Xavi Hernández

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vegitot

Senior Member
Grudgingly admit that the biggest beneficiary of a Messi return will be Pedri, and then Balde- in that order

Big worry is that Lewa has neither the speed nor the quick linkup play. If you watch PSG then you see the reason Messi numbers are so great are because of the pace and space of having Mbappe infront of him.
Messi will easily link up with Lewy. It's not like he plays with Braithwaite.

Pedri would learn a lot from Messi. Their link up will be sweet.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
The issue with Messi and Lewa is that it lacks pace.

If teams have those two in middle they will push high up and try to keep Messi as far away from box as possible.

Aregntina have pace up top and hard work all around Messi.

Barca will have Lewa on front of Messi and Busquets behind him most likely.

That wont be easy to replicate what Argentina do and also Argentina dont play against club sides or teams the quality will meet in latter stages of CL.

This idea players are 'free' is nonsense. A lot of money will be spent on these players salaries that could be used to sign younger players that have more what team need and have resale value at end of contract if dont work as starters.
 

Porque

Senior Member
We will play like the games against Man Utd in Europa League basically. Except there won't be Raphinha for the offensive press, over exposing our rightside.

Percentage ball like Ernie's finest, but with a better defense. May create a bit of magic and score, or get a freekick though. As Jammy said, the quality and speed of the opposition in Europe, will be much much higher than the Argentina World Cup opponents.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Barca are better with Messi.

He wont be a 'negative' in CL and only play well v La Liga fodder as Serghie makes out.

The issue for me it feels like not the correct players around Messi to get best from him.

A year ago Lewa for 50m a huge salary was made out to be a 'good signing' when could be paying 100m for a striker on 10m a week for what pay him.

This idea that Barca winning league makes Lewa a good signing is nonsense. It is a poor signing for far too much money for a player in his mid 30s.
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
International football isn't the same at club football, the level and dynamics of it are entirely different, obviously as they're only training for a couple weeks with each other and the chemistry together is likely very limited.

Can get away with a lot more there but the systems at club level are a lot more complex and even putting an Argentina-style setup won't work, it will only be detrimental.
He will make the team short-term better but at what cost, when the money can be used for younger talents and to build for the future?
 

iniestaGOAT

Senior Member
XAVI: “You like to laugh at it, but the dry grass has an effect. Those who play professional football are aware of this. It’s not an excuse I complain about bad grass even when we win. Ask their coach why they didn’t water the grass.”

XAVI: “Even if you publish 200,000 jokes about it, I don’t care, I won’t budge from my opinion.”

XAVI saying barcaforum VIRGINS have no ball knowledge.

GOAT
 

serghei

Senior Member
Grudgingly admit that the biggest beneficiary of a Messi return will be Pedri, and then Balde- in that order

Big worry is that Lewa has neither the speed nor the quick linkup play. If you watch PSG then you see the reason Messi numbers are so great are because of the pace and space of having Mbappe infront of him.

I agree, but Dembele benefits the most from a player of Messi's passing ability. He has to stay fit though, so big if. Then Balde and Pedri, I agree. Raphinha also, he makes many good runs, but the final pass in this team is not very good. Even Xavi said the best final pass in this team is Alba's. Messi is gonna fix that if nothing else.

Pedri for example is not quite ready to lead the creative part of the team, but is gonna be Messi's best partner, like under Koeman's first season.
 
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ajnotkeith

Senior Member
I wonder how many away turfs are gonna be like cow pats going forward. Surely just attracting attention to the fact that Barca apparently struggles with it.
 

jamrock

Senior Member
Playing Dembele, lewa & Messi is asking for problems in Europe unless we drop busquets.

Not enough legs to press on defense.

If we go with the 4 man Midfield that xavi is playing now, but the 4 is, gavi, de jong, pedri, Messi or gundogan, Messi, de jong, pedri.

It could work with lewa & Dembele up to, so we'd at least have some pace in the team, but with busquets, we'd be asking de jong & pedri to cover for too many players who don't defend

But the need for a quick player in any setup should Messi return is fundamental if teams will do exactly like they did against us while we played with Suarez and Messi at the end, sit high and compress the field knowing we have no pace.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Playing Dembele, lewa & Messi is asking for problems in Europe unless we drop busquets.

Not enough legs to press on defense.

If we go with the 4 man Midfield that xavi is playing now, but the 4 is, gavi, de jong, pedri, Messi or gundogan, Messi, de jong, pedri.

It could work with lewa & Dembele up to, so we'd at least have some pace in the team, but with busquets, we'd be asking de jong & pedri to cover for too many players who don't defend

But the need for a quick player in any setup should Messi retucn is fundamental if teams will do exactly like they did against us while we played with Suarez and Messi at the end, sit high and compress the field knowing we have no pace.

Depends imo, Messi helped us cruise past groups usually. Most of the losses with Messi in the team happened in more advanced stages, like QF or semis.

Last 2 CLs and no Messi, out in groups.

Thing is Messi is gonna be free agent. Likes of Leao and Osimhen are gonna cost a mountain of money that the club doesn't have. The choice is basically made for us since the money are low and the club needs to look at mostly free agents.
 

jamrock

Senior Member
Depends imo, Messi helped us cruise past groups usually. Most of the losses with Messi in the team happened in more advanced stages, like QF or semis.

Last 2 CLs and no Messi, out in groups.

We'll make it out the groups without Messi next season, not expecting us to win it with him, though that would be pretty Sweet.

The biggest issue is not so much Messi, it's the Messi & busquets combination in one XI.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Haha Serghie spinning Messi since two weeks ago.

Then he was a greeddy CL 'negative' who could only produce v fodder in league.

As usual.. arguments change depending on what Xavi wants.. see other players for same.
 
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