Ditto that
Lionel Messi
- Thread starter cesc's_mullet
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Ditto that
Well, Messi had to be injured for you to get out of your hole...
Cal? making a total Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime out of himself in a Messi thread? That has never happened, ever.
You lots are upset with me calling him the bestest player in the world ever ever? Thought that's exactly what you think?
You lots are upset with me calling him the bestest player in the world ever ever? Thought that's exactly what you think?
Are you acting dumb or are you really that dumb??
I'm putting my money on the second..
Oops, the bestest player in the world ever ever is injured... Oh no...
Admit it Cal, when you saw he was injured, you came just a little...
Cal? Why are you happy that he is injured? What is your agenda?
Not enough hugs as a kid
I reckon he came a little when Ronaldo knocked the ball in at OT to put Utd out
Nah, this is when his brain was in conflict...
Thought he was too quiet again before that injury. Not sure whether the impact injury on his knee affected him early on but I thought he was far too content playing the safe pass. The team didn't play well of course but these are the kind of games you look for him to drive the side on with leadership and skill and that wasn't happening at all. Livened up after the goal of course so who knows where he would've went from there until that injury.
I thought he was organizing the team pretty well. You can't expect him to go on a mazy run every time he gets the ball.. Look at the second half and you'll see how much influence he had in the first..
Barcelona are also known for not starting games that well, especially the away ones, so you can't judge anyway based on the first 20/30 minutes of a game. And IMO, had Messi not been injured Barcelona would have won the game easily, as Messi was getting more space to work with after he scored the first goal.
I'm sure he tried taking players on a lot more back in 2011 than he has done recently but maybe you can just put that down to people watching him more closely. His passing was terribly unambitious though. For all our talk about his passing game going up another level this year I don't think he's shown much of it in the big games. He just went for the safe ball every time today.
Tend to agree with Brwned, too conservative. He did burst into life after the goal I suppose.
Biggest culprit these days is Xavi, not sure if anyone's noticed, but he's went from quick incisive defence splitting passes to spinning round multiple times before going backwards. He's been doing it for a couple of seasons now.
Biggest culprit these days is Xavi, not sure if anyone's noticed, but he's went from quick incisive defence splitting passes to spinning round multiple times before going backwards. He's been doing it for a couple of seasons now.
And there was a reason for that. With Fàbregas on in his stead Barça lost control of the game and gave it a more end-to-end kind of feel IMO, Messi does take a lot of safe touches and passes but that's because he senses out the best moments to strike. That's one aspect of his game that I've noticed from when he was a 17-year old boy to even nowadays, that he so very often makes the right decisions.
I do agree that he hadn't done much, although that phase where he injured himself could have been another marvellous goal. Re: passing, I don't exactly recall there being many opportunities to put someone through on goal either (as the avg. position diagrams show he was usually furthest forward), which has basically been the same song in all big games this season. Exceptions I can think of from the top of my head are Málaga, Valencia and one RM game where he made some exceptional long passes.
He looked very set on saving energy, understandably after the Bolivia game + 90min away to Celta on Sat., and it must've had some effect unless you would consider injuries to both him and Mascherano to be coincidence.
Think he was quicker on the turn 2-3 years back and had greater speed of thought. Perhaps with Barcelona looking so reliant at times for him to provide the goods he's lost a bit of that instinct and his priorities have shifted a bit. That's a pretty big shame in my opinion because the 09/10 Messi is quite frankly the best player I have ever seen by a clear margin but he still picks his moments to really turn it on like he did a few years ago. Sounds weird talking about like he's some sort of ageing, declining legend (he's still clearly the best player on the planet now) but in a way I thought he turned the clock back at times with that performance against Milan and the subsequent one against Vallecano.
Still funny watching how threatening he looks when he gets the ball in that space just centrally outside the box. I feel like he loses the ball a lot more now but it all seems so ominous and inevitable when he receives it in that area.
Still funny watching how threatening he looks when he gets the ball in that space just centrally outside the box. I feel like he loses the ball a lot more now but it all seems so ominous and inevitable when he receives it in that area.
There are a lot of differences between now and 2011.. Xavi and Iniesta were much more effective in 2011 (allowing him more space by drawing some defence). Now there seem to be 3 players minimum on Messi whenever he gets the ball. Besides, I think the whole Barcelona team is moving less than it was in 2011. You can't expect Messi to give a through ball if nobody is running.. That's also evident by the near lack of through balls from Xavi and Iniesta as well..
Also I don't think we can say Messi didn't have a good half because "he didn't make a great through ball/assist in it".. Since when scoring the all important opening goal (in an away game) suddenly doesn't mean that a player stepped up in a big game, because he didn't give a great pass?
I don't think the first half today was one of his better ones, but I thought he still had a big role in it. Barcelona looked lost in the second half without Messi, despite the extra space they got after scoring the first goal.
Some of the stand-out passes he's made this season that didn't translate into goals...
against Valencia
against Real Madrid
against Málaga
against Spartak Moscow
against Espanyol (I think)
The Málaga one is my favourite.
against Valencia
against Real Madrid
against Málaga
against Spartak Moscow
against Espanyol (I think)
The Málaga one is my favourite.
Those passes make me wonder what it would be like if he and Ronaldo played in the same team, those are the passes Ronaldo thrives on. Teams would have next to no chance
It's always the same run. It's so well trained.
They really do have a good understanding. Messi only has to give half a look and plays the ball. Those gifs are some great passes.
