Adrien Rabiot

[Joan]

That’s because Arthur is. I actually watch his games and not YouTube compilations. Aleñá is different type of player too, more attacking while Arthur is a deep lying playmaker.

Arthur is what?

A world beater?

 

[MessiCam]

Arthur is what?

A world beater?

Yes. I maintain my stance on Arthur. It will take him 10 games to bench Rakitic if he is given a fair shake. The guy is world class.

 

[JamDav1982]

Arhtur doesnt look that amazing to me.

Looks more out of control and reactive than likes of Xavi etc did.

Watched him a few times and prob seen same compilations as everyone else but just see him as a punt than any sure fire star.

 

[Joan]

Yes. I maintain my stance on Arthur. It will take him 10 games to bench Rakitic if he is given a fair shake. The guy is world class.

Have to wait and see. But I definitely think it's more likely he flops than becomes WC.

 

[Sorin]

Rabiot is only 1 year older than Arthur.
How do you measure how much a player can improve?

Why is Arthur, with 22 years, classed here as a guy who has tons of space for improvement?
But, Rabiot, at 23, is classed as "what you see is what you get" and his improving is finished.
Ouch.

It just makes zero sense that a 22 years old guy has so much room for an improvement over way more developed and a proven 23 years old guy.
That's just crazy.

Way to misunderstand and jump the gun. Please point to me where I even mentioned their value relative to one another? You can't, but you just went ahead and fabricated your own arguments for me anyway.

First of all, I didn't say Arthur is going to be better or has much more space for improvement than Rabiot. What is certain though, is that the guy is surely going to come whether this summer or in the winter. Nothing to be done about it. He'll be on our books from the next season.

Secondly, there's Alena who is even greener than these guys. He will certainly be promoted for the next season. Again, I'm not comparing their value at the moment or even their upside for the future here. Please don't fabricate another argument.

These 2 guys above are young and will need some time to bed in. Rabiot, even if he's a little more advanced in his career, is still a work in progress as well. And that is exactly why I don't think we need Rabiot. Because with him, we'll have 3 mids who are needed to be integrated. IMO, what we need right now is one established world class CM in the 25-28 years old range.

Well, unless you think Rabiot is already world class, in which case, I wholeheartedly disagree.

 

[BBZ8800]

this rich man’s Gomes because;

I have to go back to this post one more time.
Anyway, let's test Rabiot against some world class, technical team...
Let's say against Barcelona. Our technical midfielders should dominate easily against him, right?

Good young, tall workhorse for the future

 

[Sorin]

Just to use the same kind of argument as some around here: Jack Wilshere kept his own against the best mid of all time in Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets and look where he is now. Rabiot doing that is hardly evidence that he's going to be some world beater.

 

[MessiCam]

I have to go back to this post one more time.
Anyway, let's test Rabiot against some world class, technical team...
Let's say against Barcelona. Our technical midfielders should dominate easily against him, right?

Good young, tall workhorse for the future

Lol. Look again at that video of yours... Who is he dominating?

None other than André Gomes, who has the technical ability of a giraffe.

Now answer the question... What does he bring other than European experience?

 

[BBZ8800]

Lol. Look again at that video of yours... Who is he dominating?

None other than André Gomes, who has the technical ability of a giraffe.

Now answer the question... What does he bring other than European experience?

You see, my "problem" lately with posters here is that people are starting to create a myth that Pep's Barca=equals Barca.
And that everything what Pep was doing is the same as what Barca has always been doing.
Nut that is a nonsense.

For example:
1. Barca always played a possession football, true.
But, let's say that in the past it was a 70% possession football and 30% of other styles.
While with Pep, he went into extremes and turned us into a 99% possession based team.
2. further, Barca always had technical midfielders and 1-2 brilliant individuals in attack.
But, before Pep, we always had a mixture of workhorses/taller&stronger guys and some Xavi-Iniesta type of players.
While with Pep, he turned our team into a team filled with 172 cm tall players, as the only possible way of playing.
So, no, 172 cm tall players were not ALWAYS Barca's style. That's Pep's crazy invention.

So, you see, my problem is that people are lately selling a story how extreme possession was always our way and how that is "Barca's DNA" which is not true.
That is "Pep's DNA", not "Barca's DNA".
Also, players like Arthur are Pep's DNA, not necessarily Barca's DNA.

