10 - Lionel Messi - v2

[DonAndres]

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.

Yea that was the basic x factor of Messi as a false 9. But that was when there were prolific goalscorers playing on the wing like Henry, Eto'o, Villa, and a goalscoring Pedro. Nowadays that system has been changed with Iniesta as a playmaking winger and Alexis/Pedro as the "invisible workers" making runs to draw off defenders and tracking back but not being that strong in terms of goalscoring and up front, direct attacking play. If our defense were to strengthen and our wingbacks (hint: Alves) were more disciplined and tracked back often, the wings could be freed up to bring in a real goal threat instead of having to use a false winger mainly to help out in defense.

 

[Ode to Django]

Ambrosini shut him down completely, no substitute for experience.

Messi always tries to cut in on his left without fail, can't hurt teams if the opposition knows what to do.

 

[ricknattery]

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.

This exactly
Im tired of our team waiting for Messi to come up and save us, they got that bad habit since Messi seems to be the only player that keeps himself motivated and improving.
The guy gets marked by 4 players and the other lazy players cannot even beat one defender or put a through pass consistently. Messi is awesome but most of the times 4>1(relating to the situation Messi lives on every game) and especially when you face tough opposition like in the CL.
If the rest of midfielders or forwards could present some threat in front of goal consistently then Messi would be more free and his magic could appear more often(like in 08-09). Now everybody knows if not for Messi, Barca has it dificult to score(look at his insane stats in goals and assists, not to mention he is pretty much involved somehow in all other goals). It has become pretty easy to stop Barca, just put 4 players against Messi, the others wont cause much troubles even when playing with that advantage. There is a reason why Messi has not been able to score from play in knock-out stages in CL as he is capable of since 2 years ago.
As much as I love Pedro, the best he can get in a team like Barca is third position striker, contributing with workrate and some key goals(and he is not doing it enough for a long time now). Messi is obviously the first and we are missing the second striker. Villa was good enough 2 years ago, I have no idea why they don't use him more, clearly a mistake the management should explain. Alexis just cant seem to be up to the task, he can improve but he will not become that second goal-scoring threat we need, so he has really no place in the team and we should cash on him next summer
Enough with the rant

 

[footyfan]

There is definite Messi-dependency within the team. He is the only one allowed to dribble, the only one allowed to consistently attempt difficult passes and definitely the only one allowed to shoot. In theory, this dependency is logical because he's the best in the team at all these but sometimes you just need to know when it's not working out and try something else.

Iniesta on the wing has been proved to be ineffective in almost all the big games. Worryingly, Pedro is not getting into goal-scoring positions on the other side either. I really hope we get a proven scorer on atleast one of the wings. And no - I'm not talking about Sanchez even though I love the player. We can maybe play Sanchez in front of Messi if we switch to a 3-4-2-1.

 

[tariqo]

Ronaldinho was in the exact same situation against better Milan and Chelsea who were hacking him down constantly. But he made them look like jokers (and I'm admitting that as a Chelsea fan). However, Messi has the tendency to not make that kind of difference against really tight defenses (Milan, Chelsea, Inter etc).

^_^

It was so much easy playing with eto'o & messi

 

[beautifulgame]

Ambrosini shut him down completely, no substitute for experience.

Messi always tries to cut in on his left without fail, can't hurt teams if the opposition knows what to do.

being a bit silly now. Messi was completely shut out but it was great defensive work as a unit by Milan. Lets not get carried away.

 

[AURELIUS]

Oddly enough his form for Argentina has been exceptional. He hasn't declined as a player.

It's more a fault of the system Barcelona are using at present where Messi has no real outlets (Pedro and Sanchez are not providing a consistent threat and are being tasked more to open up space rather than attack the box)and is dropping deep, oddly enough a criticism when he was playing with Argentina under the clowns Batista and Maradona. And likewise when he was being a labelled a failure with Argentina the opposition would stick 2-3 players on him at a time while his team mates just stood and gawped , not utilizing the extra space afforded by him being double/triple marked.

There was a distinct lack of running off the ball and beyond the ball carrier yesterday. Iniesta needs to be moved into a central position as well. He is wasted out on the left wing. Tuck hi into a central role directing operations and both he and Messi would benefit working in tandem.

 

[Barcilliant]

The club needs to stop indulging Messi. Part of the problem is they are scared of stepping on his toes. Look at the Ibra situation. He wanted the false 9 middle position so Ibra had to go. Time to tell him that there are matches where he will be used on the wing and we get a speedy physical forward like Falcao, Cavani to take up the PROPER forward position. No more false 9 bullshit-get a real number nine.

 

[xavisionary]

Barcelona should sign Lewandowski and play him as a lone forward in a 4-2-3-1. /thread

 

[alex88bg]

The thing is messi is on form its just he doesnt have anyone up front that he can feel relaxed with ,he lacks Villa so much ...He has no one to pass the ball anymore which makes him nervous and that leads to frustration and mistakes.Our coaching staff did the most atrocious job with Villa and its getting back at us and we full deserved it,we are too slow and predictable up front and it hurts messi the most,no one to pass to no one to trust to do something and score but him...He is for me the best footballer of all time but i just dont feel he has that incredible winning at all cost and keep fighting till last drop mentallity that my favourite athlete Jordan had or even Carles Puyol has.He needs more authority in our team,to get them moving to tell them what to do to shake them out of apathy ,thats what we needed last night ,not messi dribbling 5 guys or scoring,we needed him to be the psychological mountain last night but he wasnt,he is not that type of guy i guess..Thats something you are born with,ughh i wish he wasnt so modest if he was a bit more arrogant on that pitch..But the biggest problem for us is Titos absence,we havent played a good game since he left i think and roura just isnt up for it...

 

[Flavia]

Oddly enough his form for Argentina has been exceptional. He hasn't declined as a player.

It's more a fault of the system Barcelona are using at present where Messi has no real outlets (Pedro and Sanchez are not providing a consistent threat and are being tasked more to open up space rather than attack the box)and is dropping deep, oddly enough a criticism when he was playing with Argentina under the clowns Batista and Maradona. And likewise when he was being a labelled a failure with Argentina the opposition would stick 2-3 players on him at a time while his team mates just stood and gawped , not utilizing the extra space afforded by him being double/triple marked.

There was a distinct lack of running off the ball and beyond the ball carrier yesterday. Iniesta needs to be moved into a central position as well. He is wasted out on the left wing. Tuck hi into a central role directing operations and both he and Messi would benefit working in tandem.

Good points.

 

[ShandyFFM]

 

[Garrus]

This video is great example of the horrendous support from his other mates last night, And their failure to make themselves available for a pass, They're just watching!

 

[Juan03]

The club needs to stop indulging Messi. Part of the problem is they are scared of stepping on his toes. Look at the Ibra situation. He wanted the false 9 middle position so Ibra had to go. Time to tell him that there are matches where he will be used on the wing and we get a speedy physical forward like Falcao, Cavani to take up the PROPER forward position. No more false 9 bullshit-get a real number nine.

Completely agree. This false 9 thing worked for a while but it barely works against tight defenses, where a proper 9 would be better suited.

 

[Garrus]

Completely agree. This false 9 thing worked for a while but it barely works against tight defenses, where a proper 9 would be better suited.