How to stop Lionel Messi and would Shadow Marking work?
There is lots of talk about how to stop Messi, every Jo has an opinion and the internet is filled with suggestions. Some say to Double Mark him, others want one of his teammates to pull a John Terry with his Girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo and then there is Shadow Marking.
Real’s Madrids Shadow marking Messi is what we will focus on. When you don’t give Messi any room and consistently keep at him, he would have to work harder to do what he normally does. Keep your best or most athletic defender to follow Messi’s every move and play “Simon Says” throughout the game.
Imagine Real Madrid gets defender Alvaro Arbeloas to mimic every move of Messi, when Messi smiles he smiles with him, when Messi goes on attack Alvaro stays behind with him and when Messi goes midfield Alvaro moves forward. This Simon Says game is sure to annoy Messi and when people get upset, they then play with pride instead of cool head. Would Shadow Marking get to Messi or will Barcelona be expecting it?
When you run with the ball as fast as Bolt runs the first 20 meter of his 100 meter race; not many will be able to keep up with you. Messi is a Utility Player, which means he is able to play comfortably in numerous positions and he has the talent to glue the ball to his feet.
That is the challenge Real has to put up with. The shadow marker has to run just as fast, has to anticipate what Messi will do and most importantly is going to be fully occupied, which will not allow him to play a position.
Defenders are always at disadvantage over the strikers for number of reasons:
Striker runs forward while the defender is mainly on the back foot
When the striker has the ball he knows where the ball will move to while the defender has to guess the movement
The talent Messi has and the form he is in, he will keep anyone on their back foot and regardless of what is done, Messi is going to make life difficult for Real Madrid. Maybe best thing for Real Madird is to keep the ball as much as possible. If Real has the ball there is not much Messi can do.
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