Lionel Messi - v7

[serghei]

He's not going to leave until he himself decides to do so, but we can change the rest of the team around him meanwhile.

Not sure I can agree with that. He could even push it to even 40 for the money he gets, it doesn't mean the club would have to sit around waiting to happen.

If he doesn't develop the same sense like Xavi and Iniesta, who saw they were slowing down and struggling to keep up the pace, then the club should force him to retire or leave, in 3 seasons max.

Being a sub is out of the question. He'd see it as an insult.

 

[DonAK]

Not sure I can agree with that. He could even push it to even 40 for the money he gets, it doesn't mean the club would have to sit around waiting to happen.

If he doesn't develop the same sense like Xavi and Iniesta, who saw they were slowing down and struggling to keep up the pace, then the club should force him to retire or leave, in 3 seasons max.

Being a sub is out of the question. He'd see it as an insult.

Right now I don't even care about that.

Just improve the midfield and defence please instead of blowing away 111m on Lautaro Martinez.

 

[serghei]

Right now I don't even care about that.

Just improve the midfield and defence please instead of blowing away 111m on Lautaro Martinez.

Yeah. Fixing everything would be a good way to see if Messi has more years or not. Sadly, by the time we fix everything, Messi will be 35 or even older, so he'd be way past it.

 

[KingLeo10]

Bayern is a good template of mostly young, hard working players mixed in with a couple of hard-working vets at most.

We should aim for a similar setup which means ridding all amigos except Messi and Pique (because savvy CBs are hard to come by and Lenglet isn't exactly lighting it up) in the first stage. In Messi's case, because of his sheer talent, we can allow less hard work from him compared to say a Lewandowski but he has to be tactically disciplined. Pique should also accept a rotation role more and more.

Bayern suffered a lot because of Robbery through 15-18, by the way. It's such a tough spot for the board to make transitions with players who have been great. If nothing else, the transition will come by itself in 2-3 years, like it eventually did for them.

 

[serghei]

Bayern suffered a lot because of Robbery through 15-18, by the way. It's such a tough spot for the board to make transitions with players who have been great. If nothing else, the transition will come by itself in 2-3 years, like it eventually did for them.

They didn't suffer THAT much. Top 4 club in the world in that time. Except maybe 2018.

But I agree, retiring old legends is the trickiest part of rebuilding. Which is why it is amazing when you have legends as classy as likes of Xavi and Iniesta, going to make easy money when they feel they struggle with the pace of elite football.

 

[KingLeo10]

They didn't suffer THAT much. Top 4 club in the world in that time. Except maybe 2018.

Well, they had top end coaching in Pep, Ancelotti, and Heynckes to paper over the cracks a bit. Kinda like what Messi did last season with us.

Robbery held them back on signing a Sane or Mane type player earlier. Their wings were their weakness against RM (in otherwise close encounters). Robbery did fuck all in all those games (if they weren't injured) and basically against any top opposition, they were null and clinging to their 2010-13 glory days.

Also, I don't think we've been out of the top 5 clubs even in these CL disaster years. Still winning LL against a RM and AM is a good achievement. The goal is no.1 for super clubs like us and Bayern, though and having no shot at that is failure IMO.

 

[serghei]

Also, Bayern's vets are like this:

Suarez would injure himself if he does that.

 

[DonAK]

Lewandowski is the type of player that will stay fit and healthy well into his 50s while Suarez will look like a hamburger or a light bulb.

 

[serghei]

Lewandowski is the type of player that will stay fit and healthy well into his 50s while Suarez will look like a hamburger or a light bulb.

Suarez will go down Fat Ronaldo's route in no time. I give him 5 years into his retirement before he develops a full belly and passes the 100kg mark.

 

[KingLeo10]

Also, Bayern's vets are like this:

Suarez would injure himself if he does that.

Yeah, it's tragic.

But Suarez just got comfortable and IMO betrayed what made him a great asset - his hunger (sometimes literally ) Between 12 and 16, Suarez was a physical beast:

Those days are long gone and he's giving competition to Higuain now.

 

[DonAK]

Tbf to Suarez he has his share of knee issues. I actually suspect he has an arthritic knee that's gotten progressively worse which the club is keeping quiet about.

 

[vegitot]

Suarez kept his injuries for years. I think it happend back in early 2017-2018 season.

 

[KingLeo10]

South Americans and getting comfortable/fat after a CL/WC/Euro. Name a better duo.

 

[te amo barca]

Tbf to Suarez he has his share of knee issues. I actually suspect he has an arthritic knee that's gotten progressively worse which the club is keeping quiet about.

Suarez absolutely has a fucked up knee, it's clear from the way he runs, as if something is impeding him. Pretty similar to how Torres became so tree-like after his cartilage-meniscus injury.

 

[JohnN]

On the issue of Messi not staying at RW and dropping deep.. He was heavily criticized in the world cup for being uninvolved while doing exactly that.. maintaining his position at RW and never getting the ball because of double man marking and an incompetent midfield.
Dropping deep has been required many times last season and this season, when our team was under pressure and could not even exchange 3 passes from defense to midfield, without him helping out.
Since the restart his best position seemed at the top of a diamond with a mobile midfield.