When Messi made his debut at the Parc des Princes in Paris amid deafening cheers, perhaps no one could have imagined that four months later, the Argentine would have scored just one goal in Ligue 1, a feat that was clearly inconsistent with his status as one of the best players in football history.
So why did Messi score only 1 goal in 11 Ligue 1 games?
1 goal in 865 minutes!
Needless to say, Messi's performance in the first half of Ligue 1 was unsatisfactory. He has only played 6 goals in 11 appearances, scoring 1 goal in 865 minutes and giving 5 assists.
You know, after moving to Paris in 2017, Neymar scored 8 goals in his first 10 appearances in Ligue 1, delivered 5 assists, averaged 0.8 goals per game, and participated in 1.3 goals.
However, similar to Messi, Neymar has not performed well this season, scoring 3 goals and giving 3 assists in 831 minutes in Ligue 1. It is worth emphasizing that Neymar has made 4 appearances in the Champions League this season and has never been involved in scoring.
The only player in the MNM group was Kylian Mbappe, who played 17 goals in 17 appearances, averaging 1 goal per game, scoring 9 goals and giving 8 assists, even surpassing the same period last season.
In particular, Mbappe has delivered four assists for Messi this season, while Neymar, who is more familiar with Messi's characteristics, has yet to deliver assists for the Argentine.
From this point of view, despite the halfway point of the season, Pochettino has not yet found the best way to use Messi, nor has the Trident found a tacit understanding.
In Ligue 1, Messi scored just one goal on goal in 43 shots, and the goal conversion rate was only 2.3%, which is at the bottom of Ligue 1. Meanwhile, Messi is expected to score 4.69 goals in Ligue 1 this season, but he has only scored 1 goal to become the player with the most missed opportunities at -3.69, followed by Ilmaz (-3.47) and Meunier (-2.91).
"The biggest difference is on the physical level"
Ligue 1 is widely regarded as the weakest of the five leagues, but Messi seems to be a bit unsatisfied. In an interview with the Daily Sports in early November, Messi revealed, "Ligue 1 has more physical confrontations, the game is broken down into many parts, there are many physically strong, fast players. In La Liga, all teams try to control the ball, and if you don't put pressure on the opponent, you will be cut off by the opponent, which is more important than counterattacking. The biggest difference between the two is the physical level. ”
How to do better? "I've spent almost my entire career at Barca and I'm used to Barca's tactics, controlling the rhythm and the timing of the game in all the games. We had the ball almost the whole game. Judging from the history of the club, that's how we've always played. ”
"Now I'm at a new club, a new way of playing, a whole new league. I don't know how to do it better for me. I try to adapt to the current tactics as quickly as possible, continue to perform at the best and help the team. ”
Messi also talked about the difference between Mbappe and Suarez, "The two fronts are completely different, Suarez is another type of No. 9, and Mbappe has different characteristics. Mbappe has been playing on the wing for the past few seasons and I don't even know if he's played centre-forward before. ”
Mbappe's running position is more flexible, using his explosive power to kill opponents once he gets space. In fact, he changed the way the centre forward plays. ”
Since Suarez joined Barca, Messi has been accustomed to entering the penalty area under the cover of the center forward and pulling in to meet the landing point. In Paris, Messi had to adapt to a new tactic, from the perspective of the battle against Lorient, Messi's breakthrough and passing are still quite powerful, but the cooperation with his teammates is not skilled enough, and for Messi and his teammates, they still need time to find a tacit understanding.
6 goals in 6 battles
RMC noted that "Messi's poor performance is partly due to the fact that his appearance in Ligue 1 is not fixed. In the first half of his 19 Ligue 1 games, Messi made just 11 appearances.
More importantly, because of the late arrival of the team and the national team matches, Messi almost never made consecutive appearances in Ligue 1 before November. For physical reasons, Messi missed the first two rounds of Ligue 1, and after making his Ligue 1 debut against Lance, Messi did not play again in Ligue 1 until 20 days later.
Against Lyon, Messi left early due to injury, and two weeks later, Messi played against Rennes. Another 21 days later, Messi played against Marseille. It wasn't until the start of the match against Nantes on 20 November that Messi finally got a back-to-back appearance in Ligue 1.
With consecutive appearances, Messi has clearly improved his performance in Ligue 1, scoring 1 goal and giving 5 assists in the last 6 games, averaging 1 goal per game.
Against Lorient, Messi failed to score, but set a record for the number of breakthroughs in a single game in the five major leagues this season with 11 breakthroughs. Meanwhile, hitting the goalpost for the sixth time made Messi the unluckiest Ligue 1 player in the first half. Le Parisien commented, "Although it failed to score, this was messi's best performance in Ligue 1 since Messi joined Paris. ”
"The best Messi is coming"
Unlike in Ligue 1, Messi has still been good enough in the Champions League, scoring five goals in five games and scoring against Manchester City as the best goal in the Champions League group stage by UEFA. In December, Messi won the Ballon d'Or for the seventh time, of course, more because of his performance in the national teams of Barca and Argentina.
However, Paris sporting director Leonardo does not think Messi's performance in Ligue 1 is not good enough, "Messi was very good in the first six months in Paris. If you question Messi, it's because you don't know anything about football. You look at Messi's stats, and his first six months were incredible. ”
"He and Mbappe have been involved in almost every goal of the team. With Messi, we are more competitive and he can decide the outcome of every game. ”
Mbappe believes Messi will be even better in the second half, "We need Messi and I believe he will help us in the decisive moments of the season." ”
The same view was held by legendary midfielder Petit, who said in former Arsenal midfielder, "I think the best Messi is coming and we should comment on Messi in 6 months." ”
Will the best Messi come in the second half? This is perhaps one of the biggest highlights of Ligue 1 over the next six months.