Guy doesn't look very motivated, looks slower, a lot more failed dribbles. He barely runs off the ball, his stats have decreased quite a bit.
Use the eye test, he is no longer the same player in my eyes. What about yours?
Posted Sep 26, 2014, 10:34 AM UTC · edited
Yep he sucks I'm glad Feyenoord never bought him
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Yes. He has gotten worse, and I do think his best days are behind him. However, this Messi is still the best player in the world either way lol.
I don't know about the best player in the world, Ronaldo? I know it is pretty insane to compare between these two players because they play for two different clubs, with two different styles. It is unjust to say either on is the best.
Messi has been the best player in la liga so far. He might have scored less goals than C.ronaldo, but Messi has been performing better(apart from last game). Like I said, he might have scored less, but that does not mean he has been bad seeing as he has taken a more creativity role this season and has been MOTM in all our games in the league bar the last one. He is THE biggest reason why we are joint top in the league. Really, the only thing that C.ronaldo has done better than Messi in the league is to score goals.
And just because he had a bad game against Malaga, that doesn't erase the fact that Messi was brilliant in all the other games..
Well Ronaldo was man of the match in at least 3, maybe even all 4 games he played in the league. He is not just scoring goals, he truly is playing very very well. If Bale and Benzema didn't screw up the easiest of chances he would have bagged a few assists too.
Edit: not saying that Messi isn't playing well, because he is, but it is hard to come by Ronaldo these days.
Never said that C.ronaldo hasn't been great. Just said that he hasn't been as good as Messi.
And if Neymar, Pedro and Munir wouldn't have missed clear cut chances, Messi wouldn't just have 1 or 2 assist more, he would probably have 10+ more assist. I mean, just against Athletic he could have had half a dozen of assist.
I don't see him getting those crazy numbers again. At least not at Barca.
Still has good numbers. I mean, in 5 games in the league he has 3 goals and 4 assist(actually 5 or 6, but as the pass hit a defender they were not counted as an assist) and he could have already double digit of assist if his teammates would finish better..
I think the departure of Pep could have something to do with it. When he was there, it was his word or the exit door. He had full command over the team because a true 'bigger brother' figure was in charge and every everybody took heed of anything Pep said. But Pep was not just a stern teacher of his philosophy, he was a stern teacher with a very powerful weapon in Messi and for whatever reason Pep kept his head where it needed to be and that was squarely on becoming the best player in the world.
When Pep left, it was like Cus D'Amato's death all over again. Messi's power and impulse was no longer tuned, but just rushing out of him. Tata and Tito had little or no affect on his performances on the pitch (in terms of getting better) and influences in his ear caused him to make some bad decisions (you dont just forget to pay E4 million worth of tax) and this has all culimnated in performances less than we have come to expect from him, and indeed the team has some to expect.
All that said, if he were to go to a club/ have a manager at Barca who could again keep his attention where it needs to be, I think that he would show that he is nowhere near past his prime.
0-0 Malaga: "Is Messi washed up?"
6-0 Granada: "401 GOALS AND THE GREATEST THAT EVER LIVED"
Come on, fellas.
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I do think injuries have taken a toll on him but he's still a world class player. I think he's adopting a different role in the team, adapting his play style.
Probably, but maybe not. No way of knowing until a few years down the line. But his performances from 2010 to 2013 were ridiculous, he can't be blamed for not matching them himself.
To early to say, it would not be strange if this season or the next would be his best, a lot of players peak around 27/28/29.
He reached unscalable heights, most likely will never break records again, still the most talented player in world football.
To be honest out of his prime hes still a amazing world class player that anyone would enjoy having on their side. :)
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Do people just see the stat and don't care about the performances? I mean, Messi has been BRILLIANT so far this season, and that doesn't change just because he had 1 bad game against Malaga. He might not have scored as much, but that does not mean that he has been bad seeing as he has taken a more creatitivy role.
Lets wait till the end of this season to make that judgement. He is playing pretty well right now, but some of his seasons are hard to surpass.
I wouldn't say past his prime just yet. He has some good years ahead of him. However, even the 'current' Messi will find it extremely hard to replicate what 'old' Messi did. Barcelona has some great players apart from Messi so he probably won't always be the main highlight. Also, Xavi and Iniesta were instrumental for Messi's success so his success will somewhat depend on those two as well.
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"His stats have decreased, but don't you dare show me stats!!!"
Judge him come the season's end, I have a sneaky wee feeling that you'll be gobbling up those words as fast as your gnashers can chew.
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Sadly its true. That same hunger he used to have is gone. We would have been World Cup winners if the WC was in 2012 :(
Edit: 2012 version of Messi in the 2014 WC.
Hasn't Mess been underporming for Argentina untill the last year or so when he got captaincy
I don't think he's ever actually been under-performing for us. He plays a different role with Argentina than when he does for Barca. For us he plays as a classic 10, since 2009. Problem was, that didn't really suit him back then. Messi's first instinct is to dribble and you don't necessarily want that in your 10. He's curbed it as he has gotten older for sure. He also had other players getting into his areas on the pitch (Tevez).
It also doesn't help when he's tasked with providing all the creativity. It wasn't until we moved to a 4-3-1-2, when Sabella took over did he really take off. We were a counter attacking side, who's front 3 counter attacked with Di Maria joining in from midfield.
We were electric in the qualifiers. However, we didn't look really balanced until we switched to a 4-4-1-1 during the WC. Messi bailed us out in our first 3 games, because he was in his best position. Then due to Aguero's injury we switched to a 4-4-1-1. And then Di Maria got injured and we essentially played: Romero Zaba Garay Demi Rojo Enzo Masche Bigilia Lavezzi Messi Higuain
There was no creativity in that side bar Messi. However, when I say 2012 Messi its due to the fact his killer instinct was much better than compared to now. There was no way Messi of old would have missed that chance against Germany in the finals. He also would move off the ball a lot more than Messi did during the WC.
And this may be an unpopular opinion among some Argies, but I think he's the perfect choice for captain. He's not vocal like Masche, but he does his talking on the pitch. And when he DOES talk everybody listens. I think the fact we have the 2 of them, is the best of both worlds in terms of leadership. Maybe the only thing that pissed me off was his lethargic showing at times ( you dont want that from your star players) but other then that, I agree 100% by making him captain.
He's had captaincy for a while, and he hasn't underperformed for us. Managers have underperformed for him.
The BBC had a massive VT during the WC in which they were saying up till recently Argentians were dissapointed with Messi as he would never replicate is Barca form for them
That's because they were expecting Messi to score as many goals for Argentina as he did for Barca. And as lionelmaradona10 explained, that would never happend because he had a different role. Alot of the goals that Argentina scored in 2010 came from Messi magic, Messi was the top assister of Copa America 2011, Messi was the 2nd top scorer and the top assister of the south american WC qualifiers and was named the best player etc.
You have no way of knowing if you would have won. If you're just going to say that a prime Messi would have won you the WC, then you at least have to account for every other team's players in their primes also.