Lionel Messi is not the man Manchester City really needs

The reunion of Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi at home team Etihad brings a long-awaited prospect. With Manchester City, however, strengthening defense and pressing is more important than adding an offensive genius to the team.

Two weeks ago, two dominant trends appeared in Lisbon. The first is the fall of Barcelona and the second is the early departure of Manchester City. From a narrative perspective, the reunion between Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola is probably perfect, a combination of two hot topics at the time while recreating one of the most romantic stories in the world of football. .

In 2011, both Pep and Leo, a genius coach who revolutionized tactics and a genius player with lightning feet and extraordinary brains, teamed up to do one of the episodes. the largest body in the history of football. At the time, who dreamed that when they both celebrated their second Champions League silver after the Wembley final, they would spend their entire careers together to dominate that peak? But age, motivation, and aspiration came to take things that way.

The following season saw the revenge of José Mourinho and put Real Madrid on the LaLiga throne. Meanwhile, Barcelona was disappointingly eliminated in the Champions League by Chelsea, 2 games in which Barça did everything normal but could not convert chances and had to receive 3 counterattack goals. Pep Guardiola was tired. The image of doom appeared.

Messi then won another Champions League silver trophy in 2015. Guardiola still only won two championships, behind Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane. And at night in Lisbon two weeks ago, semiologists probably viewed your decision to wear a long-sleeved T-shirt with a knitted cashmere sweater as a sign of your anxiety. An additional layer of protection was counterproductive when dissection seeped through both jackets.

As soccer became more and more inclined to take possession of the ball than to control it, legitimate doubts began to arise about whether Guardiola was still at the forefront of strategy in soccer. The confusion also began to be for Messi. He still stood out, best of all, this is his eleventh consecutive season in which he scores at least 25 goals in LaLiga, but is he throwing his team off balance?

Why have both Barcelona and Argentina started failing in the same way in the last four years? And is the 33-year-old star running as little as he shows? Is it worth the equivalent of £ 100 million annual salary?

During the last season they spent together in Barcelona, ​​it seemed that Messi was beginning to tire of Guardiola’s relentless demands. But there certainly won’t be a better ending to Messi’s career at the club as he reunites with Guardiola and rekindles the perfect dream the two shared. However, there is one fact that must be frankly recognized: soccer is not a romantic comedy.

This is the story of reality. In the 2009/2010 season, Messi recovered the ball an average of 2.1 times per game in LaLiga. In the 2011/2012 season, this number was reduced to 1.2 times per game. Since Guardiola left, the number has never been above the average of once a game.

Compare the position of the Man City right forward. Last season, one role was shared between Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling, who averaged 1.4 retirements per game (although Bernardo Silva was significantly more efficient in this regard than Mahrez). Last season, Mahrez played 20 Premier League games on the right flank and won the ball 1.3 times per game on average. Meanwhile, Bernardo played 11 games on the right wing and made 1.8 winning balls per game. It can be said that Mahrez’s stats are relatively low, but they are still two-thirds more than Messi’s at the moment.

Perhaps Messi will find a new source of energy and a challenge, but Barcelona is the prototype of a team that controls and presses. If you don’t put pressure on your opponent, it’s probably because you can’t do it anymore. And bringing in a player who doesn’t offer too much defense would require a significant change in performance.

Of course Messi will be the sum of strength to Man City’s attack line. It will be the guarantee of the goals. He’s probably the best dribbler. You can see the gaps, the smallest corners, before anyone notices. Whether kicking a virtual number 9 or playing on the right wing, the Argentine superstar will make Man City a stronger attacking team. It has the ability to change the momentum of matches.

But attacking is now not Man City’s problem. Last season it was the team that scored the most goals in the Premier League. There are 11 matches in total 38 rounds, they score at least 4 goals. Manchester’s problem is that they are recovering fewer and fewer balls. And this is the time when Jurgen Klopp and his schools find an edge. Guardiola knows it, which is why Lyon’s counterattack strategy led Guardiola to make a great tactical adjustment.

Messi will not help City improve defensively. In 2017, Barcelona were eliminated from the Champions League after having to receive 3 and 4 goals in the round of 16 matches, respectively. In 2018, he was stopped by 3 goals. 2019 is 4 goals. And 2020 are 8 goals lost. The coaches changed, the players changed, the systems changed, but Messi was still there. It is not the solution for a team lacking defense.

Regardless, this was the first time Guardiola entered his fifth season at a club as a manager. Part of its excellence is the intensity, the motivation to continually improve and monitor. In the 2019/2020 preseason, Guardiola asked his team to practice very rigorously even though they were Premier League champions. So surely last season’s disappointment couldn’t make him feel comfortable.

Incorporating an attacking superstar into the lineup is sure to bring excitement and satisfaction. However, at a time when City’s priority was to restore the ability to press against the counter and limit the opponent from hurting, bringing in Messi seemed to add unnecessary complexity.

A translation of Jonathan Wilson’s article “Forget romance, Lionel Messi won’t make Manchester City better” in The Guardian.

CG