Re: Is Messi the laziest player in football history?

by S Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:14 am

By being 'lazy' is how he's able to sustain himself at the top for so long. Never had the elite athleticism so uses his energy only when required.

by S Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:30 am

If anything Barca's poor squad building has in a way victimized Messi. He's obviously still elite but he's also on his last legs so they should've known better on how to go about building their squad in order to get the best out of him. Now him being 'lazy' has become a problem because they're getting smashed left and right by better teams.

Barca's eleven right now is a mix of washed up oldies who have overstayed their welcome and utterly useless jabroni's who have no business playing for Barca. Maybe that needs to be highlighted first before pointing out at Messi's (lack of) workrate.

by BarcaLearning Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:42 am

Jibers being funny as usual Very Happy

The Messi hate rivals out our Cule alex it seems Very Happy

Time and again certain fans do feel this way though, nothing new. U cant expect a player like Messi at this age who does so much everything else during a match and not conserve energy when he can. Same would go for an other similar player in the past or present.

by El Gunner Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:06 am

what a load of bullshit this is... have you guys ever seen Ozil play? Laughing

and im sure of the countless pro footballers out there in the main leagues there have been many more lazy players we just don't notice them because they are not Messi

Messi is far from lazy, he just uses his running wisely... the guy is a 5'7'' genius, what do you want him to do, run after 6 foot more athletic opposition players and try to tackle them Laughing

yea right

Messi knows when to walk, jog and run, and he reads the game very well and positions himself in important open spaces for whenever his team gets the ball back and goes on the counter attack (that's part of off-ball movement)

by LeBéninois Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:04 am

Used to run more when younger . So I don't get this thread ...
He is an artist and now 34.

Why do you need to run everywhere when you can do this :

https://youtu.be/XK_GcwT1ckc

by Myesyats Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:32 am

I know he's the GOAT and all, but this doesn't happen at any other team:

by The Demon of Carthage Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:07 am

LeBéninois wrote:https://youtu.be/XK_GcwT1ckc

Is Messi the laziest player in football history? - Page 2 Fg10

by BarcaLearning Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:22 am

Its always been the case generally speaking with flair and attack focused players like mentioned above Ozil, u just dont expect them to do the work horse type of things as much in games, and the teammates make up for it since what they bring when attacking justifies it.

Thats why I think its amazing what Pep has done at Man C as well. So many of these small attack focused players have also been turned into work horses and does so much normally not expected from them, and becoming really complete and can do everything. In some cases also the opposite, traditionally deeper and more defensive minded players becoming a lot more attacking and making runs and help creating chances. Its really great to see, and probably the way the game demands nowadays as it evolves. As players become stronger and more fit, team setup and tactics keeps improving, there is less room for so called laziness or just being one dimensional, u have to become more complete and physical as well in order to compete and win.

by Myesyats Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:33 am

The Demon of Carthage wrote:
LeBéninois wrote:https://youtu.be/XK_GcwT1ckc

Yep as I said in the barca section Messi would look much better if they bought players more suitable to our system. These days there's not much movement on the wings

Griezmann, Dembele and Trincao are all ballhogs. The key is to pass around quickly and put Messi in that position, thats all it takes. But griezmann and dembele are terrible at positional play. They're molded for counter attacking systems.

by titosantill Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:32 pm

If u're the main scorer on ure team, I dont expect u to be chasing people down, putting in defensive tackles nor following ridiculous standards like "covering every blade of grass". U need that energy for the final third and to have the strength to score. Attackers shud attack, defenders defend and goalies shud be goalies. If the man tries himself chasing people about and doing slide tackles left right and center, what energy is left to score?

by Myesyats Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:42 pm

titosantill wrote:If u're the main scorer on ure team, I dont expect u to be chasing people down, putting in defensive tackles nor following ridiculous standards like "covering every blade of grass". U need that energy for the final third and to have the strength to score. Attackers shud attack, defenders defend and goalies shud be goalies. If the man tries himself chasing people about and doing slide tackles left right and center, what energy is left to score?

How can you say that as a Real Madrid fan? Seeing how Benzema covers ground both at CF and DM, you know he's a man who can do both. So is Suarez btw.

by Kebab Mon Feb 22, 2021 2:24 pm

He runs when he dribbles

by The Demon of Carthage Mon Feb 22, 2021 2:45 pm

Myesyats wrote:
titosantill wrote:If u're the main scorer on ure team, I dont expect u to be chasing people down, putting in defensive tackles nor following ridiculous standards like "covering every blade of grass". U need that energy for the final third and to have the strength to score. Attackers shud attack, defenders defend and goalies shud be goalies. If the man tries himself chasing people about and doing slide tackles left right and center, what energy is left to score?

