Lionel Messi - v7

[bismp]

He’s been well below his standards but I think he doesn’t give a damn about scoring anymore...I watched 60 minutes from the Villarreal game and 40 minutes from today’s game and he had like 3-4 shots at most.He almost never gets the ball in a dangerous position because he moves too little off-ball and because Raki+Busi can’t make a through ball even if their life depended on it.

I mean look at today’s game.Puig was out and when the ball was not in Leo’s feet,it circulated between the defenders...It’s only when Messi gets the ball that he usually tries to push it forward.

The other players cannot dribble 1v1 and most of them can’t make a decent through ball.

So the only way for Messi to score is by a shot outside the box,as he is too old to dribble past multiple players.

And to be honest,his shooting has been extremely off all season long.

I don’t think he is finished.It’s kinda shocking to see him score less than 30 goals this season,but under a somewhat proper system,I can see him hitting 35-40 goals next season.Which makes his 50+ goals last season even more impressive

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

He needs more service and stay higher at the pitch. Hopefully Pjanic can help us there.

 

[Hardy]

maybe it's a coincidence but once he won and celebrated the ballon d'or his performance dropped massively (ironically the opposite happened to Ronaldo).

 

[vegitot]

His best performance in 2020 is against Atletico Madrid in Super copa which under Valverde, of course.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

maybe it's a coincidence but once he won and celebrated the ballon d'or his performance dropped massively (ironically the opposite happened to Ronaldo).

True. Relieve mentally.

 

[Horatio]

maybe it's a coincidence but once he won and celebrated the ballon d'or his performance dropped massively (ironically the opposite happened to Ronaldo).

Maybe Messi dropped the ball this season. Let?s not write him off just yet though.

 

[raskolnikov]

Which player that gets no help and plays in tight spaces like this would score more?
He barely gets 2 shots on target a match.

Hep is playing below his standards but put him ijna team like city and he scores 40+ goals even at age 33.

This slow static playstyle doesnt help.
Its like everyine adjusts to Messi's walking and just plays the ball to him as to say, go figure it out. And its beeb getting worse every season.
You would basically need Neymar and De Bruyne to get that burden of him and play football at a faster pace.

 

[clemente]

What kind of pace can you play with Busquets Rakitic Suarez Roberto around you
We didn't even have a goal attempt against the worst team in la liga before 30min

 

[te amo barca]

What kind of pace can you play with Busquets Rakitic Suarez Roberto around you
We didn't even have a goal attempt against the worst team in la liga before 30min

Roberto is one of the faster CMs in Europe though.

 

[Marie-Antoinette]

True, this is why we needed someone like Puig to help speed things up in the middle especially against a team that parks the bus.

Thank you, because reading the poor comments I felt some here mostly Givenchy and Kattnik don't understand the game.
Setien played Vidal instead of Puig in replacement! Griezmann out! See the incompetence of this clown.
He doesn't want Barca to attack or even counterattack, just to defend the score 1 - 0 against Liga's last club.
Absolute shame.
I hope for the sake of Leo's football that he leave this joke of a club this summer and let them fall flat on their faces.

 

[JohnN]

We can play plenty fast with FDJ, Bob and Puig in midfield.
Whether they can defend adequately is another issue, but they are surely more athletic than busi and Rakitic.
Puig presses fast and doesn't stop, like a machine also, which compensates for his lack of strength.

Messi at this point should stay closer to goal and not make runs from deep, as his stamina cannot handle it for a whole match.
An athletic and technical midfield would help achieve this. He already gives control to puig every time he is on which says a lot I think.

 

[serghei]

We can play plenty fast with FDJ, Bob and Puig in midfield.
Whether they can defend adequately is another issue, but they are surely more athletic than busi and Rakitic.
Puig presses fast and doesn't stop, like a machine also, which compensates for his lack of strength.

Messi at this point should stay closer to goal and not make runs from deep, as his stamina cannot handle it for a whole match.
An athletic and technical midfield would help achieve this. He already gives control to puig every time he is on which says a lot I think.

Doubt anyone will convince Messi to stay in the last 3rd and move more, basically trust the midfield to do its job. If he wants to drop deep next to Busi to get on the ball he will, and players will automatically give him the ball every time he does this.

 

[KingLeo10]

Doubt anyone will convince Messi to stay in the last 3rd and move more, basically trust the midfield to do its job. If he wants to drop deep next to Busi to get on the ball he will, and players will automatically give him the ball every time he does this.

Either he's too arrogant (I think it's this) or tactically dense to see that this approach is idiotic and a complete waste of his attacking talents. I don't think there's ever been a more efficient finisher than him in/around the box and he's wasting that with this grandpa paced, predictable runs from midfield like this is 2008-2015 and he's in his prime.

 

[feggydinho]

Doubt anyone will convince Messi to stay in the last 3rd and move more, basically trust the midfield to do its job. If he wants to drop deep next to Busi to get on the ball he will, and players will automatically give him the ball every time he does this.

Finally someone that understands this

 

[DonAK]

It doesn't help that the midfield is ass at creating anything vs good teams. Proven time after time how they're unable to withstand any pressure from the opponent and are unable to advance the ball into the final third.

If you give this midfield the keys to bring the ball to Messi in advanced positions it will end up with them sideways passing it until they lose the ball. Improve the midfield first.