Lionel Messi

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Distance covered stats are a pretty crude measure of what players are doing - that's why the stats firms give it away cheap, and we see it on our TV screens. The serious measurable physical workload of forwards revolves around things like distance covered at sprint speed, number of sprints, acceleration, deceleration and turns.

Which isn't particularly significant for Messi except that he probably does less of it than players like Villa, RvP, Rooney etc. The combination of his style of play, his Barca appointed personal trainer and his lifestyle choices probably do the rest - certainly he's come a long way from the worryingly regular injuries of his teens.

In the injuries context, I've seen more players seriously injured attempting to make a tackle (or just running around) than I've seen injured by a deliberate foul. Throw in the fact that flair players like Messi can see deliberate fouls coming a mile away and it's not so surprising that at the peak of his physical ability he's staying injury clear.

On the general drugs in football issue - it's worth discussing, but not really in the context of Messi.
 
It's a good job he's so good, because his work rate is actually shocking at times these days! It's genuinely looks like he's trying to break every goal scoring record going whilst expending the least possible amount of energy. It says a lot about the quality of his movement, I suppose.
 
Brightonian said:
The very unique way in which Messi dribbles probably helps him avoid injury. He doesn't really do tricks, or deceive his opponent (indeed the older he's got, the less trickery he seems to use). He just has an incredible sense of the momentum and direction of himself, the ball, and the opponent, and can almost see where everything will be a second later. He uses his pace and incredible control of the ball to simply follow the path between these predicted obstacles.

This means that when he gets clattered or tripped, he's ready for it. He hasn't feinted an opponent who then whips out a rash leg, he's just seen how far they'll be able to reach, and gone around. Watch him fall - he's almost always ready for it before it happens. I've never seen him land awkwardly in his entire career.

As for Ronaldo, his supreme physical condition probably shields him from a lot of damage. He does get injured more than Messi - which makes sense, because when he does go round an opponent one-on-one (happens less these days to be fair), there normally is an element of trickery or deception about it.

Remember also the photos we used to see sometimes when he was at United. He'd come out of every game with his legs literally black and blue.

(Sorry to double post.)
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Good point, though I got whacked plenty I was more a Messi-type dribbler relying on pace and movement rather than ball-manipulation - those who did got whacked more since they were still there to get kicked.
 
KingEric7 said:
It's a good job he's so good, because his work rate is actually shocking at times these days! It's genuinely looks like he's trying to break every goal scoring record going whilst expending the least possible amount of energy. It says a lot about the quality of his movement, I suppose.
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It is shocking compared to everybody else in the team, but it's the price you pay if he has to play all matches (both club and country) and never rest.
 
KingEric7 said:
It's a good job he's so good, because his work rate is actually shocking at times these days! It's genuinely looks like he's trying to break every goal scoring record going whilst expending the least possible amount of energy. It says a lot about the quality of his movement, I suppose.
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As long as the coaches are happy with him it's all that matters.Work rate means feck all for a player like him because he doesn't need to waste his energy closing now that attacking game is flawless.
 
kouroux said:
As long as the coaches are happy with him it's all that matters.Work rate means feck all for a player like him because he doesn't need to waste his energy closing now that attacking game is flawless.
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Oh aye, I doubt they'll be complaining too much. It's just that even when his team mates have the ball he'll sometimes just be walking round in dangerous positions and not really asking or looking for it. Still think he is by a distance the best out there at the moment, just saying it's not closing down alone that I'm talking about. It's only an impression, but sometimes it comes off as more arrogant/lazy than conservative.
 
Remember the debate people were having about his free kick in the clasico?

How do you guys feel about De Gea yesterday? He obviously did what some people think Casillas should have done , ie, move early to the other side of the goal. Only Mata has been clever and done what Casillas probably feared messi might do, ie, shoot for the keepers side and hope he wrong foots himself.
 
LTS10 said:
Remember the debate people were having about his free kick in the clasico?

