I was exaggerating, did not provide an actual stat.
But since you did some work to answer, here is my reply for you:
What is the usefulness of 13 take-ons if in the very next move he surrendered possession??
What part of the 77% success rate passes were made close to the opposition box?
He was straight-away dispossessed 3 times, but if you add all his misplaced passes and moves that resulted in a loss of possession?? Oh boy, oh boy...
(unfortunately I did not manage to find the sophisticated stats I want in the usual places I look, so I have to rely on a qualitative-descriptive analysis)
Here is a
9 min clip with every touch by Messi from the game vs Alaves
What do we see in the clip? We see him surrendering possession around half of the time he touches the ball. Either with a failed dribble or with a misplaced pass or with a poor shot.
I do not have the count, but check it yourself.
Now, what about the ones that did not? Most of these are easy passes to his teammates originating close to the halfway line and away from the opposition's box.
And I don't even mention all the other problematic aspects: his positional chaos, his slowness both of the tempo and of his runs, his decision-making (every time he chooses to do his thing there is always a better option), etc ...
All in all, the whole game, he provided danger only twice: the FK that was saved on the line (1.39 min in the clip) and a shot from inside the box in the 2nd half (6.00 min in the clip). So, only once from open play.
Whatever he tried close to the opposition box, the area where he is supposed to create danger, failed.
So, what can the Messi fanboys here (not you) that are blindly supporting him answer to that fact?
That we need a better Frenkie or Busi to pass the ball from the halfway line to the other pivot or to full back in a regressed position?
Messi fanboys, you have to come up with something better than this.
You are ridiculing yourselves with that kind of argumentation.
