10 - Lionel Messi - v5

[RevoTeller]

Of course Messi is still our best player by miles and has bailed us out repeatedly this season but that's mostly due to his sheer individual skill that he can display at any given second. He is my favourite player too, but you've got to hand out critism when it's due. The truth is he does not put in that many complete performances anymore. Most matches he shows up for 10-20 minutes and that's usually good enough to win considering how good he is.

Something happened to him after he picked up the injury vs Las Palmas in fall 2015. After he recovered from that he moved back to the middle of the pitch and has never been the same. Of course he is still the best player in the world as I've said repeatedly and I'm not trying to take anything away from him or his abilities, it's just that somethings off with him. Whether that's fitness related or mentail remains to be seen.

Completely agree.

 

[Neymessi]

He was having stomach problems back then, guess you forgot. He'd vomit during almost every match. He fixed that with his dietician from Italy. Messi is getting older. Stamina was never his forte, he needs to take care of that now too.

Messi walks since forever. people only care when Barça lose, though. When he bail us out, nobody cares.

The amount of vultures that show up in this thread after a bad game is ridiculous. Just look how many goals he already has in 2017.

woah woah I am not saying he should be hardly criticised. But he has this tendency of getting really lazy in matches and the reason for that doesn't necesarrily have to be medical. He had a long history of vomiting not just at that time and he didn't seem to have any stomach problems as soon as world cup started because he used to run like normal.

Just saying that it is part of his character. And its normal. Not everyone is like cr7 or suarez in hard work.

 

[BusiTheKing]

I never said you did. I agreed with you lol.

Just pointed out how your point was valid among all the other crap some people spew around here.

Oh okay, sorry then haha

 

[Luftstalag14]

What? Bad performance and bad mentality is not the same. It's possible to fight and still play badly just as it is possible to stroll nonchalantly around for 90 mins and picking out passes we don't even see from the TV. Messi has been our most important player this season, but he's been very fucking far from what he could be. Even his best games (Celtic, Sevilla, Espanyol, Celta) were miles below his 14/15 counterparts.

Because he is getting older and past his peak? I mean criticize his performance and more important;y his lack of effort all we want, but I don't think it is fair to compare his performance nowadays against his past performance when he was younger.

It is very possible that Messi peaked early and is going downhill faster than certain other players, despite still being the best player in the world overall today. With his relatively-weak physicality it will not be surprising that he will have a faster and steeper way down. But that is outside of his control and people can't criticize him for it.

 

[Pedro]

Wasn't expecting a loss to relegation candidates after the heights of Midweek and such a poor performance from Leo...

 

[BusiTheKing]

Because he is getting older and past his peak? I mean criticize his performance and more important his lack of effort all we want, but I don't think it is fair to compare his performance nowadays against his past performance when he was younger.

It is very possible that Messi peaked early and is going downhill faster than certain other players, despite still being the best player in the world overall today. With his relatively-weak physicality it will not be surprising that he will have a faster and steeper way down. But that is outside of his control and people can't criticize him for it.

That's a fair point, but the thing convincing me of otherwise is the fact that showed the same tendency around 13/14. So what changed? It certainly wasn't physical when he was able to raise his workrate to what he did in 14/15. And another thing is that his drop off this season has been way to steep to suggest a physicality issue, IMO. His physique will gradually decrease. Not all of a sudden drop to the workrate of my sunday league mates on a hangover. And if it's a rest issue that's just culminating in these weeks, then of course he would be rested.

 

[FlaFCB]

woah woah I am not saying he should be hardly criticised. But he has this tendency of getting really lazy in matches and the reason for that doesn't necesarrily have to be medical. He had a long history of vomiting not just at that time and he didn't seem to have any stomach problems as soon as world cup started because he used to run like normal.

Just saying that it is part of his character. And its normal. Not everyone is like cr7 or suarez in hard work.

cr? Hard work? You're joking, right?

 

[Serbian]

He scored 6 penalties total out of 39 goals so ur just flat out wrong

3 penalty in La liga comp, and how many free kick goals in la liga? im talking about La liga play

 

[Luftstalag14]

That's a fair point, but the thing convincing me of otherwise is the fact that showed the same tendency around 13/14. So what changed? It certainly wasn't physical when he was able to raise his workrate to what he did in 14/15. And another thing is that his drop off this season has been way to steep to suggest a physicality issue, IMO. His physique will gradually decrease. Not all of a sudden drop to the workrate of my sunday league mates on a hangover. And if it's a rest issue that's just culminating in these weeks, then of course he would be rested.

Yes it could be attributed to what I called that mental pendulum of his. But the point is we fans need to be expecting that his game will decline even more with time goes on, because of physicality alone.

We laugh at Ronaldo's production today at 32, Messi might be even worse when he is 32. It is possible.

 

[FlaFCB]

Yes it could be attributed to what I called that mental pendulum of his. But the point is we fans need to be expecting that his game will decline even more with time goes on, because of physicality alone.

We laugh at Ronaldo's production today at 32, Messi might be even worse when he is 32. It is possible.

Messi's game never relied on physicality, so how is it possible?

The other day Messi dribbled a guy from the midfield, made a run and scored a great goal. So much overreactions here. As always. It's the same everytime he has bad games.

 

[Asylum15]

Like others have said, I understand a game where he gives it away, or his little 1, 2s don't come off but it's what he does AFTER those scenarios is what's infuriating.

Leo repeatedly (not just in this game) just stops even when the ball winner on the opposition team is standing 2 yards from him, and puts his head down or does that screw face emotion.

That, drives me nuts.

 

[Luftstalag14]

cr? Hard work? You're joking, right?

It could very much be due to his narcissism and his desire of wanting to be the best in the world, whatever it is driving him, Ronaldo is more hard working, yes.

Talent wise he is worse than Messi of course but effort wise he is generally above Messi. He can be ridiculed for some many things and rightfully so but I don't think we can deny that he almost always tries his best.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Messi's game never relied on physicality, so how is it possible?

The other day Messi dribbled a guy from the midfield, made a run and scored a great goal. So much overreactions here. As always. It's the same everytime he has bad games.

If he doesn't have the physicality/fitness to support him, how does he dribble past players? That requires a lot of gas in the tank.

And I am NOT talking about today, I am talking about several years later.

 

[Total-Football]

In comparaison to messi yes .. By universal standards no way in hell .. Ronaldo is also kinda lazy. And he's not the best in the world and stopped being a candidate in 2015 IMO.

 

[Raketa10]

What we definitely need next summer is world class RB who will be abble to cover Messi back so we can go back to 4-3-3. This is our main problem this season.