The Lionel Messi Appreciation Thread

What a player

Some more teammates at his level last night, and it would be the Russian consulate in Barcelona rather than London that would be hiring temps to meet the demand for visas.

kas wrote:What a player

Some more teammates at his level last night, and it would be the Russian consulate in Barcelona rather than London that would be hiring temps to meet the demand for visas.

Great control. Skinned many United players.

Just one critique: tries to be too fancy sometimes.

Other than that, superb.

He was awesome and a joy to watch.

what I like about him, and Tevez actually, is they dont whinge and keep looking for the ref, pouting and gesturing.

Unlike a certain brylcreemed Pork n Cheeser ......

I've been critical of him in the past. But the guy has balls. Even as a 17/18 year old against Chelsea he stood up to be counted.

Any side would be blessed to have Messi. I'll be honest, I can't wait to see him and Aguero in the same side. Apparently they're the best of friends.

Senor Woody wrote:He was awesome and a joy to watch.

what I like about him, and Tevez actually, is they dont whinge and keep looking for the ref, pouting and gesturing.

Unlike a certain brylcreemed Pork n Cheeser ......

yet poor man's lennon?

Still produced no significant moment either last night or in the first leg.



If skinning players is all you want a player to do, Messi is the best player in the world. If you actually want to win a game, he's not even in the top 50 on these two displays.

Not much to appreciate really. Avery lightweight player who benefits from ref protection, decent dribbler of ball, but small size (like Zola, Junhino, Mardonna) helps.
Will NEVER be abe to have the kind of season long IMPAT that TRW has had....as TRW is HUGE compared to little Messi.
Still. So-so player, vastly over-hyped like Robinho before him. Failed to inspire team during crucial moments of season hence why they will be pot-less.
Facts.

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

Just one critique: tries to be too fancy sometimes.

Just like Ronaldo is/used to be. Messi was definitely more exciting before, now he acts like he's got the whole teams weight offensively on his shoulders (but does he have to?.)

People who criticise Messi for not having any end product really should not forget he is 20 years of age. The understanding of the game will come with experience and then his final ball will improve. He does -perhaps- dribble too much but, quite frankly, his dribbling skills are mesmeric and in this facet of football he is far superior to anyone else playing the game today, so he is well within his rights to be audacious and a little selfish.
Watching Messi play football is a privilege.

Green Arrow wrote:Not much to appreciate really. Avery lightweight player who benefits from ref protection, decent dribbler of ball, but small size (like Zola, Junhino, Mardonna) helps.
Will NEVER be abe to have the kind of season long IMPAT that TRW has had....as TRW is HUGE compared to little Messi.
Still. So-so player, vastly over-hyped like Robinho before him. Failed to inspire team during crucial moments of season hence why they will be pot-less.
Facts.

So this would have nothing to do with the fact that Messi isn't a pretty boy and your obvious preference for players you would like to shag?

Messi does have end product though. He's scored 15 goals and made about 10 assists in 30+ games. He has a better goals:game ratio than Ronaldo for their respective clubs too.

IMO neither are anywhere near as good as Kaka or Ronaldinho. Messi was at times mesmeric yesterday, but people raise a good point that it all ended in nothing. He doesn't yet have that 'clinical' element to his game. We've seen that he can control and influence games, but we've yet to see him CONSISTENTLY translate that into match winning performances. IMO Kaka would have taken Utd to the cleaners yesterday - and no doubt an on-form Barca would have done likewise. You can't concede possession as easily as Utd did over both legs and not expect to be punished. Kaka is ruthless in that regard. Utd will have to buck-up. Liverpool & Chelsea will not be so forgiving.

In Ronaldinho's absence Barcelona lack a playermaker - someone who is going to make a defence splitting pass. Xavi used to do this, as did Deco. Why this has changed - I don't know. Xavi lacks balls, Deco? I'm not so sure. Iniesta is totally bemusing - with his talent he should be regularly scoring 10-15 goals each season and making the same number of assists. If he translated his current form for the national side - he definitely would be.

Messi is certainlytrying to add that to his game, but he's often too eager and looks more for the quick one-two. Barca are of course hampered in part by Eto'os poor of the ball movement, and in part by teams parking the bus and playing with 10 men behind the ball. Ferguson himself said as much in his post-match conference, commenting that Barcelona would have liked Utd to attack, but he wasn't going to let that happen. And Fergie is right to do so. This season, Barca have proved incapable of dealing with such tactics, neither looking particularly threatening, nor defensively solid. It's an amusing scenario whereby Barca never seem to over-commit players in attack, but almost comically - look woefully exposed and under-manned at the back. I'm not sure what this is down too, but it's been happening all season. IMO in a MF of a DM & 2 CM's - this should not be happening, but time and time again, it does.

One defender, two defenders, three defenders, four...
To stop little Messi,
You'll need many more!

kas wrote:One defender, two defenders, three defenders, four...
To stop little Messi,
You'll need many more!

0 assists 0 goals
for 002 that was poor
could have played 1,000 minutes
and Messi still wouldn't score

lrd wrote:

kas wrote:One defender, two defenders, three defenders, four...
To stop little Messi,
You'll need many more!

