10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[hellsangel1]

6,8km.. you guys act like this is the first time he does this? There must have been like 5-10 games this season where he covered similar amounts of ground, maybe even less. In fact, this type of behaviour dates back to his last season under Guardiola. At least yesterday he got himself in a few scoring positions, besides penalties.

Not one player is bigger than the team. Not a single one. If you put yourself above the team, you have no place in it, no matter how good you are. It's just so destructive in other areas if you do. One of the best things Guardiola did was getting rid of Ronaldinho and creating a team where every single player worked their ass of for one another.

Messi as an individual is so mind blowingly good that the other, fantastic players on our team accept that they have to run for him. That will stop as soon as Messi stops delivering and that's getting more sporadic by the week. He's playing like a diva nowadays and expects everyone in Barcelona to bow for him, not only his teammates but also the coaching staff and the board. That's not a healthy situation what so ever and in my book that's totally unacceptable.

'His last season under Guardiola'.............you mean the same season in which he was setting all those goal-scoring records and carrying the team single handedly on his back when it was actually others around him who weren't giving it their all. Messi deserves criticism but his poor form has started this season and specifically after he as having his injury troubles. There's no need to criticize him for past seasons when he was our best player. However, this year he's had too many performances like the above. Our ball movement isn't what it used to be but that shouldn't stop someone from working hard or tracking back or pressing.

 

[messid10s]

We really need another reliable scorer to draw defenders away from him. In the past we had Henry and Eto'o who could always be counted on. Neymar may well be one day. Pedro was in the past but has regressed and Sanchez is good flat track bully who's probably better through the middle.

 

[hellsangel1]

I would give us Messi a lesson and bench him for next game and let Pedro,Alexis and Neymar play. He needs to understand that he needs to step up his game.

I wouldn't be too upset if that were too happen. Standing still on the pitch and running just a little bit more than our GK is inexcusable. Either you work hard when you're on the pitch or you can sit on the bench.

 

[Flavius]

I swore I wouldn't read this thread after the game, but... Yes he ran only 6.8km, but you saw what happened when he had a ball, 4 defenders around him and ball is intercepted instantly and it was the same with Iniesta and other players and it would have been the same if he ran 12km or 20km. So you can rant on Messi all you want but at least admit that Atleti had a superb defense.

5 matches this season vs Atletico, 0 goals, 0 assists. At least a spark or something...but absolutely nothing.

 

[xxxxxx]

This thread is embarrassing.

And people suggesting to sell Messi..... be careful for what you ask for. If he joined another team, he would dominate there, too.

 

[hellsangel1]

We really need another reliable scorer to draw defenders away from him. In the past we had Henry and Eto'o who could always be counted on. Neymar may well be one day. Pedro was in the past but has regressed and Sanchez is good flat track bully who's probably better through the middle.

I think we need a little more height and physicality on our team and I've been calling for that since Guardiola's last team but somehow those are un-Barca like qualities. A player like Thomas Muller would've added a little more variety to our team in the final third even though he's not the most technically gifted player.

 

[spark]

The rest of the team looked much more interested than Messi.

Some of them were shockingly bad but everyone of them put more in than him.

This isnt true. Most of them were equally lethargic.

 

[spark]

5 matches this season vs Atletico, 0 goals, 0 assists. At least a spark or something...but absolutely nothing.

Ffs he played a full match against them for the first time in the last two matches , all the other games he went off injured or played his first game from injury against them. Its as relevant as when he "couldnt score with Pepe in midfield" ."Mou had figured him out", and all the other things that were said back then.

 

[slvtn]

One general problem with Messi this season is - based on the reference that he's still the best - that he played too selfish in a couple of relevant situations. I think it's understandable that you want to compete with CR7 and the best in general and it seems that you'll just receive the Ballon d'Or for scoring the most goals (otherwise Ribery would have won), but he'll need to step up for the team and not for any kind of FIFA trophys. It's hard to understand when he dribbles against four when there's one or even even two players in a better position. He also looks like he lost the usual fun in the game which is a shame, because he can be mad good.

 

[linetty]

Messi ran 6.8 km, only 1,5 km more than Pinto! That wasn't normal, something has happened to him.

 

[Galning]

How Pinto ran 5 km according to those reports is beyond me. If a pitch is 100m, he'd have to run from his backline to Courtois' and back 25 times!

 

[Ryan_Cule]

How Pinto ran 5 km according to those reports is beyond me. If a pitch is 100m, he'd have to run from his backline to Courtois' and back 25 times!

It is a silly Madrid press campaign. They did this before and you know how easily cules are convinced with stats.

 

[Flavia]

How Pinto ran 5 km according to those reports is beyond me. If a pitch is 100m, he'd have to run from his backline to Courtois' and back 25 times!

It is a silly Madrid press campaign. They did this before and you know how easily cules are convinced with stats.

I was wondering how pinto ran that much too.

I'm still baffled to the amount of hatred Messi gets here after a poor match. He was bad, there's no denying this. But Tata's tactics was to keep him out of the game according to Tata himself... Messi wasn't as involved as in any other cl game he has ever played, and after watching him for so many years, I just don't believe it was pure lack of effort from him. The gameplan was messed up, and isolating Messi in the right wing was a favor to atletico, who marked him out of the game easier thanks to that "tactic" from tata.

 

[linetty]

Those stats are from official FIFA website.

 

[Hamzah]

I was wondering how pinto ran that much too.

I'm still baffled to the amount of hatred Messi gets here after a poor match. He was bad, there's no denying this. But Tata's tactics was to keep him out of the game according to Tata himself... Messi wasn't as involved as in any other cl game he has ever played, and after watching him for so many years, I just don't believe it was pure lack of effort from him. The gameplan was messed up, and isolating Messi in the right wing was a favor to atletico, who marked him out of the game easier thanks to that "tactic" from tata.

Or Tata said this to try and deflect blame from Leo?