Comments on: The troublesome Lionel Messi

By: Tim Banks

Tim Banks — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:37:18 +0000

seems you have not even read most of this. most of what you moan about (eg Villa being injured) is mentioned.

you should actually read an article through completely before you start making such ridiculous comments!

By: JamesP

JamesP — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:27:48 +0000

fair article that offers a different and original view on Messi and what has been a disappointing season for Barca.

As the author says… this is their least successful season of recent times. It is. First time they have not won the league under Guardiola and were knocked out the Champs by the poorest Chelsea side in years!

People just need to stop getting edgy just because someone has offered an alternative view on something! ANYBODY can praise Barca & Messi!

By: ollyzus

ollyzus — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:31:18 +0000

What an article, it’s ridiculously bad in that there was no point.
Messi is too good did not stop xavi from being among the top three nominees for the ballon d’or for the past 3years.
Think you need to get some lessons author.
Remember 2010, Messi wins, Iniesta and Xavi occupy d remaining spot at Zurich.

By: jc

jc — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:54:23 +0000

The profile of the author should read uninspired. The article is more pointless than a circle.

By: Leo

Leo — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:54:55 +0000

And now being too good is ‘bad’? The extent to which messi haters would go to dicredit him is getting disgraceful!

By: Varun

Varun — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:09:40 +0000

Just remembered, Tito had a lot to do with the Messi switch to middle in 2009 when Barca beat Madrid 2-6 at the ‘Beu.
A lot of tactical changes had Tito’s sign over it(even the 3-4-3 was not entirely Pep’s).
Nothing much will change next season in terms of style or tactics because nothing is wrong.
Messi has more goals because the rest have more than ever before.

Comments needs an edit function this is crazy.

By: Varun

Varun — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:02:44 +0000

Too much text in my reply so ended up containing some quoting and grammatical mistakes(and why no edit function?), although its still better off than the mistakes in article.

By: Varun

Varun — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:57:23 +0000

What a load of rubbish this article is.

First we had this Messi cant do it without Xavi-Iniesta jibes now this bullshit.

this group of players is just a bit short of being the world’s greatest ever.

NO, the team’s legacy is secured, stop fretting. This IS the greatest team that there ever was.

About the Goals.

Rest of the Team have scored 113 Goals so far this season. Injury has hampered Villa, Pedro, Sanchez, despite this more goals have been scored by rest of the team than EVER in 100+ years of the club.

it is Barcelona’s least successful in recent times.

3 Trophies have been won with 1 to go.

Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club WC are not minor trophies, only an idiot with no knowledge of the world game calls them that.

It takes 3 Seasons to win either of these trophies against other more motivated teams.

Although when thinking of those teams rather than immediately pick out a particular player,

Spain is Xavi, Period.
And that is how they will be looked 50 years from now because of Aragones, just because you have a hard time remembering this stuff doesn’t mean rest wont.

What a load of utter BS.

Only someone who watches Barca 3 or so times a year uses words like Plan A or Plan B.

They were never devoid of ideas.
It was individuals lacking composure at crucial times that resulted in Barca’s exit.

Team as a unit played brilliantly and were the better team. Pep was excellent. The Coach can’t makes tap-ins or Penalty kicks.

He used 3 at the back, 4 at the back, changed personnel, pushed the pitch insanely wide, players themselves were to blame for not converting when they did penetrate the defense which they did aplenty, the author is a goldfish who seems to have 2 week memory it seems.

This season they have won neither of their league clashes with their mortal enemies

The final stray as to why this article is an embarrassment.

Keeps in line with my earlier assessment of someone who watches Barca like 3 times a year.

Very poor article offering nothing but delusional fiction.

By: Archie_V

Archie_V — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:42:32 +0000

This season they have won neither of their league clashes with their mortal enemies.

No. Barça beat Madrid 3-1 in the league match at the Bernabéu in December.

I don’t really get the premise of this piece on several counts. First, would you say that the late-’50s Madrid team was hampered by having Di Stefano in it, because Puskas & Co. would have shone so much more brightly without him hogging all the attention? Of course not. Why, then, claim that Messi running rampant is somehow cramping Xavi and Iniesta’s style?

You seem to equate “only” three trophies – four if they win the Copa del Rey – in a season as a sign of the party being over, simply because they didn’t win the Liga or Champions League. I disagree. They’ll end up with 90-odd points in the league and a goal difference of +85 or so. A post here and a crossbar there (nobody has hit the woodwork so many times in the Liga for decades) and they’d have ended up right up there with Madrid. And in the Champions League they made it to the semi-finals for the fifth year running.

That’s decline?