Lionel Messi - v7

MagIX said:

Yes, good choise
De Jong it too young and just arrived, but I think in the future he will be captain

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BBZ8800 said:

We are not with those players in the dressing room or on the training grounds.
WHAT IF they know that they are old, that they can't run anymore (even Messi can't run consistently for more than 50-60 minutes anymore), Alba the same, Suarez the same, Raki the same, Busi the same, Pique the same, Vidal the same, Arthur the same.

WHAT IF players are more aware of their age and declining physique, pace, stamina than our fans?
And even though EV is meh, WHAT IF that they know that the end is near and "it is what it is" and they know that won't be too much better with any coach, since they are in their final year of football?

Suarez, 33 years in 14 days
Pique, 33 years in 20 days
Vidal 32 years, 8 Months
Messi, 32 years and 6 Months
Rakitic, 32 in 2 Months
Busquets, 31 and 6 Months
Alba, 30 and 2 Months

You guys don't find these numbers concerning?
1. so, our players are as old as AC Milan after 2005, the oldest team in a modern history of football
2. modern football evolved and top teams are running and pressing like crazy. Yet, we have the oldest team in the world, who is supposed to cope with that running and pressing from the younger opponents, lol.
3. Barcelona never cared too much about physique, pace, stamina. So, our players, even on their prime, were technical beasts with weak or average physical attributes.
5 or 10 years later: they have even worse physique because they got old and their bodies and finished due to playing 60+ matches per year for 10-15 years.

Basically, we have a 15 years old Ferrari who travelled the world several times and who's engine and all parts are heavily damaged and not working properly anymore.
And we have to win a race against a new model, who is less expensive and not as good as our Ferrari on his prime.
But that new model is still way better TODAY compared to a CURRENT VERSION of our FERRARI.

When you guys are analyzing our players and our play, you are probably thinking about their glory days when they were young, motivated, fast and when they could run.
Sorry to break your dreams and delusions, but our current team is today way closer to this than to their glory days:

And then you wonder why Messi is backing up a coach:
1. because he can't run anymore
2. because a new coach will fire his best friends, like Suarez, Busi, Raki, Pique and co
3. because a new coach will force him to run more, which Messi doesn't want and what he can't do anymore
4. because a new coach might want to implement new ideas and force Messi to play on fixed position, which he doesn't want to

So, too much problems when you consider that he will probably play only for 18 Months more.
Suarez and Pique have probably even less than that.

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MagIX said:

True
But who should be the captain of this team? there is no leader, there is no player with big ball, we don't even have a warrior/winning/fighting mentality...
Puyol and Mascherano were the last leaders and players with big balls
We don't even have a coach who is nowhere near a leader...

Speaking about leader and mentality....
We are really a team without balls. We're really missing gladiator players who fight, run and spit blood.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going: a mentality that we don't even know what it means...
The head, the mentality, is decisive as the talent.
I'll take the lost match against Liverpool as example. Let's forget about the result.
We lost the game even before the referee started the match. The Liverpool players were loaded, pumped up, bloodshot eyes, ready to fight like gladiators, and with a fanatical belief in the victory.
We.......... looked like a team of scared schoolboys.

Btw: Messi had a great match and team played very well, we did not deserve to lose.

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BBZ8800 said:

Barcelona never cared too much about physique, pace, stamina. So, our players, even on their prime, were technical beasts with weak or average physical attributes.

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MagIX said:

True
..
I'll take the lost match against Liverpool as example. Let's forget about the result.
We lost the game even before the referee started the match. The Liverpool players were loaded, pumped up, bloodshot eyes, ready to fight like gladiators, and with a fanatical belief in the victory.
We looked like a team of scared schoolboys...

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Lapi said:

That is an utterly untrue statement.
Lucho's team was well known for having better stamina than other league teams, that's why 80% of games were actually won in the second half, when the opponent got exhausted.

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serghei said:

A lot of what he says is untrue. Pep's team was a pressing beast. You can't run like that and press like that without top fitness and athleticism. Weren't we accused of doping because we ran so much and pressed so hard? How does that make sense if we were weak physically?

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