messi2140
6racies Xavi
I completely missed that. He tends to convolute so many stats at once that it's hard to notice all the bullshit. Nice catch.
6 - Carles Alena
- Thread starter raki
- Start date
I completely missed that. He tends to convolute so many stats at once that it's hard to notice all the bullshit. Nice catch.
serghei
Senior Member
I would agree with the idea that unless the midfield is.... honestly... unfucking real technical wise, you need 1 physical midfielder who would plug the holes and jump on the loose balls winning them back.
The way around that is that not all physical midfielders who are 'workhorses' need to be really bad on the ball. Yaya Toure for example was both strong and technical.
Btw, Busi is not a workhorse and never was. Rakitic/Vidal are. The issue with playing both Rakitic and Vidal is that the midfield lacks creativity on the ball, which is worse than lacking 'workhorses', since we tend to have the ball a lot, meaning players who are good on the ball are the most valuable for us, especially giving that Messi and Suarez aren't the most energetic players out there in terms of off the ball movement.
You combine poor on the ball creativity in midfield with poor off the ball movement from strikers, and you get a deadly combo which basically reduces to very low chance creation with a lot of very sterile possession unless Messi and Suarez do some magic, which hasn't been happening vs tier 1 team in Europe in quite a while.
If one of those two components is sky high it can work great, like Liverpool (great movement and workrate up front, which compensates well the lack of creativity in midfield). If both are insanely high it leads to Barca 2011 level of perfection.
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bismp
Well-known member
Yeah Xavi,Iniesta,Busquets was such a bad idea,overrun by workhorses week in/week out.Let’s start Gomes-Raki-Vidal,so much better
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Cool story.
You had 3 best midfielders ever.
All 3 coming from La Masia.
They had 4 years difference of age between them.
They played with hardworking attackers upfront like Pedro, Etoo and a younger Messi.
They had a silent midfielder Dani Alves beside them.
And one and only Messi in attack.
Not to mention that they played in era when the opponents weren't used to TikiTaka yet.
Plus, football evolved into way more physical since 2008-2012.
Now go back to Frenkie, Arthur, Alena.
They don't have young Messi.
They have grannies Messi and Suarez.
They have Semedo/Roberto.
Teams know how to neutralize our 433 and how to counter it efficiently, unlike in 2009.
Guys who watch Frenkie.
Look who are his midfield teamnates at Ajax and Netherlands.
Also, Arthur has Casemiro behind him at Brasil.
So, these guys have at least 1 destroyer behind them.
But you guys have a magical solution where light Frenkie will be our the most physical and defensive guy in midfield.
Once again, what could possibly go wrong with that lineup?
Football hasn't become more physical really. If xavi iniesta and busquets were playing together today even the best defensive midfielders couldn't get near them. If Arthur improves further and de jong lives up to the hype you will see that. Teams counter our 433 because we don't have as much quality in midfield and attack. Nobody can get near great players consistently without fouling. I think us on form and peps city proves teams have not gotten used to playing against tiki taka
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Vilarrubi
New member
I think the answer is somewhere in between, the Iniesta/Busi/Xavi pure technical midfield will never happen again, the likes of Alena and Puig etc will never reach that level that’s more or less fact.
I think a midfield of Frenkie and Arthur as CMs and a physical CDM who is relentless with pressing, good defensively, has above average pace so he can keep up with counter attacks and technical enough for a Barca midfield would be perfect. Not sure who that guy would be though.
I think a midfield of Frenkie and Arthur as CMs and a physical CDM who is relentless with pressing, good defensively, has above average pace so he can keep up with counter attacks and technical enough for a Barca midfield would be perfect. Not sure who that guy would be though.
messi2140
6racies Xavi
What are you even talking about ? He played out of position as a LW.
Joan
Well-known member
I'm talking about him in general
you just have to shake your head and move on.
tacticvarium
New member
Ignore the hater.
He still played decently as a LW.
Should have come on earlier with other guys.
Team looked more lively as soon as he came on.
He still played decently as a LW.
Should have come on earlier with other guys.
Team looked more lively as soon as he came on.
Joan
Well-known member
serghei
Senior Member
Agreed. He has flashed of great play with really great bits of skill and vision, but in the next minute does something badly. I hope he's not one of those players. He's still on his first games as a first team player, way too soon to form conclusions. Would be a good candidate to start vs Bilbao.
te amo barca
Blaugrana al vent
He is a CM, not a LW. Would look decent enough at RW I think but we are stacked there.
As far as his performance is concerned, I cannot say anything. We clearly weren't pushing for the second goal and he was playing out of position in his first classico ever. It was evident that he was quite nervous, some of his touches were too heavy. He will come good as a CM option for us, will do more for Barca than Rafinha and Thiago did. For now, I except him to eventually become at least as good as Roberto.
As far as his performance is concerned, I cannot say anything. We clearly weren't pushing for the second goal and he was playing out of position in his first classico ever. It was evident that he was quite nervous, some of his touches were too heavy. He will come good as a CM option for us, will do more for Barca than Rafinha and Thiago did. For now, I except him to eventually become at least as good as Roberto.
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