IT’S the question every football fan asks: How on earth do you stop Lionel Messi?
Well, let me suggest annoying the hell out of him.
Defenders used to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the opposition’s star player and use whatever tactic they could get away with. Now it’s all gone rather timid.
I would have loved the challenge of trying to put the shackles on Messi.
I’d go up to him before the ball arrives, dig him in the ribs and pull his shirt, get on his nerves.
And the voice helps, too. I don’t hear enough players shouting.
Scream at Messi, rattle him, shout “I’m gonna get you” right in his ear. It can frighten the life out of a player and puts them off their guard.
While it’s borderline ungentlemanly behaviour, you’ve got to use everything in your armoury.
And, while it would take a brave manager to tell one player: “Your job is to stop Messi today, nothing else,” that could be the best way to do it.
France might have to sacrifice someone just to sit on him. That player will probably get booked so, at half-time, you swap it and stick someone else on him. If he gets booked, put on a sub and let him do the job.
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We once went over to Spurs with Arsenal and they had the genius in midfield, Glenn Hoddle.
Our manager, George Graham, told Stewart Robson: “Wherever Hoddle goes, you follow him. Kick him off the park.”
Glenn was so good, he could open up doors but we came out on top and won.
Of course, you can’t kick players today but there are tactics which make it harder and get them frustrated.
Me, Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira used to take it in turns to shadow the star player. We were like a tag team.
Messi makes and scores goals, like my former team-mate Dennis Bergkamp. You think you’ve got him and he just pokes it away from you like he’s on the school field.
He sucks you in and then goes, so you have to think of different ways to deal with him.
If Messi gets a one v one, he’s going to get the better of you. Mind you, Kylian Mbappe would probably get the better of you, too.
So make sure you’re not isolated and that you have help around you.
Also, don’t dive in. The great old Italian defender, Franco Baresi, made an art of pretending to tackle then pulling out of it.
Messi dangles the carrot and makes the defender challenge before skipping away. But Baresi made to go for the carrot, then didn’t take it. It was a double bluff.
He would keep strikers on their toes and make them more worried about him than he was about them.
A great defence and keeper will usually win you the World Cup but there hasn’t been one in Qatar.
Think of Marcel Desailly and Laurent Blanc for France in 1998 or Italy in 2006.
Coaches like me would show our team the Italian defensive unit and how it worked. How to defend crosses, the box, the lines. It was a masterclass in defending.
Croatia’s Josko Gvardiol was touted as the best defender at this World Cup before he got ripped to bits by Messi but he’s only 20.
I was at Euro 88 at a similar age and didn’t have the tools for the job. I got turned inside out by the best player in the world at that time, Dutchman Marco van Basten.
He scored a hat-trick as we lost 3-1 and it took me a while to recover and lay that demon to rest.
There was some criticism of my performance and I had my tail between my legs when I got home and got chased out of Luton airport by the England supporters because I’d had a shocking tournament.
But I used it to my benefit and learned from it. I spoke to Jim Rosenthal, the TV reporter, afterwards and I told him we had a brilliant set of youngsters at Arsenal.
I was a betting man then and bet him £50 we’d win the title. What do you know? We won the trophy at Anfield and the man who presented it to us was… Jim Rosenthal, who gave me my £50.
Gvardiol will grow from his experience as I did and come back stronger. He is a talent.
It wasn’t easy to pick a team of the tournament as I was really struggling at the back. Defenders are playing like individuals and there’s not a defence nailing it as a unit.
There’s also been a lot of injuries which means players have chopped and changed.
For instance, Morocco’s right wing-back, Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain, was fantastic going forward but defensively he was all over the place, especially against his club-mate Mbappe.
You have to say Kyle Walker was the defender who played Mbappe the best of anyone. Do I put Raphael Varane in my team because France have got there? I have but probably because there’s no one else.
Goalkeepers Dominik Livakovic and Yassine Bounou were doing well but didn’t have great semi-finals.
It’s easy to pick forwards for the best team because it’s more an individual exploit anyway.
But I couldn’t get another Argentinian in my XI and they’re in the final.
Looking to that final, I do think France are the better team — and we shouldn’t forget the influence that the exceptional Antoine Griezmann has had for them.
But I do not think the defending champions will be able to handle Messi and, hopefully, he will win it.
Messi deserves it, he’s incredible, an absolute magician who loves the game.
Who’d have thought I’d be shouting for Argentina?
