluding to goal threats. Villa should be used if available with Messi on wing and perhaps Tello on other side to drag his marker.

 

[Flavia]

When 4, 5 players close up on Messi, the others in theory have more space. Something should be done to take advantadge of that. I remember one game against rm, when Messi dropped deeper and assisted Abidal, doing that. That's not done enough these days.

 

[Vapor]

There is no such thing as messi dependency, It's just some non-sense made up by madridista to undermine Barcelona, Unfortunately it started getting passed down by barca fans themselves.
Some equate having messi on our side the same as bringing a bazooka into a knife fight, And that's just not true, This will always be a team sport, Messi on his own can't do much.

Mmm, I would highly disagree with that assessment. It's pretty obvious just by watching our play at the end of last season and even to some extent this season the degree to which we depend on Messi to score our goals and win games for us. Sure, it's a team game and the team as whole creates the chances. However, hardly anyone on our team actually finishes the chances besides Messi. And when Messi is marked out of the game or is having an off day, no one else steps up to do the job. The stats speak for themselves really.

Villa returning next leg will be of PARAMOUNT important, linking up with Messi and the midfielders and taking off some of that creative/goal-scoring burden.