10 - Lionel Messi - v2

[misterplatin]

What surprised me is how over the two legs Varane had him in his pocket...

Varane did well in the role that was assigned to him but to say that he nullified Messi is not correct . It is a combined job from the 4 defenders and 2 holding midfielders . With their experience Madrid does it better than the rest top teams . By your logic Zapata had Messi in his pocket in Milan game ha ha .
However the fact is that in both the games he couldn't get into scoring positions in the box that he loves. They just don't let Messi get in the positions from where Messi scores most of his goals. But then Messi should learn to alter a bit , if he is to be considered a great .

 

[Irish_Cules]

The thing is before we say Messi at false 9 no longer works we should at least give him and the team a proper chance, i.e. start tello on the left and pedro or even sanchez on the right. He needs space, iniesta up front doesn't work.

I'm not saying that it doesn't work. It clearly can work remarkably well. It doesn't work though when you have no other consistent goal threat in the team.

 

[Flavia]

I'm not saying that it doesn't work. It clearly can work remarkably well. It doesn't work though when you have no other consistent goal threat in the team.

The worst part is that this problem is old. It happened under Pep, after Villa's injury.

 

[Irish_Cules]

The worst part is that this problem is old. It happened under Pep, after Villa's injury.

I think the management were backing on Pedro returning to his goal scoring ways and Alexis progressing this season. Neither of these things have happened so it really isn't surprising that this problem is occurring once again as we come up against top quality sides.

 

[Kerrybai]

I'm not saying that it doesn't work. It clearly can work remarkably well. It doesn't work though when you have no other consistent goal threat in the team.

Villa for now, and a new player this summer.

 

[CatalinR10]

Bad game , it's not like he had to do all the things by himself again.

oh wait.....

 

[tariqo]

Love to see him play on the wing next game

Messi villa tello

 

[Kerrybai]

Love to see him play on the wing next game

Messi villa tello

We can all dream.

 

[hellsangel1]

To me his work-rate just wasn't up to stratch especially when you compare that to Ronaldo. You can clearly see that Cristiano plays with a chip on his shoulder because he's got to prove to everyone that he's the best player and you don't see Messi playing with that same edge.

 

[e28makaveli]

Bad game , it's not like he had to do all the things by himself again.

oh wait.....

that sums it up. Strikers MIA, probably because we had none.

 

[hendryrusli]

Time for him to buck up or we're going to lose more games.

 

[raedkuwait]

Time for barca management to have the power over the players and specially messi, or do we have another rivaldo case here?!

 

[footyfan]

Typical game where he totally disappears. He makes no effort to vary his game in the slightest. Should look to Ronaldo or the hundreds of other players who adapt to situations even though they're not half as versatile as Messi. He's nowhere close to the Messi of 2 years ago.

Still waiting for his "beast mode" though rofl. He's probably saving himself to score 5 vs Depor

 

[tariqo]

Typical game where he totally disappears. He makes no effort to vary his game in the slightest. Should look to Ronaldo

scoring a penalty + a tap in need unbelievable effort

 

[footyfan]

scoring a penalty + a tap in need unbelievable effort

It required more effort than what Messi has put in the last 5 games combined