French Soccer League Predictions and Discussion Thread (Ligue 1)

[KTChampions]

On the one hand, Messi's results are not bad, on the other hand, an ordinary average player in such a powerful club as PSG, in my opinion, would have achieved no worse results. Still, given the level of the French championship and the level of PSG, this is quite expected. And it is obvious that the drop in results is due to age, but we should not forget that PSG is very different from Barcelona, where there was a different game model and most of the team worked for Messi.

In this case, it would be very selfish to compare Messi's performance at PSG and at Barcelona. As you said age is the natural enemy of soccer players and indeed the essence cannot be changed.
Apart from that, his performance is still quite good actually for his current age, but the fans' expectations are still too big which makes the pressure even bigger.

Selfish?  I don't know what you mean, but I would say that in Barcelona the game scheme assumed that one player would profit from the actions of the whole team. If someone does not believe, then he can look at the same scheme in the Spanish national team where Villa was such a player.
As far as fan expectations are concerned, they didn't just arised, right? When someone is called a football genius and given a billion golden balls, you can expect him to play at least a little better than the average player.

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[Swordsoffreedom]

Normally Messi-Mbappe-Neymar trio must perform really great but they haven't met the demands of the supporters surely. Mbappe himself is awesome but the other two weren't that much last season. I didn't even see Neymar playing properly last season. He must play more than this to contribute more to the team. Messi's contribution level was also not too high but I hope he will perform better next time. This is very crucial for the Champions League especially.

Mbappe has no issue in last season. Neymar has issues with injuries and his body weight since the Coppa America. Messi has issues because of very limited training time before beggining of last season. He was lack of enough time to adapt go a new club, new mates, new tactics etc. He also was lack of luck because many shots rejected by goal bars and goal pillars, not only rejected by goalkeepers.

In a new season, I guess Mbappe and Messi will play well and better especially Messi. For Neynar, I don't know and if rumour is real, Neymar will leave the club sooner or later because Mbappe does not want to share his super star position in the club with Neymar especially after his new contract with PSG.

Neymar and Kylian Mbappé doesn't have any problems with each other. Because that is going to cause more problems for the team. Under these circumstances, the team does not need any new problems to deal with right now.

As far as I say this PSG really has this season to prove themselves otherwise it is going to be bad news for them. After the last season, I already thought people are not going to watch PSG play at all and the famous players are going to leave PSG but they somehow managed to keep the players and still maintain a decent squad. So, this is their last chance.

[Marvell1]

That performance of Neymar has been on a steady decline since the moment he left Barcelona. And the last season of him was also not good at all. At least not up to his standards of football.

After joining PSG, Neymar's performance began to decline. He has been sidelined for a long time due to injury in almost every season. As a result, his performance tends to be worse. Since Neymar's fitness is not good, I do not expect a good and regular performance from him next season.

[izsara]

In this case, it would be very selfish to compare Messi's performance at PSG and at Barcelona. As you said age is the natural enemy of soccer players and indeed the essence cannot be changed.
Apart from that, his performance is still quite good actually for his current age, but the fans' expectations are still too big which makes the pressure even bigger.

Selfish?   I don't know what you mean, but I would say that in Barcelona the game scheme assumed that one player would profit from the actions of the whole team. If someone does not believe, then he can look at the same scheme in the Spanish national team where Villa was such a player.
As far as fan expectations are concerned, they didn't just arised, right? When someone is called a football genius and given a billion golden balls, you can expect him to play at least a little better than the average player.

Now compare it to the current pattern of PSG's game when some people prefer to play the ball alone and sometimes there are fights on the field with teammates, isn't this ego exaggeration?
Messi won't be able to adapt quickly because indeed the difference here is too big both in terms of play and attack patterns and it will be more difficult if things like this continue but this will certainly continue especially with the gap created now that Mbappe is given more power.

[ilovealtcoins]

That performance of Neymar has been on a steady decline since the moment he left Barcelona. And the last season of him was also not good at all. At least not up to his standards of football.

After joining PSG, Neymar's performance began to decline. He has been sidelined for a long time due to injury in almost every season. As a result, his performance tends to be worse. Since Neymar's fitness is not good, I do not expect a good and regular performance from him next season.

Neymar played his highest match in Paris Saint-Germain's jersey in the last season. He has performed in 22 matches. Although he has scored only 13 goals. In the 18-19 season he played with 17 mats and in the 19-20 season he has played in only 15 matches. PSG gives Neymar very high wages. So Neymar's poor performance is very disappointing.

