Alexis Sanchez

[Paganinisrvnge]

If somebody not named Messi doesn't start scoring with some consistency, you can almost bet money that someone like Dortmund or Juventus who have world class defenders will knock us out by just triple marking Messi and taking their chances with the rest of the forwards.

 

[GiantKiller]

Yep, triple marking is the way to go. We do have Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc in the middle.... Ah, who am I kidding?

 

[oz187]

One thing I seemed to notice was that Alexis made a lot more attempts to take on his man. He failed most of the time be he did try where as in many previous games he would just play the simple pass back.

 

[evilhita666]

Ibra and Villa still scored 20+ goals a season in that secondary role. Hell, any top rate forward in this system in the world would be in the same position including CR, so I'm not saying let's go get X or Y forward. Atleast yet. Thing is, that Ibra and Villa are dangerous and demand attention from defenders while Alexis and Pedro have not been dangerous or shown at the very least some consistency far too long. Too long for forwards in a caliber team as this Barcelona.

Give Alexis a light shove and he falls over, is that what we are considering acceptable right now?! Let Pedro go scoreless for half a season while players like Villa are reduced to the bench? Or f*ck it even Tello with his one-trick has looked lethal than them (and I have about had it with him too).

I love our position in La Liga, but realistically it hasn't been that hard with possibly the greatest player of all time leading us with freakish goals and runs for half a season.

But in CL, things could and have changed for the worse because while Messi is the best, he can still be made to look human by certain disciplined defenses who exploit our current lack of goal scoring prowess aside from the goat.

In summary, last season's coined "Messi Dependencia" has not gone away. That is the scary part of it all. Nothing has changed.

Lack of scoring prowess? So far, we have our best scoring record! I know it's mainly due to Messi being a freak of nature and the unexpected contribution from our wing backs and midfield, however I don't understand the reason for all the doom and gloom... I understand that we all expect more from Alexis, Pedro and Villa in the scoring department, and I also understand the worry of having "Messidependencia", but I don't get the need to sound the alarms like we are going nowhere fast, the overall performance of the team has been acceptable to say the least and our chances to win silverware are still intact, not saying everything is perfect but going to the other extreme is not right either...

And please get over the Chelsea games, shit happens sometimes and we have to deal with it, I know we have the biggest potential in football but that doesn't mean that everything will go our way every single time, if we expect to steamroll every single team and win every single trophy just because we are better on paper, we are in for a rude awakening...

 

[alex88bg]

I am new to the forum, but this is the best post I have seen as of yet.

:beer2:

+1

Yes but messi dependancy will stay for a long time to come...The thing that makes me happy is adriano ,alba and cesc are fantastic.They open up a lot of space for Iniesta when messi is heavily marked with thier runs
and passes.Pedro does the work on the field with only lack of goals and i am sure Villa will be much better scoring in the second half of the season.I watched almost all games last season,and although our Leo dependancy is huge our game looks much more fluid and dangerous when we get rolling almsot like 2 seasons ago + our rotation is much stronger also.I have no worries,if we take knock out stages 100 % every game we will roll everyone out even if we have those chelsea games...I dont know alba has changed this team so much from the team it was when abi got ill....

 

[La Furia]

Lack of scoring prowess? So far, we have our best scoring record! I know it's mainly due to Messi being a freak of nature and the unexpected contribution from our wing backs and midfield, however I don't understand the reason for all the doom and gloom... I understand that we all expect more from Alexis, Pedro and Villa in the scoring department, and I also understand the worry of having "Messidependencia", but I don't get the need to sound the alarms like we are going nowhere fast, the overall performance of the team has been acceptable to say the least and our chances to win silverware are still intact, not saying everything is perfect but going to the other extreme is not right either...

And please get over the Chelsea games, shit happens sometimes and we have to deal with it, I know we have the biggest potential in football but that doesn't mean that everything will go our way every single time, if we expect to steamroll every single team and win every single trophy just because we are better on paper, we are in for a rude awakening...

Well this is the thing; if Messi ever goes down like we all panicked about last week it's one thing, though for all we know Tito has tricks up his sleeves and the small sample size conclusion of no Messi = doom everyone was complaining about after the Benfica match was just an experiment in a meaningless match. But the "Messidependencia" status quo is working, and while it's costing the other forwards a lot of confidence, the midfield seems more than happy with it.

I don't like how Villa and Sanchez are playing relative to how they play internationally and other teams, and even Pedro now is looking far more confident and comfortable on Spain, but at least for those players happy with their roles, there's no reason to panic.

The absurd standards of Barca fans right now is unreal, this fantasy that we can have multiple forwards as dominant as Messi as once is just that. When the team was more equitable a few years ago, Messi wasn't playing at this level. It's like saying Argentina '86 and Napoli were Maradona dependant when both teams were designed to get the most out of the best player in the world...and in those cases the final product wasn't as good as this Barca, because they didn't have Barca's midfield.

 

[GiantKiller]

I know some or even many may not agree to what I think but, in my opinion, if Tito manages to fully integrate Alexis into the side ( How I'd like that to happen ), I wouldn't be so worried with Messi not available for a while as Cesc and Alexis could act as cover. Also, even Villa too in a fluid front three with Cesc in the midfield.

Wishful thinking. *Sigh*

 

[raskolnikov]

I dont think 50+ goals from alexis/pedro/villa combined is asking too much from them, they are certainly capable.
I do wish they would shoot more often.
Its not like Messi scoring a huge amount should limit them getting a goal out of lets say 3 games on average.

 

[La Furia]

I know some or even many may not agree to what I think but, in my opinion, if Tito manages to fully integrate Alexis into the side ( How I'd like that to happen ), I wouldn't be so worried with Messi not available for a while as Cesc and Alexis could act as cover. Also, even Villa too in a fluid front three with Cesc in the midfield.

