00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel, New York HQ, and I'm just going to show you
00:07why Lionel Messi, I think, is the greatest to ever, ever do it, at both international and club level.
00:14Because you may have seen, right, that he's just gone and broken the World Cup all-time goal-scoring record.
00:20He's gone and got two goals against Austria today, that puts him clear of Miroslav Klose, and it's not that
00:24he's done that, and it's not that he's just turned 39 or is about to or something like that.
00:29It's the goal he scores to open the scoring in this game, right?
00:34I think that shows you everything about why he's still able to contribute at this level, at this age, and
00:41what it is that makes him so special as a footballer.
00:46And more importantly, there's a thunderstorm going on outside, I absolutely must stop watching every other game in the bar
00:52downstairs, and I've got about an hour to kill before France kicks off.
00:56Maybe you can hear that.
00:59Either way, this is why he's the GOAT.
01:04Right, sorry, I'm just largely going to try and run this to all-in-one take, because the game has
01:07just finished.
01:08Right, so Argentina, technically, they are playing a 4-4-2 at this tournament.
01:13You've got the two lads in the wide positions here, and you've got Martinez, who starts up front with Messi.
01:17And if I show you the average positions those players take up, you would be forgiven for thinking that actually
01:24it's kind of more like a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-3-1, with Messi at the very
01:28top and Martinez playing a lot deeper.
01:31But that is not how it works in reality.
01:35Like, what actually happens is they both do play at the very top end of the pitch, but who is
01:38further forward and who is deeper changes depending on what is going on at that specific moment.
01:43Like, if Argentina try to press high but get played through, the expectation is not on Messi at his age
01:50to track all the way back.
01:51So Martinez will then be the one to drop in, using the fact he's much younger to do a lot
01:57of that running.
01:58However, when they've actually got the ball and they're trying to build through, Martinez will try and stretch defences by
02:04running him behind them.
02:05And then Messi will pick his moments very carefully to drop off the forward line and get on the ball.
02:12And it's in doing that that makes him such an unbelievable player.
02:16And you saw it in the goal.
02:18Because as a man who is the exact same age as Lionel Messi, let me be the one to tell
02:23you that at this age, if you want to do any kind of sport, even at this level, you have
02:28to be selective with what you do.
02:31You cannot go chasing the game around, trying to make things happen.
02:35He is simply too old for that.
02:38And despite how athletic he makes himself look, that is because he's being selective and when he chooses to use
02:43that athleticism.
02:44And if he was gunning it from the first minute, it would look very different and he would not impact
02:48the game anywhere near as well.
02:49But likewise, and mentioning no other names at this tournament, Cristiano, you also can't just stand at the very top
02:58end of the pitch, knowing you're still your team's best player, but waiting for them to completely bring the game
03:05to you.
03:06You have to pick your moments. And that's what Messi does.
03:10Like, this is his contribution to the move that ends up breaking the World Cup goal-scoring record, right?
03:15He has come away from the forward line. He's near the touchline.
03:19And if you're Austria, you would be looking at that situation there and thinking, we're pretty okay here.
03:25The one thing you want to stop Messi doing, really, is getting on the ball and turning and then running
03:30at you.
03:30Because then he can go past players, he can take players out of the equation, he can make space by
03:34doing that.
03:35So if you can keep the pressure on him sufficiently, force him to play backwards or sideways, technically you've done
03:41your job.
03:41You've stopped him getting turned, you've stopped him running at you.
03:44So Austria will be looking at this and thinking, we're doing all right.
03:47But the problem is, the reality for literally any team who play Argentina, no matter how old Lionel Messi gets,
03:53is that it is in players' own instincts, it's completely understandable, that they are shit scared of him regardless.
04:02You do not want to trust one guy to get up his backside and stop him turning.
04:07You want to be alive to that situation as well.
04:09Because if he does something, he drops a shoulder, he turns, he moves away from him, he creates a bit
04:14of space, you want to be able to get there and help as well.
04:16You can't just leave it to one player to look after him.
04:20And understandably then, when he gets on the ball here, just look at how overweighted to this side of the
04:27pitch and to specifically his area that Austria are.
04:31That is, I would actually say it's good defending.
04:34I don't think you can criticise them too much for that, but that is what Messi wants you to do.
