Debunking a myth: Messi is a system player

Some people demerit Messi's accomplishments with the excuse that he's a "system player", since he's played for Barcelona for his entire career. As I will prove in this entry, this is completely false, so without further ado, let's get into the subject.

All the way back in La Masía, he wasn't a system player, since he could play either on the left wing or as a number 10, this proves that he wasn't a system player all the way back in his early La Masía days, since he wasn't even given a set role. When he made his debut, it was made even clearer, as Rijkaard completely changed his role from a number 10/left winger to a right winger. He adapted to it very well, and later became a starter around the 2006/07 season and the 2007/08 season.

He once again changed roles when Guardiola came, when near the end of the 2008/09 season he put Messi as a false 9, a completely new role than what he used to play (a right winger). He played in the center instead of the right wing and broke havoc with the tactical problems he caused to other teams due to his new position. It stayed relatively the same with Vilanova and Martino in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons respectively.

It all changed again when Luis Enrique came in the 2014/15 season, and with the introduction of Suárez, forming the MSN trio, he moved to the right wing to let Suárez take the central role, but he did play somewhat as a false 9 too, using Suárez as a reference point. There, in the centre, he could dictate Barça's play, and judging from his heatmaps, Messi started being way more central (compared to his right flank) at late 2016 and early 2017.

After Luis Enrique left, Valverde changed Messi's system once more. Now, the team over-relied on him a lot, just like they did in the 2012/13 season. His role went back to the basics, instead of a wide forward that went to the center, he made him play mainly in the center. He also started tracking back more, dropping more deep as well.

There hasn't been much time to evolve since Setién and Koeman came, but he's kept his central role in the field, with some interventions in the middle right and dropping deep as well to collect the ball.

Messi has thrived in all of these systems, which proves he's not a system player in the slightest. In fact, you could argue that Messi IS the system, as some managers want to focus mainly on him for their tactics to work (Messidependencia).

Another argument that invalidates Messi being a system player are his achievements with the Argentine national team, which I detailed on this entry.

Overall, it's clear that Messi is not a system player as I said earlier. I hoped you liked this entry, and I'll see you in the next entry.

Debunking a Myth: Mbappé is better than Messi was at his age

Due to Mbappé's recent performance against Barcelona, Mbappé has once again received shouts that he's better than Messi was at 22. Today, I will do my best to debunk that myth, so without further ado, let's compare the two.

At 22 years old, Messi won his first UCL being the star man (and his second being an important player of his team), and later won the Ballon d'Or as well (he was the 2nd-best player the two years prior). It was his historic Sextete year, being the main man behind all of it. On the other hand, Mbappé hasn't won a UCL yet nor is he even near to getting a Ballon d'Or (I doubt he will get it this year too), and he's never gotten into the top 3 of the Ballon d'Or either.

He was also the best dribbler in the world at only 21, with 8.4 dribbles per 90 in the 2007/08 season according to StatsBomb, while Mbappé has never gotten over 4 dribbles per 90 (2005/06 Messi had 7.4 per 90 and 2006/07 Messi had 7.1 per 90).

Another important thing to note is that Mbappé plays in a considerably easier league (since he plays for PSG), so his G/A tallies are a bit inflated, and he also plays the Euro and WC qualifiers, which has lead to and will keep leading to him playing against much weaker nations much more often. And France's midfield is much better than Argentina's, so the ball can go easier to him and he can score more often as well. This also debunks the World Cup argument, since Mbappé's team was filled with great players.

In summary, Messi was already one of the best players in the world at 20 and was the best dribbler in the world at 21, while Mbappé hasn't reached top 3 in the world yet at 22 and he plays in an easier league. This shows that Messi was a better player than Mbappé was at his age.

Debunking a Myth: Messi did nothing in the 2005/06 UCL

Some of Messi's doubters think that Messi's performance in the 2005/06 UCL was minimal, but in this entry, I'll prove he did a good job and was an important piece of the team.

In his debut against Werder Bremen, the second-best team in Germany behind Bayern Munich, he won a penalty which consolidated Barcelona's lead from 1-0 to 2-0. Later in the 4-1 win against Udinese, the best team in Italy after Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan, Messi made an amazing run from the defensive 1/3rd of the pitch all the way to close to the box where he won a foul, which Ronaldinho converted, and for the second goal, he made a tackle that lead to the play of that goal. He almost got an assist too, but Eto'o failed the 1-on-1, and there was a penalty on him not given as well. Against Panathinaikos away, he made a great pass to Eto'o but he couldn't put it inside the net. His final game in the group stage was against Panathinaikos at home, he took the mark from Nilsson which allowed for Barça's second goal, got a goal annulled, later scored the 3rd goal, pre-assisted the 4th goal, and assisted the 5th goal, an amazing performance form him.

In the knockouts, Barcelona had to face Chelsea, perhaps the best team in the world at that moment. They had also been kicked out in the last UCL by Chelsea, where Messi didn't participate. In the first leg at Stamford Bridge, his incredible game was enough to give Barcelona the victory, one of his highlights being receiving a red-card foul from Del Horno that changed the game. In the same game, Del Horno could have received a red card earlier for a horrific foul on Messi, and Messi could have won a penalty for a foul from Terry. He also hit the woodwork. He was hailed by important media for his performance. In the second leg, he, unfortunately, got injured, which sidelined him for the rest of the season, but it doesn't invalidate the fact that he was one of their best players both in the group stage and in the important R16 series against their toughest opponent in that run.

Clearly, Messi was an important piece in Barcelona's early road to the 2005/06 UCL, and even in the knockouts against the strongest team he was the best player. Therefore, Messi has 4 UCLs, being an important piece in all of them (and best player in the last 3).