Lionel Messi v2.0 – Could he score less and possibly become more effective?

Lionel Messi – arguably the greatest ‘false nine’ in history

The evolution of the false nine

Sometime in late November 1953, in what was billed as the match of the century – the originators of the game against the best in the world (England vs. Hungary) – the Magical Magyars put on a show of technical excellence and ingenious tactical brilliance that ripped apart any foolish notion of supremacy that the English may have harboured.

At the heart of it all was Nándor Hidegkuti, who on paper appeared to be starting in the conventional centre forward’s role, but on the field dropped deep, pulling the opposition’s shape apart with his unconventionally intelligent movement. Aided by the scintillating pace and artistry of Sandor Kocsis and Zoltan Czibor and the supernatural genius of Ferenc Puskas, the great Hungarians demolished the much fancied English team 6-3, scoring a hat-trick in the process.

This was one of the earliest demonstrations of a devastatingly effective position that would come to be known as a false nine (The name itself derives from the fact that most true-blue centre forwards wore/ wear the no. 9 jersey). It is a position that is somewhere in between that of a centre forward and a trequartista (creative attacking midfielder) and asks for great footballing skill and tactical intelligence from its proponents.

Hidegkuti, though, was not the first person to play the role with success – that distinction lies with the great Matthias Sindelar of the Austrian “Wunderteam” of the 1930s – and in recent times players such as Hristo Stoichkov (in that flamboyant 1990’s Bulgarian outfit) flirted briefly with the concept.

“The False Nine” was however well and truly brought into the modern footballing lexicon by Luciano Spaletti who played the magnificent Francesco Totti in that withdrawn, almost mysterious role for the first time in the 2005-06 season. He excelled there and walked away with the Cappocanonieri for top scorer in the Serie A, but his magic couldn’t hide the numerous defects behind him, and the team never managed to make the most of his ethereal talent (Rudi Garcia however, has re-instated the grand old man to the false nine position recently, and it is paying rich dividends)

There is one man, however, who stands apart from all the rest. It won’t amount to much of an exaggeration to state that no-one has taken the oh-so difficult role of the false nine to the heights of near-perfection that Lionel Messi has so often touched with Barcelona.

Flirting with perfection - Guardiola and Messi

Messi isn’t your standard false nine, obviously – because he never was your standard footballer. When Josep Guardiola came in, Messi had just broken though and established himself in the first team, mostly on the right wing from where he had scored 42 goals in 110 appearances over five years. The numbers in itself were pretty decent, but they hid the most important part of Messi – the unbelievable quality that he brought with him onto a football pitch.

Guardiola almost immediately noticed this and decided that Messi’s talents would be wasted out wide on the wings. Going back to the most hard-core form of Johann Cruyff’s tiki-taka, he built his team around a centrally placed Messi and the little Argentine shone in his role as a false nine –creating goals, scoring even more and generally doing things on a football pitch that few could even have imagined possible.

I abhor statistics due to the fact that most people who hide behind these numbers and percentages generally appear not to see/ appreciate quite what the player in question brings to the game but in Messi’s case, the numbers just serve to burnish the great man’s aura. In the six years he has occupied a central position, Messi has scored a mind numbing 318 goals (in 323 matches). In a way this is what makes Messi unique, makes him stand out from the greats who came before him, as he often ends up finishing moves that he himself had a hand in creating.

Messi is in an intriguing concoction of a flying winger, a deadly striker and a creative midfield artist, all rolled into one dimunitive package. He has the dribbling and the speed of an out and out winger, the ruthless finishing of a poacher and a passing vision that the best trequartistas would envy. Until now, the false 9 position has helped emphasise his finishing – clinical and nonchalant - his jet-fuelled acceleration and uncanny ability to stop himself even when going at full tilt, something that makes him as good a poacher as any.

Moving into central areas generally limits the amount of dribbling one engages in – the crowded nature of the middle of the park tends to ensure that – but try telling that to Messi. Even the simplest of touches, the simplest of passes seem to be accompanied by a turn or a dribble that can get the spectators on their feet as he leaves defenders on their backsides.

Messi doing what he does best – befuddling defenders as he dribbles past them with nonchalant ease

One aspect of his game, though is often overlooked – his wide passing range and incredible vision. Luis Enrique will be hoping to correct that unfortunate phenomenon as he pulls the great Argentine into a slightly deeper position in his new look ‘galactico’ Barca outfit.

