Alen Halilović

[Bran the Greenseer]

I don't want to be a bad guy, but since I am watching Halil for 4-5 years, imo, he is NOT a (Barca's type of) a midfielder.
In the current Barca's setup, if in Xavi-Iniesta or Iniesta-Raki duos, Raki and Xavi were classic central midfielder, and if Iniesta and Rafinha are something like Amc's, then Halil is a few steps more attacking then Iniesta and Rafinha.

He is a RW, and he COULD play as an Amc, but in teams with different setup than Barca.

He was always a player, who when gets the ball, more or less in 90% of cases runs towards the goal, very fast.
In general, that is not a bad thing, but it is a somewhat problematic thing for a Barca's midfielder in 433.
When Raki gets the ball, he looks for options, he slightly slows down the play etc. He doesn't need to play "a killer pass" in every action.
Iniesta does the same, although he is more attacking and he tries dribbles and "faster actions" more often than Raki.

Halil isn't (at least yet) the kind of a midfielder who will touch the ball 50 or 100 times per match, who will try 80-90% of simple passes, and 3-4-5 deadly balls/actions per match, in a perfect moment.

He has an attacking "instinct" and when he gets the ball, he tries to score every time, or create a deadly opportunity for his teammates.
Again, that is not a bad thing in general.
But that is not exactly what we are looking for in (Barca's) midfielders.

And before anyone replies with: but we are playing counterattacking football lately, he will fit perfectly.
Well, that is simplifying.

Let's say that under Pep:
= we played 98 slow actions and 1-2 counterattack actions per match
Under Lucho:
= we play 80 slow actions and 20 faster/counterattacking actions per match
(So, NO, we don't play counters ALL THE TIME. We play them more often than before, but it is not as if we are suddenly a counterattacking team...)
About Halil as an Amc, imo:
= he plays counters in at least 50% of his actions

And again, before some replies: but that is because he plays at Gijon.
Well, not.

He played exactly the same way at Dinamo Zagreb, at youth NT Croatian teams, at Croatian NT team, at Barca B and Gijon.

So, imo:
-- for Barca, he can only be a winger. And the time will tell whether he is good or not good enough for our required level
About him as Amc:
= NOT in Barca's 433 system
-- he can be an Amc in some 451s or 442s and in teams who play much more direct and with less possession and touches then us, and where he can be a key player
I see him more as some kind of Alexis, who can be a midfielder in Chile and Arsenal, but not in Barca.

I see that people are planning our future, and a lot of fans are saying how we don't need a midfielder, because we have Rafinha, Halil, Arda and similar guys.
Well, currently we have only Raki as a pure central midfielder (and Roberto, but he will probably never be a starter level).
So, you should plan the future with or without Halil as a RW and similar.
Him as a MC or AMC in Barca? Extremely, extremely hard.

Thats why I said MSN deputy first. Rafinha used to be the same always too eager to bomb forward but he started to change, and I think Alen can change too given time. But yeah he would likely start off as RW.

 

[Ursegor]

He's sure managed to fool me with his Darth-like style of unhealthy obsession.

It's 100 % him. It's as obvious as dalitis posting with 2 accounts at the same time, StarLord and Edmond Dantes, so in case he gets banned again with one account, no one will suspect that he's still there with another senior account which used to be simultanously active.

Flavia dun goof'd. Darth even chose yet another Anime name after "Madara Uchiha". Want some obvious hints? Here is his BigSoccer account: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/members/obito-uchiha.228810/ (remember, here he once came back as Madara Uchiha before he got exposed). His activity ("Obito Uchiha was last seen: Aug 14, 2015") on BigSoccer ends pretty much simultanously with registering here as God Serena in August. Same with his activity on reddit on r/barca.

Here is one of his first posts, pretending to like Mathieu (remember, he got initially banned for going batshit crazy that Barca signed Mathieu instead of Benatia, so one of his first posts was obviously to pretend he liked Mathieu):

I feel more confident with Mathieu at LB than Adriano anyways. A great defender who may even be able to contribute on the attack.

http://www.barcaforum.com/showthread.php/11035-24-Jérémy-Mathieu?p=1514555

A while later, after feeling safe, he let his guard down again. From "a great defender" to the usual darthvader obsession:

Players like Adriano and Mathieu are the reason we lose games. (...)

Even the Camp Nou cat knows what to expect from Adriano or Mathieu when they step onto the pitch.

We should consider promoting Adria Villanova from Juvenil B's bench and just terminating Mathieu's contract. At least when Adria screws up we can say it's because he's young

Are you implying that he should be rewarded for the goals he scored or are you trying to suggest that his goalscoring is something that we can consistently rely on throughout the season?

His headers got us out of a few tough spots but that doesn't change the fact that as a defender he's quite a large step down from our starting lineup.

Mathieu and Adriano are just about as bad as you can possibly get. It's to the point that playing my grandmother at LB couldn't hurt the team any more than they do. Then again, my grandmother is probably less injury prone than Adriano and has healthier lungs than Mathieu, so she'd probably actually do better.

