'The Messiah' - Lionel Messi V.2

Might interest some of you:

Messi's defensive stats

Messi winning Marca's best player of the season

http://www.marca.com/en/2015/05/26/en/football/spanish_football/1432651884.html

EDIT : if you have forgotten, this is that joke award given to CR in 2013 season when he failed to win pichichi or any title with the team....

Casciavit wrote:Might interest some of you:

Messi's defensive stats

"Messi, just walks around like he owns the pitch all game."

I'm surprised his last season was better than 2 seasons ago

Also his 2010-11 season is often held up as one where he contributed often but it looks no different than the rest

Tbf balls won back doesn't mean he's trying harder than ever has or is pressurizing better.

For example Fabregas this season has won more balls than he ever has and you can bet your ass that is mainly to do with Matic.

I would argue he actually pressed and harried better back then, the eye test says that anyway. Without actually winning the ball back but he did force defenders into mistakes none the less. ( probably more)

Basically i think the pressure of Suarez leads to more situations where Messi can win the ball at a higher rate because defenders have to worry about both of them taking the ball from them.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I'm surprised his last season was better than 2 seasons ago

Really? 12/13 was without a doubt his all time low. Today I've coincidentally rewatched the 2-2 La Liga Clasico from that season (wanted to see how much Barca has changed from then). He was freaking lazy. Xavi was running all the way up and pressuring centerbacks while Messi was just standing and watching. Which was totally pointless as the pressing didn't happen collectively so it only resulted in Xavi leaving a gap in midfield when he went all the way up to press.

That aside: I wonder how I managed to watch Barca week in week out in 12/13. In hindsight it's atroscious to watch. No wingplay whatsoever. Right side Pedro backpassing nonstop, left side actually no one on the wing. Iniesta and Flopregas standing on each other's toes in midfield, just Alba doing some runs here and there on the left flank. Only 1 genuine goal threat (Messi) upfront and lots of pointless buildup play and ball possession in the middle third. 5 shots in total in the 70th minute displayed. 1 of them was Messi's freekick goal.

Fußball wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I'm surprised his last season was better than 2 seasons ago

Really? 12/13 was without a doubt his all time low. Today I've coincidentally rewatched the 2-2 La Liga Clasico from that season (wanted to see how much Barca has changed from then). He was freaking lazy. Xavi was running all the way up and pressuring centerbacks while Messi was just standing and watching. Which was totally pointless as the pressing didn't happen collectively so it only resulted in Xavi leaving a gap in midfield when he went all the way up to press.

That aside: I wonder how I managed to watch Barca week in week out in 12/13. In hindsight it's atroscious to watch. No wingplay whatsoever. Right side Pedro backpassing nonstop, left side actually no one on the wing. Iniesta and Flopregas standing on each other's toes in midfield, just Alba doing some runs here and there on the left flank. Only 1 genuine goal threat (Messi) upfront and lots of pointless buildup play and ball possession in the middle third. 5 shots in total in the 70th minute displayed. 1 of them was Messi's freekick goal.

I still remember that





Maghaad how did Messi actually carry Barcelona to La Liga 12-13?

EDIT: by scoring 21 La Liga games in a row, against every opponent.



Sanchez getting away from the front. Messi runs about 70 yards, passes, dribbles, tackles and shoots the goal when the winger stays put whole time.

That season was terrible to view on all levels. No individualism, no team work, a broken team defensively....the absolute height of my Cesc hate.

Nothing was more annoying than watching Xavi race 25m forward for nothing. You know the plan isnt right when everyone is standing motionless and the 30 something midfielder is running near full speed forward to a defender with the ball, with all the time in the world.

As for the balls won stats, doesnt mean anything to me. Defensive pressing is never about who wins the most balls, it s a collective effort...I put alot of pressure and run hard so that he makes a mistake in judgement and maybe he kicks it out, maybe he kicks it long, maybe he passes it back to the keepr who kicks it, maybe you back me up and it goes to you, maybe it falls to a midfielder..it can go everywhere except where he defender wants to put it.

Messi this season has done alot better than the last few, but he still has his days where he wanders around aimlessly or watches the play happen around him. His effort is inconsistent. But when he does put effort, as we all already knew he is a very difficult obstacle. Its only natural, he is ultra quick the first few meters, changes direction even quicker, is physically strong at his base and above all is very smart and reads opponents intentions.

The Franchise wrote:

Messi this season has done alot better than the last few, but he still has his days where he wanders around aimlessly or watches the play happen around him. His effort is inconsistent. But when he does put effort, as we all already knew he is a very difficult obstacle. Its only natural, he is ultra quick the first few meters, changes direction even quicker, is physically strong at his base and above all is very smart and reads opponents intentions.

