10 - Lionel Messi - v5

[MagIX]

I agree Bojan.
We have to definitely understand a think: the soccer is evolving, like everything in life. If you stand still, you lost.
There are new prototypes of midfielders: nowadays the midfielder must have very good feets AND must be a fighter, fast and very good at defending.
Nowadys all the 11 players must run, fight, bleed, no exeptions.
Nowadys all the 11 players have to run "twice" than few years ago.

 

[blastandburn]

Thanks, mate. Used it on a chat with my wife. She was clueless as to who it is.

Messi can't be replaced.

Agreed. Honestly, a lot of things are wrong with the team but Messi is not one of them.

 

[FlaFCB]

Nobody is saying that he is to blame for our gameplay deterioration, this is not the point.
He lost the ball in a very dengerous position (he did not learn from Chelsea match?), it is too much to ask to try to recover the ball ? to fight for recovering the ball, because he want to win, because he gives his soul and his blood for the team, becuase he owns 20 millions annualy ? it is the attitide, as the world press is saying. As said, no problem if you fail, if you try and fail, if you miss a penalty, if you have a bad day you try anyway to help your team which is fighting and suffering.
Same happened with Naymar.... yes, but look at the video... Iniesta runs as if he were taking a walk in a park... what is this shit ?? please run not walk, try to catch him, try to tackle !!
With Simeone as coach, there would be punishment for these players.

You're joking, right? Messi is always swarmed by players. When he has no one to link up with, he tries to dribble. When it works, he usually creates a goal scoring opportunity. Other times he loses the ball. You really can't ask him to do everything. He always plays with risk. And he is one of the players playing non stop, almost no rest lately. You really can't expect him to run up and down all matches. Unless you want him to get injured.

Also, Simeone's atletico are having an even worse season than Barça.

 

[opjeoff]

Messi has been our team the past 10 years, no one is arguing that. But when he does make a mistake in a match and cost us a crucial goal and doesnt even chase back, then he is completely at fault for that goal. Just because hes integral to our team doesnt mean we cant criticize him also. We are here defending him when we are bashing other players. This isnt about the past 10 years, its about how utterly non-existent he was during our last game. He, along with the manager and the rest of the players deserve the blame, dont just cover up his mistakes because hes Messi. It seems we're never on Messi's back when he plays like this, we just dismiss it as 'we need him' and 'it would be worse without him'.

 

[FlaFCB]

Messi has been our team the past 10 years, no one is arguing that. But when he does make a mistake in a match and cost us a crucial goal and doesnt even chase back, then he is completely at fault for that goal. Just because hes integral to our team doesnt mean we cant criticize him also. We are here defending him when we are bashing other players. This isnt about the past 10 years, its about how utterly non-existent he was during our last game. He, along with the manager and the rest of the players deserve the blame, dont just cover up his mistakes because hes Messi. It seems we're never on Messi's back when he plays like this, we just dismiss it as 'we need him' and 'it would be worse without him'.

He could run as much as you'd want, that goal would still happen. Because there was no cover from the midfield. If Messi tracks back everytime he loses a ball, he'd be tired or injured half a season.

 

[Altomonte]

Messi is the world's best player but I think he has one weakness: he is not good at playing well on short rest. Look at his 'bad' performances and you will see a pattern: Whenever Messi has only 2 days rest after a game (or has just returned from a long trip with jet lag) he won't perform at his usual high level. The Coach needs to recognize this weakness and respect it.
Given Messi's importance for the team, Luis Enrique should have planned for this.
It's not so difficult to see: it happened during all those Copa / WC finals, and it happened last year when we played Real Madrid after the international break.
There should be a Messi rule: Give him 4 days rest before an important game and he will give you a top performance.

 

[opjeoff]

He could run as much as you'd want, that goal would still happen. Because there was no cover from the midfield. If Messi tracks back everytime he loses a ball, he'd be tired or injured half a season.

