Is Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi-led turnaround sustainable?

After suffering through the first two-thirds of the regular season due to injuries and a purposefully incomplete squad that was waiting for Messi to walk through the door, Inter Miami have snapped to attention. With Tata Martino leading the way from the sidelines and a talented bunch of players on the field, we’ve seen a predictable shift for Miami.

The Herons are now a possession-based team…which is to say, they try to get Messi and Busquets on the ball as much as possible.

Changing Miami’s tactical identity was a no-brainer for Martino. If you’re going to sign the best player of all time, you have to do everything you can to maximize his impact. In short, you have to get him the rock. Messi, for his part, has done everything possible to maximize his on-field impact: he’s scored 11 goals in all competitions and has yet to leave a game without directly influencing the box score in some way. The Argentine has been absolutely incredible in MLS, pulling out highlight-reel moment after highlight-reel moment. Busquets, in large part, has done his job, too. He’s either punishing defensive mistakes or creating them by drawing in defenders with his crazy-strong gravity and opening space for teammates elsewhere.

Those two players will pull off magic wherever they go, though I’ll admit the sheer amount of magic produced by Messi in particular has caught me off guard.

Inter Miami have been so successful over the last month in large part because of their superstar signings. But some credit should also go to the role players. By signing center back Tomás Avilés, midfielder Diego Gómez and forward Facundo Farías, Miami now have two things that they haven’t had all season: depth and energy. Those three U22 Initiative players, combined with Miami’s homegrown players and the recovering Jean Mota and Gregore, form a group that can help provide Messi with defensive cover and chances to rest. With several midweek games coming Miami’s way in the sprint to Decision Day (Oct. 21), as well as international commitments, that rest is only going to be more important.

They’re not a complete team – more on that in a moment – but Miami now have more firepower than any team in MLS and enough capable bodies to hang in any game, with supplementary pices raising their level and then some. The last nine games prove that point quite well.