You may think that Ivan and Sergio passing the ball around between them and the defenders, in our own half, its dictating the tempo of the game, but for me, and every Barcelona fan, is just endless possession recycling until the ball comes to someone that actually wants to activate the attacking part of the team, that guy is usually Messi
For example, in the 4-1 vs Roma (yay, more crap stats to explain to you how a team that you really seem to not pay attention to plays)
Umtiti, Pique, Busquets and Paulinho (sub), 209 of our 630 passes that game (33%)
Rakitic, 87 passes, 36 in our own half (41%), 14 in the final third (16%)
Messi, 53 passes, ~29 in the final third (54%)
Iniesta, 60 passes, 20 in our own half (33%)
And now, let's compare that to the team/players you're putting him against in the last "great game" of the Guardiola era, Barcelona 3 United 1
Xavi, our most "defensive" midfielder, 150 passes. ~45 passes in his own half (30%, still better than any of our midfielders vs Roma, in a UCL final)
Iniesta, 116 passes, 25 in own half (21%)
TL;DR, whos sharing the weight of driving Barcelona forward in the opposing half of the pitch in games like vs Roma?.
Rakitic 51 passes. Iniesta 40 passes. Messi 42 passes
Extra round, everything mashed up in a gif, which part of the pitch does each of those players influence compared to the rest?
In advance: "See, Rakitic beats Messi by 9 passes", Messi beats Rakitic by 8 dribbles (
all of them in the last third), so Rakitic has the same specific weight in the opposing side of the pitch as Messi. But, again, if you watched the games you'd notice that most teams let us play freely in their own half of midfield, that's where Messi, with his 29 passes in the final third, becomes our maestro, or playmaker due to his task of moving the team against actual opposition, cue in common football knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmaker
The
most complete and versatile playmakers are often known as
advanced playmakers, or free role playmakers, as they can operate both in central, attacking midfield positions, as well as in wider positions on the wings. The a
ttacking playmakers are sometimes called the "number 10" of the team, as they often wear the
number 10 jersey. The
attacking midfield playmaker will sit in a
free role between the midfield and the forwards, either in the centre of the pitch or on either flank. These offensive playmakers will often make incisive passes to the wingers or forwards, seeing them through on goal or to deliver killer crosses, as well as scoring goals themselves. They are also usually quick, agile, and highly technical players with good vision,
shooting, passing,
crossing and
dribbling ability;
they are known for scoring goals as well as providing assists, through-balls, and initiating attacking play
If by this point, you still don't get that we lack the players to 1) Make Messi play a role similar to Xavi or Iniesta
but he has the same key role of propelling us forward and 2) That everyone behinds Messi has defense-first duty, despite them having the ball or not, then I don't know if you watch football or volleyball.
Football is usually played on a 100m long pitch, for defensive teams (specially being attacked) midfield phase starts ~40m away from their goal, for most teams that phase starts around 50~m, and for the Barcelona style and the way more teams settle against us, midfielder phase starts around ~65m away from our goal, you're saying that Messi isn't a midfielder because he just "drops deep", but for Barcelona, Messi is just playing 5/10 meters ahead of where 2011 Iniesta (who you consider a midfielder) played, he's a midfielder in, at least, 90% of the concept that term defines, as the #10 definition said, "free role between midfield and forwards", in that free role, our game plan has Messi roaming into midfield whenever he's needed, and he's needed plenty.
so the world is blind (the landslide Ballon D’or win) and you’re the only one who knows football.
