Take on Messi

I read an article the other day that Lionel Messi scans the field 3 times as often as virtually ever other player. I'm not saying compared to some U14 player but all other players playing in the top divisions of soccer throughout the world.

So I've been watching the World Cup last few games knowing that and you can see how much Messi scans. It's incredible.

What it comes down to is that he's taking in 3x as much information as Pulisic for example.

The article said you can't teach it. It's not like of Pulisic started to scan 3x as much it would translate into anything. If anything, it would be information overload. It's like Messi has a computer processor that's three times as good as the next guy.
It's like he is playing this game of chess where he's constantly processing what happens and can happen and what the trends are. So he's able to find these gaps and creases that nobody else sees because he was able to anticipate it. If your mind is normal for a top player, you wouldn't be able to anticipate it because when he makes his move there is nothing there. A regular player sees that and would know that there is no viable option but somehow he processes it and knows that by his teammate making a slight adjustment up the field it will lead to another movement defensively. Which will force another player into a gap and then opensy it up a space that wasn't there.
It's like he's playing a game of chess and can anticipate a dozen steps into the future while everybody he competes with is basically going "pawn to E6" and calling it a day