His body language and commitment when his team is up against it is very disappointing for one of the GOATs.
Lionel Messi | PSG Watch
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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?
That has always been the case with him and that has always been my biggest critique of him. In that aspect, he and Ronaldo are very different and IMO that is what sets them apart, not goals, assists, shiniest boots blah blah blah.
He should retire asap unless he wants to keep going for money. He can still ping passes but he's not been good for much else this season. Without mpabbe and Messi being 35 next season they aren't winning the cl.
Honestly speaking, it would not be mouth watering at all. It would be such an anti-climax. I don’t think they’d work well together anyway. It would give psg a seriously imbalanced team.
I fear we’d end up remembering them both for that final season together which I have no doubt would not be as exciting as you’d imagine.
Yesterday yes. Veratti and Neymar kept giving the ball away with very simple passes. I was talking specifically about the game yesterday. Messi's laziness off the ball is nothing new.
They should never have signed him. With Lionel Messi in your team, you can't play a 433 and you have to play a 442 so Messi can drop deep and have wide players to facilitate his dribbling on the interior, but with two midfielders, any team Messi is on will get dominated in the long run. Ernersto Valverde found this out at Barcelona and had to accommodate Messi. Unless you have a well structured team that can create an echo system like Manchester City, Lionel Messi is a tactical issue.
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I think he might retire after WC.
Retiring before you lose it is underrated.
This, all day it's this.
Issue with it is that he can't even dribble these days, he lost that nasty acceleration to go past 1-2 players in tight spaces. He turned into a walking passer, which is kinda sad.
In regards to creating a team around him, it's not even a question, the same as we shouldn't create a team around Ronaldo. Him and CR are huge tactical issues, and we all know they also kinda have their attitude issues, even though in the press everybody lauds them as being some role models. Their biggest mistake was leaving Madrid and Barcelona.
His best work last night was done in defence.
Used to be that way. Golden retirement in Japan or the USA. CR and Messi (and Ibra) started this "35 yo and still elite (not)" trend.
Eric !
As with Cristiano, the last few seasons were a matter of balancing his value and contributions vs the cascading tactical issues he generated
For both of them we have finally reached the point were those tactical issues outweight their contributions. You simply can't win anymore at the highest level with them
For both of them we have finally reached the point were those tactical issues outweight their contributions. You simply can't win anymore at the highest level with them
Yes. I think the problem both Ronaldo and Messi encounter is that only clubs that are very focused on collecting the best individual players and spending fortuned on them are able and willing to pay the huge salaries. The problem is that the well oiled and functionable sides don't have that money right bow so they end up at subpar teams (Ronaldo now even more so than Messi) which don't work as a cohesive unit. This is also a stark contrast to their times at Barca and Madrid when they profited immensely from playing in the best teams as well. I find it very difficult to isolate that effect completely. Especially with Ronaldo but these days also with Messi.
That being said, I think the reactions are still a bit over the top. Some of the interplay between Messi, Neymar and Mbappe yesterday was breathtaking. Generally a match on a very high level. Still I don't think it makes sense to have three star players with such work rates in your team. Put any of them in the City team and they probably look like the best in the world immediately. Put all three of them in there and the team probably begins to struggle.
Yes. I hope their egos will accept at some point in time that they aren't as good as they used to be anymore and play cameo roles. Unfortunately, the point to accept a lower salary to play in a great team and prioritize achievements over money seems gone for both of them.
Genuinely can see Inter Miami trying to sign them both.
Can one of the mods not just close this thread since members clearly aren’t disciplined enough to not do a VS Ronaldo when there’s already a thread for it?
Watching Messi and Ronaldo now is like watching Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair coming back to wrestle way after their respective primes.
Didn’t realise his record against Madrid in recent games was that poor.
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Now we can openly say Messi turned PSG into a worse team. Two years ago PSG played the Champions League Final, and now with Messi they got knocked out in the round of 16.
Last year PSG played the French Cup's Final and won it. This year with Messi they got knocked in the round of 16, just like the Champions League. It's astonishing how PSG used to play Finals and now with Messi they always fall in the rounds of 16 in every competition.
Messi destroyed PSG and turned them into a poor team.
Last year PSG played the French Cup's Final and won it. This year with Messi they got knocked in the round of 16, just like the Champions League. It's astonishing how PSG used to play Finals and now with Messi they always fall in the rounds of 16 in every competition.
