10 - Lionel Messi - v3
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BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Exactly. The only time Barça will get that space is leading the game by 2 goals and the other team absolutely needing points. Against APOEL, nothing changed at 1-0 after Pique's goal- they still sat back, hoping to hold the scoreline and grab an equalizer.My hope is this season we will see more early scoring against deep defending- from Rakitic outside shots, set piece headers (Mathieu/Pique/Bartra), and free kicks. This is Barça's best chance at getting the other team to come out and open space.
Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
My hope is this season we will see more early scoring against deep defending- from Rakitic outside shots, set piece headers (Mathieu/Pique/Bartra), and free kicks. This is Barça's best chance at getting the other team to come out and open space.
Is Mathieu good at headers? Pique can hardly be relied upon. We need someone who is more consistent with headers.
Suarez. When he starts playing he will add a different dimension to our attack.
Mitchell1978
Senior Member
My hope is this season we will see more early scoring against deep defending- from Rakitic outside shots, set piece headers (Mathieu/Pique/Bartra), and free kicks. This is Barça's best chance at getting the other team to come out and open space.
true, so far we haven't scored early though
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Yup, forgot that. Suarez can create a variety of goals out of nothing. Definitely the man you want up front trying to make something happen with scraps inside a bus.
Mathieu is good for a few headers each season. And Pique's the other day was not just being in the right place- he fought hard to win that position, definitely more Puyol-like. So perhaps Lucho is getting the team to commit more during set pieces.
Kerrybai
New member
He was fired up vs Apool, just had an off night as you metioned. We shouldn't focuse on hist stats, the important thing here is our 100% record this season. Nothing else matters.
Richard.H
Senior Member
I feel like Messi is entering the 2nd phase of his career. The first phase I would consider to be 2007-2013. In this phase, he was all about his insane goal-scoring and the ability to dribble through scores of players. Now it seems like he is changing his playing style just a tad bit. He is looking to be more of a provider and more about efficiency. Remember those insane amount of times he would just refuse to pass the ball to Pedro or Villa (and for a good reason) ?
Now, he has new-found motivation. I expect 2014- until he reaches 32 or so to be another set of magic years. With Suarez and Neymar he knows he has proven goalscorers. I can see him refining his assist abilities even further, with him playing more like an AM just behind Suarez and Neymar. I think he won't score as many goals, but I definitely see him setting insane assist records with Suarez and Neymar in front of him. I think overall, this would certainly set him apart as a GOAT player in many people's eyes (for those who still think Maradona/Pele are better than him).
Now, he has new-found motivation. I expect 2014- until he reaches 32 or so to be another set of magic years. With Suarez and Neymar he knows he has proven goalscorers. I can see him refining his assist abilities even further, with him playing more like an AM just behind Suarez and Neymar. I think he won't score as many goals, but I definitely see him setting insane assist records with Suarez and Neymar in front of him. I think overall, this would certainly set him apart as a GOAT player in many people's eyes (for those who still think Maradona/Pele are better than him).
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Deco 20
Scandinavian 101
I feel like his passing has deteriorated during the last year or so. Last game was perhaps the worst case yet, but there have been many games where he just passes the ball straight to the opponents feet when there's no chance of the ball making it past them. He's also not making as many jaw-dropping passes lately.
Richard.H
Senior Member
I personally think he just had a bad game. The hunger is still there, which is the key ingredient that was missing the past 2 seasons.
Kohe321
New member
Which is funny, because that's the sort of mistakes all other players (including Ronaldo) do frequently.
Messi has so high expectations and is watched so closely every time he has the ball, and 99% of the time he still manages to meet or surpass our expectations, but the flipside is that mistakes stick out like sore thumbs. Think about it, even while having one of his worst off-nights in memory, he still managed to be crucial to our victory, and his stats from the game aren't bad at all.
But that's Messi. We're so lucky to get to watch this man play, let alone having him in our club as a (semi)homegrown talent who himself love Barca deeply. We need to seriously enjoy every match we get to see him don our colors, because it's going to feel really empty when he one day retires.
Luckily that's still a far way off.
Messi has so high expectations and is watched so closely every time he has the ball, and 99% of the time he still manages to meet or surpass our expectations, but the flipside is that mistakes stick out like sore thumbs. Think about it, even while having one of his worst off-nights in memory, he still managed to be crucial to our victory, and his stats from the game aren't bad at all.
But that's Messi. We're so lucky to get to watch this man play, let alone having him in our club as a (semi)homegrown talent who himself love Barca deeply. We need to seriously enjoy every match we get to see him don our colors, because it's going to feel really empty when he one day retires.
Luckily that's still a far way off.
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dakt
New member
These 2 stood out for me.
Must be the worst pass he's ever given and the worst touch he's ever had in his entire Barca career, both in the same game. I'm convinced he was drunk.
In younger days he would:
First gif - score with minimum touch on the ball
Second gif - run all the way to goal and score
But yeah, maybe he really was drunk.
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