[Tumanggor]

~

One of the three names must have given up in order to get maximum results for PSG. The trio of Messi, Mabppe and Neymar are players who have high egos so it is very important in my opinion for the coach to be able to manage them.
~

This is a risk and also a test that the PSG coach must face because the three players above are the world's top players and are in great demand

Pochettino I see is unable to unite the three, I really hope PSG can have a new coach between Zidane or Jose Mourinho because I see both of them have good potential to unite the three great players above

[terrorJR]

That performance of Neymar has been on a steady decline since the moment he left Barcelona. And the last season of him was also not good at all. At least not up to his standards of football.

After joining PSG, Neymar's performance began to decline. He has been sidelined for a long time due to injury in almost every season. As a result, his performance tends to be worse. Since Neymar's fitness is not good, I do not expect a good and regular performance from him next season.

This is something that is natural because age also certainly affects and now the era is not for Neymar anymore. For PSG, he has only become part of the supporting role on the wing to make it easier for other players because his role now is the same as Benzema when he was in the team with Ronaldo.
I think for next season it will be the same because it won't be more than that because now the focus is on Mbappe so I won't expect much about this player

[Velvet78]

Normally Messi-Mbappe-Neymar trio must perform really great but they haven't met the demands of the supporters surely. Mbappe himself is awesome but the other two weren't that much last season. I didn't even see Neymar playing properly last season. He must play more than this to contribute more to the team. Messi's contribution level was also not too high but I hope he will perform better next time. This is very crucial for the Champions League especially.

Neymar performance this season was not as expected by fans and maybe that's quite reasonable because Neymar often gets injured, but for Messi I think his performance is quite good even though he only appeared 26 matches in the league but Messi has created 6 goals and 14 assists in his first season , in my opinion it was an extraordinary performance because it seems that messi role has now been shifted by the coach to become a supporter of mbappe as a striker, the trio of messi, mbappe and neymar are not quite perfect but if later the issue about zidane coaching PSG becomes a reality of course the trio can be a deadly combination for their opponents, PSG currently only needs a coach who can handle big personalities in the dressing room and encourage players to be able to do their best in every match, with the extraordinary management of zidane will certainly be able to make messi, mbappe and neymar more develop later.

You have made a good point there. Neymar's biggest problem was his being injury prone most of the time. Sometimes I didn't even want to believe that he was really injured.    I assume he streamed on Twitch more than he played for PSG last season.    Joking aside, PSG need Neymar too if they want to get the title in the Champions League. They have a dream squad but they are still struggling there. Real Madrid eliminated them right after the group stage which was a huge disappointment for them.

[Ratash]

Neymar played approximately half season in the Ligue 1 last. His performance was still decent when he played of course but this isn't enough for PSG. Maybe the Ligue 1 is still easy for them but his statistics in the Champions League wasn't impressive either. He needs to carry his performance to a bigger level next season to be very helpful for the team to achieve the Champions League title finally. Him and Messi both need to do this actually to have a very successful season. Their future coach is still not clear but I hope it will be Zidane.

I agree with what you said even if neymar made some contribution this season i don't see him as important and effective of a player as messi and mbappe i think he need to be serious and give it all he has he need to work hard and not only rely on talent i think if zidane became psg coach a lot of things will change in psg and i think they will became much stronger as a team and maybe neymar will improve too.

[Slow death]

He did not play too bad in PSG. Contribute well for the club in aspect of key passes and assists but it is a joke to look at tot goals Messi scored in the last season. It does not mean he did too many bad shots. It is partially because he had many missing goals because his shots hit goal bars, pillars etc.

Of course I know Messi is getting older and is more affected by ageing. Just like what Ronaldo is facing and as other old players have to cope with. My point is he still actually plays well enough at his age and in the last season, biggest issue with him in PSG is too unlucky.

On the one hand, Messi's results are not bad, on the other hand, an ordinary average player in such a powerful club as PSG, in my opinion, would have achieved no worse results. Still, given the level of the French championship and the level of PSG, this is quite expected. And it is obvious that the drop in results is due to age, but we should not forget that PSG is very different from Barcelona, where there was a different game model and most of the team worked for Messi.