Messi destroyed PSG and turned them into a poor team.
It is astonishing how PSG lost Ligue 1 last year and are now winning it with Messi.
Donnarumma's mistake cost them as they were way better than Real for 150 minutes. It is astonishing how Donnarumma destroyed PSG against Real. It is also astonishing how Marquinhos messed up as a supposedly elite defender against Real and turned them into a poor team. It is also astonishing how far Neymar has fallen and turned PSG into a worse team.
You are talking nonsense.
No problem because the potential revenue from social engagement metrics paid for his transfer, they even somehow made it easier to find oil beneath the earth.
What about Messi missing penalty against Madrid in the first leg? Messi knocked PSG out of the Champions League with that penalty miss
What?
Not sure football works like this, pretty sure it’s a team game and anything can happen
It’s atonishing how their are about to win their 8th title from the last 9 ligue un seasons, how they managed the other 7 without him I’ll never know.
Didn’t Monaco win it a few years ago?
It’s atonishing how their are about to win their 8th title from the last 9 ligue un seasons, how they managed the other 7 without him I’ll never know.
Mine was an astonishing response to an astonishing comment by another astonishing poster above
It’s atonishing how their are about to win their 8th title from the last 9 ligue un seasons, how they managed the other 7 without him I’ll never know.
Who cares?
Without Messi PSG won the Ligue 1 seven times in the last 9 years. So they didn't sign Messi to win the Ligue 1, they signed Messi to win the Champions League.
So Messi failed in PSG, because he couldn't win the Champions League for them, and the failure is even bigger when you realise that PSG played the Champions League Final without Messi, and now with Messi they got knocked out in the round of 16.
Messi turned PSG into a worse team, facts speak for themselves, they had better results without Messi.
So Messi failed in PSG, because he couldn't win the Champions League for them, and the failure is even bigger when you realise that PSG played the Champions League Final without Messi, and now with Messi they got knocked out in the round of 16.
Messi turned PSG into a worse team, facts speak for themselves, they had better results without Messi.
Being booed by his own fans. What a fall from grace.
Not surprising. He is having a terrible season.
Achraf Hakimi is a PSG defender and scored three goals in Ligue 1 this season, Messi only scored two goals. So even defenders score more goals than Messi these days, that must be embarrassing for him. It's understandable why PSG fans are booing him.
When the guy who is supposed to be the best or the second best player of the team, and gets paid 40 million per year, has scored only two goals by mid-March, that's a huge failure.
When the guy who is supposed to be the best or the second best player of the team, and gets paid 40 million per year, has scored only two goals by mid-March, that's a huge failure.
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That's a poor return indeed but it's not just the lack of goals but his overall performances aren't up to the standard fans expect of him. I seriously thought he would be doing much better at this stage of the season. PSG has a strong side that is able to dominate their league and can allow themselves to feature him slowly into the team; in order to have him firing up and full throtle in the latter stages of UCL but it's more like if he was still in preseason mode.
This isn't solely his fault as the responsible for setting the team and tactics is Pochettino and it also doesn't help he's been limited by being imposed to play with Neymar, Messi and Mbappe on the important games.
The departure of Mbappe is going to be a big blow for them but it could also help to balance the team around Neymar and Messi... at least for the one or two seasons he has left there.
Couldn't agree more
I have to be honest and say that I don't understand the reasoning of the bolded part. I often see this kind of question posed, 'if you wanted someone to win a game for your life' or Gary Neville's classic 'if you could bring on any sub to win a game for you' and it all seems to be purely speculative.
Every player has good games and bad games, even the greatest. I'm a huge Maradona fan and I can remember his career. His best performances were arguably better than anyone who's ever lived, but he had a lot of indifferent ones as well.
However. It was different back then: we didn't pore over every minute of every game with endless social media posts and YouTube clips. In fact, if you lived in England, it was difficult to even watch his games on a regular basis.
I think on the biggest stage (which I still believe is the World Cup), Maradona has been better. There's no debate there. But what about all the other hundreds of games? It's a difficult comparison.
The reasoning is very simple. People would choose Maradona for 2 simple reasons:
- Messi is a bottler and crumbles under pressure, while Maradona wouldn't.
- Messi lacks the ability to adapt to another league, team, playing system, while Maradona could shine in any team.
Clearly nonsense on both points.