There’s no such thing as a one-man team.
But Lionel Messi is taking Argentina to heights that they wouldn’t get close to without him.
He’s already written his name all over this World Cup.
Messi broke into the Barcelona side after my days playing against them for Celtic so I never faced him.
But I know what it’s like to have a world class player in your team who is on another level to the rest.
We had some very good footballers but Henrik Larsson was out on his own.
There was more to Martin O’Neill’s team-talks than just ‘get the ball to Henrik’ but it was an ingrained habit.
It would have been the same for Liverpool in the days of Steven Gerrard, I’d imagine.
This angle of Messi’s run from last night is filthy. 🤧 pic.twitter.com/VmtK189oKc
— HLTCO (@HLTCO) December 14, 2022
I’ve got so much admiration for the way in which these special players take the responsibility on their shoulders and don’t allow it to become a burden.
Argentina were on their knees after losing to Saudi Arabia and Messi has silenced all the doubters who said he couldn’t be the same type of talisman as Maradona.
I really hope he gets the World Cup victory he deserves to crown an incredible career.
As a proud members of the goalkeepers’ union, I’ll try to stick up for my comrades whenever I get the chance.
Croatia’s Dominik Livakovic had a brilliant World Cup and there are some big clubs being linked with him.
Three penalty saves against Japan and one even more memorable one to knock-out Brazil will have made him a hero in his homeland.
But, I’m sorry Dominik, it was a penalty all day long for Argentina’s opening goal in the semi-final the other night.
I was as shocked as everyone else that the ITV pundits Ian Wright, Gary Neville and Roy Keane were unanimous that the referee shouldn’t have given it.
🎙️ Gary Neville: "There is no way that is a penalty."
🎙️ Ian Wright: "They didn't even check the VAR. I have no idea why. It's not a penalty."
🎙️ Roy Keane: "I agree with the lads, that's not a penalty for me." #ARG | #HRV | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/0gwyU1z3En
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) December 13, 2022
Once a goalie commits himself like that and doesn’t get a touch on the ball, it’s a stone-waller.
He’s made himself bigger to challenge for it so the ‘he’s not obliged to get out of the way’ argument is a non-starter.
The pundits were all shouting for England penalties for much less on Saturday night, that’s for sure.
Thank goodness Ally McCoist was there to talk some sense.
Time will tell whether Dundee’s reported interest in signing St Johnstone’s Charlie Gilmour on a pre-contract in the summer is going to happen.
On the face of it, central midfield isn’t a priority for the Dark Blues just now.
The exact opposite, in fact.
It’s an area of real strength in depth, with Finlay Robertson’s recent form just adding to Gary Bowyer’s options that were already pretty deep.
But a lot can, and probably will, change at the end of the season.
Hopefully Dundee will be in the Premiership by then.
I haven’t seen enough of Gilmour to comment on whether he would be an upgrade but it’s no secret that the manager was willing to let Shaun Byrne go – and they play the same holding midfielder role.
Bowyer wasn’t able to do as much business as he’d hoped last summer and January is a tough month to seriously shake thing up.
Next summer will be when he really makes his mark at Dens – both in terms of ins and outs.
