10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[Pepe Silvia]

He's getting paid handsomely for doing what he does at Barcelona. It's not like he is doing what he is doing for free. He is the greatest of all time, no doubt in my mind, but the whole saving himself for WC is borderline pathetic and he should step aside to allow the tiki taka system to function properly with full pressing from the top. With your superstar walking around at the top (Granada he picked up the pace a bit to be fair), it sets the tone for a lazy work rate throughout. Not having any kind of laziness from any player, I don't give a shit who they are. You guys can kiss his ass all you want, but I want Barcelona to be successful more than I want Messi to be successful. I do wish him well at the WC and I will be rooting for them to take it all, but not at the expense of having our club go to shit like we have lately. Of course he is one piece to the puzzle and only representative of the player side of things (much bigger problems upstairs), but he is the best player on the team so it is natural he is higher profile and expectations are higher for him.

 

[Flavia]

100000%!!!

I was one of the people who read that article and rolled my eyes. I thought it was a bunch of fantasy and opportunistic.

There's no fantasy in that article.

 

[klc123]

Disclaimer: This post is written under the assumption that what the article is saying is true and does not reflect real events...

Personally, I don't think there's any justification for a player to not give 100% on the pitch, even if he's the best player ever... If a player has a personal goal/dream that interferes with the club's well-being, then he should take a step aside... That doesn't mean getting transferred or anything stupid like that, but maybe sitting on the bench every other match or something along the lines...

I have nothing but gratitude for Messi, and I really wish he can make his dreams come true, but that shouldn't harm the club... So if in order to fulfill his goals he needs to take some time off club football, I'd be OK with it, he has earned it and I would be able to show my appreciation for what he's done for the club by accepting a vacation or a paid license to prepare for the WC... But I just couldn't accept him playing at half his capacity when the fans and club are relying on him...

Why would he sit on the bench? A messi holding himself back at 60 or 70% is still our best player. The fact that he doesn't want to get injured but still plays every big game tells you how much he cares for the team...

And THAT is under the assumption that he is holding back. I think it's more likely that tata is using him poorly, as the rest of his tactical decisions haven't been up to scratch...he's probably telling messi to conserve himself like the article states, for decisive moments, but the way tata has us playing creates no decisive moments...

 

[Kerrybai]

He's getting paid handsomely for doing what he does at Barcelona. It's not like he is doing what he is doing for free. He is the greatest of all time, no doubt in my mind, but the whole saving himself for WC is borderline pathetic and he should step aside to allow the tiki taka system to function properly with full pressing from the top. With your superstar walking around at the top (Granada he picked up the pace a bit to be fair), it sets the tone for a lazy work rate throughout. Not having any kind of laziness from any player, I don't give a shit who they are. You guys can kiss his ass all you want, but I want Barcelona to be successful more than I want Messi to be successful. I do wish him well at the WC and I will be rooting for them to take it all, but not at the expense of having our club go to shit like we have lately. Of course he is one piece to the puzzle and only representative of the player side of things (much bigger problems upstairs), but he is the best player on the team so it is natural he is higher profile and expectations are higher for him.

Who's going to pick up his goal slack should he be benched? Cesc's form is gone to shit and Tata has given up on Tello.

 

[instinct]

Cruyff: “How can Messi be disinterested against Atlético when he was the best player on the field against Madrid 10 days before?”
Cruyff: “Against Atlético, he was supposedly disinterested, he was the most dangerous player for Barcelona.”

 

[Maria]

He's getting paid handsomely for doing what he does at Barcelona. It's not like he is doing what he is doing for free. He is the greatest of all time, no doubt in my mind, but the whole saving himself for WC is borderline pathetic and he should step aside to allow the tiki taka system to function properly with full pressing from the top. With your superstar walking around at the top (Granada he picked up the pace a bit to be fair), it sets the tone for a lazy work rate throughout. Not having any kind of laziness from any player, I don't give a shit who they are. You guys can kiss his ass all you want, but I want Barcelona to be successful more than I want Messi to be successful. I do wish him well at the WC and I will be rooting for them to take it all, but not at the expense of having our club go to shit like we have lately. Of course he is one piece to the puzzle and only representative of the player side of things (much bigger problems upstairs), but he is the best player on the team so it is natural he is higher profile and expectations are higher for him.