Wishful thinking. *Sigh*

Alexis is most comfortable in the Messi role and being pushed to the side (along with his injuries) is one reason why he's never been comfortable for very long. I was hoping when we signed Alexis that he'd be used to give Messi a break and to switch off with Messi to split defenses (something Cesc does decently, but Cesc has no pace), but between the sexy one's injuries and Messi taking things to a next level, it hasn't worked out that way.

What I don't understand is all the hate here right now though; earlier in the season when Alexis was terrible it was one thing, but he's been dangerous in the past few games. Yes he's turnover prone (another way he's like Cesc!) and he needs to learn to dive more like Pedro and Iniesta and less like a poor man's Di Maria, but he's actually been dangerous besides his atrocious finishing; why now?

He does need to be locked in a room with a ball and a goal to practice shooting though; he will probably never be a great finisher but even last year his goal pace was better than Pedros ever was.

 

[GiantKiller]

What I don't understand is all the hate here right now though; earlier in the season when Alexis was terrible it was one thing, but he's been dangerous in the past few games. Yes he's turnover prone (another way he's like Cesc!) and he needs to learn to dive more like Pedro and Iniesta and less like a poor man's Di Maria, but he's actually been dangerous besides his atrocious finishing; why now?

He does need to be locked in a room with a ball and a goal to practice shooting though; he will probably never be a great finisher but even last year his goal pace was better than Pedros ever was.

That, and apparently, Alexis is expected to score himself instead of being an increasingly influential presence up front to create chances for others like in the past game, for example.

As for the last part of your post, I recall one of his coaches praising Alexis' ability with right foot to the extent that he had a ' shot capable of changing the game ' ( remember the goal in the Bernabeu, people? ). Seems like he just doesn't use it much these days...

 

[La Furia]

While he was always a bad decision maker when it comes to knowing how to shoot, it's clearly become a mental issue this year. Him and Pedro have both become trigger shy.

 

[Garrus]

For him to score he actually have to be in front of the goal, Which is rarely seen, He's always out on the flank and near the touch line,

 

[Barcaman]

The absurd standards of Barca fans right now is unreal, this fantasy that we can have multiple forwards as dominant as Messi as once is just that. When the team was more equitable a few years ago, Messi wasn't playing at this level. It's like saying Argentina '86 and Napoli were Maradona dependant when both teams were designed to get the most out of the best player in the world...and in those cases the final product wasn't as good as this Barca, because they didn't have Barca's midfield.

Overreacting once again.
Sure there'll be few loons among hundreds. But where did Barca fans demand from other forwards to be as dominant as Messi? Pedro and Alexis scored 3 goals combined this season. I think it's nothing unusual to expect more.

 

[Co0ter]

Well this is the thing; if Messi ever goes down like we all panicked about last week it's one thing, though for all we know Tito has tricks up his sleeves and the small sample size conclusion of no Messi = doom everyone was complaining about after the Benfica match was just an experiment in a meaningless match. But the "Messidependencia" status quo is working, and while it's costing the other forwards a lot of confidence, the midfield seems more than happy with it.

I don't like how Villa and Sanchez are playing relative to how they play internationally and other teams, and even Pedro now is looking far more confident and comfortable on Spain, but at least for those players happy with their roles, there's no reason to panic.

The absurd standards of Barca fans right now is unreal, this fantasy that we can have multiple forwards as dominant as Messi as once is just that. When the team was more equitable a few years ago, Messi wasn't playing at this level. It's like saying Argentina '86 and Napoli were Maradona dependant when both teams were designed to get the most out of the best player in the world...and in those cases the final product wasn't as good as this Barca, because they didn't have Barca's midfield.

Some people have absurd standards for Barce, I agree, but I don't think that should impact our criticism of the current form of our wingers. Pedro had a great game 2 or 3 games ago, but other than a very limited few performances, he has been very lackluster all season. From passing and crossing to taking on his man and FINISHING. Alexis has been even worse, especially with the diving...ugh.

People say "but they are pressuring SO WELL!!!". Pressuring defenders doesn't take immense skill, it's not why you spend 30 odd million on a player. Any winger that has decent speed and is fit can do it, all they need is the will to do it and I don't think there is any shortage of players willing to give that effort in order to play for our current Barca.

For Pedro, I expect much more from him. He's from La Masia and we know he's better than this, imo not so much as an all around player but definately as a finisher. As for Alexis, I don't blame him much. He was NEVER a deadly finisher, so I never expected him to come here and start banging em in....I hoped he would, but never really expected it.

What I'm getting to is that we are indeed Messi dependent, and that isn't a good thing. It's not just because Messi is absolutely amazing and one of a kind, it's because if he isn't doing it....the others aren't. Cesc has contributed some goals and has looked much better in the midfield this season...but the majority of our goals besides Messi has not come from our wingers and thats kind of sad.

 

[Garrus]

The lack of goals for the others strikers is actually simple.
There is a limit on how much goals can be scored in a time inteval of let's say 10 games, It's one of two things, It's either the goals gets distributed near equally between the three forwarders or messi takes the higher proportion with the inevitable result of less goals scored by the other two, But you see messi is by far the most clinical and he's a guaranteed bet, It's not humanly possible for pedro and alexis to score a lot while messi maintains his current rate of goals, Again there is a limit of how much scoring chances can be created in a game.
And by the way, These are professional players, The best in the world, If messi get's injured, They won't go, "Oh shit we forgot how to score goals", So there is no such thing as 'messi dependency', It's some kind of a hoax made up by RM fans, Yet we started to believe in it.