10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[DonAndres]

Do I see a hint of abs there Leo?

 

[Busi-Messi Barca]

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest after seeing that foul. Hope nothing serious happened to him.

Likewise, I was praying he would get up. Seeing him sprint to close people down in the dying moments was great.

Part of me thinks he tries when he knows something can happen. It's like he sees things happen before they do. When he came back from injury this year he seemed to be more like this than ever. People say "lazy Lionel" or "he's saving himself for the WC" but I think he just knows when he needs to spring into life. It is sad that for Barca this year there were as many of those occasions as previous years!

Just my two cents on his form! So relieved he got a goal tonight. :beer2:

Any thoughts for Barca's formation or how we could use him better, is he played in his best position?

 

[JamDav1982]

You need proper wingbacks to play a 3-5-2 so you can exploit the extra players in midfield with pace down the wings. Rojo and Zabaleta are fullbacks, and not great offensive ones at that. 3-5-2 for Argentina is really a 5-3-2 because they've got no wingbacks capable of exploiting teams on offense.

That was an awful formation to play, specially without Higuain sitting in the middle of opposing CBs gathering long balls and playing one-twos with Messi. Messi was totally alone. Di Maria was totally alone.

I hope to never see that formation again. They weren't even defending well with it.

I know what it takes to play 3-5-2 and the way Argentina play on the break offensive full backs are not vital. Look at Netherlands their full backs barely got over the half way line in a 3-5-2 and beat Spain 5-1.

Could have sworn you tried to tell me before that those two are full backs that get forward a lot anyway???

Keep repeating they were wrong to play 3-5-2 tonight...... I agree I have said that all the way through BUT they do have the players to play it.

 

[footyfan]

A brilliant goal, but a standard Messi goal. Sometimes I get frustrated, because he's too predictable with his passes and moves. He's just faster than everybody else and that's what is making it all work but I think a better defensive team will snuff him out.

Also, rumours intensifying that Barca are moving for Higuain...would be brilliant. I have been asking for it for a year now.

 

[Sumlit]

I know what it takes to play 3-5-2 and the way Argentina play on the break offensive full backs are not vital. Look at Netherlands their full backs barely got over the half way line in a 3-5-2 and beat Spain 5-1.

Could have sworn you tried to tell me before that those two are full backs that get forward a lot anyway???

Keep repeating they were wrong to play 3-5-2 tonight...... I agree I have said that all the way through BUT they do have the players to play it.

They can go forward, as fullbacks, not as wingbacks. They are not offensive enough, nor do they have the necessary skills to be wingbacks. Argentina do not have the players to play 3-5-2. That first half is all the evidence I need. That was disastrous.

They weren't even defending better with that defensive formation. Total formation failure.

 

[CatalinR10]

Awww yyyiiisssss

 

[Flavia]

Ronaldo has 15 goals overall and 8 at one WC (2002).

Offtopic, but he is a commentator here during the wc. He's afraid Klose will break his record

 

[dakt]

A brilliant goal, but a standard Messi goal. Sometimes I get frustrated, because he's too predictable with his passes and moves. He's just faster than everybody else and that's what is making it all work but I think a better defensive team will snuff him out.

Also, rumours intensifying that Barca are moving for Higuain...would be brilliant. I have been asking for it for a year now.

Messi might be predictable _sometimes_, but is still hard to stop. And this kind of run is unstoppable for ANY defense.

 

[JamDav1982]

They can go forward, as fullbacks, not as wingbacks. They are not offensive enough, nor do they have the necessary skills to be wingbacks. Argentina do not have the players to play 3-5-2. That first half is all the evidence I need. That was disastrous.

They weren't even defending better with that defensive formation. Total formation failure.

Jeepers THEY PLAYED THE WRONG PLAYERS in first half.

I am saying they CAN play it if they play the right players and the first half tonight doesnt prove that wrong.

You dont need flying wing backs to play 3-5-2 if you play on counter - as I said look at the Dutch two days ago.

 

[Yannick03]

The first half was the worst performance of him I have ever seen. But then he scores he a goal like that, no one is capable of imitating that. It was a vintage Messi goal, even when he's absolutely abysmal, he does things no others can even dream of.

 

[Alarcón]

Offtopic, but he is a commentator here during the wc. He's afraid Klose will break his record

lol yeah I've seen him make some comments about that, I hope he gets to keep it

 

[footyfan]

Something I've always wondered...how the fuck does he know where the goal is. He literally only looks up the first time he received the ball

 

[beautifulgame]

Que golazo

 

[BarcaGirl]

Even Jesus is rooting for Argentina

 

[Sumlit]

Jeepers THEY PLAYED THE WRONG PLAYERS in first half.

I am saying they CAN play it if they play the right players and the first half tonight doesnt prove that wrong.

You dont need flying wing backs to play 3-5-2 if you play on counter - as I said look at the Dutch two days ago.

They played the wrong players because they don't have the players to play that formation. Even with Gago and Higuain they still would never play that formation.

Which players, pray tell, can they put so that formation is played with the right players?

They had most of the ball too, they couldn't even play the counter in the first half out of this formation. They just were unable to do anything at all.