10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[UberNjufer]

Pass the ball? Keep possession?

yea pass the ball and keep possesion is really working for us

 

[Behrox]

Pass the ball? Keep possession?

So that people here would say he is lazy sideways passer no heart and other BS seriously he has to score a hattrick or brace every game for u guys to stay content

 

[UberNjufer]

I think Tata has but the board hasn't given him then freedom to buy his own players something any insider would have been given in a heart beat case in mind a new manager in Pep

he's the one setting the tactics in the end and it doesnt look like he picked up on it

 

[Semi-Neutral]

All of you guys are acting like a number nine would magically create space and cause defenders to lose their minds. Who exactly do we drop for that? Do we play three center backs and drop the attacking fullbacks and subsequently lose a lot of our attacking prowess? Do we drop one of our wingers and completely lose that flank (the fullback can't exactly cover that without a winger to cover either)? Do we drop a midfielder and lose control of the game and not even be able to get a ball to our front line? We would have to change our way of playing completely to include Messi and a number nine, and it would cost too much with no guaranteed gain.

 

[DonAndres]

I'd rather he go for it than be cautious. Even if we didn't dominate the game today, it would've been worse had we decided to go 80 percent possession with endless non-penetrating passes for the entire game.

 

[Behrox]

he's the one setting the tactics in the end and it doesnt look like he picked up on it

You say this as if he has a tall 9 rotting on the bench and is doing this out of arrogance. Hard to play someone who doesn't exist

 

[evilhita666]

So that people here would say he is lazy sideways passer no heart and other BS seriously he has to score a hattrick or brace every game for u guys to stay content

You are twisting my words... I only said he should keep it simple instead of going in kamikaze runs so often...

 

[Behrox]

You are twisting my words... I only said he should keep it simple instead of going in kamikaze runs so often...

He didn't have an option its not like the whole Valencia defense would just stop playing and give him a clear opening and our wingers not making runs wasn't helping the case either

 

[CatalinR10]

god damn if that last minute chance would have gone in it would have been such an epic goal...

 

[Flavia]

All of you guys are acting like a number nine would magically create space and cause defenders to lose their minds. Who exactly do we drop for that? Do we play three center backs and drop the attacking fullbacks and subsequently lose a lot of our attacking prowess? Do we drop one of our wingers and completely lose that flank (the fullback can't exactly cover that without a winger to cover either)? Do we drop a midfielder and lose control of the game and not even be able to get a ball to our front line? We would have to change our way of playing completely to include Messi and a number nine, and it would cost too much with no guaranteed gain.

It's not to play all games, but as a plan b. In a game like today it could be helpful. Alexis and Pedro didn't do much, so I'd drop one of them for a 9.

 

[Behrox]

It's not to play all games, but as a plan b. In a game like today it could be helpful. Alexis and Pedro didn't do much, so I'd drop one of them for a 9.

How about chicharito hernandez he doesn't play an awful lot for united but when he comes on he usually make a good impact

 

[Patty2720]

This is the way to go in my opinion. Attack and Defense.

 

[abual3bed1]

Messi has 9.4 on whoscored while Feghouli has 8.5 What game were they watching??

 

[Semi-Neutral]

It's not to play all games, but as a plan b. In a game like today it could be helpful. Alexis and Pedro didn't do much, so I'd drop one of them for a 9.

Again, why do you assume they would have so much trouble marking him? The only times today we were able to link up successfully between the lines was when we had intelligent movement from one of our midfielders or, what do you know, wingers, into that space; a number nine wouldn't be able to achieve this because he wouldn't have anywhere to move into since he was already there. Half of that clever linkup play is due to players moving out of their position, cleverly interchanging, drifting into dangerous areas from places where they seem harmless. The markers don't pick up on them because they aren't expecting anyone to be there; if a number nine was there, not only would he be marked but the defenders would be more attentive in general, since someone is in and around them constantly. Just look at some of the runs Cesc and in particular Iniesta made. That late play that was almost a goal for Messi, that play where Iniesta had one defender on him and should have shot instead of lay it back... All those plays were because Iniesta moved into the space that a number nine would occupy and the defenders weren't expecting his arrival.

 

[Galning]

It's not to play all games, but as a plan b. In a game like today it could be helpful. Alexis and Pedro didn't do much, so I'd drop one of them for a 9.

Word. Both Alexis & Pedro were irrelevant and invisible the entire second half.