How do you guys feel about De Gea yesterday? He obviously did what some people think Casillas should have done , ie, move early to the other side of the goal. Only Mata has been clever and done what Casillas probably feared messi might do, ie, shoot for the keepers side and hope he wrong foots himself.
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Mata's was perfectly placed and even if De Gea hadn't moved he wouldn't have got there, Messi's wasn't.
 
LTS10 said:
Remember the debate people were having about his free kick in the clasico?

How do you guys feel about De Gea yesterday? He obviously did what some people think Casillas should have done , ie, move early to the other side of the goal. Only Mata has been clever and done what Casillas probably feared messi might do, ie, shoot for the keepers side and hope he wrong foots himself.
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It was the first thing I thought about when it happened! Casillas didn't do it and was slated for it, and as per people were on DDG's for doing it yesterday. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!
 
Dion said:
Mata's was perfectly placed and even if De Gea hadn't moved he wouldn't have got there, Messi's wasn't.
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he placed it right into the corner mate.

Mata's was also perfectly placed, but people do say the keeper should never be beaten on his side of the goal. I just find it interesting debate, even Souness and Neville had differing opinions on it. S

Souness feels it was just a moment of quality for Mata, Neville felt De Gea was at fault.
 
LTS10 said:
he placed it right into the corner mate.
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He didn't, not if we're talking about the same one anyway.

LTS10 said:
Mata's was also perfectly placed, but people do say the keeper should never be beaten on his side of the goal. I just find it interesting debate, even Souness and Neville had differing opinions on it. S

Souness feels it was just a moment of quality for Mata, Neville felt De Gea was at fault.
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Hard and fast rules about such things don't make any sense. You look at the speed Mata hit it without having to get it up and down and the fact he placed it so perfectly, it's about as good a freekick as you'll see. It's not that Casillas didn't save it for me as much as the fact he go no where near it which was down to bad goalkeeping on his part (which was given away by his reaction).
 
LTS10 said:
he placed it right into the corner mate.

Mata's was also perfectly placed, but people do say the keeper should never be beaten on his side of the goal. I just find it interesting debate, even Souness and Neville had differing opinions on it. S

Souness feels it was just a moment of quality for Mata, Neville felt De Gea was at fault.
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It's a very good free-kick - I wouldn't fault De Gea. Mata's only 22 yards out for starters and bends it with plenty of power right inside the far post.
 
Dion said:
He didn't, not if we're talking about the same one anyway.



Hard and fast rules about such things don't make any sense. You look at the speed Mata hit it without having to get it up and down and the fact he placed it so perfectly, it's about as good a freekick as you'll see. It's not that Casillas didn't save it for me as much as the fact he go no where near it which was down to bad goalkeeping on his part (which was given away by his reaction).
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Ofcourse he didnt have to get it up and down, thats the whole reason a player might choose to shoot on the keepers side. I can see what Neville thinks though, De Gea takes a gamble, and from the minute he takes the gamble he puts himself at a severe disadvantage.
 
LTS10 said:
he placed it right into the corner mate.

Mata's was also perfectly placed, but people do say the keeper should never be beaten on his side of the goal. I just find it interesting debate, even Souness and Neville had differing opinions on it. S

Souness feels it was just a moment of quality for Mata, Neville felt De Gea was at fault.
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Neville didn't like it when Souness disagreed! For what it's worth, I just think that was a fantastic free kick by Mata that no keeper would've saved.
 
Dion said:
Mata's was perfectly placed and even if De Gea hadn't moved he wouldn't have got there, Messi's wasn't.
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Ehm if De Gea hadnt moved the free kick would have been like 1.5metres away from where he was stood. Of course he would have saved it, regardless of good placement. The one he saved last year was perfect as well in the "more difficult" corner.

Its a bit of a mind game when players have history like Mata and De Gea have now. Dont know what sort of free kick history Casillas and Messi have.
 
