"[On Wednesday] Messi took people for idiots! He spent his time walking," he told beIN Sport.

Sagnol also took the time to praise Atleti coach Diego Simeone, saying he was a difficult opponent to face during his playing days.

"I had the chance to play against Simeone," he added.

"He was a real dog on the pitch."
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1716/champions-league/2014/04/10/4743371/messi-took-people-for-idiots-sagnol-slams-barcelona-star

Was his workrate as disgusting as people have been telling me?

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Was his workrate as disgusting as people have been telling me?

It was embarrassing tbh. Worse than anything Ronaldo has done this season. Complete passenger.

Sounds disgraceful. I wonder if anybody at Barca has the balls to say anything to him.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Sounds disgraceful. I wonder if anybody at Barca has the balls to say anything to him.

Nope. What can they do considering they can't sign anybody.

Lionel Messi match stats vs tax authorities

Key dribbling tax evasion: 2.5
Tax evasion completion rate: 100%
Tax evasion accuracy: 0%
KM ran in order to avoid tax: 10 665.1227 kilometres

Harry Redknapp would be proud of dem stats

It's hard to pin point what's wrong with messi now. He used to press so damn hard in his prime, now he walks around and does nothing. Either he just doesnt care anymore because he won too much and feel like the people behind him should work harder to win balls for him, or he has started to believe that he is god himself on the pitch and any touch he makes will change the game.

Kind of embarrassing that the football "experts" seemingly expect him to be carrying Barcelona ever single game.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Sounds disgraceful. I wonder if anybody at Barca has the balls to say anything to him.

Guardiola vs Messi and his coke.
Messi won.

The_Badger wrote:Kind of embarrassing that the football "experts" seemingly expect him to be carrying Barcelona ever single game.

what does that have to do with what Sagnol said?

Sagnol is criticizing the work rate of Messi is a CL quarter finals, not his ability to carry Barcelona. If you are going to be bad, be bad, it's ok it happens, and at least try and make the effort.

The_Badger wrote:Kind of embarrassing that the football "experts" seemingly expect him to be carrying Barcelona ever single game.

they just expect him to run a little bit more than the goalie.

To me Messi doesn't look to be in the best shape he can be.

Could this be the beginning of his physical decline as an athlete? It is well documented that excessive use of human growth hormone can lead to the body being more fragile.

farfan wrote:

The_Badger wrote:Kind of embarrassing that the football "experts" seemingly expect him to be carrying Barcelona ever single game.

they just expect him to run a little bit more than the goalie.

If he'd ran 5km extra would that make things better even if the result stayed the same?

Still no goals, still go out, but it's okay cos he ran a few kilometres more.

The_Badger wrote:If he'd ran 5km extra would that make things better even if the result stayed the same?

Still no goals, still go out, but it's okay cos he ran a few kilometres more.

No one is talking about the result of the game, they are talking about the lacklustre effort he put him.

When your work effort is being questioned, you fcked up badly.

izzy wrote:

The_Badger wrote:If he'd ran 5km extra would that make things better even if the result stayed the same?

Still no goals, still go out, but it's okay cos he ran a few kilometres more.

No one is talking about the result of the game, they are talking about the lacklustre effort he put him.

When your work effort is being questioned, you fcked up badly.

If he scored two goals, no one would care how many miles/kilometres/furlongs he ran.

The_Badger wrote:

izzy wrote:

The_Badger wrote:If he'd ran 5km extra would that make things better even if the result stayed the same?

Still no goals, still go out, but it's okay cos he ran a few kilometres more.

No one is talking about the result of the game, they are talking about the lacklustre effort he put him.

When your work effort is being questioned, you fcked up badly.

If he scored two goals, no one would care how many miles/kilometres/furlongs he ran.

But he did not, and the fact that he took a 65 year old's morning walk in the pitch is the major reason for that.

The_Badger wrote:

izzy wrote:

The_Badger wrote:If he'd ran 5km extra would that make things better even if the result stayed the same?

Still no goals, still go out, but it's okay cos he ran a few kilometres more.

No one is talking about the result of the game, they are talking about the lacklustre effort he put him.

When your work effort is being questioned, you fcked up badly.

If he scored two goals, no one would care how many miles/kilometres/furlongs he ran.

But he didn't did he? He left the door open for criticism.

People (correctly) correlate effort with results. He was anonymous yesterday but if he put in more effort the outcome may have been different.

And the outcome may have been the same. It's irrelevant though. He's being used as a scapegoat for Barca's exit rather than blaming the team as a whole, blaming that imbecile Pinto, blaming Tata's tactics, or rightly acknowledging the greatness of Atletico Madrid.

Equating miles ran to work effort is the kind of ignorance one expects from the "football manager" generation of football fans.

Real question, have you ever played competitive sports?

Yes, but it's irrelevant to the topic. This thread is not about me.

The_Badger wrote:
Equating miles ran to work effort is the kind of ignorance one expects from the "football manager" generation of football fans.

So you are saying Messi put in great effort vs Atleti?

Zeal; out mere personal interest would you have the finest article regarding the statements you made about HGH?

M99 wrote:

The_Badger wrote:
Equating miles ran to work effort is the kind of ignorance one expects from the "football manager" generation of football fans.

So you are saying Messi put in great effort vs Atleti?

I'm saying he was completely and utterly stifled by the Atletico team. I can't remember the last time I seen a team nullify him so effectively.

Some people expect player to run around like headless chickens for 90 minutes and even if they do absolutely *bleep* all, those same people will convince themselves this equates to great work effort. It doesn't. This is football, not a steeplechase.

I have seen Messi press the ball like crazy against other defences who attempted and sometimes succeeded to nullify him. He did not show nowhere near the effort he used to show in previous seasons and I did not need stats to know that, I saw it with my own eyes, the stats merely show that what I thought was right. He is being made a scapegoat because he is the best in the world and expectations on him are high. So when he shows up in a match and hardly covers more distance than the goalkeeper did, he will be criticised for not showing enough effort.

Mr_Puyol wrote:

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Sounds disgraceful. I wonder if anybody at Barca has the balls to say anything to him.

Guardiola vs Messi and his coke.
Messi won.

But yesterday it was Koke Zero.