How can you say that as a Real Madrid fan? Seeing how Benzema covers ground both at CF and DM, you know he's a man who can do both. So is Suarez btw.

This is not entirely true. If you go back to the older posts in the Madrid section, you'll see that we made countless complaints about the BBC's underwhelming defensive work.

If you want the perfect example of a striker with very high work rate, look no further than prime Suarez. He was a beast. He would hassle defenders by pressuring them constantly, drop back to take a load off the midfield and then score goals.

by titosantill Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:12 pm

I didn't complain about that. I dont care about strikers defensive work as long as they score . Same way I dont care about defenders nor goalkeepers dribbles or passes

by El Gunner Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:07 pm

Myesyats wrote:I know he's the GOAT and all, but this doesn't happen at any other team:

after a while you get what you deserve, he's clearly had it with this club and is saving energy for his new club

by Kebab Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:28 pm

I started to watch football in 1998 and i remember R9 was walking all the time. Others big stars too

As for Messi, reasons are easy and everyone understands it

1) There are not many players who is pressing all the game at 34
2) There are not many players who 6 ballon dors, 6 golden shoes, 10 league titles, 4 CLs and break every record and press like a young player after all of that
3) There are not many players who spent 16 years in the same club, witnessed 8 coach changes, 4 president changes (himself firing the last one), nobody had such high status in a club
4) Not many players have 1 billion$ net worth

Who would run after experiencing all of that? I bet 90% would do worse than messi. Either they would become a drug addict, or they would become lazy and fat and stop playing football. If Messi still tries to play football and win titles, its his professionalism. He is still better than young players. He comes from bench and changes the game, if his running is the problem then why team is 0-1 behind when he is on the bench? by that logic team should win 5-0 every game when he is not playing. Yes he is lazy, but him being on the pitch is still better than him not playing

Sometimes he walks because he is lazy and sometimes he intentionally walks to calm down panicked team mates. Also this season he actually presses, that one moment doesnt change that fact

by Thimmy Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:00 pm

LeBéninois wrote:Used to run more when younger . So I don't get this thread ...
He is an artist and now 34.

Kebab wrote:
1) There are not many players who is pressing all the game at 34

He is 33 FYI. The first time I noticed regularity in his walking was when he was 30 or 31.

by Myesyats Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:39 am

El Gunner wrote:
after a while you get what you deserve, he's clearly had it with this club and is saving energy for his new club

He's been doing that for years not just recently, I remember a couple years back when Neymar would press like crazy and messi be just standing there. Sure he salvaged it with goals created out of nothing but if he decided to just not press at all the whole defensive block suffered too quite often. Today's game is more demanding in that way and everyone needs to be involved or you get overrun in midfield.

by Harmonica Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:45 am

BarcaLearning wrote:Jibers being funny as usual The Messi hate rivals out our Cule alex it seems

Alex is Jibers whenever he's drunk. Also Alex isn't cule, he's defended more Refdrid than Barca lmao.

by Harmonica Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:46 am

Myesyats wrote:
El Gunner wrote:
after a while you get what you deserve, he's clearly had it with this club and is saving energy for his new club

He's been doing that for years not just recently, I remember a couple years back when Neymar would press like crazy and messi be just standing there. Sure he salvaged it with goals created out of nothing but if he decided to just not press at all the whole defensive block suffered too quite often. Today's game is more demanding in that way and everyone needs to be involved or you get overrun in midfield.

Still remember the games where Messi was dribbling half the team but no one to pass to, and Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas just standing around.

by Myesyats Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:37 pm

Yes that was 10 years ago Laughing

by Perucho21 Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:39 pm

I mean look

Messi has earned the right to be walking around the pitch and conserving his energy. I rather have a player like Messi doing that than using all his energy to press and mark attacking full backs.

Problem is that Barca have players other players besides Messi who are also slow and lack any sort of energy

by Harmonica Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:42 pm

Xavi Iniesta Fabregas special, stop running when Messi has the ball.

Is Messi the laziest player in football history? - Page 2 G6et1ZO

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