What is the Reason for Messi's Recent Drop in Form?

Luftstalag14 said:

Footyfan, what I don't get is that how can Messi be a worse player (my words, I think you are too polite to spell it out, you called him "different") when stats (like those posted by jiopi, taken from whoscored) suggested otherwise? Are the stats deceiving, or is the drop in Messi's game, whatever it is, be it the explosiveness, speed etc. not reflected in the stats?

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Well, he's not worse per se, he's a different player, definitely not as exciting to watch though. First, let me just say, that when he has the ball, he has been better this season than last. That much is pretty evident...

However, the important stats from whoscored do support my point, here's something that I just compiled (I've only considered matches where he played the full 90 minutes for consistency):




As I said, becoming more and more a pure striker as opposed to the false 9 that he was before. His touches/game, passes/game have both gone down fairly significantly, showing less involvement in the game than before. This is partly because he is walking around with poor movement, not making space for himself to receive the pass. If you notice, he always receives the ball in the same type of situations most of the time and these are usually non-dangerous situations to the opposition.

Also, his through passes/game have gone down a lot (by 75%), along with key passes, meaning he can't find his teammates behind the defence as consistently as before.

There's a lot that's not in the stats too, things that you can only tell by watching the games. And those visual cues definitely suggest to me that he's not the same player, although he has been better this season in some aspects than last season. On the other hand, I get the feeling he's a lot more efficient with his chances, his finishing has improved a lot when you compare to him before when he would waste easy chances. He's added headers and free-kicks to his repertoire, he can hold off players in the box a lot better. That's why I say he's a different player, not a worse one.

Thanks footyfan, that's quite impressive!

Yeah, I miss his through passes, we used to see that quite often. I wonder what caused the steep drop in the number of his passes in general? Does it have anything to do with our tactical changes? Less passes and more direct way of attacking?

I am hoping it had something to do with his physical fitness. And I pray that he will find his groove back.

suckabov said:

What period of time are we talking about? Because he's been great this season, just had his quiet games here and there (like yesterday).

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I don´t say that I think his playing bad But this forum is just outrageous sometimes

I agree with all variants.

Most likely due to injury/fatigue.

How about his explosiveness, so you think it's still on par or has it declined? I've always understood Messi walked more and was less involved to keep his reserves up for those couple of moment's a game where he pushes things to the limit. Seeing him outrun my several players from Madrid and even worse, players from mid-table La Liga team worries me. If this continues I'd say he should be back being more involved in the game, at times it's like playing with 10 men. And like I said earlier; stay up front more. Seeing him picking up the ball on our own half is just not what he is supposed to do.