In this case, it would be very selfish to compare Messi's performance at PSG and at Barcelona. As you said age is the natural enemy of soccer players and indeed the essence cannot be changed.
Apart from that, his performance is still quite good actually for his current age, but the fans' expectations are still too big which makes the pressure even bigger.

What failed messi at PSG was not age, it's probably because PSG's style of play is not adapting to Messi's style of play at barcelona, and it's a matter of messi having to get used to the way PSG plays. just look at that it's not just messi, neymar hasn't played well at PSG either but when he plays for brazil he plays better, maybe the PSG coach didn't know how to better fit these players, we'll see their performance with another coach in the future

Neymar played approximately half season in the Ligue 1 last. His performance was still decent when he played of course but this isn't enough for PSG. Maybe the Ligue 1 is still easy for them but his statistics in the Champions League wasn't impressive either. He needs to carry his performance to a bigger level next season to be very helpful for the team to achieve the Champions League title finally. Him and Messi both need to do this actually to have a very successful season. Their future coach is still not clear but I hope it will be Zidane.

I agree with what you said even if neymar made some contribution this season i don't see him as important and effective of a player as messi and mbappe i think he need to be serious and give it all he has he need to work hard and not only rely on talent i think if zidane became psg coach a lot of things will change in psg and i think they will became much stronger as a team and maybe neymar will improve too.

As I said before, maybe the problem is with the coach who doesn't know how to frame messi and neymar, about zidane I read that he denied being a PSG coach and I think he won't go back on that decision, PSG better give it up. zidane is a good coach and any good coach will not accept to coach PSG because Mbape will give orders to coaches and that is humbling

[Shasha80]

Normally Messi-Mbappe-Neymar trio must perform really great but they haven't met the demands of the supporters surely. Mbappe himself is awesome but the other two weren't that much last season. I didn't even see Neymar playing properly last season. He must play more than this to contribute more to the team. Messi's contribution level was also not too high but I hope he will perform better next time. This is very crucial for the Champions League especially.

Neymar performance this season was not as expected by fans and maybe that's quite reasonable because Neymar often gets injured, but for Messi I think his performance is quite good even though he only appeared 26 matches in the league but Messi has created 6 goals and 14 assists in his first season , in my opinion it was an extraordinary performance because it seems that messi role has now been shifted by the coach to become a supporter of mbappe as a striker, the trio of messi, mbappe and neymar are not quite perfect but if later the issue about zidane coaching PSG becomes a reality of course the trio can be a deadly combination for their opponents, PSG currently only needs a coach who can handle big personalities in the dressing room and encourage players to be able to do their best in every match, with the extraordinary management of zidane will certainly be able to make messi, mbappe and neymar more develop later.

You have made a good point there. Neymar's biggest problem was his being injury prone most of the time. Sometimes I didn't even want to believe that he was really injured.    I assume he streamed on Twitch more than he played for PSG last season.    Joking aside, PSG need Neymar too if they want to get the title in the Champions League. They have a dream squad but they are still struggling there. Real Madrid eliminated them right after the group stage which was a huge disappointment for them.

Neymar is honestly one of the players I admire, especially when he was at Barcelona, Neymar found his best form. But when he decided to move
to PSG, Neymar's performance continued to decline and as we know Neymar often gets injured. Maybe because Neymar gets a big salary, so his
lifestyle has changed and he has more fun without keeping his body in shape. In fact, several times I read the news that Neymar came to
the training ground still drunk, this is what finally made him prone to injury.

Even though Ronaldo is the one who is older and always plays in every game, but rarely gets injured, if he gets injured maybe only minor
injuries. Because Ronaldo maintains his body fitness well, by consuming healthy food every day. Neymar should be able to learn from Ronaldo,
because if Neymar gets injured too often, the disadvantaged is PSG who have given a big salary. I hope Neymar can make a better contribution
next season, even though PSG do have a lot of star players, however, the presence of Neymar is still needed by PSG.

[Minecache]

As I said before, maybe the problem is with the coach who doesn't know how to frame messi and neymar, about zidane I read that he denied being a PSG coach and I think he won't go back on that decision, PSG better give it up. zidane is a good coach and any good coach will not accept to coach PSG because Mbape will give orders to coaches and that is humbling

If Mbappe really instructs the coach and wants to dominate the team, then next season we will see the poor performance of PSG. A player in Mbappe, he never has the ability to interfere in any work of the coach, otherwise the performance of the team will not be stable. Stable performance from the team can never be expected if the coach cannot work independently.

