Messi at the World Cup - No Ronaldo comparisons!

He is clearly struggling physically. There goes all the theories that he was saving himself for the world cup. I like Messi but Maradona remains god.

Maradona also lost a World Cup final.
 
Bringing on Palacio absoloutely destroyed their chances of winning. He's a pathetic excuse of a footballer, nearly cost Argentina against Holland(?), did the same today.

Palacio is the argentinian Hugo Almeida. Horrible player
 
Bringing on Palacio absoloutely destroyed their chances of winning. He's a pathetic excuse of a footballer, nearly cost Argentina against Holland(?), did the same today.
Palacio didn't make Messi miss a 1v1.
 
He was good tonight.
He was. Clearly the most dangerous player on the pitch. Lavezzi and him were excellent when on the pitch together. Shame he had the awful palacios and aguero for company in the second.

On the other hand, he needs to get his energy levels sorted. It's shocking to see him moving around like a 40 year old this tournament.
 
That free kick at the end :lol:

Why the feck didn't he cross it?
 
Bringing on Palacio absoloutely destroyed their chances of winning. He's a pathetic excuse of a footballer, nearly cost Argentina against Holland(?), did the same today.

Agreed; Palacio was terrible. He seemed to feck up every counter the argies had, he may as well have had a white shirt on. Cannot believe messi attempted to score with that free-kick...terrible.
 
Makes me wonder if he'd be quite as prolific at any other club than Barca. Argies could never control the game and as a result he just looked lazy, frustrated and a bit greedy.

Sucks for him - have to blame their shithouse of a manager imo - it's not a poor squad but they just couldn't play together.
 
And scored a grand total of 0 goals that entire tournament, as well as missing a spot kick that could have seen his country crash out in the earlier rounds.
Nah, maradona was absolutely perfect and had the perfect career. No missed chances, no bad form, no drug scandal, no cheating. Never.
 
"Hellboy, post: 16055508, member: 22245"]His miss in the second half destroyed him. Maradonna still ahead.
Maybe if he had Valdano playing as a striker instead of Palacio, he could have won this one? Maybe?
 
Without the ball Argentina were clearly playing with 10 men. No matter who you are, if you are not pressing in a world cup final then nothing will ever motivate you. Absolutely disappointed by his attitude today. Where was his desire?
 
Good game, not great. Had a golden chance missed and few good passes but was unlucky he had terrible Aguero and Palacio on the end of them.

He is clearly not 100 percent fit.

MAradona Messi comparisons are boring.
 
He got most of the credit from the media and fans when argentina won so now if he gets criticism fair enough. That's how it seems to work with players like him. I don't agree with such knee-jerk reactions though, but if you benefit from it you have to feel the other end of the double-edged sword.
 
Had a good game and a good tournament. It's a shame that there's obviously something wrong with him physically.
 
Maradona also lost a World Cup final.

He also won one and dominated a World Cup in a way never seen since.

Disappointing World Cup from Messi, he's clearly dipped this past year which is a shame. I really hoped he would put in a performance to rival Maradona, Cruyff etc because it would have been fantastic to see, but it has not happened and never really threatened to.
 
Makes me wonder if he'd be quite as prolific at any other club than Barca. Argies could never control the game and as a result he just looked lazy, frustrated and a bit greedy.

Sucks for him - have to blame their shithouse of a manager imo - it's not a poor squad but they just couldn't play together.

Probably, he's pretty good a World Cup where he was clearly not fit and still was the third highest scorer aside.
 
Mascherano was Argentina's best player today, as for Messi he didn't turn up today. There were times when you forgot he was on the pitch. It's going to be interesting with him and Suarez.
 
He got most of the credit from the media and fans when argentina won so now if he gets criticism fair enough. That's how it seems to work with players like him. I don't agree with such knee-jerk reactions though, but if you benefit from it you have to feel the other end of the double-edged sword.

Yep.
 
Messi has been void of that passion and spark for most of the season, like many have already noted his off the ball movement is terrible and he's quite clearly not right. Such a shame that some of the worlds best players haven't lived up to it this tournament.
 
he was alone there. literally. I'm really disappointed with Aguero and Higuain. every attacker they have had a shit tournament. even Di Maria was pretty average before injury. shame.
 
He also won one and dominated a World Cup in a way never seen since.

Disappointing World Cup from Messi, he's clearly dipped this past year which is a shame. I really hoped he would put in a performance to rival Maradona, Cruyff etc because it would have been fantastic to see, but it has not happened and never really threatened to.
He also never lit up, scored in and won two champions league final like messi has, or been regarded the worlds greatest player 4 years in a row.
 
Feel for him. Hard to perform when the whole team relies so much on him and you come up against a team as dominant as Germany.
Best ever? Maybe, but certainly up there with Pele and Maradona and co.
 
I thought he had a good first half. The best I've seen from in months (since February!) in fact.

I stick by my view that he's ill. I don't think he's injured, or unfit, I think he's not well. In fact if we hear he's having a few months off now I wouldn't be at all surprised.
 
Probably, he's pretty good a World Cup where he was clearly not fit and still was the third highest scorer aside.

Good group stages.

Though I think for a player like him, fully fit or no, he should be able to game raise and produce in the big games.

I don't mean scoring 30 yards free kicks and solo goals, for me the biggest shock was that he just didn't seem to want the ball a lot. I expected him to be buzzing around demanding it and taking players on, playing the passes to the likes of Aguero and Higuain, profiting from the space that his double marking creates.

Amazed he's won the Golden Ball.