Mihai Stefan
New member
I said in the last few days, to look at Barcelona's eliminations from the UCL, from Messi's last years (especially 2016-21). Although I admit that I am a big fan of his, he is the best of all time, and that he made my childhood more beautiful, I was waiting for the evening with my soul in my mouth to watch a match of his, I have to admit that sometimes I noticed some things about him, WHICH I PERSONALLY BELIEVE, made Barcelona a weaker team in the UCL. From what I saw in those matches from 2016-21, eliminations from ucl, Messi's position on the field was WAY TOO free, he could actually go anywhere on the field, he doesn't respect any limits of what he has to do. Too many times, I saw him in the middle of the field leaving his position free, or taking the ball from his defenders, something that caught my eye way too much.
And being a child, I sat and wondered how it was possible that in 2014-15, you could win absolutely everything, and I mean in particular, THE DOMINANCE that Barcelona had in the UCL, to beat all the champions of the big championships, to you always humiliate with a difference of 2-3 goals in general, and from the 2015-16 season to effectively be a punching bag for any team in Europe, effectively with the same team and coach, no major change in the team, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to win YEARS in a row, but from being a UCL winner, not being able to be in the semi-finals for at least 5 years, it seems to me a huge stupidity.
Another mistake that caught my eye, is that Messi and Suarez did not press ABSOLUTELY AT ALL, any defender/midfielder from the opposing team who passed by them was left free to pass, not even a little attention to attack him , I'm not even saying to defend against their attacks. This period of Messi from 2016-21, seems to me simply a shadow of what I was used to in my childhood 2010-13 when I was watching with my brother and father.
My problem with Messi is that for a long time Barcelona could not have a fixed form to attack and defend, many times Rakitic had to come to the right wing to create width, Barcelona was forced to play with 2 midfielders defensive because Messi, standing in the center, did not defend at all and did not press.
I know that in the 2010-13 period, he still had attempts to go down to the middle of the field, but in the end, he returned to his initial position, did not remain behind the attack, and pressed much more, as many times as he pressed and he stayed in his position, the better the team performed. I remember how frustrated I was because at that time Ronaldo scored goals out of nowhere, not being better than Messi, neither in dribbling, nor in finishing, nor as a creator (as an assists provider for his attackers), he could score from anything , and Messi was standing in the middle of the field with 4-5 players in front of him permanently, who were about to attack him.
When Messi is a full time attacker, as we saw in the 10/11, 11/12, 12/13 seasons, he is by far the best attacker in history and nothing can take his place, but he always has this strange mentality to he goes to the middle of the field and creates opportunities, which have no value because Suarez and Neymar are attacked by 4 defenders, and they cannot manage, this is a reason why Messi had to be permanently in attack, to create width that is very much needed. In order to create game options and to create width in the attack, the full-backs WERE MUCH TOO HIGH ON THE FIELD, you could be caught very easily on the counter-attack and the pivots were forced to go a little to the sides so as not to be caught on the counter-attack, purely and it was simply something extremely wrong for Messi to be a full time midfielder but without defending, the team cannot create a good SHAPE to attack and defend.
What I still can't understand is that many people defended him just because of the simple fact that he is Messi and that's it, everything was said based on feelings and nothing objective, strictly based on what is seen on the field. A lot of people said "but he doesn't have a good RB to combine with", but he played in this style in 2015-16, when Dani Alves was still the team's starter. Another thing I heard "The midfield can't create chances at all and that's why he has to go down", but with the same midfield you won the UCL, and now they can't create anything at all? I didn't see the logic at all. I want to know what you think and if I see something wrong, please explain it to me, thank you for reading, VISCA BARCA.
And being a child, I sat and wondered how it was possible that in 2014-15, you could win absolutely everything, and I mean in particular, THE DOMINANCE that Barcelona had in the UCL, to beat all the champions of the big championships, to you always humiliate with a difference of 2-3 goals in general, and from the 2015-16 season to effectively be a punching bag for any team in Europe, effectively with the same team and coach, no major change in the team, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to win YEARS in a row, but from being a UCL winner, not being able to be in the semi-finals for at least 5 years, it seems to me a huge stupidity.
Another mistake that caught my eye, is that Messi and Suarez did not press ABSOLUTELY AT ALL, any defender/midfielder from the opposing team who passed by them was left free to pass, not even a little attention to attack him , I'm not even saying to defend against their attacks. This period of Messi from 2016-21, seems to me simply a shadow of what I was used to in my childhood 2010-13 when I was watching with my brother and father.
My problem with Messi is that for a long time Barcelona could not have a fixed form to attack and defend, many times Rakitic had to come to the right wing to create width, Barcelona was forced to play with 2 midfielders defensive because Messi, standing in the center, did not defend at all and did not press.
I know that in the 2010-13 period, he still had attempts to go down to the middle of the field, but in the end, he returned to his initial position, did not remain behind the attack, and pressed much more, as many times as he pressed and he stayed in his position, the better the team performed. I remember how frustrated I was because at that time Ronaldo scored goals out of nowhere, not being better than Messi, neither in dribbling, nor in finishing, nor as a creator (as an assists provider for his attackers), he could score from anything , and Messi was standing in the middle of the field with 4-5 players in front of him permanently, who were about to attack him.
When Messi is a full time attacker, as we saw in the 10/11, 11/12, 12/13 seasons, he is by far the best attacker in history and nothing can take his place, but he always has this strange mentality to he goes to the middle of the field and creates opportunities, which have no value because Suarez and Neymar are attacked by 4 defenders, and they cannot manage, this is a reason why Messi had to be permanently in attack, to create width that is very much needed. In order to create game options and to create width in the attack, the full-backs WERE MUCH TOO HIGH ON THE FIELD, you could be caught very easily on the counter-attack and the pivots were forced to go a little to the sides so as not to be caught on the counter-attack, purely and it was simply something extremely wrong for Messi to be a full time midfielder but without defending, the team cannot create a good SHAPE to attack and defend.
What I still can't understand is that many people defended him just because of the simple fact that he is Messi and that's it, everything was said based on feelings and nothing objective, strictly based on what is seen on the field. A lot of people said "but he doesn't have a good RB to combine with", but he played in this style in 2015-16, when Dani Alves was still the team's starter. Another thing I heard "The midfield can't create chances at all and that's why he has to go down", but with the same midfield you won the UCL, and now they can't create anything at all? I didn't see the logic at all. I want to know what you think and if I see something wrong, please explain it to me, thank you for reading, VISCA BARCA.
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