What a terrible half by Messi. 
La Liga - 2014/15
- Thread starter jojojo
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Messi is fecking ridiculous.
Beautiful goal!
Messi 
Messi is the greatest ever
Messi
Messi...
I mean "relatively" or as in messi-esqu manner. His weird pass resulted in the 1st goal. That's what I was referring to.
How does he make football look so easy? Incredible.
i know what you meant, i just think he did a good job
The Messi gif material in this game. 
I said it dropped, I didn't say he was playing poorlyWhat a terrible half by Messi.
Remember, Messi is the very best - he's judged on a different scale since there are no bad matches from him
Again, some pass that!
if one of our players did what messi did today we would be waiting in line to suck his cock
Neymar can be too casual sometimes.
I think he played well too but he did give away the ball for Bilbao's first very sloppily which kind of underlines his point.
Neymar's been unbelievably wasteful here.
Big win tonight, very impressive - they are building some great momentum
Barcelona are back to being compulsory viewing again. No prizes for guessing why, watching Messi is just brilliant.
I know, but he really shouldn't be. This sometimes makes people lose perspective.I said it dropped, I didn't say he was playing poorly
Remember, Messi is the very best - he's judged on a different scale since there are no bad matches from him
Still think they look a little suspect defensively, whilst no where near as dominant as they were in the Guardiola era to marginalise similar shortcomings.
Great to watch, and Messi is the best ever in my opinion, but I don't think they'll get further than the quarters in the CL.
Great to watch, and Messi is the best ever in my opinion, but I don't think they'll get further than the quarters in the CL.
read this, anyone confirm is it's true?
Enrique needs to take Neymar in the corner and slap his ass (not too hard though 
). He's just too casual, can't afford that against top teams. Cut out the fancy tricks and just try to be efficient. Many Brazilians have wasted their career before him from promising positions trying to be too fancy.
He could have got a hatrick today. And someone please teach Alba to score a goal, please..
). He's just too casual, can't afford that against top teams. Cut out the fancy tricks and just try to be efficient. Many Brazilians have wasted their career before him from promising positions trying to be too fancy. He could have got a hatrick today. And someone please teach Alba to score a goal, please..
Hardly the worst mistake one can make. He allowed play to continue for both teams for many challenges. There has to be much stronger argument than such trivial issues.
In the last 25 years at least (before that assist stats get rather murky), according to the fairly reliable MrChip
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I don't think there's a reliable record of assists over the entire history, but he has the most (possibly joint?) Assists in the last 25 years apparently.
Except it wasn't really judgemental, he was in 'the zone'. Those moments he's feeling it and can pretty much take over a match, it should've been over in the first half hour had his teammates been more clinical. His rhythm just wasn't the same to start the 2nd half and he certainly had at least 2 moments to pull off some of his signature goal moves but failed to convert. That's how good he is, we expect him to score those without question.
I know what that means and it's why I watch him almost exclusively - it's surreal how good he is and we have to just enjoy him. He's had 90 minute matches like that where everything is out of this world, including the finishes and I thought we were in for one of those treats at halftime. We still got the genius of course but I love the extra high of those special nights where everything is perfection
Assists are always tricky to measure. I think espn/transfermarkt/whoscored measure it differently even today.
I remember saying back in November that Barcelona would have a strong second half to the season due to Messi, Neymar and Suarez developing more chemistry, other players like Rakitic becoming more settled and also Enrique having more time to mould the team into the one he wants. Both Barcelona as a team as well as their key players are hitting top form at a very good moment (just like Madrid did last year) and if they keep building on this momentum and improving further, with Madrid looking knackered and Barcelona looking to have Atletico's number, they will be in a great position to launch a full-scale assault on both La Liga and the CL and they are also the big favourites to win the Copa.
Forgotten is that Barcelona haven't won in San Mames since 2010 with Guardiola
first victory for barcelona on the new san mames
For sure it's doable.
The red card for Ronaldo stalled him for a few games but still think he'll be the top scorer. They're both on a ridiculous level either way man.
I know what you mean, although I think Messi still had a very good second half. But even though many people do tend to create a separate scale for Messi to judge him on, I still think people should take a step back when making overall judgements about how well he played (so people won't lose perspective). It doesn't matter if it's Messi or not, this statement:
"Messi's 2nd half was actually very bad. Totally messed up his passes and gave possession away in bad regions"
just can't be said about how Messi played in the second half. There is no way he was as bad Jonny Evans in the second half.
Wouldn't go that far. Not yet anyway.
Historically speaking, official assist numbers are a bit inconclusive to be honest. Doubt individual assist numbers have been maintained since 1927. But nonetheless Messi, equalled Figo (106 career La Liga assists) in the assists (since they were carefully recorded) category. And yes, he's the highest goalscorer of all time too, with Telmo Zarra second at 251. That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of individual accomplishments.
A more comprehensive list of records he has broken or equaled is just mind-boggling :
http://messivsronaldo.net/records.php
Still only 27 with possibly 5 top goal-scoring seasons and 7-8 top creative years left in him provided he stays healthy for the duration. When his career is finished, it won't surprise me if he sets a benchmark for European club statistics that probably won't be bettered for a long, long time.
They looked complacent as a whole team after the first half. After conceding they quickly hit back with 2 and it could have been 3 within 10 minutes. That front 3 is ridiculous. Iniesta has shown signs of improvement recently so if he also gets back into form and Suarez starts scoring regularly - just wow.
Top 4 are all Barca players. Or at least 3 if you wanna dismiss Figo. Very very impressive.
It does make me wonder, where would Barca be now if it wasn't for Messi?
I don't mean they are there already, I just mean the potential is pretty clear. Incredible individual talents like these rarely work well enough to be consistent over time but they are showing phenomenal chemistry. When Suarez was first rumoured to come, the idea seemed virtually improbable to have a chance to succeed. I see something special developing and no doubt that their current run of success is absolutely a result of it. There is skill and belief that they are unstoppable. They just needed to find their rhythm and imagine how good they will look when they gel even more
I think Real will find it tough against this lot if they keep the intensity up like the did today. These Basque boys can press like crazy and do tend to play good football against Barca.
I see Real have to travel in March, would be a cracking game if they play like today.
I see Real have to travel in March, would be a cracking game if they play like today.
That 5th goal really encapsulates Messi as a player... there was seemingly no danger of any kind, nothing looked on and somehow he forced the crucial opening for it.