10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[King Leo]

This is Buenos Aires, right?

I hope they give Messi, Masch and the rest of the Argentinian squad a warm reception to cheer them up. They deserve it. There is no shame in finishing 2nd.

#GraciasArgentina

 

[darthvader7888]

If whatever's wrong with Messi (as Flavia said, there's something wrong) is fixed and he can get back on an upward trend, then I'm not sure we've seen the last of Messi's best.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Leo the saddest man in the world... It must be such a huge blow for him.

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/7/13/5896383/lionel-messi-sad-world-cup-golden-ball-video

 

[Kohe321]

If whatever's wrong with Messi (as Flavia said, there's something wrong) is fixed and he can get back on an upward trend, then I'm not sure we've seen the last of Messi's best.

Yeah, no reason he can't reach the highs he was at before again. And to be fair, he hasn't been bad this WC, nor the last part of the season with Barca, just out of form after nearly a year of injuries. What's "wrong" with him is as simple as being out of form, perhaps more mentally than physically (exhaustion works in many ways). He needs to take a vacation and come back strong to Barcelona where he can have 4 normal years before thinking about another world cup. Messi can be proud of this WC, it wasn't his fault they didn't win, they would never even play a final without him, let alone get out of the groupstage.

 

[darthvader7888]

Yeah, no reason he can't reach the highs he was at before again. And to be fair, he hasn't been bad this WC, nor the last part of the season with Barca, just out of form after nearly a year of injuries. What's "wrong" with him is as simple as being out of form, perhaps more mentally than physically (exhaustion works in many ways). He needs to take a vacation and come back strong to Barcelona where he can have 4 normal years before thinking about another world cup. Messi can be proud of this WC, it wasn't his fault they didn't win, they would never even play a final without him, let alone get out of the groupstage.

Yeah, what's wrong with him could simply be something like him not being fully fit after a year of constant injuries. Not sure how that explains the vomiting, but I'm no expert. Whatever it is, something is wrong and it better be fixed ASAP.

 

[DonAndres]

This could be true. Sure, another explanation would be that, after 5-6 years of top top football, he has lost some of that hunger which made him walk that extra mile. What more is there to win for him with Barca that he hasn't already won?

If the desire to win all the time doesn't come from within the player, it's very hard for a manager to instill it again.

Well in a situation like this, the 'carrot and stick' metaphor often comes to mind. He needs both to function to full capacity as many players do. While I don't doubt he had the motivation to achieve more, he didn't have that authoritative force pushing to get the most out of him.

The thing is it looks like a big concern after this WC loss. This is the one footballing dream that he hadn't tasted yet and now his best chance to achieve it is gone. He's already won everything there is to win and broken most records possible. After his biggest dream is now crushed there's not much for him to look forward to in consolation. Of course he wants to win the CL again and have success but that won't give him the same satisfaction of being World Champion for his country.

This is just one of those things that can put someone in a bad rut. At this point in time footballing wise, he has neither a carrot in front of him nor a stick behind him. For a footballer of his immense caliber and expectation, that's a cancer to his career. He had so much pressure on him for this and the WC seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity compared to an annual CL/liga, but now it's gone. When someone puts something on such a large pedestal for themselves and can't get it, everything else doesn't seem to matter.It makes it increasingly tempting to rest on his laurels and play without the level of ambition that he had before. If Messi didn't have Antonella and Thiago, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he went into a deep depression.

I just pray that going forward he can recover both. Lucho can hopefully be the 'stick' that pushes him to be his best and not slack off. On the other hand, he needs to get over this psychologically by having an internal belief that he needs to lead his club to success once more and that he still does have one shot left in him for Russia in 2018. No one expects that, but he needs to believe it to give himself some drive. The impact of this WC loss on Leo is undoubtedly huge, he needs a lot of support right now to get back from this.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Well in a situation like this, the 'carrot and stick' metaphor often comes to mind. He needs both to function to full capacity as many players do. While I don't doubt he had the motivation to achieve more, he didn't have that authoritative force pushing to get the most out of him.

The thing is it looks like a big concern after this WC loss. This is the one footballing dream that he hadn't tasted yet and now his best chance to achieve it is gone. He's already won everything there is to win and broken most records possible. After his biggest dream is now crushed there's not much for him to look forward to in consolation. Of course he wants to win the CL again and have success but that won't give him the same satisfaction of being World Champion for his country.

This is just one of those things that can put someone in a bad rut. At this point in time footballing wise, he has neither a carrot in front of him nor a stick behind him. For a footballer of his immense caliber and expectation, that's a cancer to his career. He had so much pressure on him for this and the WC seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity compared to an annual CL/liga, but now it's gone. When someone puts something on such a large pedestal for themselves and can't get it, everything else doesn't seem to matter.It makes it increasingly tempting to rest on his laurels and play without the level of ambition that he had before. If Messi didn't have Antonella and Thiago, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he went into a deep depression.

I just pray that going forward he can recover both. Lucho can hopefully be the 'stick' that pushes him to be his best and not slack off. On the other hand, he needs to get over this psychologically by having an internal belief that he needs to lead his club to success once more and that he still does have one shot left in him for Russia in 2018. No one expects that, but he needs to believe it to give himself some drive. The impact of this WC loss on Leo is undoubtedly huge, he needs a lot of support right now to get back from this.

This. I just fear that today's loss will be such a crushing defeat that will suck the energy out of him and completely deflates him.

 

[Devils]

Absolutely gutted for Leo. I wanted him to have it so bad, but in the end it wasn't meant to be.

Still the best ever for me, I refuse to change my views on that.

 

[darthvader7888]

I wouldn't be so sure that 2018 will be his last shot at the world cup. You never know, he might do a Zidane in 2022.

 

[Ursegor]

35 year old Messi under the sun of Qatar. Can't wait.

 

[CatalinR10]

I think that his body is slowly beginning to let him down...

 

[Richard.H]

2018 is his last chance IMO. Argentina FA should do everything to improve the team. Hire Simeone, Get rid of deadweight like Gago, etc. The time is now to improve for the future.

 

[CatalinR10]

I'd rather have a Messi who walks 1km per game than Sanchez who runs 15km only to slip in front of the goalkeeper and pull his shorts up.

 

[King Leo]

Simeone wont do it, Tata can do a good job IMO. Problem is we came into this world cup as the striking force, the Fab4 etc. Higuain's miss today was unacceptable. Aguero sucked. Palacio,.... nevermind.
We missed Di Maria today. Messi could had his chance and waster it. Defense was the only reliable thing and it was made by Sabella. we can build on that

 

[DonAndres]

2018 is his last chance IMO. Argentina FA should do everything to improve the team. Hire Simeone, Get rid of deadweight like Gago, etc. The time is now to improve for the future.

I think it'd be better if they poached Sampaoli from Chile. He is Argentine after all.