Raja Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 Apparently there is an All or Nothing documentary about the Brazilian national team? I need to watch this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 Premier League clubs vote for return to longer summer transfer window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 On 2/5/2020 at 12:03 PM, Mark Antony said: Messi’s Instagram post is so weird. Calling out the board for blaming the players for Valverdes sack? Or something like that. Not even sure what to make of it. It was in response to Eric Abidal's interview with Sport where he implied that some Barca players downed tools under Valverde. Messi took offence to this and said Abidal should name these players otherwise he is tarnishing the entire team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 Apparently one Newcastle fan celebrated their winning goal the other day by running down to the advertising boards and helicoptering his willy at the players! Are you sure you weren’t there, BFC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Consigliere said: It was in response to Eric Abidal's interview with Sport where he implied that some Barca players downed tools under Valverde. Messi took offence to this and said Abidal should name these players otherwise he is tarnishing the entire team. Such a weird thing to do. I get he’s the best player itw but it really does seem like he’s bigger than the club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 48 minutes ago, Mark Antony said: Such a weird thing to do. I get he’s the best player itw but it really does seem like he’s bigger than the club He's without a doubt treated as being bigger than the club and he knows it. Plus Bartomeu is not a very popular club president especially among ex Barca players so Messi is safe taking pot shots at an unpopular board knowing no action can be taken against him and he will get unanimous support from Barca legends. Abidal is not blameless either. He should have behaved like a professional and aired his concerns privately instead of running his mouth off to the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mme Erzulie Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 2 hours ago, Soylent Brown said: Apparently one Newcastle fan celebrated their winning goal the other day by running down to the advertising boards and helicoptering his willy at the players! Are you sure you weren’t there, BFC? https://twitter.com/asaintmaximin/status/1225421605783949312?s=20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Mme Erzulie said: https://twitter.com/asaintmaximin/status/1225421605783949312?s=20 Better to be known for windmilling your dick than punching a horse I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said: Better to be known for windmilling your dick than punching a horse I suppose. Are those mututally exclusive? I have to ask, is htis a geordie customary thing? I mean, up here with have the custom, that a man who is not married by age 30 has to sweep the squarein front of the city council. Is there a similar tradition around Newcastle, if you are not married by age XY you have to either punch a horse or wave your dick at NU game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 20 hours ago, Consigliere said: He's without a doubt treated as being bigger than the club and he knows it. Plus Bartomeu is not a very popular club president especially among ex Barca players so Messi is safe taking pot shots at an unpopular board knowing no action can be taken against him and he will get unanimous support from Barca legends. There was an article in the Athletic the other day saying City think they've got a bit of chance of getting Messi in the summer. Apparently he can leave on a free if he announces his intent to leave by the end of May. I'm not sure how likely it actually is but it's clear he's becoming increasingly frustrated with Barca's failure to build a team around him that can win a few more European Cups to cap off his career with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 I think the whole "Barca didn't build a team around him" is not really true. Barca's team was good enough to get into the CL semifinals last season and have 3-0 lead before the match at Anfield. Messi is the team star player and he should step up in big matches like that one at Anfield. Instead, he looked defeated even after Liverpool went 2-0 up, let alone after third and fourth goal. Now, I understand that it was one of the all-time great Liverpool performance, I get that there's something special about European nights at Anfield and that's all great, but Messi is the one team looked to for leadership and he is the one who failed to produce it. His body language was so bad that it was clear even to people watching on TV that Barca were done for. Can't even imaging how his teammates felt at the moment. Messi is a great player, one of the all-time bests and the best one of his generation* and no matter what team he's on he'll be looked to for leadership, inspiration and plays that win the game. He needs to step up as a leader, because at the level he's at being team's best player is not enough. *personal opinion, not meant to start Messi vs. Ronaldo debate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 5 minutes ago, baxus said: I think the whole "Barca didn't build a team around him" is not really true. Barca's team was good enough to get into the CL semifinals last season and have 3-0 lead before the match at Anfield. Messi is the team star player and he should step up in big matches like that one at Anfield. I don't think they did build a team around him that got to the semi finals though, Messi basically carried them to that stage and won the league for them. Barcelona's attacking strategy was pretty much just give the ball to Messi and hope he gets them a goal. Even with that they took a lead to Anfield that they really should have been able to defend, which definitely isn't his role in the team, and they weren't able to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mormont Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Yeah, at this point in Messi's career he has to be getting frustrated. Both club and country have for years based their tactics on him doing something incredible in every match. There's a difference between building a team around a player, which involves creating the circumstances for that player to thrive, and expecting that player to keep winning matches single-handed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 I agree that Messi has been repeatedly asked to carry the team (more often country than the club) on his back. What @mormont points out there is basically a difference between Messi and Ronaldo's career. That being said, he's still playing with top level players even if they are not 100% tailored to his needs. Best players in the world do best in biggest matches (obviously, that's not limited to football) and he has failed to do it a few times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Personally, I don't think Messi will be leaving Barca, at least not for another European club. IIRC he said, he wanted to end his career in Argentina to play for his boyhood club (San Lorenzo(?)). But that's probably still a few years away. I think he and his management leaked the story about him having the option to leave on a free at the end of the season, to put some pressure on the higher ups at Barcelona to strengthen the team. He mentioned the need of adding another Centre Forward to the line up (preferably Neymar). However, I don't think Barca have the funds to pull that one off, unless Bayern pull the trigger on Countinho. They will wait with their decission until the end of the season, and see how he develops under Flick. I'd say the chances of them turning the loan into something permanent are 50% at best (realsitcally I think 20-30% looks like a better estimate). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 It wasn't Messi or his management team. Bartomeu actually revealed the existence of the exit clause in Messi's contract about 4 or 5 months ago. He also mentioned that other players in the past have been extended this same courtesy as well - Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol. I seriously doubt Messi leaves Barca anyway. The little spat between Messi and Abidal has just resulted in the press blowing things out of proportion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Messi can leave (at the end of a season) whenever he wants, but let's face it, he won't- for a start, he earns more than £1m a week all told. And if there's ever an issue, they'll sort it before getting rid of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 His basic wage alone is close to £1m/week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 8, 2020 Author Share Posted February 8, 2020 Feel like Pickford makes a mistake every other week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 8, 2020 Author Share Posted February 8, 2020 The 'cut back cut back' bit made me laugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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