I agree. But, if him walking some games keeps him out of injuries, i don't mind him doing that against scrubs, even more so now that we can afford that - having Nerman and Suarez as real goal threats which we did not have before. He can slack of on those games and just do couple of touches of genius, a through ball or diagonal to Nerman or Suarez or a one time slalom and score. But he has to be consistent against important teams and games which he did more or less this season.

Lets not get into that, I dont want to upset people. Ill just aya I dont buy that excuse and never will, picking and choosing when to run to avoid injuries? Nah.

He doesnt limit himself how often he sprints when he has the ball, but when he doesnt have it, he has to?

Again, I dont want to stir that up again but I just aint buying that one and would like to move on

Harmonica wrote:


Sanchez getting away from the front. Messi runs about 70 yards, passes, dribbles, tackles and shoots the goal when the winger stays put whole time.

What a fking goal! Incredible, thanks for remembering me that!

so what's his total goal tally in all comps vs Ronaldo? Pretty much I am wondering what he has to do to win the European Golden boat or if it's out of reach even with todays 2 goals

58 Messi vs 59 CR according to whoscored, although I'm not sure if this already reflects the CdR final

windkick wrote:so what's his total goal tally in all comps vs Ronaldo? Pretty much I am wondering what he has to do to win the European Golden boat or if it's out of reach even with todays 2 goals

Only league goals count in the race for the Golden Shoe. CR already won it.

Thought it was league goals and UCL goals

Oh well

He is tied with Ronaldo for the UCL top scorer BTW. He still has the final to break clear. Also, it's worth mentioning that Neymar also has a chance of becoming the top scorer as he is only a mere goal behind them.

Let's hope that won't stop them from assisting each other in Berlin.

Deja Vu wrote:He is tied with Ronaldo for the UCL top scorer BTW. He still has the final to break clear. Also, it's worth mentioning that Neymar also has a chance of becoming the top scorer as he is only a mere goal behind them.

Let's hope that won't stop them from assisting each other in Berlin.

pretty sure if messi doesn't score in the final it goes to whomever played less in this case ronaldo.

i really wish he care less about it. one reason why MSN is so dangerous is because they are so selfless in front of goal...

our most greedy forward is neymar.. not messi lol

nah...not that much. yeah today he could have passed a few times rather than attempting "autracious going no where" shots but then agian those were when we already won the game. i could care less of what happens after the game is won. they have the right to stat pad that time

Donuts wrote:

Deja Vu wrote:He is tied with Ronaldo for the UCL top scorer BTW. He still has the final to break clear. Also, it's worth mentioning that Neymar also has a chance of becoming the top scorer as he is only a mere goal behind them.

Let's hope that won't stop them from assisting each other in Berlin.

pretty sure if messi doesn't score in the final it goes to whomever played less in this case ronaldo.

Yeah, what I meant was he still has a chance to score and break the tie.

I also believe that out of the trio, Neymar is the most selfish but not much really.

being a greedy forward is not a bad thing..
our selfless pedro/sanchez of last year costed us a lot of games

just wish neymar would pass it more to an open suarez instead of always going for glory.
i mean we constantly see suarez doing it for messi/neymar and messi occasionally does it but neymar not so much

Indeed, I also noticed that Neymar hardly ever assists Suarez. In  fact, I remember I read somewhere that Neymar hadn't assisted Suarez once in all competitions.

EDIT:

I would think some examples of these situations would help, but I dont often see these situations you speak of.

Neymar often tries to give Messi open goals in 1 v 1 does he not?

Yesturday the biggest thing I recall was Suarez being greedy. He got played in behind by someone (maybe Rakitic) and he shot it first time on the right side when Rakitic was wide open for a basic tap in.

But anyway, I agree with donuts...I have seen too many teams and players mess up trying to walk the ball into the net. These are forwards, unless someone is about to score a tap in to an open net..your every right to shoot.

My point was that while Neymar often looks for Messi for those tap-ins, he more than often ignores Suarez when he is in similar positions, and instead goes for the goal which isn't necessarily always a bad thing but it's something I found interesting. I can't name any specific matches for examples but I know for sure I often saw Suarez yelling at Neymar in situations he went for glory instead of crossing to Suarez for an easy tap-in.

Deja Vu wrote:My point was that while Neymar often looks for Messi for those tap-ins, he more than often ignores Suarez when he is in similar positions, and instead goes for the goal which isn't necessarily always a bad thing but it's something I found interesting. I can't name any specific matches for examples but I know for sure I often saw Suarez yelling at Neymar in situations he went for glory instead of crossing to Suarez for an easy tap-in.

From the games I've seen I have noticed the same thing tbh.