UCL | QF 2nd Leg | Atletico Madrid V Barcelona

The Franchise wrote:Xavi made a fantastic pass to Neymar who was 1 v 1 with the goalie which the goalie reches, then your boy refuses to use his right foot and the chance dies. And on the night Xavi made 100 passes, every one of them reached their target.

Dani Alves layed a golden chance on a plate to Messi, who heads it wide.

Add in the Neymar pass, Messi missed 3 of the best chances of the night. The Alves cross header and Neymar pass especially, were fantastic chances.

No points? Ok, guy.

Xavi completes 100 passes but only manages to create one measly chance.

Koke, on the other hand, completes only 40 passes but manages to create 3 chances.


What can we conclude from those stats? Most of Xavi's passes are useless. This "tika taka" obsession that Barca have is ruining the team. Atletico Madrid only had like a 34% possession on Wed but managed to create twice as many chances as Barca. What use is hogging the ball is you can't do anything with it? Just endless sideways/backwards passing all night long...

PS. Xavi had 0 tackles, 0 clearances, 0 interceptions, 0 and 0 blocks yet people here go on about Messi being lazy? Should he be more like Xavi and chase shadows all night?

I remember last season we were also about to go out on quarters against PSG but Tito subbed in an injured Messi who won us the game... likewise against Athletic and countless other matches during the last season, especially in the last stretch of the league. I think that proved quite definitely that we are not a better team without him. Not to say Messi doesnt have a responsibility for the loss but the game was lost because our CB partnership was Bartra-Masche. And that is Zubi's fault.

Yes Messi had some bad games recently and yes he hasn't pressed in years. However, those calling for his sale are clearly overreacting. If this attitude from the fans continues, then he probably should be sold. Probably to another big European team.
Then I hope he comes up against us in the CL and destroys us so those fans feel like shit. Because make no mistake, he will DESTROY us.

And how many times did your precious boy Messi lose the ball?Every single time he touched the ball,he got owned and owned hard and lost the ball.And instead of working to get it back he just stands there.
Alves didnt lose a tenth of the balls that your precious boy Messi did.So cut the nonsense.And maybe if the lazy bum could actually have been bothered to help out Alves,he wouldnt have been left 2 vs 1 all night and we would have fared better.But thats too much to ask right.

Just accept the fact that your boy got owned and owned hard.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I remember last season we were also about to go out on quarters against PSG but Tito subbed in an injured Messi who won us the game... likewise against Athletic and countless other matches during the last season, especially in the last stretch of the league. I think that proved quite definitely that we are not a better team without him. Not to say Messi doesnt have a responsibility for the loss but the game was lost because our CB partnership was Bartra-Masche. And that is Zubi's fault.

Apples and oranges.Last season we were coachless in that stretch.Cant really compare.
And lets not blame everything on Zubi.We lost because we were playing 10 vs 11.
I am sure that we would have gone through had we played Alexis instead of the bum.

Stejo wrote:Messi is under enormous pressure to do well in the World Cup this season. He's been injured for the first half of the season and wants to be sure he is in top shape in Brazil. He's not gonna give 100% this season to Barca, and it's actually understandable. He's 26. Next WC he'll be 30 and who knows how things gonna be in 4 years, this is his opportunity to become a legend forever, lifting the WC for Argentina in Brazil gonna be crazy.

Give the guy a break, it's not his fault the club didn't do the required transfers to ensure it can function without him single-handedly winning every game.

Cant believe fans of the club would post like this.He is paid millions to play and give his all.The way people talk,one would imagine he is playing for us free and actually doing us a favor by doing so.Couldnt be more wrong.We are doing him the favor by giving him the honor to wear our shirt and he can repay us a bit by giving his all.
Hundreds of players are going to the WC and yet they still give their all for the club.
Cant believe a Barca fan would use such a poor excuse to defend the bum.That he is saving himself for Argentina and therefore cant give his all for the club.Well in that case he should get out and thats what any logical fan should think.

I'll have to take your word for it as I was at work during this match, but just because Messi had one bad match doesn't mean we should sell the best player of this generation...

Not that FIFA would let us anyway

And why not blame Zubi? The predominant reason we lost was that our CBs were not up to the task, correct? Who made the choice to only focus on TS during the market and ignore a key signing for four years now? I get that the coach, players and executive all have a share of responsibility, but the line of reasoning this past summer was "if we don't sign a CB we wont be able to compete at the top level". That's what happened, right?

Though I am against selling Messi, he did not have just one bad match. I did not see this game, but he has been walking on the pitch for a while. If he is scared of injury, maybe he should sit some games and go in only when he feels he can give 100%. I think a 100% alexis/pedro is much better than 20% Messi. I mean take a look at Pedro with national team.

alexjanosik wrote:And how many times did your precious boy Messi lose the ball?Every single time he touched the ball,he got owned and owned hard and lost the ball.And instead of working to get it back he just stands there.
Alves didnt lose a tenth of the balls that your precious boy Messi did.So cut the nonsense.And maybe if the lazy bum could actually have been bothered to help out Alves,he wouldnt have been left 2 vs 1 all night and we would have fared better.But thats too much to ask right.

Just accept the fact that your boy got owned and owned hard.

I think you will find that Dani Alves gave the ball away more times than Messi on the night.

Dani Alves had 75 pass attempts with 60 of those passes completed.
Dani Alves had 13 cross attempts. Only 4 found their target.
Dani Alves had 3 take ons with only 1 success.


Lionel Messi had 4 take ons with 2 of them a success.
Lionel Messi had 38 pass attempts with 29 of those completed.
Lionel Messi had 1 cross attempt with no success.