[OcTradism]

If Mbappe really instructs the coach and wants to dominate the team, then next season we will see the poor performance of PSG. A player in Mbappe, he never has the ability to interfere in any work of the coach, otherwise the performance of the team will not be stable. Stable performance from the team can never be expected if the coach cannot work independently.

Mbappe will potentially create internal conflicts. So far in his career, we don't see it in PSG. He was like a mediator when Neymar and Cavani had conflict. But it seems now he feels he is matured and becomes a big star, then he will use his power, exploit his importance in the club to get more power.

It's true that if it happens, PSG will have a very difficult season, internally.

Neymar is honestly one of the players I admire, especially when he was at Barcelona, Neymar found his best form. But when he decided to move to PSG, Neymar's performance continued to decline and as we know Neymar often gets injured. Maybe because Neymar gets a big salary, so his lifestyle has changed and he has more fun without keeping his body in shape. In fact, several times I read the news that Neymar came to the training ground still drunk, this is what finally made him prone to injury.

Neymar was famous when he was very young, under 20s. He is one of biggest talented players in last decade. His talent is considered to help him touching to the level of Messi and Ronaldo. However, there are issues with him, not with his talent, but with his professional, lifestyle and then consequently regular injuries. All of bad things prevent Neymar to touch to level of Messi, Ronaldo and maintain it.

With the new contract for Mbappe, with new bigger power for Mbappe in PSG, Neymar is no longer a biggest star there and because he is over 30s already, his time in PSG is counting down.

[Gianluca95]

As I said before, maybe the problem is with the coach who doesn't know how to frame messi and neymar, about zidane I read that he denied being a PSG coach and I think he won't go back on that decision, PSG better give it up. zidane is a good coach and any good coach will not accept to coach PSG because Mbape will give orders to coaches and that is humbling

If Mbappe really instructs the coach and wants to dominate the team, then next season we will see the poor performance of PSG. A player in Mbappe, he never has the ability to interfere in any work of the coach, otherwise the performance of the team will not be stable. Stable performance from the team can never be expected if the coach cannot work independently.

I only see that management of PSG has put on a kid too much power, and this will crash their team in long term. Let's see what will happen but I don't see nothing of good in this choice. It is awful that a kid can decide about

management or about the tactical part.

[Boristhecat]

In my opinion, the only thing Messi is worried about right now is how to perform well at the World Cup. A good performance will once again remind the world of him and allow him to advance to the US Championship on better terms. I don't think he can show anything special at PSG - there are enough selfish players who think about their achievements and they will not help him with his achievements.

It is the last World Cup for Messi and in his career, he got all titles with Barcelona (some Champions League and lot of Ballon d'Or). He already won Coppa America and Conference cup with Arghentina. With his national team, he only does not have World Cup.

World Cup 2014 is the best chance he came to with Arghentina but the goal from Gotze brings the title to Germany, not Arghentina. In the coming World Cup, Messi will have a last World Cup tournament in which he can still be a core of his team. In later World Cup, 2026 or 2030, I don't say Messi won't be there, he might be. However, in future World Cup, Messi will be only a part of team, not the core of team plan. His importance in Arghentina will decrease with time.

Yes, in 2014 Argentina were as close as ever to taking the title, but they played extremely poorly in the final and by the way I remember how Messi went one on one with Neuer but did not score a goal (it was not quite one on one as it was acute angle on the left flank). To be honest, if Argentina gets that chance again at this World Cup it will be a matter of luck as they don't look like the strongest team right now.

[hahay]

As I said before, maybe the problem is with the coach who doesn't know how to frame messi and neymar, about zidane I read that he denied being a PSG coach and I think he won't go back on that decision, PSG better give it up. zidane is a good coach and any good coach will not accept to coach PSG because Mbape will give orders to coaches and that is humbling

If Mbappe really instructs the coach and wants to dominate the team, then next season we will see the poor performance of PSG. A player in Mbappe, he never has the ability to interfere in any work of the coach, otherwise the performance of the team will not be stable. Stable performance from the team can never be expected if the coach cannot work independently.

I only see that management of PSG has put on a kid too much power, and this will crash their team in long term. Let's see what will happen but I don't see nothing of good in this choice. It is awful that a kid can decide about

management or about the tactical part.

