Let's be honest All the post Enrique set ups at Barca save for Setien were infinitely better than how Pochetino set up PSG last season.
Lionel Messi | PSG Watch
- Thread starter Samid
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No, he's right. LM will get 20 league goals next season minimum.
Poch's stock really fell for me after watching PSG regularly last season. It looked like he didn't have a clue.
Indeed. They had no clue without the ball. The midfield had no chemistry and no defensive strategy. Then in attack Messi and Mbappe were largely played too far apart to establish any combination understanding. Then he utterly refused to instruct his attack to do any organised pressing yet all, even the 34 year old Messi still had the legs for it.
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They had no clue with the ball, without the ball they were fine without being special. With the ball it was a complete mess.
Messi's stats in the upcoming season won't matter that much to me. I just wanna see how he plays, if he is more involved, more focused etc etc... The productivity won't be my main concern
He's going to treat it like a training exercise till the WC I reckon.
I agree. He some how made his players get so much stick yet his guidance from the touchline and training was shocking.
As long as he is properly involved in a working system they are in evitable. Put it this way, CR7 hit double figures in a broken system at 36/37 in a tougher league. As long as Galtier sets up well. Messi and pals upfront will look good and have a field day.
It's clear by now that playing at Barca made him look good.
Yeah if he had transferred to Inter when he was 18 when they offered 120 m euros he probably would have looked shit.
You still believe that old shit? Italian football would have turned him into a competent back tracker, Ashley Young on training wheels. But carry on...
He probably doesn't have a longevity of CR7 and Zlatan in terms of hitting great numbers in his mid thirties. The average retirement age for footballers is 35 and even though he might be blessed with some the greatest natural talent ever it doesn't mean his body can keep up.
What old shit?
The Inter mythologicalisation. He was never going there. To this day, he only speaks world Spanish.
Have no idea what that means. They triggered his clause and chose to stay. I just dont believe its only because he was at Barca he looked good. His failure at 34 at psg doesn't mean much to me. He's been skinning defenders for Argentina his entire career. And yeah He's not been as successful with Argentina as he has with Barca, but he's pulled off a lot of the same stuff.
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He only played well because he played for Barcelona, in another league he would have been Ashley Young cause he only speaks spanish. Some people need to read before posting these bollocks.
he wasn´t good, he only looked good beacuse of Barca, damm
Yeah all those solo goals. It was his team mates who were responsible for it. Same when he used to beat 9 defenders pr. Match when he was 20.
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And the free kicks, thank Iniesta you greedy midget bastard.
I said world Spanish not Spanish. Don't you even know Spanish is divided up into 2 disciplines? And I'm not saying Messi wouldn't have been a genius. But something close.
Cryuff retired at 28 to go into pig farming(he came back though). Maradona was shit at Sevilla and Barcalona couldn't wait to get rid of him. Both him and Pelé were long past their best at 34 with Pelé playing in the MLS. None of these are ever counted among the greatest really.
Going by what I saw from him in the right set up for Argentina vs Italy. I'm convinced he will be alright. He and CR7 proved ages ago they are simply footballing anomalies. As long as they want it enough. They will still deliver the goods
Its the grass they grow on the camp nou. Those grasses had the perfect mix of colour and smell which allowed Messi to trigger 2000% of his footballing potential
I really don't believe. In the interview with Lineker, Ferdinand and Lampard after Messi's masterclass vs Chelsea. They mentioned if you were to build the perfect footballer from machine you'd get someone like Ronaldo, but if you were to build a genius it would be someone like Messi who they mentioned shouldn't have any businesses being a footballer with his body. Kind of what I mean with that is that Messi doesn't necessarily have more milage than iniesta and Xavi. I agree that Ronnie and Messi are both freaks but not in milage.
They have proven time and again their durability is in unique. Last season's anomaly has fooled people into believing Messi is less dangerous. They are in for a big surprise.
Read that PsG is willing to extend his contract for another year.
