Goals and assists is far from the only thing that matters. If somebody plays a defence splitting pass to a winger who squares it, giving a striker a tap in, he is the most important player in the move but doesn't get a goal or an assist.
Particularly with how Barca play, Iniesta is key in creating space for others.
This works for everyone equally, Fabregas, Messi, Xavi, Pedro, all players play key passes that then turn in to assists for others. But somehow Iniesta is only making the key passes and getting not many goals or assists?
Also again, he takes significantly MORE shots than Fabregas yet has scored 2/5th's the goals. He shoots more and scores less, this directly suggests he is much much more wasteful and a much worse shot. He ISN'T a player who sits deep, never gets inside the box, doesn't shoot much and only makes the pass before the assist. It's not the way he plays, he gets to the 6 yard box frequently with his runs(usually the edge of it rather than in the middle) and frequently shoots rather than passes. He doesn't play deep like Xavi making the pass before the assist, he is the guy on the end of the passes and his final ball isn't that effective. In 8-9 seasons he's barely ever broken 10 goals or assists. A great player, in a purely offensive team, in a purely offensive role, would score or assist more significantly more often, as evidenced by the multitude of players who play similar positions and score/assist more.
I've at no stage suggested stats are the only thing that matter, I see people who keep falling back on that argument who also can't explain why he's shooting more yet scoring less than Fabregas. Rather than explain that, people bring up me thinking stats are all that matters. Even though I haven't only used stats.
The stats merely back up the fact, name another "world class" offensive player who barely scores and doesn't have a good assist rate. Iniesta is the only player in the world apparently who is epic, but only ever makes key passes, not assists. The shooting more than most while scoring at a very poor rate should simply be ignored right?
Lampard, Gerrard, woeful goal scoring/assist rates playing from deeper(usually) than Iniesta does... no wait, that's not true. Mata, Cazorla, Fabregas, Ozil, Ramsey are all players who play effectively between the striker and defensive midfield players, and where Iniesta tends to play, and yet, which of them have terrible stats because they only make the pass before the pass.... none?
Iniesta is the ONLY player in the world who is beyond brilliant yet has crap stats, funny that.
He can look incredibly effective on the ball, he is better than almost everyone at running with the ball, but his final pass/shot is no where near where people pretend it is quality wise. This is merely backed up entirely by his stats.
Again I ask, who can name another purely offensive player who is both brilliant and has crap stats? The odd season, sure, even the best players have bad seasons, but it's effectively non existent for a truly great player to only have one or two stand out seasons.
