It’s safe to say that many will believe that our last episode of this fantastic season is ending as best as it possibly could. I’m gonna level with you here: I’m a HUGEEEE CR7 fan and there will never be the words “Lionel Messi is the G.O.A.T” coming from my mouth, but it is pretty safe to say that this guy is an extremely gifted player….
Okay, lemme stop bugging… Lionel Messi is indeed one of the greatest players that our planet has ever seen. A true gift from the Footballing gods that we may never witness ever again.
Although he’s no Cristiano Ronaldo, its safe to say that Leo has done quite a lot during his time playing Soccer:
*Fifa World Cup winner 2022 *Most goals scored in a calender year (91 in 2013) *All time top goal scorer for Bacelona (672 goals) *All time top assister for Barcelona (269 assits) *Most Balon d’ors ever (7, should be 5, but whatever…) *All time Argentina top scorer (103 goals) *Most Trophies in Barcelona’s History (35) *Most career hattricks in La Liga’s history (36)
The above accolades barely touch the surface as Leo has done sooo much for the sport during his time playing it. He is now currently living it up in Miami which potentially means that US Soccer will now benefit from who many consider thier G.O.A.T
PLAYER BIO
Standing at a measly 5’6″, the Argentine possesses a wand of a left foot that can basically do any task placed upon it. There isn’t anything left to say about Messi that hasn’t been said already. And do not let his age fool you, since if you get your tactics right he will easily be the best player within your gameworld, period
BEST ATTRIBUTES WITHIN SM23
Like I mentioned in the Neymar episode, Leo is the only other player within world Football that is on a different level when it comes to technical abilities with the ball at his feet (with the cream of the attributes crop being his ‘Finishing’ and ‘Dribbling’). Although I personally believe that Messi is the best passer in world football and should have 90+ in both passing traits, the one thing that made me laugh was the error in his ‘Marking’ and ‘Tackling’. Safe to say that somebody really appreciates Messi, a lot….
BEST ROLES
One of Messi’s greatest asset is his tactical versatility which is solely down to how brilliant his brain is, and you will learn many of the different ways you can utilize this brilliance in today’s episode…As your No.10, you can truly expect Leo to be the orchestrator with almost every play going through him We shouldn’t forget that Leo started out as a ‘Technical Winger’ which means he hasn’t lost his understanding of playing outwide, but he will never stay there and the understanding of the type of players needed around him when playing as an AM,F(R) will be crucial Of course, his evolution into a ‘D.L.F’ was largely thanks to the genius of Pep Guardiola who allowed Leo’s creativity to continue to blossom, and this role is now considered Messi’s best (though, I beg to differ…)Leo also has that tendency to position himself in the “right half space” where he does most of his danger. So, a formation of this calibre will be in the ball park of getting some good quality out of him Leo is the only player in World Football that will operate as an ‘Advanced Playmaker’ when using a 4-4-1-1 formation since the player in the ‘No.10’ role within this formation always operates as a ‘Support Striker’. We’ll learn why Leo is the only exception a little later within the episode…Any formation that plays Leo dead center or slightly off to the right is an essential position for him to be in. Additionally, if he has a lot of movement off the ball, you can begin to imagine the danger he will impose on your opps
HOW TO BEST USE HIM
This is completely subjective since Leo’s the current best player in SMW and should do great things playing in one of his 3 best roles, but when he’s given the responsibility to be the ‘No.10’ within a team in a formation like a 4-2-3-1B, he will showcase his living legend status by absolutely tearing oppositions apart single handedly. And although we’ll still need the right players around him, you can rest assured that Leo will still perform wonders for you even if he’s surrounded by a lack luster supporting castLeo is also the best passer and creative player in World Football so it’s a pretty safe bet using him as your playmaker
WHO ARE THE BEST TEAMATES?
Here is the area where, if you haven’t been already, you should seriously start paying attention because although Leo will still put up high numbers no matter who plays alongside him, the goal is to always utilize every single drop of World Class prowess from these type of players which is necessary if you want to be winning endless number of trophies.
As terrific as Leo is on the ball, his off the ball work is non existent which means that your team will only defend with 10 players, and no matter what type of tactical approach you decide to choose, that fact will ALWAYS remain the same. Therefore, whenever you have Leo in your team, there are three teammate roles that MUST be present in every game he plays: A ‘Box to Box’ Midfielder, a ‘Wingback’ and a ‘Target Man’ or ‘Finisher’. I will explain the reason for each 3 as we progress… Whenever you see Leo starting out on the right, he will never stay there and will always drift centrally to get unto the ball more. The ‘Wingback’ will be crucial for maintaining the width on that side, the ‘Finisher’ upfront will be the beneficiary of Leo’s alien level vision, but the most important role to have with Messi in your team will be your ‘Box to Box’ Midfielder since this midfielder is the legs within the team and will be tasked with doing all of Messi’s defensive work as well as using his Work Rate’ to do his attacking responsibilities as a B.2.B; the same thing applies for when Leo is playing as your ‘D.L.F’ with the ‘Wingbacks’ providing the width which will allow the ‘Wide Forwards’ to be the beneficiaries of Leo’s vision, and the ‘B.2.B’s doing most of the leg work for the team It is mandatory to use Messi as your Playmaker (Especially when playing off the right) with the only exception being if you have an elite level ‘D.L.P’ or ‘P M’ already in your team like a Kimmich, Alexander Arnold, or Kroos, for example. And, you should already know that Leo is NEVER to be used as a Target Man when playing as yourF(C)The 4-3-2-1 is a very unique style formation which will only work with specific types of players, but the layout still remains if Messi is in your X1…. As mentioned earlier, Leo is the only player who will not operate as a Support Striker’ within this formation, and this is down to his lack of mobility. Leo always wants the ball to feet and will rarely make runs off the ball (which is an essential component of a ‘Support Striker’) so, he will operate as an ‘A.P’ when in this positionI personally believe the key to getting Messi on smoke will be placing as many off the ball operators that you possibly can around him. And in a formation like the 3-4-1-2, it’s like Leo’s ‘wet dream’
IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY
We haven’t used one of these for quite a while within this season (since Episode 4, to be exact). Leo is a player whom you can play out of position if you have a bit of a crisis, and he’ll still perform at a high level. Here’s what to consider if you ever wanted to play him within a midfield 3:
The people’s G.O.A.T and a fantastic way to end off what has been an amazing sea-
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It turns out that this Season isn’t over!!!! There have been some rating changes with some new ballers entering the world class slot 😎
Like I mentioned in the first episode, I will be adding any newly 94+ rated players as the season goes on, and that’s exactly what we will be doing. So, stick around soccermanageries. We’ve got some more ballers to dissect!!! 🙌💚⚽️
The Soccermanager Experience 