Those here crying the nonsense of selling Messi should better become fan of some other club for a decade at least. they can cry all day long but that rubbish wont happen in a decade because barca wont sell messi. i leave tata's post match comment for other people......
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What left journalists aghast was Martino’s post game comments on Lionel Messi. “Today we were not interested in Leo participating in a lot of the play, rather that he looked for the one-on-ones with his defender on the right.” It’s questionable that the team’s and world’s best player be asked to curtail his influence. That was justified with, “because of the special [man-marking] he’s always subjected to by Atlético, it was better to have Cesc as the false-nine and Messi on the wings. For sure, he participated little, but he had two very good opportunities. We didn’t base our whole game plan on Messi’s position, we also had Cesc, Neymar and Iniesta.”
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With that being said i am not here to defend Messi just to answer the utter nonsense flowing around by some people. I am also utterly disappointed to know of Messi's performance just as much as others. A run of few kilo more even would not have changed the game. He needed a performance with utter brilliance. A performance of his level. Thats what even i was praying for. I know this team has no ability to defeat this At. Madrid in their home. We have no legs (no defense no keeper). You can cry why Bartra was not given more chances but he clearly not in the level of defending us in the CL games. we were only left with mid and attack where our manager, we knew must would screw up with his decisions. What you expect from such a team who playing vs a an extremely organized and motivated team. I only relied on Messi and he failed....Now it seems its another  decision by Martino to not involve him into game. Martino thought Messi attracts defenders so even if he does not participate would still attract defenders??? But he needed to know is its not a defending game, its a scoring game for us where a score is must. and who gonna score????

I am extremely disappointed with Messi's performance this season. The guy did not play even 70% of his level. Its necessary to identify the issue. is that an injury fear, has his level dropped or a lack of motivation - need to figure out sooner.

Finally want to give thanks to Tata again for his  brave comment at the beginning of the season where he said we dont need to sign any defender.

Awful performance from everyone except Neymar, Barta, Alba and Pedro, who at least run.

Especial awards on pathetic performances from Mascherano as usual, but also Busquets, Alves, Iniesta and Messi.

I see that finally Alex has dropped his mask and  calls for a Messi sale, :'D. Hilarious.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
And why not blame Zubi? The predominant reason we lost was that our CBs were not up to the task, correct?

That is not correct.

We all know we have bad options in the center of defence, but that wasnt the entire reason we lost, or even the main reason...wasnt even the main reason we gave so many chances.

We scored 1 goal in 2 games vs them, that's the starting point.

They out ran us, gave more effort, played a better team game, had more unselfish performers (both with the ball and making runs to create space) and gained more control over the game. They were just better.

It starts from all positions, not just the defenders.

We could of played any two defenders in the world and still we would have lost I believe.

We could of also played another 30 minutes and still not have scored I believe.

Nah. When you have a shit defense and the Barca 16 yard box is burning everytime a simple aerial ball is played in there it gives the opponents motivation because they know they can easily create chances and at the same time the own team becomes insecure when they concede chances everytime. I mean just look at the goal we conceded in the Calderon. It was basically a simple hoof from Courtois to Raul Garcia who only had to win the aerial duel against Alba (lol) and flick the ball on to Adrian who was suddenly 1 vs. 1 with Pinto and hit the post. The follow-up play was another simple cross (again Alba losing the aerial duel against Raul Garcia) where Garcia again flicks the ball on to an onrushing Koke who scores. The most intense pressing of all time couldn't have prevented that goal because it all started with a simple hoof from Courtois towards Alba's side and 1 simple cross did the job. Abidal instead of Alba and that play is cleared easily. People underestimate the influence of a stable defense even in regard to the own attacking play.

He said centerback.

You dont need to convince me that we suck in aerial duels and Alba sucks period.

Just want to comment on Messi, u have u realise Atletico's tactics worked so well that he couldnt do aynthing, watch the game again. I know we all think and want him to adjust more and find a way to counter the group marking on him, but easier said than done.

Im just thinking though, a commentator was talking about players that just know how to play 1 way, these players seem to be naturally born to play in such a way, and have been successful since they were very young, and kept being successful playing that way. But when u get to the highest level, teams always can counter u, so u need to adapt. Players age as well. The commentator gave Owen as an example, after he got injured and age, he just couldnt play like his younger days.

Compare that with players such as Giggs, Raul, Del Piero, Gerrard, etc., they continue playing into their mid to late 30s, without their own pace and speed, but still class players with a obvious change in position/role/style/etc.

Now I think its quite clear, Messi has always played 1 way and have been successful. Just maybe though, there will come a time when due to whatever factor he would need to adjust his game in order to be effective. As time goes, teams will know how to counter him, and he will get slower. His style means he needs so much speed and strength to beat players, I just hope he can keep that up in order to keep playing that way, which is great. Otherwise, he may need to change or adjust as a player perhaps?

No.

And these excuses are pitiful. Nobody cares if he makes mistakes, misses chances and has difficulty because of heavy marking...that can happen.

But his shitty work ethic is inexcusable.

You have to run in football, im sorry there is no way around it but its true, you have to actually move.

The Franchise wrote:No.

And these excuses are pitiful. Nobody cares if he makes mistakes, misses chances and has difficulty because of heavy marking...that can happen.

But his shitty work ethic is inexcusable.

You have to run in football, im sorry there is no way around it but its true, you have to actually move.

The most annoying part is that people are treating him like he is bigger than the club. Ridiculous. He needs to put in a shift or gtfo. If he's concentrating on the WC I hope he gets benched for the rest of next season. Barcelona are not paying him extortionate fees to walk about..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlS4Oh-CcAAh-SF.png

So Messi and Pinto had more or less the same distance covered...?

is messi getting too cocky? oh is he just conserving energy?

Xavi, even at the age covering more pitch then any of our other players.