That's a shame because in order to persuade a key player to stay but the PSG board gave Mbappe privileges and it's not just about the salary increase but Mbappe has other privileges. The bad impact will be felt by the team in the near future and will no longer be felt in the long term, because if in the long term it is no longer a bad impact but destruction for the team itself. By now they may have realized, that any coach would certainly not be willing to be supervised by a player especially the player is still too young to give orders.

[KTChampions]

Selfish?   I don't know what you mean, but I would say that in Barcelona the game scheme assumed that one player would profit from the actions of the whole team. If someone does not believe, then he can look at the same scheme in the Spanish national team where Villa was such a player.
As far as fan expectations are concerned, they didn't just arised, right? When someone is called a football genius and given a billion golden balls, you can expect him to play at least a little better than the average player.

Now compare it to the current pattern of PSG's game when some people prefer to play the ball alone and sometimes there are fights on the field with teammates, isn't this ego exaggeration?
Messi won't be able to adapt quickly because indeed the difference here is too big both in terms of play and attack patterns and it will be more difficult if things like this continue but this will certainly continue especially with the gap created now that Mbappe is given more power.

I haven't seen many PSG games this season but I haven't heard of anything like what you're talking about. PSG have a more even distribution of goals than Barcelona, that's a fact. Mbappe scored a lot, but the lead is not as big as Messi's in Barcelona. Maybe something will change in the team (Mbappe's trading exploits will likely bring some friction to the PSG team) but I don't think Messi will change next season.

[OcTradism]

Yes, in 2014 Argentina were as close as ever to taking the title, but they played extremely poorly in the final and by the way I remember how Messi went one on one with Neuer but did not score a goal (it was not quite one on one as it was acute angle on the left flank).

In that final, both team had opportunities to score decisive goal and if you remembered it well, Gonzalo Higuain missed a great one before the goal from Mario Gotze.

Messi did have a very good World Cup 2014 in general but what he did is the best he can. I don't say Higuain should be responsible for that failure but he is part of it as well as other players.

To be honest, if Argentina gets that chance again at this World Cup it will be a matter of luck as they don't look like the strongest team right now.

If football is as simple as math, Arghentina don't have chance to win World Cup 2022 but in fact it is not like math.

We see how Italy won Euro 2020 and Arghentina can do the same. At least they are good enough to achieve big things. They must focus on every match, play with their best, and wait for luck to win the whole tournament.

[Gianluca95]

Yes, in 2014 Argentina were as close as ever to taking the title, but they played extremely poorly in the final and by the way I remember how Messi went one on one with Neuer but did not score a goal (it was not quite one on one as it was acute angle on the left flank).

In that final, both team had opportunities to score decisive goal and if you remembered it well, Gonzalo Higuain missed a great one before the goal from Mario Gotze.

Messi did have a very good World Cup 2014 in general but what he did is the best he can. I don't say Higuain should be responsible for that failure but he is part of it as well as other players.

To be honest, if Argentina gets that chance again at this World Cup it will be a matter of luck as they don't look like the strongest team right now.

If football is as simple as math, Arghentina don't have chance to win World Cup 2022 but in fact it is not like math.

We see how Italy won Euro 2020 and Arghentina can do the same. At least they are good enough to achieve big things. They must focus on every match, play with their best, and wait for luck to win the whole tournament.

About this World Cup my totally support goes to Brasil, I'm really enphatize so much for that team 

Argentina is also a strong team but I don't see them to win, because Messi is not so much in good state as the previous years.

[skarais]

What failed messi at PSG was not age, it's probably because PSG's style of play is not adapting to Messi's style of play at barcelona, and it's a matter of messi having to get used to the way PSG plays. just look at that it's not just messi, neymar hasn't played well at PSG either but when he plays for brazil he plays better, maybe the PSG coach didn't know how to better fit these players, we'll see their performance with another coach in the future

I admit that the strategy of the coach will probably have a big impact on the performance of the players and so far I don't think Pochettino has managed to bring out the full potential of his players. Especially about Messi, he has just started his career with another team and he needs to adapt. Not all players who move to another team after a long time in one team can adapt quickly to another team in their first season. Messi has had to adjust to his new team-mates and I think his presence at PSG might not make all PSG players accept him well.

PSG just need a coach who can help star players bring out their best and make the dressing room livelier. I don't see that from Pochettino so it might prompt PSG to want a replacement. I heard Zidane was linked with PSG, but if it's true then his presence at PSG will be good for the performance of the team and the players.