2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil - Tracking Our Players

Most chances created - Messi 19
Most throughballs - Messi 4
Most dribbles - Messi 29
Most MoM performances - Messi 4

Involved 7 out of 8 goals of Argentina, carried the most of his team of any player, being marked twice more than any other player. Yet still scored 4 goals, against most defenders, Bosnia 8 players below the ball, Iran 11 and Nigeria 11 players in the freekick.

Having the biggest pressure to perform of any player in history of the game, and he matching them like nothing, apparently not even giving his all.   

Insane fecking player. He truely is impossible.

I agree that Robben has dived well.

Stats dont tell that Messi was better scorer. He needs one opportunuty to score a goal. By far better scoring abilities

Stats dont tell that Holland were by far better organized team

Stats dont tell that Holland's most dangerous clear chances came from Sneijder,next clear chance from their left back, next again from left wings. Their left flang created more chances than Robben did entire tournament

Stats dont tell that in Argentina nobody did it except Messi. So entire opponent players focus only on Messi

Stats dont tell that Robben has better playmakers behind him

Stats tell that Messi involved 7 of 8 his teams goals. This means without him they would be at home.Without Robben Netherlands still would be in semi final (excluding his dive penalty)

If you cant compare Messi and Robben directly and can not decide then think that Messi have one Robben in his team: Di Maria. They are almost same player. Both are fast, both are good dribbler, both are hard working. Both lack passing, both dive. But they are both below walking Messi

Here is the Robben's highlights from last match. Just show me one moment when he dribbles one player. Show me one moment when he makes a good cross from free kicks. Show me one moment when he creates half chance for the team (i dont even talk about a clear chance). And half of the video are dives



I dont know how Robben got this hype? How he played better than Messi last match? Messi's that through ball was more usefull than what robben did entire match. He dragged players on higuain's goal. He set up lavezzi. He did many thing that would directly affect match's result. As i said he is decisive. What Robben does is not decisive most of the time. I think he gets hype because he runs more and acts

Fußball wrote:So what do we make of Messi's World Cup so far? In the past 2 games he put in a lot more effort (tackles, tactical fouls) than he did for Barca the entire season. He obviously also had some decisive moments. But surely I'm not the only one slightly underwhelmed by his overall game? I thought he completely disappeared after Di Maria went off today for example. Higuain did what he should have done (that nutmeg dribble + shot at the bar). And then that chance at the end ... Guess he'll never score against Chelsea goalkeepers. He looks much slower than he used to be. Wonder if this is what he is now. His overall game highlights for me are his 360 turns and twists under pressure to retain the ball but that's about it.

thought I was the only one who noticed it, the overall drop in performance. IMO should drop to the 10 role while we use Neymar and Suarez as pointers. For what it's worth we would never see the old messi again. He'll be sort of like the maradona of the 90's. It happens.Everybody has their time, and peak differently to others.its not necessarily a bad thing, that's just life. Happens to everyone, and even if this might sound controversial but a shift in power wouldn't be out of place in barca right now,albeit slowly but soon enough.

james07 wrote:Stats dont tell that Messi was better scorer. He needs one opportunuty to score a goal. By far better scoring abilities

Stats dont tell that Holland were by far better organized team

Stats dont tell that Holland's most dangerous clear chances came from Sneijder,next clear chance from their left back, next again from left wings. Their left flang created more chances than Robben did entire tournament

Stats dont tell that in Argentina nobody did it except Messi. So entire opponent players focus only on Messi

Stats dont tell that Robben has better playmakers behind him

Stats tell that Messi involved 7 of 8 his teams goals. This means without him they would be at home.Without Robben Netherlands still would be in semi final (excluding his dive penalty)

If you cant compare Messi and Robben directly and can not decide then think that Messi have one Robben in his team: Di Maria. They are almost same player. Both are fast, both are good dribbler, both are hard working. Both lack passing, both dive. But they are both below walking Messi

if u really think di maria isn't massive for Argentina, then we can as well forget about any other player, lawd, where's this coming from? And BTW if u really believe what u say about robben (by saying he's less decisive, how can people take u seriously?. Robben has been a better player than messi in this world cup plain and simple. With Neymar and James (debatable). Well guess neymar is so unfortunate with he's injury. And james, well, he's out now. Buh then again, I'll get bashed for my comments.

