10 - Lionel Messi - v5
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Total-Football
Senior Member
FC Messi. But i would rather us be FC Messi than be FC Enrique or some dumbass. I was praying Enrique would move Leo to the center least season as a last possible remedy to the situation. A player as Deadly as he is has no business playing anywhere but near the goal, especially with a dysfunctional team like ours.
BarcaVillain
New member
Thrives on the extra responsibility. There was a time we had to abandon the false 9 as teams figured out how to play against it. Judging by the start of this season, they seem to have forgotten.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
My personal impression:
Since we don't have Neymar anymore, a burden is on Messi, but it is not THAT bad thing.
This is my estimation how we played with Neymar-Messi last year:
Our team gets, let's say, 50 actions per match.
Messi tries to do something in 20 actions.
Neymar tries to do something in 20 actions.
Other players try to do something in remaining 10 actions.
Now, Messi will create something (a shot for himself after a solo action, or a shot for Suarez/Neymar) in let's say 5 out of 20 actions.
Neymar will create something (a shot for himself, a shot for Messi/Suarez) in let's say 2 actions out of 20.
So, out of 40 Messi-Neymar actions, we would get 5 (Messi) + 2 (Neymar) actions after which something would happen.
The KEY THING is, Messi will create "something" (a shot or a key pass) way more often than Neymar.
Now, Neymar is gone, his solo actions and turnovers are gone and now Messi has to do all by himself.
But, that also means that he is involved way more than last year and he will try to create SOMETHING way more often than last year.
And again, since he is WAY better than Neymar in creating something (out of 20 actions), that means that Messi will have 40 actions in this season, and in the end, our team will create 10 chances out of those 40 actions, compared with 5+2 chances with Messi+Neymar.
So, if you get my point, Messi is struggling, he has to do everything by himself, but imo, a team will profit more this way (at least against weaker and midtable teams) since his actions are way more lethal than Messi-Neymar's actions.
Messi ALONE won't be good enough in CL semis and quarters.
But for La liga and for 80-90% of matches, I think that we will be fine.
In fact, we could be even better than last year WITH Messi-Neymar.
A paradox but...
Since we don't have Neymar anymore, a burden is on Messi, but it is not THAT bad thing.
This is my estimation how we played with Neymar-Messi last year:
Our team gets, let's say, 50 actions per match.
Messi tries to do something in 20 actions.
Neymar tries to do something in 20 actions.
Other players try to do something in remaining 10 actions.
Now, Messi will create something (a shot for himself after a solo action, or a shot for Suarez/Neymar) in let's say 5 out of 20 actions.
Neymar will create something (a shot for himself, a shot for Messi/Suarez) in let's say 2 actions out of 20.
So, out of 40 Messi-Neymar actions, we would get 5 (Messi) + 2 (Neymar) actions after which something would happen.
The KEY THING is, Messi will create "something" (a shot or a key pass) way more often than Neymar.
Now, Neymar is gone, his solo actions and turnovers are gone and now Messi has to do all by himself.
But, that also means that he is involved way more than last year and he will try to create SOMETHING way more often than last year.
And again, since he is WAY better than Neymar in creating something (out of 20 actions), that means that Messi will have 40 actions in this season, and in the end, our team will create 10 chances out of those 40 actions, compared with 5+2 chances with Messi+Neymar.
So, if you get my point, Messi is struggling, he has to do everything by himself, but imo, a team will profit more this way (at least against weaker and midtable teams) since his actions are way more lethal than Messi-Neymar's actions.
Messi ALONE won't be good enough in CL semis and quarters.
But for La liga and for 80-90% of matches, I think that we will be fine.
In fact, we could be even better than last year WITH Messi-Neymar.
A paradox but...
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Bit different from false nine of past I think.
As soon as Messi drops Suarez takes up CF spot and Alba takes the width.
Whereas in the past likes of Villa played a bit wider and more about late runs in behind. There was not really a CF which became easier to defend.
now Barto pull your finger out and give this man his contract extension
Total-Football
Senior Member
Messi run 6.7 km this game in 90 Minutes 
that's about 60% less than average. if he had the stamina of Ronaldo he would bang 5 goals per match.
that's about 60% less than average. if he had the stamina of Ronaldo he would bang 5 goals per match.
KingLeo10
Senior Member
Messi run 6.7 km this game in 90 Minutes
except CR7 runs only 8-9 kms average per match himself
they've both been running below the average for some years now, and this is probably why they're able to prolong their peak so much.
henias
New member
Messi run 6.7 km this game in 90 Minutes
Tats the whole point. Theres no point running and wasting your energy if you just gonna get man-marked in the end. He's a false 9 for a reason and only makes the run when the defenders are caught offguard. He's been "walking" for the past 10 years.
Messi has always been a change of sudden pace and direction. His accelaration and unpredictablity is what makes him so lethal.
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aaron101
Active member
Now that he scored against Buffon too I wonder what else remains?
Great match by Leo
Score against Chelsea? Maybe we'll meet them in the KO stage. Though he had already scored against Cech when we played Arsenal, he still hasn't score against Chelsea.
This is very true. I remember how several top defenders have said, that it is impossible to defend against because you would mark Messi an entire match and he would just lull you into this false sense of security. Even though you know he is going to do something spectacular at some point it is really frustrating to see all the actiongoing on everywhere else on the pitch, end then the second you take your eyes off Messi, he is gone. It is very much in line with how tikitaka style football frustrates opponents with hundreds of sideway passes untill they make a small mistake.
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