Brosstan said:
Ehm if De Gea hadnt moved the free kick would have been like 1.5metres away from where he was stood. Of course he would have saved it, regardless of good placement. The one he saved last year was perfect as well in the "more difficult" corner.
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The one last year was a once in a lifetime save, De Gea shouldn't be judged by that save alone. Even then this one was hit harder and placed better than the other one. There was no way in hell he was getting to that one way or the other, if a free kick goes in virtually off the post theres nothing a keeper can do 99/100 and this wasn't one of the exceptions.

Brosstan said:
Its a bit of a mind game when players have history like Mata and De Gea have now. Dont know what sort of free kick history Casillas and Messi have.
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Messi has scored enough past Casillas now anyway.
 
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It doable but still difficult for him to break the Gerd Muller records.

Ballon dors are fecking impressive considering the others got thiers when many great players were ineligible.

He'll surpass Hugo Sanchez this year but not Zarra.

2 more years and he will be the all time top CL scorer, aged 27 or something.
 
He'll easily score 12 goals in 15 games.
 
My Lord, he is really breaking every record. If he won't be injured then every record for goals scored in a calendaric year wihh be his own.
 
Cristiano Ronaldo is 869 days older than Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo Jr is 869 days older than Thiago Messi!
 
As expected:

At the age of 1 hour, Thiago Messi already has the same number of goals and assists as Downing in the Premier League.
 
LARulz said:
THats got to be BS surely
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Why should it be BS?

Well, at a loss of 3 minutes of my life I confirmed it's indeed true (I used http://easycalculation.com/date-day/days-between-dates.php).

At first I thought it was bullshit as I calculated their ages when they were parents. And those are slightly different. But then I remembered that different months have a different number of days and calculating only the number of days does yield the same results. Can their rivalry get any more obsessive than this? :lol:
 
Interesting name for an Argentine is his other half Portuguese speaking?
 
KM said:
He'll easily score 12 goals in 15 games.
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He can score 12 goals/15 games in average, but to do it in the next 15 games is not easy. Besides, he doesn't seem to play in the Spanish Cup games, so that's another 3 games chalked off.
 
#07 said:
Interesting name for an Argentine is his other half Portuguese speaking?
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I don't think so, at least her name doesn't sound Brazilian. Maybe it's an homage to Thiago Alcântara? Or he just likes the name.

Funny that the name "James" somehow derives of Tiago. I remember reading naming equivalents from Portuguese to English. Most are obvious like Jorge-George, João-John, but Tiago-James is a funny one.
 
marcosdeto said:
thiago is a spanish name
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First time I'd seen it used all the Spanish speaking James' I know are called Santiago only the Portuguese speakers use Thiago actually Tiago is more common I've only seen Thiago among Brazilians.


Arruda said:
I don't think so, at least her name doesn't sound Brazilian. Maybe it's an homage to Thiago Alcântara? Or he just likes the name.

Funny that the name "James" somehow derives of Tiago. I remember reading naming equivalents from Portuguese to English. Most are obvious like Jorge-George, João-John, but Tiago-James is a funny one.
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It doesn't. Both names ultimately derive from Iacobus in Greek, which is Iacomus in Latin. To get James some letters drop out leaving Iames, I/J were used interchangeably for a long time in the post Roman world. To get Tiago you go to Iago from Iaco and then add a prefix meaning holy because of the popularity of St James in Spain and you get Santiago. Shorten it and it just becomes Tiago.
 
Danny1982 said:
He can score 12 goals/15 games in average, but to do it in the next 15 games is not easy. Besides, he doesn't seem to play in the Spanish Cup games, so that's another 3 games chalked off.
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There's no guarantee that they're chalked off.If he's really serious about those records I can see him play in some Cup games as a substitute
 
Not the next one. Barca used a pretty strong team to win the away game against Alaves. The home game is a formality where they can afford to rest many players.
 
kouroux said:
There's no guarantee that they're chalked off.If he's really serious about those records I can see him play in some Cup games as a substitute
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To be honest I don't think he cares THAT much about personal records, nor does Villanova. I think the priority for both is winning as many titles as possible.
 
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