0 assists 0 goals
for 002 that was poor
could have played 1,000 minutes
and Messi wouldn't score

You said if Ronaldo didnt perform he would be a choker. so is he a choker?

He played his part in the win. Hell he played his part in the goal

Lordanger wrote:

Green Arrow wrote:Not much to appreciate really. Avery lightweight player who benefits from ref protection, decent dribbler of ball, but small size (like Zola, Junhino, Mardonna) helps.
Will NEVER be abe to have the kind of season long IMPAT that TRW has had....as TRW is HUGE compared to little Messi.
Still. So-so player, vastly over-hyped like Robinho before him. Failed to inspire team during crucial moments of season hence why they will be pot-less.
Facts.

So this would have nothing to do with the fact that Messi isn't a pretty boy and your obvious preference for players you would like to shag?

That BS....TRW is an AWSOME player and jealous haters and contes are burning....i am NOT for Messi or Kaka....only for Torres again he is an AWSOME player! Thats the ONLY reason!


TRW>>>>Torres>>>>>Messi>>>>Kaka

Barrilete_Cosmico wrote:

Senor Woody wrote:He was awesome and a joy to watch.

what I like about him, and Tevez actually, is they dont whinge and keep looking for the ref, pouting and gesturing.

Unlike a certain brylcreemed Pork n Cheeser ......

yet poor man's lennon?

Indeed. Not a bad accolade though.

Second best player in the World after Lennon

Calidad wrote:

IMO neither are anywhere near as good as Kaka or Ronaldinho.

You think you could say that anymore times?

He's been shite for two seasons now.

Nightwing wrote:

Lordanger wrote:

Green Arrow wrote:Not much to appreciate really. Avery lightweight player who benefits from ref protection, decent dribbler of ball, but small size (like Zola, Junhino, Mardonna) helps.
Will NEVER be abe to have the kind of season long IMPAT that TRW has had....as TRW is HUGE compared to little Messi.
Still. So-so player, vastly over-hyped like Robinho before him. Failed to inspire team during crucial moments of season hence why they will be pot-less.
Facts.

So this would have nothing to do with the fact that Messi isn't a pretty boy and your obvious preference for players you would like to shag?

That BS....TRW is an AWSOME player and jealous haters and contes are burning....i am NOT for Messi or Kaka....only for Torres again he is an AWSOME player! Thats the ONLY reason!


TRW>>>>Torres>>>>>Messi>>>>Kaka

who do you think is better... Messi or Beckham?

As much as I like Messi,

in Ronaldo's defence, he was playing as a striker in both games, and his natural position has always been on the right or tucked in as part of a three man attack with the red beast and the red beastv2

And despite being injured, Messi was fresh meat

Still, neither as good as Lennon

Parks lives wrote:

Calidad wrote:

IMO neither are anywhere near as good as Kaka or Ronaldinho.

You think you could say that anymore times?

He's been shite for two seasons now.

Myth. And synonymous of someone who is just echoing others without actually watching him for yourself. He wasn't great last season by his own high standards, but he was by no means 'shite'. In the absence of Messi & Eto'o, who was it that was carrying the Barca attack? They took Madrid right to the end and only lost on head-to-head.

Calidad wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

Calidad wrote:

IMO neither are anywhere near as good as Kaka or Ronaldinho.

You think you could say that anymore times?

He's been shite for two seasons now.

Myth, and synonymous of someone who is just echoing others without actually watching him for yourself.

I hope the irony is not lost on you

lrd wrote:

Calidad wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

Calidad wrote:

IMO neither are anywhere near as good as Kaka or Ronaldinho.

You think you could say that anymore times?

He's been shite for two seasons now.

Myth, and synonymous of someone who is just echoing others without actually watching him for yourself.

I hope the irony is not lost on you

That makes no sense!!!

I beg to differ

lrd wrote:I beg to differ

So you're suggesting that I didn't watch Ronaldinho last season?

Can't say I'm suprised. This comes from someone who also accuses me of constant lying, no less so, than incinuating that I didn't go to South America. You're an odd ball lrd.

Calidad wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

Calidad wrote:

IMO neither are anywhere near as good as Kaka or Ronaldinho.

You think you could say that anymore times?

He's been shite for two seasons now.

Myth. And synonymous of someone who is just echoing others without actually watching him for yourself. He wasn't great last season by his own high standards, but he was by no means 'shite'. In the absence of Messi & Eto'o, who was it that was carrying the Barca attack? They took Madrid right to the end and only lost on head-to-head.

How do you know I didn't watch them? He was Rubbish in every world cup game, in the CL and in the majority of league game I saw.

Simply a joy to watch

I don't think anyone can doubt young Messi's talent... to me, he was clearly the MOTM on tuesday. Lets not forget, the difference between ManU and Barca over the 2 legs was a horrendous mistake by Zambrotta followed by a great shot by Scholes. Lets not make any more out of it.

No end product? You gotta be kidding me... hasn't he scored like 15 goals in an injury plagued season?

IMO Messi is the most technically gifted player on the planet, and definately the player I most like to watch. He is 20, I shudder to think how good he will get in 2-3 years time when he is closer to peaking!!

Messi may be retired from professional football in 3 years time.

Markus wrote:Messi may be retired from professional football in 3 years time.

Yeah...and Ballack might get run over by a bus...