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mitkoa7x
Guest
He was in rest mode like all the others.
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Fourteen
Monster Masch
Woah, that sounds completely incomprehensible.dunno if anyone watched Revista yesterday, but apparently his pass to messi for his third (when he turned round and dribbled all the way to the goal) was his first league assist to Messi since the Villarreal away game in 2010
.. quite a stat if true
MaestroXavi
The servant
dunno if anyone watched Revista yesterday, but apparently his pass to messi for his third (when he turned round and dribbled all the way to the goal) was his first league assist to Messi since the Villarreal away game in 2010
.. quite a stat if true
Us fans should know Xavi is not about the assists by now.
CevinK
New member
Yeah, but that fact would be nice to throw at these guys who think Messi wouldn´t even exist without Xaviniesta.
Ode to Django
You're not even a real journalism
Messi has a platform to perform with Xavi/Iniesta bossing possesion never been seen before, around 70% mark consistently which is ridiculous, leaves the Defense less exposed & domination for Messi to do his thing with a free role.
That's where people get there Messi is nothing without Xavi/Iniesta etc. it's obviously nonsense. but he can concentrate on going forward knowing damn well the midfielders are bossing as always.
That's where people get there Messi is nothing without Xavi/Iniesta etc. it's obviously nonsense. but he can concentrate on going forward knowing damn well the midfielders are bossing as always.
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jtmx12
Guest
Depends how you look at it, because there's facts. Xavi & Iniesta keep winning everything (2 euros, world cup) without Messi. Let me ask you, in the same years, what did Messi won without them? Yep, nothing.
The fact is that Xavi & Iniesta don't assist as much as they perhaps did back then, but they usually assist (or even score) in important games. Against Real Madrid, against Manchester United, Iniesta's goal against Chelsea, should I keep going?. Fact is that without those assists or goal in those important games we wouldn't have won what we have now. Fact is that even tho Messi is the best, HE NEEDS to have the ball to do his game. If he doesn't, he can't play, simple as that. Messi is free to do anything he wants and not bother to defend because he knows he has quality players on his back that will get the ball back quick & keep it until his next move.
So yeah, overall Messi wouldn't look as good as he does without Xavi & Iniesta. Mainly, because he wouldn't have won so many titles or score so many goals, in which case, Ronaldo would have won a few ballon d'or instead and he would be called the "best" right now.
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lessthanjake
New member
Messi doesn't need Xavi and Iniesta to give him assists. He DOES benefit from them though.
Like any forward, Messi needs to get the ball in dangerous positions in order to be most effective. Xavi and Iniesta make sure that Barcelona keeps possession until someone can get it to Messi in a dangerous position. If Barca had a much lesser midfield, they would undoubtedly struggle to consistently work the ball into the final third. They would lose it in the middle of the park a lot of the time, and Messi would therefore end up with much fewer opportunities to work from where he is most effective.
We saw examples of this with Argentina the last few years. The issue with his play for them was not that he was actually playing badly. It was that they did not have a midfield that could keep possession in the middle of the park and work the ball into the final third. As a result, they couldn't get the ball to Messi enough. In response to that, Argentina decided to simply play Messi in a deeper role. That way, the midfield could actually work the ball far enough up to consistently get Messi the ball. However, the problem with that was that he was no longer getting the ball in particularly dangerous positions when he was playing deeper. This made it really difficult for him to score goals, and while he played as an excellent playmaker, people expected goals.
I think this all goes without saying though. We all know that a striker is more effective if he has a more consistent midfield that can get him the ball where he wants to get the ball. It is 100% impossible to score 73 goals in a season without that; there just would never be enough chances. Messi has a consistent midfield, but so does Ronaldo, and so did virtually every player who scored anywhere near the amount of goals Messi is scoring. Every top goalscorer played on a top team.
Is Messi's midfield maybe even a bit better than other's were? Yeah, but in my opinion they are better not because they create more chances than other midfields like Real Madrid's. I don't really think they do. They are better because they keep possession SO much that it is its own defense too. That is, other midfields will keep possession long enough to work the ball into the final third, at which point they will get it to a forward in a dangerous position and let him create. Barcelona will keep possession even longer than that, stopping the other team from having a chance to score for a while, and THEN getting the ball to a forward in a dangerous position. The difference is not that those other teams create fewer chances; it is that those other teams play at a higher tempo that allows the other team to get the ball more and have more attempts to score. But that added defensive value doesn't add any effectiveness to Messi.
Like any forward, Messi needs to get the ball in dangerous positions in order to be most effective. Xavi and Iniesta make sure that Barcelona keeps possession until someone can get it to Messi in a dangerous position. If Barca had a much lesser midfield, they would undoubtedly struggle to consistently work the ball into the final third. They would lose it in the middle of the park a lot of the time, and Messi would therefore end up with much fewer opportunities to work from where he is most effective.
We saw examples of this with Argentina the last few years. The issue with his play for them was not that he was actually playing badly. It was that they did not have a midfield that could keep possession in the middle of the park and work the ball into the final third. As a result, they couldn't get the ball to Messi enough. In response to that, Argentina decided to simply play Messi in a deeper role. That way, the midfield could actually work the ball far enough up to consistently get Messi the ball. However, the problem with that was that he was no longer getting the ball in particularly dangerous positions when he was playing deeper. This made it really difficult for him to score goals, and while he played as an excellent playmaker, people expected goals.
I think this all goes without saying though. We all know that a striker is more effective if he has a more consistent midfield that can get him the ball where he wants to get the ball. It is 100% impossible to score 73 goals in a season without that; there just would never be enough chances. Messi has a consistent midfield, but so does Ronaldo, and so did virtually every player who scored anywhere near the amount of goals Messi is scoring. Every top goalscorer played on a top team.
Is Messi's midfield maybe even a bit better than other's were? Yeah, but in my opinion they are better not because they create more chances than other midfields like Real Madrid's. I don't really think they do. They are better because they keep possession SO much that it is its own defense too. That is, other midfields will keep possession long enough to work the ball into the final third, at which point they will get it to a forward in a dangerous position and let him create. Barcelona will keep possession even longer than that, stopping the other team from having a chance to score for a while, and THEN getting the ball to a forward in a dangerous position. The difference is not that those other teams create fewer chances; it is that those other teams play at a higher tempo that allows the other team to get the ball more and have more attempts to score. But that added defensive value doesn't add any effectiveness to Messi.
Theconomist
New member
The day Xavi retires is the day an era ends at Barcelona.
No midfielder has ever dominated so completly in such an extended span, entering his seventh year of absolute annihilation of opponent's midfields.
No midfielder has ever dominated so completly in such an extended span, entering his seventh year of absolute annihilation of opponent's midfields.
!!!!
I think you are right. You don't see many assists for Messi from Xavi/Iniesta for those reasons mentioned.
Whole midfield dominates (Messi included as he drops deep) to the point where they press the opposition so much back that eventually Messi will receive ball close enough to make his run, play one-two, and work his magic. No other player can do it like he can. Time and time again I thought to myself, stop forcing the middle, there's simply no space, and yet Messi manages to find gaps.
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