Luis Enrique and his “Tres Superestrellas”

Where Guardiola’s attack (as well as his successors’) had one focal point – Messi - club legend and present coach Luis Enrique will have three.

For as great a player as Lionel Messi is, his colleagues up front are of an almost equally distinguished pedigree. Where one has an entire nation swaying to the tune of his hips and feet, the other has the President of his nation issuing official statements about conspiracies and dirty politics in the global game in his defense.

Neymar Jr. and Luis Suarez are both incredibly talented players who are, at present, undoubtedly the best players (and the attacking hubs) of their respective national sides and were cult heroes at their previous clubs – both are used to having teams built around them. That, though, is not going to happen at Barcelona.

Neymar has had a year to adjust, and although he started brightly, he did sort of fade away by the end of the season – the off-field drama would surely not have helped. Damningly though, it did appear as if he played his best football when Messi wasn’t around and he was given that extra bit of freedom that he enjoys with Brazil.

Luis Suarez is another ball game altogether – where Neymar is like a flighty ballet dancer, the Uruguayan is more of a demented pit bull; tearing across the pitch, pressing, attacking and snapping away constantly at the heels of the opposition (no biting puns intended). As incredibly talented as he is with the ball at his feet (and make no mistake, there are few more talented), he is manically dedicated off it and will run until his legs give way.

The Blaugrana will be hoping to see Luis Suarez’s trademark celebration quite often in the coming seasons

Suarez too enjoys being the focal point of the attack and as much as Xavi’s imminent retirement (Rakitic could become an incredible replacement, it has to be said) and Barca’s defensive frailties are areas that need to be addressed, Enrique’s hardest task surely will be to accommodate his “Tres Superestrellas” in such a way as to get the best of their out-of-the world abilities.

He has set about it in a typically attacking manner, unwilling to sacrifice the base 4-3-3 that Johann Cruyff helped drive into the Catalan psyche, but he has tinkered with this base formation a lot more than his predecessors (especially Guardiola).

Yellow lines depict player movement (Messi is the focal point of the attack)

He has started these early games with Messi playing almost as a traditional trequartista, three quarters of the way up the pitch, a link between attack and midfield – but with the license to roam as he pleases. He has also stationed his forward men differently from the Barca we are used to seeing, pulling them inwards into more traditional forward positions – this is presumably to ensure he gets the best out of Suarez when he does come in.

With Neymar comfortable coming in off the wing, and Suarez a more than handy player out wide, this front trio presents the Catalans with an unprecedented level of flexibility and, on paper atleast, insanely brilliant movement (off and on the ball).

With the fullbacks providing the width, and Rakitic and Iniesta always willing (and more importantly, able) to come up with visionary through balls or build patiently as needed, Messi will now have the chance to don the hat of the chief creator, without having the additional duty of having to finish everything himself.

After all, in Suarez, they have perhaps the greatest out and out forward on the planet today (along with Zlatan, of course) - one who has shown himself willing to run himself ragged for the team’s cause (Zlatan, not so much) And alongside him, that man Neymar isn’t too bad either, is he?

This added freedom; this lifting of a burden if you will; of not having to be there to provide the finishing touches will enable Messi to unleash his full range of passing – we have seen it time and time again before but call it the bane of genius, they somehow always seem to get buried under the avalanche of goals that always follow him around.

This is a great move keeping in mind the factor of longevity too, he has been scurrying around on those little legs almost non-stop for ten years now and he has had the living hell kicked out of them all the while. In his slightly deeper position, he can afford himself a moment’s rest now and then.

We may not see as many goals as we are used (who am I kidding, he’ll probably score 30-40 goals a season for many a year to come – like how he scored 41 goals in 46 matches last season when he was supposedly “off his game”) but it appears we will see a more effective Leo Messi, a Messi who will learn to embrace the great footballing idea that the immortal Michael Laudrup used to hold so close to his heart – the philosophy that creating a goal gave as much, if not more, pleasure than actually scoring it.

Aiding him will be his ability to read the game like he wrote it and a left foot that seems to have a mind of its own, a foot that can make a football sing (his right foot isn’t too shabby either) – Messi v2.0 may just grow to be more dominant than the (already unbelievably incredible) earlier version.

The Camp Nou, it appears, has not yet seen the very best of Lionel Andres Messi.

Will the little genius continue to own every match he plays in as he has seemingly always been doing?