About what Rabiot brings, I will post a few good old players from our team who looked and played way different than "Pep's DNA" players.
Micahel Laudrup, a brain of Cruijff's Dream team.
183 cm tall player. Extremely smart and technical.
But I have a feeling that today, our posters would reply: Noooo, he is not our type of player. He is too tall and doesn't fit into our Tiki-Taka play. We need someone shorter, like David Silva, Arthur etc.

Edmilson, our Cdm in Rijkaard's glory days.
186 cm tall Brasilian.
People today would probably reply: noo, he doesn't fit "our style", let's rather develop Oriol Busquets, Arthur or someone shorter, with better passing abilities.

Philip Cocu, 185 cm tall, Dutch versatile player, mostly used as a workhorse and a player for dirty jobs at Barca.
With Dani Alves, a foreign player who played the highest amount of matches for Barca. 205 caps for a player without too much Barca's DNA.
Imagine if we wanted Cocu today. Our forum would whine for years. Why do we need Cocu? We need Arthur, Alena, Oriol, we need to go back to "Barca's DNA", lol

Or in the first Rijkaard's season, a coach was on a verge of getting sacked. We were 1 point from the relegation zone in the middle of a season, lol.
Rijkaard then brought Davids from Juventus, and Davids brought some muscles and aggression to our team full of too nice schoolboys.
What happened? Davids and Ronaldinho almost won a title in the end when we had 10+ la liga matches winning streak in the last rounds.
Imagine if we were linked with Davids as our midfielder today, ouch.
People would say: Davids? What about Alena, Arthur, Oriol, Barca's DNA players?
You see, you can't play only with short schoolboys, you need some stronger and aggressive players.
Pep is the only coach in the world who has ever played with an army of schoolboys.

Or Thiago Motta (187 cm tall CDM-CM) from early 2000s, back in the days when La Masia talents weren't only 170 cm tall midfielders:

So, I am tired of this newly created urban myth how Xavi-Iniesta is a way how we have ALWAYS played.
We played that way ONLY when we had Xavi and Iniesta.
Never before that, and I hope, NEVER after that, because it worked only for a short period and because we had Xavi-Messi-Iniesta on their prime.

So, what Rabiot and similar guys could bring?
Well, something different than Denis, Samper, Rafinha, Alena, Coutinho, Busi, Oriol, Arthur and similar.
We don't need the same type of a player replicated 18 times.

 

[fergus90]

Edgar Davids was world class though, I agree you can’t just have short players as you need a good mixture in the squad. But our midfield signings have been of pure average the standard last few years.
Coco and Van Bommell were also great players. It’s not the height that bothers me, it’s the lack of quality we’ve invested in.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Pep used plenty of tall players btw.
I won't mind a player of Davids caliber right now btw, I think we need a guy who act as a lung of the team more than a muscle. Team height isn't that bad atm

 

[MessiCam]

Pep used plenty of tall players btw.
I won't mind a player of Davids caliber right now btw, I think we need a guy who act as a lung of the team more than a muscle. Team height isn't that bad atm

I am seriously at a loss with [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]... He makes up these theories when reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here are the players of stature Pep signed.

Ibra
Hleb
Keirrison
Chygrynskiy
Pique
Keita
Henrique

 

[BBZ8800]

I am seriously at a loss with [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]... He makes up these theories when reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here are the players of stature Pep signed.

Ibra
Hleb
Keirrison
Chygrynskiy
Pique
Keita
Henrique

5 out of 7 fired after 1 season, lol.

Also, I was talking about midfielders.

Pep bought/promoted:
Busi
Keita
Hleb
Afellay
Fabregas

Fired:
Edmilson
Deco
Hleb
Gudjohnsen
Yaya

Basically, he fired: Edmilson, Yaya, Gudi.
And from stronger players bought/kept only Keita.

So, in 4 years of Pep, Pep played (as a sub) with only 1 workhorse/stronger CM: Keita
On the other hand, in 5 years of Rijkaard, he used as CMs or Dcms, these stronger guys: Davids, Edmilson, Marquez, Motta, Van Bommel, Gabri, Cocu, even Gudjohnsen as a Cam.

Do you see the difference?
All coaches used several workhorse players as midfielders during their reign.
Pep on the other hand, played only with short, light, technical players plus Keita as a sub.

