Is man marking Lionel Messi a good idea? Is shadowing Lionel Messi a good idea? I mean teams have done it. But not with much success. He almost wants you to get close to him. To follow him. This was clearly evident in the New England revolution versus inter Miami game.
The new England player assigned to man mark Messi at one key moment was Mark-Anthony Kaye. Who proceeded to get dragged into a spot that Messi wanted to be. Near the opposing team’s goal he wanted to score on which he did.
New England Revolution used multiple players to shadow Lionel Messi in midfield on Saturday. It worked at times.
Watch Messi guide Mark-Anthony Kaye towards the penalty area and then put the Canadian int’l exactly where he wants him. pic.twitter.com/obtxZmHm3Z
— Felipe Cárdenas (@FelipeCar) April 29, 2024
In an instant, in a two yard darting run, he received a genius pass from Sergio Busquets and scored. Here, the man marking defender was trying to do his job. But too well. I mean it was almost diabolical of Messi to do this to poor Mark-Anthony Kaye. Lead him into his own defensive goal box like this.
Messi is famous for walking during games.
Perhaps at those times he is even more dangerous. Strolling into a space he wants to be, to either score or set up a teammate.
Man marking is not something you see very often in the modern game. It is almost comical when you do see attempts at man marking. The game is perhaps too fast nowadays. The ball moves from one player to another at lightning speed. Even the goalkeepers can ping the ball around. Well, most.
For New England, their mistake with trying to mark and cover Messi was giving him too much space when he had the ball at his feet. Time enough to scan the field. To contemplate.
And then to give his teammates, like Busquets, too much space and time to pick him out. The defenders were nearly ten yards away from Messi or Busquets at times. At try to force them to put their heads down for a microsecond.
To try and contain Messi, because you can’t stop him entirely, you have to make him put his head down and give up the ball. All so easy, right.
The least you can do is track back when he makes a run. On the flick by Cremaschi, two defenders failed to follow him. But in a way didn’t Kaye track back and follow Messi? Which was detrimental. Yes, but Messi didn’t initiate the play in this case.
Plus, Kaye didn’t step up to draw Messi maybe offside or be aware of a potential pass by Busquets. Yes, this again is all happening at a high speed so it is hard to fault Kaye or New England too much.
But it is funny to look back on what their coach Caleb Porter said prior to the game which probably geared Messi up in a way. Porter said he wouldn’t play players who were afraid of Messi.
“If they are [in awe], they shouldn’t be here,” Porter said. “You could every week be in awe of somebody in our league. We’ve got a lot of big-time players in our league.”
There’s nobody like Messi though. Maybe some awe and wanting Messi’s jersey after the game is good. You’ll play a lot harder to earn his respect.
Overall, everyone should have some fear when facing off against the best to ever play the game of football. What a joy it is to watch him play. As did 65,612 fans at Gillette Stadium. Some may have been better able to track what Messi was conjuring with seats high up in the stands.
In the end it will be interesting if other teams attempt some version man marking Messi.