And who the hell starts his first introduction post on a forum with "I don't feel senior enough to start a thread" anyway, except someone who is factually not new but wants to pretend to be new

I didn't know if I should post a new thread or just post here, but I don't feel senior enough to start making threads of my own, so I'll just post here.

I'm a long-time Culer who has been active on other websites, but the amount of trolls from other teams and even some of our own fans grew quite toxic, so I'm making a change. From the months I've spent lurking I can say this site at its worst isn't nearly as bad as many other forums I've seen.

Despite the name, I am male. I am, technically speaking, 5 years old, although I was born in the 90's. I follow the B team as well as I can and I love discussing tactics and players, although I don't particularly care for discussing their discipline, as I feel 90% of the time it's overblown, like Messi's little incident against Roma.

Looking forward to discussing the team with you guys!

Edit: At what point do I no longer have to wait for all my posts to be viewed by a mod first?

And obviously he has spent "months lurking", how convenient.



My job is done here. See you next year.

 

[Deco 20]

Don't ban Darth again, I like his new name

 

[Alarcón]

If it's really darth, his writing style has changed. Not as obsessive as before.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

Do not know what is more weird. People who use multiple accounts on forums, pretend they have a certain identity and stuff or the ones who "chase" them around and try to expose them.

 

[Flavia]

It's 100 % him. It's as obvious as dalitis posting with 2 accounts at the same time, StarLord and Edmond Dantes, so in case he gets banned again with one account, no one will suspect that he's still there with another senior account which used to be simultanously active.

Flavia dun goof'd. Darth even chose yet another Anime name after "Madara Uchiha". Want some obvious hints? Here is his BigSoccer account: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/members/obito-uchiha.228810/ (remember, here he once came back as Madara Uchiha before he got exposed). His activity ("Obito Uchiha was last seen: Aug 14, 2015") on BigSoccer ends pretty much simultanously with registering here as God Serena in August. Same with his activity on reddit on r/barca.

Here is one of his first posts, pretending to like Mathieu (remember, he got initially banned for going batshit crazy that Barca signed Mathieu instead of Benatia, so one of his first posts was obviously to pretend he liked Mathieu):



http://www.barcaforum.com/showthread.php/11035-24-Jérémy-Mathieu?p=1514555

A while later, after feeling safe, he let his guard down again. From "a great defender" to the usual darthvader obsession:









And who the hell starts his first introduction post on a forum with "I don't feel senior enough to start a thread" anyway, except someone who is factually not new but wants to pretend to be new



And obviously he has spent "months lurking", how convenient.



My job is done here. See you next year.

He's not darth. Unless he changed not only countries, but continents. He's not even using a proxy. He had a previous account here though, but you're way off
If you knew more, you'd know why I know it's not him.

 

[DonAK]

I kind of miss Darth and his obsessive rants.

 

[xXKonan]

This darth dude hangs around the Barca Sub Reddit if you guys are wondering where he posts now.

 

[DonAK]

This darth dude hangs around the Barca Sub Reddit if you guys are wondering where he posts now.

What's his exact username there?

 

[xXKonan]

What's his exact username there?

darthvader7888 just like it was on here. Here's one of his older posts on there.



https://www.reddit.com/r/Barca/comments/2b82rb/is_anyone_else_pissed_that_were_only_being_linked/

 

[DrPepper]

The Observer.

 

[DonAK]

darthvader7888 just like it was on here. Here's one of his older posts on there.



https://www.reddit.com/r/Barca/comments/2b82rb/is_anyone_else_pissed_that_were_only_being_linked/

Cheers

That's the Darth we know! #DarthPleaseComeBack

 

[God Serena]

It's 100 % him. It's as obvious as dalitis posting with 2 accounts at the same time, StarLord and Edmond Dantes, so in case he gets banned again with one account, no one will suspect that he's still there with another senior account which used to be simultanously active.

Flavia dun goof'd. Darth even chose yet another Anime name after "Madara Uchiha". Want some obvious hints? Here is his BigSoccer account: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/members/obito-uchiha.228810/ (remember, here he once came back as Madara Uchiha before he got exposed). His activity ("Obito Uchiha was last seen: Aug 14, 2015") on BigSoccer ends pretty much simultanously with registering here as God Serena in August. Same with his activity on reddit on r/barca.

Here is one of his first posts, pretending to like Mathieu (remember, he got initially banned for going batshit crazy that Barca signed Mathieu instead of Benatia, so one of his first posts was obviously to pretend he liked Mathieu):



http://www.barcaforum.com/showthread.php/11035-24-Jérémy-Mathieu?p=1514555

A while later, after feeling safe, he let his guard down again. From "a great defender" to the usual darthvader obsession:









And who the hell starts his first introduction post on a forum with "I don't feel senior enough to start a thread" anyway, except someone who is factually not new but wants to pretend to be new



And obviously he has spent "months lurking", how convenient.



My job is done here. See you next year.

Those are some nice dots you're connecting. Pretty much all of it is coincidental, though.

 

[Alik]

If it's really darth, his writing style has changed. Not as obsessive as before.

Agreed. Darth actually pissed me off.

Especially with his overusage of the zubi emoticon.

 

[raki]

Great game against Spain. He is clearly evolving by being loaned to a La Liga team. Grmaldo should have accepted Levante.