MLS Defending And Lionel Messi
Is Messi exposing the bad defending in Major League Soccer?
The microanalysis of Lionel Messi’s goals against MLS teams in the Leagues Cup and now in MLS itself eventually leads to scrutiny of the defending.
Messi provides brilliant moments, guaranteed. From wonderful free-kicks to pinpoint assists to unbelievable combination play.
All of it carried out with a backdrop of sprawling, helpless goalkeepers and statuesque, mesmerised defenders.
After the giddiness of what Messi just did has died down, analysis of these goalkeepers and defenders begins to fill the replies, the comments and the reactions.
Is Messi exposing MLS?
Defences being made to look silly by Messi is not unique to MLS. Messi has made most defences in any league or competition in which he's played look some kind of bad.
It is true MLS defending can be bad and is occasionally comical. This can even add to the entertainment. It is also true that some of the defending on Messi’s goals has been bad.
Lots of players around the ball carrier, as often happens when defenders finally catch up with Messi in possession, as seen against Nashville and New York Red Bulls isn't an example of good defending.
In the passage of play shown in the above image at the end of which, Messi scored, Walker Zimmerman was praised for managing to get a foot on the ball at one point, but it was a half-hearted, half-completed tackle.
Zimmerman was perhaps worried about giving away a free kick in such a dangerous area. This is another thing to add to the endless list of concerns when defending against Messi.
Defensively, MLS can be a league of ball-watching. Defences often lack organisation, awareness, and concentration.
As much as they boast attacking talent, the best teams in MLS—those that do well in the Supporters’ Shield and conference standings—are often built on defensive organisation and have a clear off-ball identity that many other teams don’t.
If you can organise a defence, make players aware of their roles and help them keep concentration for 90+ minutes rather than panicking and scattering when something goes wrong, you are well on the way to success in MLS.
FC Cincinnati has shown that this year, Jim Curtin’s Philadelphia Union has shown it in recent years, and even the successful Los Angeles FC, more eyecatching in attack, had a defensive platform from which those stars could strut their stuff.
In summary, MLS defending can, in general, be pretty bad. Playmakers and mercurial attacking talents have thrived in the league in part thanks to this.
The league remains a haven for the No.10 and the attackers who like a team to be built around them.
So it’s no surprise that when the best-ever example of this type of footballer turned up in the league, he made defences look bad and is scoring and assisting goals at will.