My reply about Milner and a fight was about:
In moments like this on Anfield, or in Rome, or against Atletico, you have (imo) two ways to win and to kill the pressure:
1. either to have the best midfield ever, like Xavi-Iniesta-Busi, who will Tiki-Taka us out of a pressure with insane technique
2. or to have more leaders or guys who won't be mentally and physically bullied, like Puyol, Vidal and similar. But Vidal alone was not enough because half of a team was scared and pissing their pants and true, 90% of a team weren't able to string 2 passes in a row
Regarding our Xavi-Iniesta-Busi midfield:
1. we will never be able to recreate it
2. also, Messi will be gone in 2-3 years and WITHOUT Messi, we will need a different midfield than a midfield who works with Messi
Today, all you need is to keep the ball, and pass the ball to Messi and he will usually do something.
Without Messi, we will lose 30-50 goals per season (like RM without CR7) and 3-4 players will need to compensate that
Imagine losing Messi and his 50 goals, Suarez and his 30 goals and suddenly having: Dembele with 15 goals, Malcom or Coutinho with 15 goals and a CF with 20 goals.
That is a drop from 90 goals today (Messi, Suarez, Dembele) to 50 goals per season.
In that post-Messi world, we will not survive if our all midfielders will be controllers, guys who keep the ball and similar.
New gen of midfielders after Messi will need to be closer to Alena (at least one of them, a CM who will score 10+ goals per season).
So you see, we can sack EV, but longterm:
1. we need younger players
2. more hunger
3. mental strength
4. midfielders with different skills than today, to compensate for Messi's retirement
5. 3 lethal attackers who will compensate for Messi's retirement
6. 2-3 leaders on a field