Not in mileage?! They've dominated world football combined the past 15 years, once Messi got past his early muscle issues, they both stayed fit and didn't miss many games, going all the way until the tail end of games available to play many times, there's no one else that comes close. There might be others that will play longer, but nowhere near that sustained level of brilliance and even by any reasonable standards it's quite a lot of mileage from the both of them.
Yeah agree with you here, think you would be hard pressed to find many players with more minutes on the clock than Ronaldo (With Messi not that far behind).
I thought Poch is one of those manager who is good at organising pressing (back in his Spur days), but Messi has been at almost Ronaldo’s level of pressing last season.
https://fbref.com/en/players/d70ce98e/Lionel-Messi
Ronaldo is the outfield player with the most top level appearances of all time, but sure...
Agree. But the likes of Di Stefano and Puskas were still great when they were approaching mid 30s. But they are very rare breed indeed.
Majority of players would have their legs gone by the time they reached their early 30s, especially when their game is based on high pace intense play throughout their 20s as similar to Ronaldo. Whereas both Ronaldo and Messi, their post 30 stats has been at all time best level.
That changes with sports science though. Zlatan and Lewandowski also keep going. Benzema.
In tennis the big players continue to be successful post 30.
It's not as big a deal as it used to be. I'm sure the all time greats of the past would have also made use of it.
It doesn't show that at all
It's a 43% increase.But this is the Messi thread, so let's stick to discussing the balón dor record winner.
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It doesn't show that at all
But this is the Messi thread, so let's stick to discussing the balón dor record winner.
I'm actually surprised how much he presses per 90 (according to that site) vs most other top players (most who aren't called lazy/ unmotivated etc).
Kane 10.93
Benzema 10.91
Depay 10.44
Lewandowski 9.68
Moreno 9.66
Messi 9.41
Zapata 8.67
Suarez 8.13
Mbappe 8.09
Ronaldo 6.54
It's happening in all sports. In basketball, we're seeing players play much better late in their careers than they ever did before. LeBron James is 37 and still playing at a high level. Durant is 34 and completely ruptured his Achilles, and is still playing well. Curry is 34, and he's just had his best run.
In tennis, it would have been unthinkable to see 35 and 36 years olds dominate the slams just a decade ago. Now it's happening, and there's no sign either of Nadal and Djokovic are slowing down.
Ibrahimovic - like Durant - tore his Achilles, and he was still a serviceable player at 38. Lewandowski is a bit younger, but he broke the all time Bundesliga scoring record at nearly 33, which used to be thought of as out of prime.
The analogy might not be perfect when it comes to NFL, but Brady is ancient, and he won a superbowl at 42(?).
The age curve has completely shifted in all of the major sports. We'll continue to see players play longer.
Pochetino in his last year at spurs IMO proved other wise. They were straight shocking domestically for more than 6 months in the league.
And yes Messi pressing stars are that down thanks to wrong tactics. Its pretty much similar to CR7. I find it amazing people have this belief that pressing is all about physical work rate than strategem. Its ubiquitous.
Yet pressing has ALWAYS been fundamentally about strategy and positional play. If the strategy is to first hog possession religiously with passing, which allows resting for the next press, then to be with in 15 yards of each other as an entire team, literally 5 to 7 yard spaces between players, even slower players, older, usually lazy can all participate in relentless pressing. For if a player can do proffesional shuttle runs, that are literally 10-20m sprints in any direction, that are already basline requirements that determine whether ANY player is match fit in all of football (fitness tests), they can comfortably press. If they are not on mach day, I'm convinced it isn't a question of desire or physique. Its the coaching.
For that 1 reason I had almost wished a cr7 ar this age had been coached by Guardiola. He'd have used CR7s perceived age to lure so many teams into pressing traps. I'm hoping Galtier will do the same with LM10 and Neymar, added to the speed freak Mbappe
Brilliant. This highlights the point I was trying to make with another post about coaching and pressing. Players tend to get blamed for their pressuring stats. As if they don't entirely rely on the strategem of the coaches and team to execute it