Messi with 13 dribbles, 10 shots and 5 key passes, 9.40 maybe the highest whoscored rating ever without goal or assist. And you say he was awful and should be benched? Just shows how much the rest of the team was worth.
That said he seemed to simply run into cul-de-sacs each time , gave the ball away all night , woeful shooting
I know his heart will not be 100% into it anymore when he wanted to be transfered. Then again, when you look at the rest of the team performance... if Messi is crap, the rest if beyond crap. It has been ongoing pattern where he put solid performance in one match and then followed by a shit game. Beat Napoli 3-1, lost to Bayern 2-8, beat Celta 3-0, then draw and lost to Sevilla and Getafe, beat Feren 5-1 then lost to Real 1-3, beat Juve 2-0 , then tied Alaves. Simply lack of consistency. Lets hope Griezmann has finally break his goal drought curse with that one and hopefully Messi will finally scores from open play.
No - he’s been very impressive thus far ... Potential to be a real good player at the moment .. look how well Fati started the season and now he can’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo .
Also drew the penalty in that game. It's still just one full game irregardless of the # of misses. If we are freakin' out when Fati doesn't score for 1 game, how do we feel about Penalio right now?
Man, some fans are just way too fickle. Even the very best go a game or two without scoring. With that being said, we’re talking about a teenager here. To put things into perspective: when Mbappe was about the same age he scored 13 goals in 28 games. And that’s in League 1 which is an inferior league while playing for the best team in the league by far. Imagine how many games he went without scoring... Let’s get real here.
He looked fabulous in the first two games then since then he’s missed a hatful of relatively easy chances .. sure he scored that one you mentioned but he’s missed quite a few one on ones with keepers and scuffed a few as well . He’s just out of school and it’s to be expected
He’s got the potential to be fabulous but at the moment it’s still potential. I don’t think he should be starting every game that’s for sure .
Of course it’s potential, he just turned 18 for crying out loud. However, that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t start every game. Potential also means having a potential break-out year. If it’s a choice between him or Dembele as of right now I’d go Fati everyday of the week.
There’s a long list of young players ruined by overplaying when they were still developing physically... I seem to recall us being sensible as regards the young Messi ..
Really? Players ruined solely by overplaying them “while still developing physically” and no other factors? I’d love to see that list. As far as Messi goes, are you sure about that? At around the same age in the 2006-2007 season Messi played 36 games in total. If you’re good enough, you’re ready. The age-old notion that young or inexperienced players will have good and bad games so we should be patient also applies to more experienced players. I mean, look at Griezmann, Dembele, Couthino. To me it’s simple: if you’re doing better than your competition for that spot than you should be starting.
It’s the same reason that youngsters shouldn’t start weight training until they’re out of their teens ... their bodies are still growing/developing. Read up on the regrets of Michael Owen and Ryan Giggs Michael Owen claims he was overplayed by club and country as a youngster and is now paying a heavy price for his teenage goalscoring exploits. In a hard-hitting blog on his website, the 32-year-old Stoke City striker rues the incessant workload during his formative years which he believes cost him the chance both to prolong his career and add to his medal collection.
Messi started out at his hometown club Newell's Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina. After signing a contract literally written out on a paper napkin, he moved to Barcelona as a very small thirteen-year-old boy. Messi had been on growth deficiency treatment since he was 10 and after Barcelona agreed to pay for the treatment, Messi spent his boyhood at Barcelona training camp to be a great footballer. Lionel Messi spent the following three years climbing through the ranks. He first trained with the senior team as a 16-year-old and after that very first session the little genius moved into the senior squad but mostly played minutes off the bench during the rest of his debut season and it wasn't really until the following year that he cemented his first-team place
Basically confirming what I just said. At around the same age, apparently even sooner, he became a regular player. The following year he was 17. Ansu is 18. Moreover, in that period Messi was less “needed” because Barca were already amassing league titles and winning champions league with a certain Brazilian magician. Fast-forward today and Fati is simply the best player we have for that position, and so, in our current situation, more needed.
Both Owen and Giggs had an illustrious career that many other players who were “brought in slowly because of physical development” would kill to have. Not the best example. Also, when quoting someone as proof it’d be nice to include the source. Finally, 2 players is a much too small sample for anything conclusive.