"Robben has been better than Messi, plain and simple"
This is the greatest come back i ever seen. Did you watch the video i posted? Can you show me one useful thing he did entire match? Is this how he gets hype? Because of replays (of diving)

Where i said Di Maria is not massive for Argentina? You just make up things for the sake of your argument. I said they are important for team but not as much as Messi. Think before posting next time

The mistakes you mentioned from my post was Robben's decisiveness and Di Maria's quality. It means you could not find any other mistake right? You agree with the rest. But to show your hate you just must say something. So you said "He is better than him, plain and simple"
Please next time explain your points. if there is any

quote="james07"]The mistakes you mentioned from my post was Robben's decisiveness and Di Maria's quality. It means you could not find any other mistake right? You agree with the rest. But to show your hate you just must say something. So you said "He is better than him, plain and simple"
Please next time explain your points. if there is any


[/quote] in this world cup I meant (for now), not in general terms. And i think that much is clear. BTW u only brought out one instance which you used to buttress your point which is why I reacted the way I did. Anyway, didn't mean my post to come out as offensive as in the end its all about opinions.

Dont need stats to tell me that Robben has been clearly better.I just need to watch the games.

Dat anti football

1 - Arjen Robben attempted just one pass in the first half against #ARG

Messi's conditioning is horrible. I hope Lucho fixes that ASAP. If someone can then Lucho. Guy is taking part in Sahara marathons and Iron Man for a reason, he must see what everyone is seeing.

If he doesnt, we are finished. Because no way in hell we can press with him in this shape.

He didnt break out of a light jog unless he had the ball, and before the 95-100th minute, he was literally out of gas. He saved up 20 minutes of nothing for that one cross Maxi should of scored.

Mascherano was awesome today.

For as bad as people say Argentina is defensively; they have yet to give up a goal in the knock out rounds even though they faced really good scoring teams (Dutch, Swiss, Belgium).

If DiMaria is back by Sunday with Kun back then things might get interesting (Though i still have Germany strolling out with a 2-0 win)

Dont think Kun is capable of starting, he is too short of fitness and sharpness. Higuain is doing his best to ruin things but Kun isnt ready and playing them both would be disastrous tactically IMO.

They have a great 4411 shape defensively and its the only way to make up for the pretty low work rate of Higuain and Messi.

I would hesitate to bring back Di Maria, thats how great Enzo was..but in the end if Di Maria is fit he probably will play.

Kun doesn't fit the shape anymore. Not to mention that he always takes a while to "ease into" games after coming back from injury. I see him as a super sub rather than starter, even if he were fit.

I'm much more concerned about Di Maria's fitness. Enzo was not bad defenisvely but offensively he left plenty to be desired I thought. Although everyone seems to be rating his match way more than me around here (and elsewhere) so perhaps I'm the problem.

I will say that as soon as Enzo left Argentina enjoyed far less control and Holland were able to get some of their best chances. But I'm not sure if that was because we lost a midfielder for a forward or because we lost Enzo.

The Franchise wrote:Dont think Kun is capable of starting, he is too short of fitness and sharpness. Higuain is doing his best to ruin things but Kun isnt ready and playing them both would be disastrous tactically IMO.

They have a great 4411 shape defensively and its the only way to make up for the pretty low work rate of Higuain and Messi.

I would hesitate to bring back Di Maria, thats how great Enzo was..but in the end if Di Maria is fit he probably will play.

This might be the wrong thread but I know you follow the Portuguese league. What was your opinion of Enzo before the World Cup? ( I know he won the Portugal league player of the year but still)

I've been quite impressed with him. He seems to do everything: passing, moving, defending. Seems like a great dynamic midfielder

I said 3 years ago that Messi was a problem and I was called a hater.I said we wouldnt win anything major with him playing this way and my stance has been vindicated.We won nothing last season.There was the hope among many Barca fans that he was saving himself for the WC and that he would be back to normal after that.I think his performances at the WC have made it clear that this is how its going to be.
The writing is on the wall.He is a liability for us both in offense and defense.I think he is going down the Ronnie route.Now he doesnt party and isnt fat but he is in just as bad a shape as Ronnie was, possibly even worse.Probably walks around in training also.
If by chance Argentina win the WC,he has the Ballon D'Or locked up.He will have nothing left to prove and he will walk around even more.It will be worse than last season.
Its time for extreme steps.Enrique needs to do what Pep did in his first season by getting rid of Ronnie.Question is does he have the guts to do it.If he doesnt,then we can look forward to another trophyless season.

Messi isn't THAT bad and he still has quality. His play making alone, and the fact he always will drag the opposing teams defenders after him are still there. But losing Xavi AND Messi in one window? No thanks

and 3 years ago Messi was still on point

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Kun doesn't fit the shape anymore. Not to mention that he always takes a while to "ease into" games after coming back from injury. I see him as a super sub rather than starter, even if he were fit.

