As problem players go, Lionel Messi is not an obvious candidate. By common consensus the world’s best player, he is shy and softly spoken off the pitch and is more likely to be found playing on his PlayStation than tearing up the dance-floor in his local nightclub.
For fans of Argentina, however, he remains a frustrating enigma. World-beating for Barcelona, he is a different player in the sky blue and white of his country and his record of 17 goals in 62 internationals is a poor return for a man who scores goals in his sleep for Barca.
Messi just needs somebody else who does what others do for him in Barca. Argentina's offensive line is just full of players who just don't assist. Higuain doesn't do it, Del Maria niether, and Tevez sure as hell does not. People who whine and moan about him not scoring piss me off, they don't know anything about him or how a football team works.
everyone else in the argentina team is the problem :) he just needs support from his teammates like the one he gets from barca teammates, it'll do wonders for argentina.
The fact is that he has the worlds best assisters with him at Barca, which undoubtedly makes him a better player. I reckon he'll go down as one of the best club players of all time, but never the greatest of all time simply because he isn't dragging an underdog team to the top, he is part of the worlds best team who consistently win things, of course he is a massive part of that but when you look to Argentina you can clearly see his influence wane without Xavi and Iniesta. I'm not old enough to remember Maradona but from what I hear, he single handedly won championships and World Cups with poor team mates
It's simple: you build a team around a player like Messi. He currently spends more time looking for the ball than receiving it with Argentina.
Yes he won championships with poor team mates, and no his Argentine team mates were not poor, but they played like shit. He did it all, it's like saying England are a good team, they are a pretty poor team filled with individuals. It doesn't change the fact that he pretty much did it all himself