He was awful.
Lionel Messi - Performances
- Thread starter Rado_N
- Start date
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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?
I seem to recall virtually all the football writers in the Times tipping him to win the Golden Boot/Player of the Tournament in this World Cup 
Not good today.
Why he was up top instead of behind Aguero baffles me.
Why he was up top instead of behind Aguero baffles me.
I really don't remember many doing that.I seem to recall virtually all the football writers in the Times tipping him to win the Golden Boot/Player of the Tournament in this World Cup
Care to quote any examples? (Not actually disagreeing)
Does he retire or play until the next Copa?
No idea why they shifted him to false 9, he's best operating in those inside right positions, which he created 2 goals from today.
He played really well today, I don't know what game you guys were watching
He must have created 5 chances for his team today and made a few dribbles
Definitely Argentina's best player by a big margin today
He must have created 5 chances for his team today and made a few dribbles
Definitely Argentina's best player by a big margin today
He wasn't bad but he wasn't good either
Should have scored that loose ball in the French box which could have really opened up the game for the Argies. But I felt that during the entire campaign he cut a frustrated figure, like he wasn't really happy with things
Also Messi will never inspire a team like Ronaldo does and I don't hold it against him, not everyone can be a leader
Should have scored that loose ball in the French box which could have really opened up the game for the Argies. But I felt that during the entire campaign he cut a frustrated figure, like he wasn't really happy with things
Also Messi will never inspire a team like Ronaldo does and I don't hold it against him, not everyone can be a leader
I thought that after the first game. He just wants the whole thing over with
He was fine today, it was his performance in the tournament overall that was a let down.
he was fine. great assist for the third.
Yeah I thought he was good today, I’m surprised about the consensus in here. He has been underwhelming overall this tournament though
Don't think he's was spectacular today or in general at this WC. Did okay but definitely far from his best. Blaming him is stupid, however. He still assisted twice today.
But you can't win with such a team. People say "well, Maradona did it!" but Maradona's team didn't concede four goals the moment they faced a decent opponent (and I don't think France as a team is that good, they have no real tactical approach). His team mates didn't bring in memorable performances but they were at least average. Messi's team mates this tournament were memorable but for their shortcomings. He had no Rojos, Caballeros, Mercados and so forth to carry along. And no Sampaoli to miscoach the whole team.
I mean, you can't possibly expect Messi to defend, build up the game, create chances and score them while Sampaoli undermines the project by fielding absolute frauds like Mercado or Perez while benching Dybala, Aguero, Higuain and Lo Celso.
But you can't win with such a team. People say "well, Maradona did it!" but Maradona's team didn't concede four goals the moment they faced a decent opponent (and I don't think France as a team is that good, they have no real tactical approach). His team mates didn't bring in memorable performances but they were at least average. Messi's team mates this tournament were memorable but for their shortcomings. He had no Rojos, Caballeros, Mercados and so forth to carry along. And no Sampaoli to miscoach the whole team.
I mean, you can't possibly expect Messi to defend, build up the game, create chances and score them while Sampaoli undermines the project by fielding absolute frauds like Mercado or Perez while benching Dybala, Aguero, Higuain and Lo Celso.
He was good sporadically but they needed more - and he needed to not disappear for huge chunks of the game.
Where was the precision passer before 85 mins? Where, at all, was the dribbler?
Fairly average performance today. Was oddly anoymous for long stretches. Wasn't helped much by the quality of service he received either.
Also, yes, the tactics were complete shit before Aguero joined him - I still think they should have gone 3-5-2 because there's no other way to keep Messi as a credible threat, and stop French counters.
Think a lot had to do with the role he was asked to play, he doesn't have the energy to play the false 9 role anymore. Best operated on the RW areas.
yep especially with that best pass of the tournament. Shocking...
Just checked the article, it was on the 9th of June in the Times. Pay-walled, but the important bit:
Who will win the golden boot?
Henry Winter
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Matt Dickinson
Antoine Griezmann (France)
Oliver Kay
Neymar (Brazil)
Alyson Rudd
Mohamed Salah (Egypt) if fit enough
Paul Joyce
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
So it wasn't 'virtually all', to be fair. I just remember being surprised when reading it the first time considering a)Messi's international record and b)Argentina not being great overall.
Can't believe people continue to make excuses for him
He was fine today, if Argentina win that without Messi changing anything he did in the game everyone would say good performance. Solid 7/10 but he needs to be putting in at least 9/10 performances because that’s the level he’s set himself.
He is like Ronaldo nowadays, play average for most of the game but do some good things and assist/score. Mbappe showed he is the future, hopefully Neymar shows it too
Very average world cup performance, some of the excuses being made for him are bizarre.
Can't believe how Argentina didn't win a WC KO round conceding 4 goals.
Huge fraud and fanboys keep defending that.
It was an excellent pass, but it wasn't even the best in the game. Pogba's ball to Mbappe for the free kick was.
Mediocre WC performance imo.....nestled within a distinctly underwhelming Argie side.
I'm looking at the bigger picture, not referring to a one-off performance.
I love Messi and think he's the greatest ever but he did something a player should never do. At 4-2 you could see he gave up for a considerable spell, it came across as he was thinking "these lot are shite, feck this". The game was not over and if he showed some urgency earlier than he did, Argentina could have levelled the game.
Portugal were being absolutely outplayed by Spain at 3-2 and Ronaldo never let his head drop, he maintained focus is trying to not accept defeat. Messi showed his obvious class for the Aguero assist but he should regret that 15-20min spell where he downed tools on the pitch.
Portugal were being absolutely outplayed by Spain at 3-2 and Ronaldo never let his head drop, he maintained focus is trying to not accept defeat. Messi showed his obvious class for the Aguero assist but he should regret that 15-20min spell where he downed tools on the pitch.
Looking at the bigger picture here, the team is a mess, were an underdog and went out to a superior team.
He should have done better in the late stage of 2014 and at least one Copa though for sure.
People forget that he’s so far past his peak and no longer has any pace, prime example of longevity sometimes working against a player. He’s still one of the best (if not the best) around as proven this season at a club level but it’s stupid to expect wonders at this point at international level imo.
That pretty much settles it for me. Top tier world class undoubtedly, but the best ever? No chance. Two WCs is no fluke. Without the supporting cast he's not the same player. Argentina needed him more than ever today and he was little more than a passenger.
Quite a few contenders for that so far.
1. James Rodriguez assist for Colombia 3rd goal vs Poland
2. KDB assist for Lukaku header with the outside of boot cross
3. KDB pass from centre circle to hazard for his goal in Belgium 2nd match
Coutinho for Paulinho wasn't bad either
That was Pogba.
Massive no from me. But agree it was quality
How the feck can you write him off for not winning this tournament? That Argentina is a mess. Mental.
Yes very good they were but this one was just so clinical for me there was no other way that they were scoring or Aguero was getting to it. No room for error if that makes sense.
The excuses Lineker was making for him were cringeworthy.
Who said I'm writing him off? He's still one of the greats. But he has done pretty much nothing outside of a stacked Barcelona team built entirely around him. This tournament was his last chance to prove he could do something out of that environment. That he can't doesn't make him a bad player but it does mean he's not the best player in history.
What players in history could have won the world cup with this Argentina team? I count zero.