I'm much more concerned about Di Maria's fitness. Enzo was not bad defenisvely but offensively he left plenty to be desired I thought. Although everyone seems to be rating his match way more than me around here (and elsewhere) so perhaps I'm the problem.

I will say that as soon as Enzo left Argentina enjoyed far less control and Holland were able to get some of their best chances. But I'm not sure if that was because we lost a midfielder for a forward or because we lost Enzo.

Why cant he fit the shape if he is straight in for Higuain? Not now, he isnt fit, but if fit that would be a no brainer to me.

And yes, your the problem lol

Your so pessimistic about Argentina.

Enzo did well offensively in my opinion, quite a number of dribbles through the middle and he kept the ball very well.

shinigami99 wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Dont think Kun is capable of starting, he is too short of fitness and sharpness. Higuain is doing his best to ruin things but Kun isnt ready and playing them both would be disastrous tactically IMO.

They have a great 4411 shape defensively and its the only way to make up for the pretty low work rate of Higuain and Messi.

I would hesitate to bring back Di Maria, thats how great Enzo was..but in the end if Di Maria is fit he probably will play.

This might be the wrong thread but I know you follow the Portuguese league. What was your opinion of Enzo before the World Cup? ( I know he won the Portugal league player of the year but still)

I've been quite impressed with him. He seems to do everything: passing, moving, defending. Seems like a great dynamic midfielder

I only followed Porto last season, but even before then Enzo was doing very good things for Benfica. However, not till season was he a starter in most games, they had players in front of him and he always the alternative.

I agree with you, he does everything well.

Messi and Ronaldinho's shape has nothing in common. Messi is still considered the best player, and he can win games better than anyone. One game Robben got Messi treatement and we all saw how he was. If you think its easy for Messi to play great under such treatement then you should stop watching football and support cricket

Messi is still most feared player in the world. He gets special marking plans by coaches and they change their tactics because of him. He outshines every attacker in both barcelona and argentina. If you think there is better attacker than him then you dont understand football

@ Dani: you can't replace Agüero with Higgy because he is Messi lazy. If Messi plays alongside only one other forward it has to be a runner who will generate spaces for him. Otherwise you get the first half of the Argentina Bosnia match.

@ Alex: you can't be serious about Messi being a cancer for the team like Ronaldinho was. His fitness may not be great but his attitude is still extremely competitive. Ronaldinho was sold because of his attitude and because he was deemed a bad influence over Messi.

Also considering just how terrible this board is, do you seriously trust them to reinvest the proceeds of Messi's sale properly?

His attitude was competitive.Not anymore.When he walks around on the pitch all the time,how can you say he has a competitive attitude?If his fitness is atrocious,how can you say he has a competitive attitude?A competitive player will not be in the atrocious physical condition he is in.So no he is not competitive anymore.
I didnt say he is a cancer to the team.I said he is a liability to the team both in offense and defense which is a fact.

I know our board consists of a bunch of idiots.But if it was me,I would sell Messi,get Suarez and Mandzukic for the forward line, buy Kroos for midfield,Hummels and Mangala for the defense.
We instantly become a far better team with cash to spare.

Messi was trying, lol. Dude just doesn't run the entire game anymore but you can't say he wasn't trying. They just locked him down and forced him to pass by closing him down or fouling him hard anytime he got the ball. He did a good job at luring away defenders by just standing there. I think he's smarter at reading the game than you give him credit too. He practically made Netherlands nullify there attack and focus on stopping him by just standing there. Hows that for defense? lol

He still cranks it up when he gets the chance. I doubt he doesn't try everything in his power to win these games.

Ronalindho just looked like he stopped giving a shit. Messi still loves to win

I don't know about selling him - when a fantastic player for you is out of form or showing signs of not working hard enough you don't need to immediately sell him, however what you could is ffs BENCH him now and then. Does that ever happen?

That's the thing I don't understand. How is he supposed to stay competitive when he has won everything and is in NO danger of being benched whatsoever no matter how he does?

I don't think he's being intentionally lazy (though I didn't see many of your games), in fact I don't think he's lazy or 'bad' at all, he's just lost some of his edge. But it's a fact your league went well without him, and there's no reason why he shouldn't be on the bench now and then like every other player too, especially coming back from injury etc., to get him fired up and to let him work his way back?

That's the problem of having a player that is bigger than your manager, and one who gets so ridiculously more wages than others that you feel to bench him would be a waste, which it is not.