What is the extent of his injury? Will he miss any games at all?
I heard on twitter it's around 3 weeks. Take that how you will, but if true that's a big loss to their champions league hopes.
They said right after the game it was a right hamstring injury. He's going for a checkup tomorrow. Wouldn't be stupid to rest him during the weekend. Doubt it's that bad that he'll miss the 2nd leg given how he didn't properly limp off. The cameras at least didn't catch the moment he felt something bothering him, something you usually see with a hamstring injury.
Thanks guys.
Losing him for the second leg will hurt the team, but they should still be able to get a win at home without him. Sounds like he will be back for the next round at least though, so it should actually hurt their champion's league ambitions.
Almost a certainty he'll be out for the 2nd leg, 8 days isn't enough time to recover even from a mild strain
Players will have to step up
Players will have to step up
Players will indeed have to step up, FCB. That's what going to be the intriguing aspect of the game next week.
On Messi, though; we really are blessed to be watching a player like him today. He's so far ahead of the rest that maybe we take him for granted and maybe he should be appreciated even more, if that's possible. Daniel Taylor tweeted last night before the game that he was mesmerised watching Messi's warm-up; Messi was controlling 40 yard passes nonchalantly and never let the ball hit the ground once. He's just so freakishly talented and he makes it look all so easy. It's a shame for him personally that he's now out for 3/4 weeks as he was on such a special goalscoring run.
On Messi, though; we really are blessed to be watching a player like him today. He's so far ahead of the rest that maybe we take him for granted and maybe he should be appreciated even more, if that's possible. Daniel Taylor tweeted last night before the game that he was mesmerised watching Messi's warm-up; Messi was controlling 40 yard passes nonchalantly and never let the ball hit the ground once. He's just so freakishly talented and he makes it look all so easy. It's a shame for him personally that he's now out for 3/4 weeks as he was on such a special goalscoring run.
He's put on Facebook that, "luckily it's not too serious" and that he'll be back soon.
Barcelona have only ruled him out of the weekend Liga game - so he might even be back in action next week.
Mascherano incidentally is out for about 6 weeks, and Messi included a get well soon to him in his Facebook comment.
Barcelona have only ruled him out of the weekend Liga game - so he might even be back in action next week.
Mascherano incidentally is out for about 6 weeks, and Messi included a get well soon to him in his Facebook comment.
His goal last night was typical of him.He knows where the goal is, he's got this incredible confidence in his scoring ability, it was a nice finish.Dani Alves' assist .... I could watch it all day long
Yeah, I was thinking it's so uncommon these days to see a Barcelona match where Leo doesn't feature that I've forgotten what that's like - especially in a big match. Of course, I was following the club when he was often injured and no one was certain if he'd lose the label of being injury prone. But I agree, I think a lot of fans just want to tune in and be entertained - I know I do. I simply wait for that moment he decides to go on one of his mazy runs or will himself towards a goal.
8 days is far too soon. I'm sure the club will be trying hard to get him to not force things but being the competitor he is and the club not daring to stand in his way, it's not a foregone conclusion that he'll miss the return leg. Perhaps he'd be a 2nd half sub if the match was tight
On the flip side, would be nice for some of the usual suspects to actually step up in his absence and show that they're not dependent on Messi for scoring - Pedro, Villa, Alexis & Cesc, in particular
I don't think he'll be fit enough for the second leg.. If they play him then he might very well aggrevate it..
That goal was very similar to the one against Basel a few seasons back:
I actually like the Basel goal better as that was a no look pass. Was absolutely not expecting it
The Basel goal, Messi's finish I prefer because of the first time touch but last night's pass was better for me.
Last night's was better. Both the pass and the finish were more difficult to execute. Messi had to put power into it last night at a tighter angle but against Basel he "just" steered it. It's also harder to pinpoint a pass from 30m than it is from 15m.
Not sure why you're always so pessimistic when it comes to messi.
Pretty sure you had his Gerd Muller record down as a goner when he came off against Benfica too. Let's be honest, if there's any chance of him playing he will, at the very least from the bench.
Pessimistic? To say that I don't think a player suffering a hamstring injury will be fit after 8 days is pessimistic? I don't care if he made a miraculous recovery from a knee injury before, to me he's still human, and he should still follow our expectations for humans. 8 days is not the average recovery time from a hamstring injury..
I know I might look a bit "more skeptic" than the consensus here when it comes to future expectations (not only for Messi really, I'm also one of those who refused to celebrate #20 when we were 12 points ahead with more than 10 games remaining), but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with me, or with people going over the top with their expectations.. And you can take this case as an example. People simply think Messi will recover from a hamstring injury in 8 days only because "he's Messi".
He may be able to recover in time in the end (well anything can happen in football), but that doesn't change the fact that it's pretty unlikely at the moment, from an objective point of view if I may say.
Going by the way he was moving it didn't look too severe a hamstring strain. I've come back from worse within 14 days. There are advanced rehabilitation programmes which make a significant dent into traditional recovery periods following hamstring injuries. Whether he's back in time for next week it's hard to say. It's unlikely he'll be 100% even with the best prognosis.
He needs to leave Barcelona IMO, he's in danger of stagnating there. Not just because he needs "to do it without Xavi and Iniesta" either, I actually think a different system to the Barcelona one will bring out another side of him which will excite us all again.
If he stagnates at his current level for a while then really it can never a bad thing for us viewers.If the current Messi doesn't excite as a footballer, I don't know who could
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