10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[KingMessi]

Which is why Neymar-Messi-Reus/Aguero/Suarez, or even Neymar-Messi-Deulofeu, would be far better than Pedro-Messi-Sanchez. Opposition teams know that most of the time Alexis won't be a threat, and that a Pedro in bad form most certainly won't up his ante in a single game.

If we sell Alexis this summer, next season that rightwing spot should go to Deulofeu and Pedro.

Neymar/Pedro/Deulofeu-Messi/(Number 9)/Munir-Deulofeu/Pedro/(Number 9), not necessarily in that order (except Messi of course ).

 

[hardyboy]

I think he is not that passionate about football like he used to be since Thiago has been born..

 

[Kerrybai]

I think he is not that passionate about football like he used to be since Thiago has been born..

Didn't we have all sorts of crazy stats about Messi and Thiago after he was born? He was scoring a goal every 70 minutes since his birth or something along those lines.

 

[Flavia]

I've lost count of the times when Messi DID save the team though , when the team had struggled . That's what's missing ...

This is what's wrong. He should never have the burden of saving the team by himself. But it's clear many still think this was a good thing, miss it and crucify him for not doing it lately.

 

[KingMessi]

When a team doesn't do well, it's the star man that get's the brunt of the blame for not saving the team. And that's just what is happening on this forum. A pity really.

 

[Sumlit]

This is what's wrong. He should never have the burden of saving the team by himself. But it's clear many still think this was a good thing, miss it and crucify him for not doing it lately.

Yup. I mean the demand that Messi save the team with some superhuman effort time and time again is unreasonable enough, but to actually criticize him when he doesn't do it is beyond ridiculous.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

It sucks that he isn't bailing the team out but I think the point was that we miss it not that he's a shit player now. Is it unreasonable to expect more hustle from Messi because that's how many of you are acting?

 

[KingMessi]

It sucks that he isn't bailing the team out but I think the point was that we miss it not that he's a shit player now. Is it unreasonable to expect more hustle from Messi because that's how many of you are acting?

The last two games though, we have seen some hustle from Messi. And yet he still gets blamed. Why is that?

 

[Sumlit]

It sucks that he isn't bailing the team out but I think the point was that we miss it not that he's a shit player now. Is it unreasonable to expect more hustle from Messi because that's how many of you are acting?

Which hustle are you referring to? If you mean Messi should hustle to press and defend more, yeah it is unreasonable. Messi is a CF, the team does not depend on him to press and defend, but to score goals.

If you mean he should be more mobile on offense, then you have a valid argument, however also understand that other parts of the team affect this aspect of Messi. Without space all the extra movement Messi would do would be wasted. Moving more on offense when you are blanketed by 3 defenders is just wasted energy.

He's also been more active lately, yet he still gets blasted.

 

[Kerrybai]

It sucks that he isn't bailing the team out but I think the point was that we miss it not that he's a shit player now. Is it unreasonable to expect more hustle from Messi because that's how many of you are acting?

The problem those of us who are defending have is that he is been made a scapegoat by some posters and people are going to extreme lengths. He has his share of responsibility to take and that's it, of course how much he is responsible for differs by opinion. Personally I lay most of the blame on the board, Ursegor made a nice post on the club over on the Tata thread.

 

[Stric]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can criticize him for the the last game in particular. He was far from the "lazy Messi" we've seen on some occasions. It's amazing how easily people overlook his efforts. Just because he didn't score doesn't mean he didn't make several runs through the defense, got fouled a bunch of times, made several headers, etc.

 

[Kohe321]

He had some nice runs, yeah. One in particular where he ended a very nice dribleraid with a shot right at the keeper that would completely have changed the match had he just placed it slightly more to the left and scored. It would have been deemed a classic Messi goal from a dribleraid where he collapsed their defence, and the last few pages in this thread after the game would have been filled with jokes about how he is the "GOAT" rather than critique.

We can't forget that the world cup is right around the corner. Even if he wants to play all he can like he didn't care, he would subconciously hold back because the fear of an injury now is massive and very real. I don't really think it's reasonable to expect more running than what he did against Elche anyway considering his role and position, and especially not considering how close the world cup is. He also has that muscle thing where he gets exhausted quicker than other players, that's why he conserves energy. The fact that we want him to work more just proves more than anything how crappy Martinos system is, and how it completely hamstrings Messis effectiveness.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

I can appreciate the posters defending our guy he deserves his club fans support. I don't think people here hate him I know I don't but when the ball is two feet from him and he has a chance to win it back yet chooses to stand and do nothing do you not see how fans (who love him) would criticize him? The throwing up and overall play is worrying. As for the last game go back and read. I was more worried about the collective play than Messis who I feel was decent had some good shots, runs n passes

 

[KingMessi]

I can appreciate the posters defending our guy he deserves his club fans support. I don't think people here hate him I know I don't but when the ball is two feet from him and he has a chance to win it back yet chooses to stand and do nothing do you not see how fans (who love him) would criticize him? The throwing up and overall play is worrying. As for the last game go back and read. I was more worried about the collective play than Messis who I feel was decent had some good shots, runs n passes

This is very reasonable, and I can agree with it to some extent.

 

[Stric]

I can appreciate the posters defending our guy he deserves his club fans support. I don't think people here hate him I know I don't but when the ball is two feet from him and he has a chance to win it back yet chooses to stand and do nothing do you not see how fans (who love him) would criticize him? The throwing up and overall play is worrying. As for the last game go back and read. I was more worried about the collective play than Messis who I feel was decent had some good shots, runs n passes

I wasn't referring to you in particular, actually my reaction was prompted by some of the posts that were written right after the game.