10 - Lionel Messi - v4

[Morten]

No team is perfect, and Argentina is somewhat boring to watch and not really memorable at all, but how did they get to two finals in a year if they are so terrible?

 

[TornAndFrayed]

messi was more decisive than aguero, di maria and higuain combined throughout the tournament
@up because messi and mascherano did nearly everything for argentina in the WC. Sabella was a smarter coach than Tata though.

 

[footyfan]

No team is perfect, and Argentina is somewhat boring to watch and not really memorable at all, but how did they get to two finals in a year if they are so terrible?

They got lucky. Their World Cup route was the easiest of any team, and in their first real test they were lucky to win in a penalty shootout vs the Dutch. In the Copa America, again a penalty shootout against the only quality team they faced (Colombia) until they completely shit their pants against Chile.

They have massively over-performed based on the level of team play they possess, but based on individual players they are about what you should expect from such a group.

 

[Icarium]

Not really. I changed my opinion on the GOAT from messi to maradona. The backtrack after that was obvious sarcasm and a response to the wrath of the forum.

All because of one match? Or you just suddenly went back in time and watched every maradona match? At least stick with this opinion. Don't become a flip flopper.

Honestly though it is hard to take any barca fan serious who suggests maradona is better than messi without watching both of them.

 

[Morten]

They got lucky. Their World Cup route was the easiest of any team, and in their first real test they were lucky to win in a penalty shootout vs the Dutch. In the Copa America, again a penalty shootout against the only quality team they faced (Colombia) until they completely shit their pants against Chile.

They have massively over-performed based on the level of team play they possess, but based on individual players they are about what you should expect from such a group.

A good deal of luck ofc, but they are not easy to beat even if the play somewhat awful. Germany needed extra time, they shut down Holland, Colombia and Chile to penalties.They rarely concede goals. I think they defend rather well, even if they dont have the greatest players in defence on paper, while they have great player on paper in attack, but is quite boring going forward. Its strange.

 

[ThwiX]

No. Flat out disagree to the 100th degree. I would say this about some matches in 13/14 where Messi himself clearly underwhelmed (CL quarters, CDR final, home Clasico) but not about today. Today he was completely failed by his team.

There is something dead wrong when Argentina players look to pass the ball more to fucking Rojo than to Messi. There is something even more dead wrong when Argentina players are looking to lob the ball to Chile defenders more than Messi (under little pressure as well). There's something wrong when players are incapable of completing more than 3 passes in a sequence to get the ball into good forward positions or Romero decides to chill for about 45 seconds so that Chile can regroup and reshape themselves defensively before he punts/passes/throws the ball. Despite all that he managed some great dribbles and created some clear chances.

Messi had 0 platform to perform well today. Those spells where he didn't touch the ball in the 2nd half (each about 10-15 mins at a time) were spells where Argentina were completely pinned back and decided to hand the ball continuously to Rojo for a solution if not clearing it blindly. It was utterly shocking how little service he got even though he was playing as a goddamn midfielder (fairly sure he got around 1 to 2 touches in the box at most in the entire fucking 120 minutes of play).

Great post as usual, Don.

 

[Hamzah]

A good deal of luck ofc, but they are not easy to beat even if the play somewhat awful. Germany needed extra time, they shut down Holland, Colombia and Chile to penalties.They rarely concede goals. I think they defend rather well, even if they dont have the greatest players in defence on paper, while they have great player on paper in attack, but is quite boring going forward. Its strange.

They defend quite well. Also biglia and masch may lack in build up and creativity but really reinforce that back four. Hard to break down.

I think Simeone would do well with this team.

 

[alittlebitter]

on facebook:

No hay nada más doloroso en el fútbol que perder una final, pero no quiero que pase más tiempo sin darles las gracias a todos los que nos apoyaron siempre y nos siguieron bancando en los momentos difíciles.

There's nothing more painful in football than losing a final. But I don't want to leave it any longer to say thank you to everyone who has always supported us and continued to during the tough moments.

- LIO

lol @ "support us during tough moments". leo's pr team is clearly seeing a different argentine fanbase than the rest of us.

 

[CesDel]

It's not like Maradona always played great. He was criticized for his form in the NT until the WC 86. Before that, Maradona got the same criticism that Messi is getting. The biggesst difference though, is that Maradona had teammates who could take their chances. For example, look at the WC final 86. Maradona was invisible in that game until that assist to Burruchaga. Imagine if Higuain would have scored those chances at the WC final and the Copa America final, while Burruchaga would have missed. Maradona right now would have been called a NT flop, while no one would criticize Messi now for his form in the NT..

 

[Luftstalag14]

Again, luck plays a HUGE factor. Had Messi himself, Palacio and Higuian materialize on any of those chances in the WC final, people wouldn't be having this kind of discussion today.

But again, the notion that NT trophies matter far more than club trophies itself is quite retarded in my opinion.

 

[Flavia]

A good deal of luck ofc, but they are not easy to beat even if the play somewhat awful. Germany needed extra time, they shut down Holland, Colombia and Chile to penalties.They rarely concede goals. I think they defend rather well, even if they dont have the greatest players in defence on paper, while they have great player on paper in attack, but is quite boring going forward. Its strange.

They were lucky vs chile. The chileans couldn't finish properly in the final, or the game could have been over sooner. Sampaoli completely owned Tata.

 

[Morten]

They were lucky vs chile. The chileans couldn't finish properly in the final, or the game could have been over sooner. Sampaoli completely owned Tata.

Yeah, but looking back, over the two tournaments, Argentine has proven very hard to beat, rarely conceding goals, even though they have played rather dull and fustrating. Its not a terrible team, as many seems to think.

 

[frog-fcb]

Quit arguing over this little maestro just enjoy him while he is around . He might be the best ever but there is only so much he can do himself. At times we expect way to much from due to the levels he has managed at times

 

[Flavia]

Yeah, but looking back, over the two tournaments, Argentine has proven very hard to beat, rarely conceding goals, even though they have played rather dull and fustrating. Its not a terrible team, as many seems to think.

They were better under Sabella. During the wc qualifiers, they were a joy to watch. Unfortunetely during the wc many players were out of form/injured, and di maria got injured. After Tata took over, Argentina regressed a lot.
AFA chose the worst possible name to be the coach.

 

[Stric]

AFA chose the worst possible name to be the coach.

While this may very well be correct, it would also be fair to point out that appointing Tata was perfectly logical, seeing that he just resigned from Barcelona of all clubs.