In light of what we can do, we were poor against Arsenal and extremely poor against Atleti. We would've lost to Bayern too in that condition, I can guarantee that. Leo's motivational drops this season were frustrating as hell. Of course you can't blame him directly, but I think we all know, that If he had played his best we would have beat Atleti comfortably. I don't think that Leo realizes how much other players take their que from him when he's on the field. It's not like the team is lazy but they lack a certain believe. When he walks around, we play with anxiety. We look to him and think that if he isn't trying then what's the point. We avoid responsblity. That's when players stop making runs, Alves begins to cross it into no-mans-land, Neymar to think the only hope is for him to dribble past five players and Rakitic to take a shot (sorry but his long shots are not very good atm). The only ones who are worth a damn in these situations are Suarez because he never quits and Iniesta because he's smart enough to see what's going on and to some extent Busi if he finds Messi with a pass through the opponents midfield line. When Leo really plays, everyone believes, which takes the game to another level. When Leo is out injured, we definitely lack brilliance, but the team still believes. You don't need Messis brilliance to beat the best, but everyone has got to believe. Don't know where this puts us, but somewhere around Messi's unmotivated performances is a line that says we're a stronger team without him on the field and it might be higher than higher than we think. We look at him in his worst days and think that no matter what he can still produce something outta nowhere and that he's better than Munir anyhow, but we need to acknowledge these dynamic effects on the team his mentality drops have. He leaves a mark on every player that plays with him because he's so damn good.