I criticize Messi harshly and often, I own up to it. I believe it's more than justified looking at where we are in time and the status of the team currently.
Feel free homie. I get it, he has been far from great this season. I see his current form however as more of a manifestation of our shambolic planning rather it being indicative that its over for him here or that he is past it.
One thing though. Maybe you can explain why Messi started to often vacate his position on the right after the team pulverized everything with him as RW in the year before? Because this is one of the events that make me think he doesn't have a reason for what he does on the field except for his personal prefference.
In my opinion, the reason was very clear. He simply likes to play centrally and not wide. This was the case since Pep moved him False 9. So this is actually a clear case of Messi doing what he pleases, not what the team needed, and not what tactically made sense (as clearly proven by his stellar 14-15 season playing RW and cutting inside on his left).
I highlighted his injury in 2016 for a reason. If you remember that season, Luis and Neymar stepped up and both were unplayable in his absence. And I think he came back clear that he couldn't physically stay on the wing for 90 minutes, largely due to the need to pickup the fullback off the ball. On the ball, with this being the first season without Xavi, this was the beginning of the degradation of our midfield quality. With it largely falling on Iniesta to create for the front three, I think Messi started dropping deep into the center to support Iniesta, and since Ney and Luis provided the goals, he felt like he should focus more on being the creator than the finisher.
I totally agree with you that this is his decision-making on the pitch and not something he was instructed to do. The best way I can say it is that I feel like he was overall making the right call back then but him doing the same things now don't necessarily make the same sense, considering the squad we have now. Basically, I feel like Messi has been feeling for a while now that he has to do everything offensively (controlling the tempo, playmaking and scoring) and what we can do is alleviate this burden by putting the right squad and pieces around him.
We don't anymore because Messi doesn't pay off and we have more things to lose if we build our team around a near-finished Messi. We did under EV. And EV got close to implementing a system that could handle the imbalance of Messi and Suarez, especially on the defensive end. In the end, we were close to getting something out of it (boring football aside), but the other downsides in the team (unreliable defense, lack of some key players on some spots, our frail mentality away from home in CL etc.) prevented a treble in 2018.
I largely feel like we failed in 2018 because:
1. Valverde failed to prepare this squad on the training pitch and they were not fit enough to play 90 minutes at the highest level
2. Valverde had no offensive game plan whatsoever. It was get the ball to Messi and just rely on the older players to remember what worked in previous seasons. There was no evolution, no structure and no collective idea on what we were trying to achieve when we got on the ball
3. Again, the squad which again, is on Barto and Abi. Between Valverde bending over to the amigos and the lack of depth or true quality investment (especially in defense) was the final nail. Dembele being injured and Coutinho being in la la land all season was what, 260 million collectively that could have been used for our defense and midfield?
Messi dragged us kicking and screaming the entire way. My personal sentiment is that after his performance that season and what has transpired since, I am willing to give Messi the benefit of the doubt right now. It has been a circus here since September, you really think its realistic to expect him to be on 2018 form? Where we disagree here is that I see this largely as a morale issue that the context is creating rather than it being a sign that Messi is near-finished.
True, Valverde and Koeman are very similar, except they arrived at the team at completely different moments. EV took over an aging but far from the finished team that still had some top football left. The crisis back then was not a real crisis, but more of a purely image/marketing crisis by losing Neymar. That team almost won the league (save vs a fuck-up vs Malaga and some hilarious referee robberies in the 2nd part of that season) vs one of the best Madrid sides ever. Uncomparable to the team in shambles that got trashed 8-2 in CL that Koman inherited.
100%. EV inherited a bunch of winners and turned them into losers with his weird brand of "tikinaccio" if you will (I always thought he was doing a poor imitation VdB's tactics with Spain) and Koeman has inherited a bunch of losers. We'll see if he can turn them into winners, I think he is doing the right things for the most part (still not a huge fan of the double-pivot) but the results and the defensive lapses are really hurting him right now.
But, the lack of a midfield playmaker is not a reason to drop deep in itself, simply because in modern football very few teams require a "10" to create chances. Who was the playmaker of Liverpool with Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum? They didn't have one. Milner and Henderson are high work rate reliable players, but far from technically proficient. And Wijnaldum was not a creator, but a box to box player known for his habit of scoring clutch goals. You didn't see players up front dropping non-stop to pick up balls. Why? Because they generated a lot of movement up front, so the midfield didn't have to "reinvent the wheel" so to speak.
That's what we need. And this is what the 2nd string team in CL showed. That with much better movement, more work rate, more dedication, you generate more intensity, faster transition, more pressing, more offensive runs from more players, with greater presence in the box. Add all of that, and suddenly you find that midfielders have to be less stellar on the ball to do a top job.
The way I see it, low movement and low work rate put you in a spot where you require insane technique and the ability to create chances. And even then that technique might not be enough. Instead, great movement drops the skill required on the ball (doesn't mean you can be a total bum on the ball, and you will be great if you run a lot, but you get the point). That's why a technically subpar midfield like Liverpool's trashed us, even with their 2nd string attack in the decisive Anfield game (with Origi and Shaquiri). Movement, intensity, pressure.
I don't see it. Not now at least. He doesn't even want to be here anymore.
What is interesting and very different about Liverpool is that in their system, Trent & Andy are the main creative outlets. They are primarily their playmakers in the sense that Xavi and Iniesta were our primary playmakers under Pep. In a system like that, there is a lot less pressure on the midfield to be stellar on the ball as you said. That is why Wjini-Hendo-Milner worked for such a long time, they really didn't have to create, all they needed to do is provide defensive solidity, counter-press and easily distribute the ball to the fullbacks or forwards. Another aspect that makes this work for Liverpool is their verticality. They use the switch-of-play really, really well and that sets up a lot of situations where a good cross into the box should setup an xG. Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe in terms of utilizing wing-play and when you are looking to create more in wider areas of the pitch rather than through the center, that means you can afford to put more "workhorses" in midfield rather than "artists" to use the analogy. The movement of the front three is great as well but the quality of service they get from Trent and Andy, their counter-pressing and their wing-play cannot be understated as sources of their success.
With us, again, I think this really comes down to Koeman figuring out our best 11. I think Alena and/or Puig need to be starting as they bring the energy, movement but crucially the control and invention in midfield that can help Messi. Then, as I stated previously, we have to have two genuine wingers at all times. That will provide the movement from the forwards necessary, will stretch oppositions back lines more and create more pockets for Messi to exploit. I think ultimately, Greizmann should move back into the 9 position and that will allow us to have 3 players with pace that can generate the movement necessary for success. I also think only Messi and Alba are the only veteran starters now and that Busi in particular should only be used as a sub and should not be starting the big games anymore.
We have to create the conditions for Messi to have success here and lineups like the one against Cadiz aren't going to produce that. Just my two cents, I can totally see your points here and they are very valid but I haven't given up on him yet. He's proven me, his critics and the entire world wrong too many times to justify it now. We just have to finally start supporting the guy and stop expecting him to single-handedly carry us. It is that expectation right now that I think has him thinking about leaving and I seriously think if we genuinely start to show signs of giving him true help, his form and attitude will change.
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