Lionel Messi - v7

[vegitot]

Just because others were playing bad or not up to his expectations, it was not the excuse for him to lose interests. He is the captain and supposedly a leader, he needs to be able to commit 100% of his attention and efforts.

messi has to defend in the extra time. is that not enough?
you can not expect him run from our halfway line to score like he used to do,also our midfield can not produce a decent pass. the best passes also come from messi

 

[vegitot]

Not enough?

 

[JohnN]

View attachment 8652
Not enough?

When I saw this on tv I though it is abysmal, to have a player like Messi and force him to play so far behind. No possession whatsoever.
He tried his best as far as I saw..

 

[Flavius]

Crazy, he barely touch the 16m whole match. Great tactic Valverde.

 

[CatalinR10]

Let's hope The Best Fifa Football Player and Ballon D'or 2019 scores against Alaves.

[MENTION=21723]Pedro[/MENTION]

[MENTION=19457]KingLeo10[/MENTION]

[MENTION=17309]Vilarrubi[/MENTION]

[MENTION=20830]Hardy[/MENTION]

[MENTION=16751]Devils[/MENTION]

[MENTION=20484]gasgas[/MENTION]

 

[bismp]

To be honest he brought this to himself by repeatedly backing Valverde and by indirectly or directly making Suarez a starter.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

View attachment 8652
Not enough?

What a waste. This is why we need Arthur or someone who can keep the ball and bring it up. Messi is wasted with shit midfield. He needs to drop too deep.

 

[Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor]

What a waste. This is why we need Arthur or someone who can keep the ball and bring it up. Messi is wasted with shit midfield. He needs to drop too deep.

He will need to drop deep if Arthur plays as well because Arthur is hardly a bastion of creativity himself. Then he will be blamed for dropping too deep. Can't win.

 

[Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor]

Will winning his 6th ballon work against him? He must know deep down no footballer will ever match 6 ballon dors. Can't help with his motivation levels. Does he seem like the kinda guy that will push for another to make 100% sure? I'm not so sure.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

He will need to drop deep if Arthur plays as well because Arthur is hardly a bastion of creativity himself. Then he will be blamed for dropping too deep. Can't win.

Would Eriksen Help? Who can we Sign?

 

[eaman]

Would Eriksen Help? Who can we Sign?

No eriksen doesnt get on the ball enough. Would be the same as rakitic really but more creative in the final third. Verratti is the only one I can think of but thats probably impossible

 

[Horatio]

Maybe I didn’t watch the game carefully enough but man...he still looks great. Hard to dispossess some great dribbles with acceleration and few nutmegs. Great crosses. Too bad about not finishing that one big chance.

 

[Obiaseti]

He was let down badly by Valverde. Zidane completely took him out of the game because we just couldn't handle their press. Messi thrives when he has a lot of touches on the ball. I still remember back when we would basically hold possession just outside the opposition box for minutes on end. He did what he could in the circumstances he was put in.

 

[vegitot]

He was let down badly by Valverde. Zidane completely took him out of the game because we just couldn't handle their press. Messi thrives when he has a lot of touches on the ball. I still remember back when we would basically hold possession just outside the opposition box for minutes on end. He did what he could in the circumstances he was put in.

who created a through ball to alba miss a great chance?

 

[Asylum15]

Would Eriksen Help? Who can we Sign?

I'm not looking to oversimplify our problems here but my thoughts:

- We NEED attacking players who CAN run in behind. Suarez/Griezmann just constantly come short and show for balls. This makes it incredibly easy for high quality teams to bring the defensive line higher and squash us into our own half where we CAN'T, it seems these days, play out anymore (Lenglet, Rakitic I'm looking at you in particular). We really miss the Neymar-esque runs that stretch defenses in behind. They were the wildcard that destroyed so many tactical approaches against us. Dembele doesn't have the intelligence or close control to be this guy, nevermind his horrible fitness record. A player like this makes Messi better, it alleviates pressure on our midfield/defence and in turn makes us more difficult to prepare against. We don't have it, we have 11 players all showing for one another in short distances inside the pressure zone of the opponent, that's EASY to cage.

- We need to start playing Arthur/De Jong together more often. Having said this, Arthur seems to be a fucking idiot with following simple rules such as not Skiing when he's injured. These two are our only midfielders these days capable of showing in tight areas and playing through high pressure. The DM behind them can't be Busquets in big games any longer, he is too easy to out run and turn over, Vidal might be too wild but at least he has legs and can play.

- We NEED to remove/demote a number of members of staff, Valverde (for a fucking start), Rakitic, Suarez, Roberto (great utility player but we need better in our first 11), Alba (I think its time to move on), Lenglet (he's wild and cannot play out from the back under high pressure).

It's so incredibly painful to see our decline but worse again, it's incredibly painful to know that even fans on a forum like us saw this coming and yet the club made all the wrong decisions after 2015, and the Guardiola era.