What is your problem?
He's a direct-dribbler in the same vein of an Arjen Robben, of course he's going to lose the ball when he's directly attacking the enemy lines in an attempt to unravel it. I could literally scour YT and find highlights of every great dribbler, past or present, losing the ball. When the hell did that start becoming a cause for serious concern until now? Or does Messi have a 100% dribble completion rate?
His "two good actions" (it was more, but whatever) > losing 10 balls
His attitude is down to the fact that he's not only had an unfortunate debut season that has been plagued with injuries, but also the fact that it occurred in a World Cup year, when he looked destined to be a France starter heading into the 2017-18 season. He's acting like every player, young or old would, if they faced the exact same circumstances that have been bestowed upon. The fact that you refuse to acknowledge this is either down to your mere lack of intelligence, or due to the fact you're just being disingenuous and have some weird grudge against this guy for whatever reason.
Edit: And since when was he scouted for his otherworldly finishing before the goal? He's a dribbler and a playmaker, first and foremost.
Of course that dribblers and guys who try to create (risky) will lose balls.
The difference is whether a player:
Has 1 vs 10 success vs lost balls ratio.
Has 5 vs 10 ratio.
Has 10 vs 5 ratio.
2 good actions (without end product) and 10 lost balls is quite bad ratio for me.
>So a 20 year old is set in his ways and cannot change his game to defend more after coming to a big club. Makes sense. Again he can't defend any worse than Paulinho if he tries.
>If Valverde has such a hard on for defense then he should grow some balls and ask Messi and Suarez to defend. Seniors should lead by example.
>Well if Coutinho can't defend why shouldn't he be benched for one of your workhorses? Why pick and choose an argument to favor Coutinho over Dembele?
>Dembele's partnership with Semedo looks promising. They can work it out how to defend our right flank.
Look, we can all agree that Messi doesn't need to defend.
He can save his strength for attacking.
One of Dembele's problems is the same as when Messi played a RW.
When Messi didn't defend, our RB was often in 1 vs 2 situations versus opponents LM and LB.
So, today, when Messi in his free role isn't defending, that is not a huge and direct problem for any part of our defense.
But if Dembele, as a RM in 442, doesn't defend, that is a huge problem for RB Sergi Roberto.
For example, imagine Barca:Real and Messi-Suarez attack and Dembele as a RM.
If Dembele is not defending, they will kill us in 2 vs 1. (Ok, Dembele will be dangerous in counters if Marcelo stays in attack, but still...)
Again, against weaker teams defending is not a problem and if Dembele will play well, he should be a starter.
But for tougher matches, he has to learn a lot and improve a lot of things, defending is one of them.