04:39Because he knows if there's this many players in this area of the pitch, they're going to have to have
04:44left a bit of a gap somewhere else.
04:46And so he plays that ball first time out of this block here and into this block here.
04:53And that doesn't kill Austria, it doesn't completely open up the game.
04:56But what it does do is create here a four versus two on this side of the pitch.
05:02And that is, if not a guarantee of a goal, a very dangerous situation to have made.
05:08Because the team is built around Messi, so the other players who get selected are largely done so for their
05:13ability to complement his profile.
05:15So there's a lot of very good direct runners who can go back to forward very quickly and exploit the
05:20space he leaves.
05:21So these players here, they run the ball towards the box.
05:25They drag the entire Austrian defence back towards their own goal line, because that's now how you have to defend
05:31this situation in transition.
05:33And look at how deep they are when the cross comes in.
05:37That means that the space, the real space, the dangerous space, the space this move was always trying to create,
05:44is actually right here on the edge of the box.
05:48And what makes Messi so good isn't just that he helps manufacture these situations, that the gravity he has by
05:54his presence alone draws these players towards him.
05:57So his teammates can do all this other stuff. It's that this isn't an accident.
06:01The second he released the ball from this move, even at his big age, kept up with play so that
06:07he would be arriving in this area at exactly the right time.
06:11And that is then a brilliant finish that has come about at the end of a brilliant team move, but
06:18started by the fear his individual brilliance can create for you.
06:24And so if you look at his heat map across the entire game, this is a guy who's playing at
06:27the very top end of the pitch.
06:29He is not expected to do a lot of tracking back. He actually leads the press for you in a
06:33lot of different situations.
06:34And he's the one who's on the end of all the moves you make.
06:37And yet, that is an absolute classic false nine sort of heat map.
06:41He goes looking for the ball, but not to just randomly get himself involved, but because when he drops into
06:47areas like this,
06:48that forces the opposition to crowd around him and create pockets everywhere else.
06:54And the way you can tell that's what he's doing specifically is because of how wide a lot of these
06:59touches end up being.
07:00Like if he does it in the middle, great, that might create a little bit of space further forward.
07:03But if he does it wide, as you see with the goal, it can create huge areas of space on
07:09the other touch line.
07:10If they can play it out quick enough from there, you can get chances just like this one.
07:15And don't get me wrong, this is not me pulling my trousers.
07:18I'm actually wearing any trousers. It's far too hot in here.
07:20You do not want to see what's underneath this table.
07:22I'm not getting carried away with Australia at this tournament.
07:25I think they've been good. I think their results have been excellent.
07:27I think Messi's playing really, really well. It's great to see.
07:30But they've yet to impress me in terms of their overall team play.
07:33I think they're defending a little bit weird.
07:35I think when it's not working specifically doing this, they're struggling to do other things.
07:40I don't think necessarily they're a strong contender to retain the World Cup,
07:44but that is still the best player in the entire world.
07:49And so far, he's showing you exactly why.
07:53He's broken the World Cup goal-scoring record.
07:56And who have they got next?
08:00Jordan or someone?
08:02He...
08:04So yes, I've got absolutely no idea how long that video is going to be
08:07or how disruptive all the thunder and lightning outside is.
08:12Quite scary, if nothing else.
08:13But I hope you've enjoyed that.
08:14That's just why I think Messi's absolutely brilliant.
08:16And he looks fantastic at this tournament.
08:18And maybe that's good for MLS.
08:22Because he's still clearly the best player in the world,
08:24despite everybody saying he was going to a league that was some way beneath him.
08:28I think you're seeing right now that that is not the case.
08:31He could be playing absolutely anywhere in the world.
08:33And indeed, he is.
08:35And very well, I might add.
08:37So if you have enjoyed that,
08:38we will have longer, more considered, and actually properly researched videos
08:42here on the Adam Cleary Football Channel throughout the rest of the tournament.
08:44So you can drop us a subscribe by clicking the button down below.
08:46You can get me across all the social medias at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y.
08:50And until next time, which...
08:52Let me check my...
08:53That's a watch, not a calendar.
08:54England, Ghana.
08:55We'll be looking at England versus Ghana.
08:58Which should also be quite interesting, I think.
09:03I'm going to have a glass bottle of Coke.
09:05That's my treat now.
09:06Goodbye.
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