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    Xavi Hernández

    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...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    I think our total goalscoring last year compared to the year before is a bit of a different topic since I was talking about the effect of Messi being in the false nine role and he was in that role both years. With that said, Barcelona did actually score quite well last season, despite having...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    ...that's just the point...I'm very confused why you are disagreeing with me. I have basically said "We have had world class strikers but Messi being a false nine has stopped them from getting that many goals." You then basically say "I disagree with you. Our strikers are world class. They just...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    Maybe. But why? Have Barca's strikers REALLY gotten significantly worse every year? I buy that Alexis/Pedro was a step down last year in terms of goalscoring, but I'm not sure that Eto'o/Henry > Ibra/Henry/Pedro > Villa/Pedro, (despite the fact that Pedro should be getting better each year with...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    Villa is not that old. He was only 28 when he came to Barca. A striker who is 28-30 years old is generally considered still in his prime. Henry was getting old in the 2009-2010 season. Maybe that's why he didn't play well. But I included him because he performed really well the year before...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    I think it bears emphasizing that the issue above COULD explain my whole point actually. It is easier to get Messi the ball when he is floating around in the center of the pitch than when he is on the wing. This allows him to get the ball more and be closer to the goal when he does. This is why...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    It may be true that our strikers are just getting less clinical each year. There is certainly an argument that Eto'o/Henry was clinical while Ibra/Pedro was just less good, Villa hit a run of awful form the next year, and that last year Pedro was having an off-year and Alexis is not really a...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    100 goals between the front three is REALLY good, but that's not the point. The point is that Messi's production increase when moving to the false nine role has been accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the production of the others in the front three with him. Messi got almost TWICE as...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    I think that's a valid point. But wasn't it the point that Ibra could drop deep? Messi shifts between dropping deep to create and going forward to score. You don't want another player trying to fulfill the same role as Messi at any given time since it will crowd the space. So if you want another...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    I did briefly mention that, and I know that's a big part of it. But we should also remember that Barcelona will create a ton more chances overall than these guys have ever had on their prior teams. Strikers tend to get many more goals when on better teams, all else being equal. So while they...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    Messi is insanely good, probably the best player ever, but I DO wonder if his play-style stops Barca from having any other effective forwards. Last season, Ronaldo-Higuain-Benzema scored 118 goals. Messi-Villa-Pedro (98 goals), Messi-Eto'o-Henry (100 goals), Messi-Ibrahimovic-Henry/Pedro (95...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    How could Messi not win, though? Notwithstanding Mourinho's statements, I do not see how Ronaldo could get the award. To be sure, Ronaldo is playing FANTASTICALLY. His goalscoring is absolutely insane. The problem is that Messi's goalscoring is actually marginally MORE absurd. Meanwhile...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    Hat trick.
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    Absurd. I'm curious whether people think Messi will keep this pace up. I remember thinking after the 2009 season that there was no way Messi would keep scoring that many goals; after all, he had increased his goal scoring tally from 16 the previous season to an absurd 38 that season. It seemed...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    Hahaha, I like Cristiano as little as you do, I'm sure, but one can't deny that he is looking at all-time great status. After winning the Ballon D'or at ManU, he has 126 goals in 127 matches with Real Madrid. That's ABSURD. I know he gets a ton of penalties, isn't an amazing passer, doesn't have...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    The difference is that Sneijder was not arguably the 2nd best player in the world that season. He was just the best player on a treble winning team and WC Finalist. Ronaldo is arguably the 2nd best player in the world (I say arguably because Xavi and Iniesta certainly have arguments for it too)...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    I know this debate was a few pages ago on this thread, but I came across this video of Maradona playing in the 1982 World Cup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64pLXRN_XCM He had an awesome match, but he clearly was not a "playmaker" either at this point in his career. His role in this match...
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    Xavi Hernández

    How good do you guys think Xavi will be considered in a historical sense? I personally think conventional thought is changing on this. After 2009, I don't think Xavi was considered an all-time great. He had finished 5th in Ballon D'or voting in 2008, 3rd in 2009, won the Best Player award at...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    I know there's a ton more to playmaking than making assists, but I think this video is telling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6jSt_4nZp0 A majority of Messi's assists this season have not come at the end of some penetrating run, but rather were creative passes taken from outside the box...
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    10 - Lionel Messi - v1

    To some degree this is true. However, Messi DOES actually have a presence in the middle third as well, particularly this year. He tends to sometimes drop very deep. In some matches he does this most of the time. He is also not really like a winger in this way. Yes, he too tries to beat...

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