What?! I agree that there was no cover in the midfield, but Messi losing the ball in that position is completely unacceptable. You'd rather he not track back because he might get tired? or injured? Are you defending him not tracking back to cover his own mistake? Messi is amazing and even when he does lose the ball, he tracks ball to get it back in almost all cases. This time he didnt and he should receive blame for the mistake.

 

[FlaFCB]

What?! I agree that there was no cover in the midfield, but Messi losing the ball in that position is completely unacceptable. You'd rather he not track back because he might get tired? or injured? Are you defending him not tracking back to cover his own mistake? Messi is amazing and even when he does lose the ball, he tracks ball to get it back in almost all cases. This time he didnt and he should receive blame for the mistake.

Messi has always played like this. He does not track back most times he loses it, don't know which Messi you're talking about here. He rarely does it.

 

[MagIX]

No, it is my opinion. Do you have a problem with that ?
Did I say that he has run up and down the whole match ? no. Did I say that he have to do everything ? No.
I have already written what I think, no needd for further explanations
Sorry if I allowed myself to criticize your god, but for me, if necessary, I criticize him without any problem.

btw, yes, atm are having an even worse season than barca, bat atm is not barca in term of budget, players, history. For a club like atm it is simply fantastic
what they archived in the past few years.

 

[Altomonte]

One more thing: Messi needs players covering for him behind. Dani Alves and Rakitic have played this role perfectly 2 years ago. If Rakitic had played yesterday, he probably had cleaned up Messi's mistake that led to the second goal.

 

[Ghostmaster]

One more thing: Messi needs players covering for him behind. Dani Alves and Rakitic have played this role perfectly 2 years ago. If Rakitic had played yesterday, he probably had cleaned up Messi's mistake that led to the second goal.

Exactly, he hasn't been defending for years and now suddenly it's his job and a huge problem, c'mon now.

 

[likeafire]

5th ballon dor incoming for Ronaldo. Oh well. I thought after seeing Ronaldo being so arrogant winning his 4th it would've motivated Messi but nope. 5-5 all now. Onto next year and next season.

 

[FlaFCB]

No, it is my opinion. Do you have a problem with that ?
Did I say that he has run up and down the whole match ? no. Did I say that he have to do everything ? No.
I have already written what I think, no needd for further explanations
Sorry if I allowed myself to criticize your god, but for me, if necessary, I criticize him without any problem.

btw, yes, atm are having an even worse season than barca, bat atm is not barca in term of budget, players, history. For a club like atm it is simply fantastic
what they archived in the past few years.

Yes, I do have a problem with that

I think you didn't get what I said. I have nothing against him being criticized, I do that too. But Messi loses the ball in dangerous positions a lot, because he plays with risk. Dribbling is a risk. He'll always need cover, and bitching about his lack of running is something strange to me, because he plays like that since he was 20. The problem yesterday was the whole team and lack of tactics. This supposedly "attitude" problem is a myth. People questioning Messi, Iniesta, Busquets or Pique is really strange, these guys gave it all on the pitch multiple times. This was coming for a long time, the lack of tactics make the players confused and unable to do anything when they face an organized and well put team. This already happened vs Bilbao and atletico recently. In other games too, but in those Messi bailed us out.

 

[mark1nhu]

Messi lost the ball for the second goal, but there was no midfield behind him for cover... the psg player had a clear lane until our goal. He was frustrated, and he usually plays badly like that.

Although I agree on the lack of midfielders behind him and also on how poor our midfield currently is, he had some pass options but decided to dribble opponents in a dangerous position.

He was frustrated and he took the wrong decision, leading to a goal. No excuses for that.

 

[FlaFCB]

Although I agree on the lack of midfielders behind him and also on how poor our midfield currently is, he had some pass options but decided to dribble opponents in a dangerous position.

He was frustrated and he took the wrong decision, leading to a goal. No excuses for that.

It led to a goal because there was no cover. Same happened with Neymar. They are forwards, they take risks. What do you want, for them to pass the ball backwards everytime? And it will keep happening, as long as we play without a midfield.