Well he did have a good game. Good first half especially and one or two nice moments in the second. The midfield and defence played badly in that second half. Yes messi was walking and they lost but messi walks and whatever team he's on wins plenty as well.
Lionel "The Greatest of All Time" Messi
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Well he did have a good game. Good first half especially and one or two nice moments in the second. The midfield and defence played badly in that second half. Yes messi was walking and they lost but messi walks and whatever team he's on wins plenty as well.
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
Donna is young, he will learn. Real waited for those moments.
malvolio
Senior Member
https://fbref.com/en/matches/9a3684d8/Real-Madrid-Paris-Saint-Germain-March-9-2022-Champions-League
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcLQz24guX0
why? the man didn't have a bad game. was one of PSG's best passers on the night, had like 3 good through balls to mbappe which put him one on one, threaded/dribbled nicely through midfield, had that action in first half where he laid the ball in front of goal but no-one was there.
even his pressing wasn't as bad as people implied. but i guess they saw him standing still through some actions and that's what they remember.
and all this while having to play-make most of the time and come deep to start attacks. not to mention some attacking plays were his colleagues terribly overlooked him by either opting for another man or just going solo.
did he have clear cut chances that he miss? did he lose possession that turned into a counter->goal?
They must be comparing him to his former standard. Which of course he's miles off. He had a pretty decent 60 mins, then Donnarumma and the defenders handed real 3 goals. He was absent the last 30 mins and a sane coach would have subbed Di Maria for him. Messi not scoring to overturn a match where the opponent has scored 3 goals is still the standard people expect him to be. If he doesn't reach it then without any nuance he's deemed completely shit.
JamDav1982
Senior Member
On the ball decent in first half.... off it terrible as usual and worst will see in any top league for player who cant defend as part of unit or move off ball consistently.
That and the quiet first leg where missed pen and Messi has been a failure in his first season at PSG and not improved them.
That and the quiet first leg where missed pen and Messi has been a failure in his first season at PSG and not improved them.
feggydinho
Senior Member
His strolling in games has been one of his biggest issues, and we contributed to that by always coming up with excuses like "He's a strategic player and is conserving his energy to kill the game" and other sorts when he started it as he was already a legend then. The reality now is that teams play with a minus 1 when they have to defend with Messi, and PSG had to defend for the last 30 minutes to see that game off and he was nowhere near the task, moreover, he's no more the offensive beast he was so his offense doesn't really cover up again. You can't be earning that much and not get involved continuously so I understand the pains PSG fans probably have.
Besides the huge concentration lapse PSG showed after Donnarumma's error, their biggest weakness is the lack of goals once Mbappe is off the field
Agreed. In terms of the tie 180, PSG lost this at two points. The chaos of the 3 goals in 15 minutes (and especially the 1st mistake by Donnarumma and the amateur kickoff for the 3rd - two goals you will only see in Sunday amateur football or a Valverde CL away game).
The other point they lost it is in the first leg where they had 22(!) shots compared to Madrid's 3 and only won 1-0 deep in injury time. Had Messi scored the penalty with 30 left then they may have gone on and got 2 or 3, just as Madrid had with momentum and the crowd.
But Back to Messi. His biggest weakness wasn't what he done on the field (taking into account the pen miss and his off the ball movement) but that when the tie hit that precarious point in the second leg where Madrid had the momentum, that Pocchetino couldn't make the tactical change to take off Messi so they could match Madrids added intensity.
And when Messi is now 34, the coach should be able to make that change and Messi should be able to understand it.
I really hope we don't bring Messi back when his contract is up for a season or two as some kind of symbolic gesture as he has too much credit and clout in this club and would probably upset the balance we have been working hard to rectify since he left. Hopefully it is just a month or so signing to give him a proper farewell at the Gamper.
And on a final point, imagine if we did sign that 10year contract with 2 years at Barca, 2 at Miami and the rest as a Legend marketing deal. How poorly would we be bleeding from that when his performances on the field are not yielding returns and his marketing star diminishes.
malvolio
Senior Member
fair enough. clearly far off his former standard. but i guess this was a mistake from messi's part and psg's when they agreed to this partnership. i feel he can still do better but not in psg's current setup.
would have subbed out neymar as he was far more prone to mistakes and losing balls(see real's second goal) than messi. anyway, poch should have subbed out one of them after donnaruma's mistake.
Raketa10
Senior Member
Why the hell is Donnarumma their first choice when Navas is by far better GK?
malvolio
Senior Member
Because actually Donnarumma didn't put a foot wrong this season, until last night that is. I remember Navas dropped a clanger in October and from there on it was clear who is 1st choice in big games.
Another funny thing is that PSG GKs, who were otherwise regarded at being top quality, have done shit like this before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miY6qRn3-_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcFS9fXHCxI
that was actually a foul from benzema. barged into the GK without touching the ball there. sure, donnarumma shouldn't have put himself in that position, but goal shouldn't have stood.
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feggydinho
Senior Member
Exactly, they would've been more firm if they even brought in Di Maria for him and advised him to just defend, assist with Vinicius and push the ball for a counter to Mbappe whenever the chance arrives, cause that was even their pattern before.
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
Don't know if Navas is better, he isnt the same like in real's years and Donna has been very good in last months. Those mistakes can happen.
wisconsincule
Senior Member
When is this troll going to be banned?
You say that but he was literally one of the world's best players up until he was 34. "Messi will eventually not be good enough when he's 35" is hardly the smart statement you're making it out to be, You try so hard to appear smart it's hilarious.
For the so called "logical bet", I very much doubt you expected Messi to be the very best footballer in the world for 14 years in a row. In fact, the normal expectation should've been the opposite based on prior trends before Messi's era; your favorite player like Ronaldinho, Stockhov, Maradona and [insert 90s era footballer here, typicallylasted for about 5 years at the top. If you were actually honest with yourself and others, you'd say that Messi actually went beyond your expectations based on anything else you were used to before the 2010s.
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