It reminds me of what the argentines used to say about Messi..and the hilarious thing is that his coach is an argentine..again. Also the tone was set by the last coach when he let Pique stay in USA until Friday and on Saturday used him instead of Bartra..or by the current one when he decided to cancel the fines system for those who were breaking the rules.
It would also be interesting to see how many minutes of rest Messi got since he returned from his injury..because I remember many comments from last year praising Tata for something our last 2 coaches didn't had the courage to do: bench Messi. And now he has to play even against Betis at home..though atleast Cesc and Neymar were well rested.

Cruyff: “How can Messi be disinterested against Atlético when he was the best player on the field against Madrid 10 days before?”

But I thought that Cruyff hates Messi.
Honestly though, Cruyff is right. I can believe that Messi would be desinterested to play against Granada, but not against Atletico..or against Inter 4 years ago.
He simply didn't had any space and right now he has a coach that wants our best player to have as few touches of the ball as possible. Well, atleast he got his wish.

 

[Ryan_Cule]

Iniesta: "Problem is, Messi set the bar so high. So in occasions like these you feel like something is wrong."

Iniesta: "No one doubts Messi what so ever. There is no reason to worry about him."

Iniesta: "People start thinking something is wrong with Messi if he doesn't score twice in a match."

 

[instinct]

Tata: "What is happening to Messi is unfair. Even the best in the world can have a bad game."

Tata(about Messi): "You have to be very consistent to do what he does year after year after year."

 

[ceefoo]

The MESSIah WILL Return!

 

[khorne]

Lord Bendtner has spoken!

 

[voodoomaster]

Messi is a fucking genius. The best ever. Sometimes you Get mad at him - but perspective is everything: Leo has won some of our titles pretty much on his own. Hope to see him back in hungry mode soon, everyone with a football heart loves to see Leo play.

 

[Kerrybai]

It's quite ridiculous that some people other there in the media, Barca fans etc would actually pin our 'downfall' entirely on Messi. If it is all his fault then what on earth does that say about the rest of the squad that one player's poor form can make us play this poorly.

 

[DonAK]

It's quite ridiculous that some people other there in the media, Barca fans etc would actually pin our 'downfall' entirely on Messi. If it is all his fault then what on earth does that say about the rest of the squad that one player's poor form can make us play this poorly.

Easy way out. Blame it all on Messi!(and Tata) The board is not at fault despite their incompetence at handling various issues. Paid journalism. Some people just suck in what the media feed them with lies.

 

[DonAK]

Leo to shut Madrid up again.

arty1: :barca scarf:

 

[bkjoe]

interesting story from radomir antic: Former Barcelona boss Radomir Antic believes Lionel Messi is unhappy with his recent role of playing on the wing for the Blaugrana. The Argentina star was criticised in some quarters for only notching up 7km during Barca's 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in their recent Champions League quarter-final encounter. Antic believes manager Gerardo Martino was wrong to put Messi out on the flank and feels the South American clearly was not content with the role. He told *********: "Messi did not do much running because the Coach told him to play as a winger. This was Messi's way of saying 'If you want me to play on the wing, I will do just that'. "It is clear that Barcelona have a major problem. How are they going to accommodate Messi, Neymar and Andres Iniesta in one team? "I don't think Messi will accept playing as a winger after everything he has done for Barcelona. He will say 'If you want me on the wing, I will play there, but whether I will get involved in the game is another thing."

Read more at: http://www.clubcall.com/la-liga/messi-unhappy---antic-1721669.html