10 - Lionel Messi - v4

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Don't forget that with no messi, alves's advantage over roberto of having a tremendous link with messi vanishes too.
At his current form alves is below roberto in the pecking order.

 

[SocalBarcaFan]

Did you guys see the league leaders stats posted in the Sergi Roberto thread by Konan? Two things stood out to me.... 1. Neymar is the best player in La Liga this year. 2. Messi is tied with Neymar with most successful dribbles at 39. Next closest is 26. So even with all the time messi has been out for he is still on top of the league leaders list. Incredible.

 

[silvia]

Alves is 32 years old.
That is not right for speedy wingback.

 

[Alik]

It will be weird to see a classico without Messi

 

[dakt]

We don't need half baked Leo for clasico. We need:
a) good defence (still very shaky)
b) good midfield (thank you S.Roberto, big expectations from Iniesta)
c) attack is already getting up in form and will get better if Ney continues to play smart

 

[God Serena]

What's the worst that can happen ? It's only 3 points, I'd trust Roberto to give his best rather than day-dreaming-no-fucks-given Alves of the moment.

But I too think a 4-4-2 would be the best if Messi can't make it, rather have a strong midfield, sandro/munir don't bring much up front to be worth the sacrifice in midfield.

A game against Real Madrid is not 3 points, it is 6.

 

[Vlom]

A game against Real Madrid is not 3 points, it is 6.

Nah it's not, take away the emotional part of it, which we can agree we will absolutely not care about or even remember if we win LaLiga later on, it's just 3 points.

Worst case, control the loss to 1-0 or 2-1, and we destroy them at the Camp Nou later with Messi, Arda, Vermaelen and everyone fit and in the final loop, if the 1-to-1 score is what you're referring to as 6 virtual points.

 

[Kuchi]

Any news on his recovery? Was he supposed to undergo some intermediary tests?

 

[Egert]

Any news on his recovery? Was he supposed to undergo some intermediary tests?

He will undergo those tests today and tomorrow. Expect some news latest on Thursday

 

[Horatio]

He will undergo those tests today and tomorrow. Expect some news latest on Thursday

I don't think he will be ready in time. I base this off of the fact that his Instagram has seen a decrease in activity. He is not as happy as he was earlier in his recovery possibly signifying that it will take a bit longer than he'd like to. #Sherlockmode

On the other hand I could be talking crap, but unfortunately/fortunately that doesn't happen often.

 

[raskolnikov]

Even if he does make it what is the point of having half fit Messi play those thugs out to injure him?

The objective in the grand scheme of things is to stay close to Madrid come january, then our schedule gets easier, we get players back and get a winning streak going to end up topping them like last year.
With that in mind, rest Messi, get the defence in check and take a draw from Bernabeu, just beat them at home in april to take the h2h result and perhaps take a clear lead by then.

 

[Topolino]

He could get 30min just for fitness but I wouldn't hope for more.

 

[Jaguar]

Luis Enrique: "Recovery Messi going slower, could miss clasico? Don't know about that, recovery is going as planned." #fcblive

Told you we shouldn't jump to conclusions, yet.

 

[Horatio]

Luis Enrique: "Recovery Messi going slower, could miss clasico? Don't know about that, recovery is going as planned." #fcblive

Told you we shouldn't jump to conclusions, yet.

Called that shit.

 

[Jaguar]

Called that shit.

You said his instagram signified that his recovery was going slower