Alternate reality time: if Lionel Messi had gone to the Premier League this summer instead of MLS, how would he have fared? For argument’s sake, let’s say he went to Newcastle United – Parveez.
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks, Lionel Messi remains a sensationally good creative player. I’m sure that even in the Premier League there’d have been plenty of goals and assists. That said, I’ve been taken aback by just how easy he found it in the Leagues Cup, just how much space he was given. His impact in his three MLS games to date has been less eye-catching, so it may be that in the more-established competition, defensive structures are more coherent; certainly if a 36-year-old can dominate MLS as he dominated the Leagues Cup, I’m not sure it’s a great sign for the level of the competition. Yes, he did it at the World Cup, but the international game, of necessity given the lack of time available to coaches, is far less systems-driven than elite club soccer and so privileges the individual.
