10 - Lionel Messi - v5

[RMU ReBorn]

Day after the match i have to say that he had overall performance below his standards, he was getting stuck in midfield instead of switching to wing sometimes when there was more space, rakitic and rafinha couldnt do much there, but this time neymar pulled it off, and barca is going through, lets hope messi turns in the next match, because best history comeback in CL has to be crown with Cl trophy

Are you crazy ? Why should he move to wing when team was playing 3-4-3 with him as a Cam

 

[raskolnikov]

Messi did the right thing to let Neymar take both the freekick and the penalty - he sensed that Neymar was on a mission. Very unselfish and classy behavior, putting team before himself.

I think Neymar took those decisions himself. He stepped up and demanded it.

 

[Potroh]

I think Neymar took those decisions himself. He stepped up and demanded it.

Oh but it doesn't work like that...
Have a close look at Messi's first penalty: the close camera clearly shows that his eyes are continuously on the ball, kicks it and still follows the ball but before that he doesn't look at the goal or the keeper, at all, not for a millisecond, which clearly tells that he wants to score a strong penalty to the direction previously decided.
The keeper went to the right direction and could have saved it weren't it as strong as it was.
Thus for the second one it was a much better solution to allow another player to accomplish, who is known as the opposite type, deciding the possible latest moment where he wants to shoot. There would have been chances that Messi's second penalty wouldn't contain as much "surprise factor" as Neymar's (strange) penalties usually do. Hence it was a logical, you may say good tactical decision.

The FK was also obvious, as Messi already had two of them and from the left angle, Neymar always has more chances curling it with his right foot.
These were wise decisions and not based on "demands" as you felt it.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

84% Passing accuracy yesterday

 

[BusiTheKing]

Honestly quite worried about him. Judging by his celebration after the 6-1, he's clearly still very passionate, but anyone can see that there's something missing. He was marked heavily but didn't do anything about it either. Copa final two years ago he was marked much tighter and he kept running in and out of spaces, dribbling and eventually scored a wondergoal.

 

[KingMessi]

That was his job, to be bait for PSG, so the others would have space to attack.

 

[SocalBarcaFan]

Messi might not give his classic performances as often these days but other teams still obviously fear him which is why he is triple marked at times. That opens up space for others. So even when he doesn't perform quite as well as we're accustomed to the team still performs at high level. Then when he goes into GOAT mode it's over.

 

[evilhita666]

I think it was sort of tactical that he remain in the middle as he took the attention of three to four players and allowed enough space in the flanks to attack... Not concerned one bit, he took (another) one for the team...

 

[doublehh03]

Honestly quite worried about him. Judging by his celebration after the 6-1, he's clearly still very passionate, but anyone can see that there's something missing. He was marked heavily but didn't do anything about it either. Copa final two years ago he was marked much tighter and he kept running in and out of spaces, dribbling and eventually scored a wondergoal.

That was a tactical move by Emery. You can see PSG compacted the middle of the field (which was where Messi usually is - I don't know if that was his decision or Enrique's) but Emery was basically putting 3-4 players on Messi and leaving the flanks open (so the right and left sides were free to receive the ball). Neymar was man covered until he receives the ball and PSG more often than not would send another defender. But Emery's game plan was to make it hard for Messi to even receive the ball, let alone have him do anything with it.

And PSG stuck with that philosophy and dared others to beat them. It worked this time, but you can see it took a miracle.

This is one of Messi's best years of his career so I don't know what you are worried about. He's still scoring at a goal per game without taking all the PKs or FKs and playing depper than ever before. And his assists number is misleading b/c others aren't converting at their normal rate.

With ARG, he had to do that. He was their only creator. Neymar is another creator on Barca. Why force the issue if Neymar was able to step up like last night? He can be the bait and let Neymar roam.

 

[doublehh03]

Messi might not give his classic performances as often these days but other teams still obviously fear him which is why he is triple marked at times. That opens up space for others. So even when he doesn't perform quite as well as we're accustomed to the team still performs at high level. Then when he goes into GOAT mode it's over.

This season is one of his best overall seasons. The team has depended on him this season like never before.

 

[snowy]

...

With ARG, he had to do that. He was their only creator. Neymar is another creator on Barca. Why force the issue if Neymar was able to step up like last night? He can be the bait and let Neymar roam.

Exactly. With Messi as bait, it's as if PSG was playing with a 3-4 players deficit - so much free space for Barca to exploit. Headlines & posts saying Leo had a bad game are frankly retarded. It's the same point potroh was raising a few weeks back about ney's naysayers (see what I did ). Scores & assists are easy to praise as they're quantifiable but there's so much more to the game.

 

[doublehh03]

Exactly. With Messi as bait, it's as if PSG was playing with a 3-4 players deficit - so much free space for Barca to exploit. Headlines & posts saying Leo had a bad game are frankly retarded. It's the same point potroh was raising a few weeks back about ney's naysayers (see what I did ). Scores & assists are easy to praise as they're quantifiable but there's so much more to the game.

There are a few pics roaming on twitter just showing how PSG just pretty much blanketed Messi with 4 players and the flanks are just wide open space for either Neymar or Roberto to exploit it.

Obviously this tactic won't work b/c Roberto hasn't shown he can do much on the right flank and Neymar won't finish as well as he did in this game, but it worked yesterday.

But Enrique has to figure out away to break Messi away from this "jail island" b/c he's our best player and we need to be able to let him touch the ball way more than he did. We need to be better than we were in the last game in order o win the treble that's for sure.

 

[snowy]

Hard to get the ball to him when he's surrounded even when off-ball. If his teammates can exploit the free spaces effectively, that would force the opposition to cover them.

Good thing with the new 3 4 3 is that Leo will be able to stay closer to the goal. Fouls and cynical challenges would translate into FK/penalty chances as opposed to only game pause or yellow cards if getting fouled mid-pitch.

With Ney on the pitch as well, refs patience might wear thin whistling like a canary and defenders will be forced to use more caution. About jail island, there's a vid a few pages back that shows Leo's M.O. is to intentionally let the walls close in on him. He likes to do it when he's got the ball to create space for his teammates. If he's got open space, he'll just keep the ball and dribble forward till the flock draws near.

 

[Yashar1899]

Just like playing with Juventus!

 

[Vlom]

Rewatching the game, the replays, pics of him surrounded at all times and especially the last seconds before whistle where he pressed like he was possessed, then the way he celebrated and cried .. there's NO WAY he didn't care for this game and this win.. if you add to that that Neymar Iniesta and Rafinha always received balls very easily ... you start thinking, may be, just may be, Messi is the most intelligent player to ever live