So, as always: dear Pep went into extremes with everything, as always.

 

[MessiCam]

5 out of 7 fired after 1 season, lol.

Also, I was talking about midfielders.

Pep bought/promoted:
Busi
Keita
Hleb
Afellay
Fabregas

Fired:
Edmilson
Deco
Hleb
Gudjohnsen
Yaya

Basically, he fired: Edmilson, Yaya, Gudi.
And from stronger players bought/kept only Keita.

So, in 4 years of Pep, Pep played (as a sub) with only 1 workhorse/stronger CM: Keita
On the other hand, in 5 years of Rijkaard, he used as CMs or Dcms, these stronger guys: Davids, Edmilson, Marquez, Motta, Van Bommel, Gabri, Cocu, even Gudjohnsen as a Cam.

Do you see the difference?
All coaches used several workhorse players as midfielders during their reign.
Pep on the other hand, played only with short, light, technical players plus Keita as a sub.

So, as always: dear Pep went into extremes with everything, as always.

Dear me. Who was better than Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets at that time? You could have brought in Usain Bolt and he wouldn’t see a minute of playing time. Are you suggesting that Pep tell Iniesta and Xavi to fuck off because they weren’t tall?

Also, Rijkaards midfield of choice was Deco, Xavi and Edmilson. That van Bommel got play in the Champions League win was due to the Xavi injury. This was explained to you before.

Davids was a short shit, Edmilson was a DM, Marquez was CB, Motta was DM, van Bommel was a DM, Gabri was a short shit, Cocu was a DM, Gudjohnsen was a CF.

So no that doesn’t prove anything. All it proves is that Barcelona other than Pep have preferred taller DM’s even Busquets is tall.

 

[BBZ8800]

Dear me. Who was better than Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets at that time? You could have brought in Usain Bolt and he wouldn’t see a minute of playing time. Are you suggesting that Pep tell Iniesta and Xavi to fuck off because they weren’t tall?

Also, Rijkaards midfield of choice was Deco, Xavi and Edmilson. That van Bommel got play in the Champions League win was due to the Xavi injury. This was explained to you before.

Davids was a short shit, Edmilson was a DM, Marquez was CB, Motta was DM, van Bommel was a DM, Gabri was a short shit, Cocu was a DM, Gudjohnsen was a CF.

So no that doesn’t prove anything. All it proves is that Barcelona other than Pep have preferred taller DM’s even Busquets is tall.

Rijkaard played a lot of matches with let's say: Edmilson-Van Bommel-Xavi/Deco midfield even before Xavi's injury in December of 2005'.
For example:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/spielbericht/index/spielbericht/49091
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/120150/Live/Spain-La-Liga-2005-2006-Real-Betis-Barcelona

Edmilson-Van Bommel-Xavi midfield.

** But also, another thing:
Van Bommel was a thug. He was a dirty, dirty guy.
Thiago Motta was also a dirty guy.
Edmilson was a dirty guy sometimes also.
So, our midfield, not only that had more height and muscles back then, but also had thugs, like current AM's guys.
So, we had schoolboys like Xavi mixed with dirty thugs.
On the other hand, what do we have now?
= a bunch of nice, scared, schoolboys with good technique and zero courage.

Name one thug/tough guy in our current midfield who will scare the opponents in a physical way?

We turned from a team with normal footballers into Pep's team of short, technical schoolboys with zero variation among players.
Ok, we bought some stronger players, but look at wishes from our posters: Busi-Alena-Arthur, Coutinho, Denis, Thiago. Lol.
The same player multiplied 6 times.

Just look at Pep's city.
His midfielders and even attacking players. A museum of short, technical players.
At the end of the day, Pep has a fetish on short technical players and my "problem" is that a lot of fans are accepting that thing as "Barca's DNA".
No, that's Pep's fetish, not Barca's DNA.

** Gudjohnsen was bought to play as a forward and an attacking midfielder under Rijkaard.
Laporta wanted Henry.
Txiki wanted Forlan.
Rijkaard wanted Gudi, due to his versatility and different attacking options.

With Rijkaard, it was more about: as many different options as possible.
With Pep it is: play only 1 option and try to get it to perfection. If it works=awesome. If not=then we are screwed, as all Pep's teams are post 2011'.