Arda Turan

[Topolino]

I don't mind that much that he's not playing up to what was expected of him... What worries me is the lack of fighting spirit he was supposed to bring, we haven't seen the warrior he is known to be and that is something you don't need adapting to show...

Suárez had a hard time his first few months, but his character was always there, something that can't be said about Arda...

He's too agressive to be a fighting spirit. He gets an early yellow card every game and when he gets close to another, Lucho has to take him out. He's quite reckless and hogs on the ball too much. He either needs to play on the wing or start thinking ahead before he gets the ball. He's adding almost nothing in the midfield right now and is guaranteed to recquire one sub because of his mis timed tackles every game.

 

[Barcilliant]

The key for me is Rakitic. The whole "MSN freedom" argument for him not playing well would be more valid to me if Rakitic had struggled as much as Arda has. It's been different for him since the ban and I think it'd be rash to sell him this summer. But it's not going to be any easier for him with Denis Suarez and Rafinha needing minutes to develop, assuming no big name MF like Pogba enters the picture.

Playing in Barça's midfield requires not only technical ability but a tactical nous that very few players possess. That's why I'll always prefer home-bred MFs to imports because they have been bred with the specific skills and mental training we need that makes the adaption process much easier.

On top of that, given the freedom Lucho gives to MSN, not only do you have to have all that ^ but now, you have to play fairly defensively and behind the ball. Iniesta in particular had a hard time adapting to this, he always played ahead of the ball, more forward than Xavi and Busi to link with the front three under Pep's era and afterwords. Lucho plays his MF deeper than Pep did in comparison and only recently had Iniesta finally looked like himself under Lucho.

The defensive freedom Lucho gives to MSN will not change nor should it. Any MF who plays here has to adapt to that and if Arda cannot, he shouldn't play until he can. For me, he still looks a bit lost positiontionally, too wide and he doesn't tuck in to help start the play from out deep. He isn't comfortable doing that so his best use to us is strictly as a winger/forward.

A big problem recently is how frequently Messi and Neymar are drifting inside. That's due to fatigue, you have to run more to create from the wings but it is crucially blunting our attack. Every team we have played has flooded the middle and with Neymar and Messi in the center, it's simply too congested to play through. Having those two out wide stretches their lines and opens up space and passing lanes to play around. Believe it or not, they would be having more success if they stayed wide and waited until in possession to cut in.

The best solution to this tactically then is to go into a double pivot with Messi as a CAM and Arda as a RW but then the Don gets benched.

Lastly, I'm not convinced Pogba would do much better than Arda for reasons I've already laid out. He loves to bomb forward and receive the ball in advanced positions and that would put a lot of pressure on Busi to cover the space he leaves.

Agree with alot of what you say but Messi at cam and double pivot is just alien to our side.

And you are right Pogba would find it very difficult too.

Part of the problem is the midfield being burdened with defensive duties and the back four not being good enough to execute a parked bus strategy.

 

[Barcilliant]

World class midfielders are hard to find and world class midfielders who are a good fit for this club are even more rare.

Even if we sell Arda who will we get?

 

[Barcilliant]

Verratti isn't coming and neither is Gundogan. Pogba is too expensive too.

At this point in time just stick with Iniesta, Busquets, Rakitic and Roberto. Arda and Rafinha to make late cameos.

 

[Icarium]

Messi as a CAM is not a good idea for our team. It might seem like a logical option to take by looking at his passing range but no we can not succeed like that. Busi will not perform that well in a double pivot. We play very high up the pitch 4-3-3 suits the best for our style and there is no place for messi in midfield in that 4-3-3. Most of all messi is not mobile enough to play as a midfielder. Off the ball he doesn't contribute much and our midfield will be horrible.

Coming to the topic i honestly don't see a place for Arda. If Lucho does want to use him at wings then why not just sign an attacker. It is clear that MSN are not playing at their best because of the fatigue. If we had a player like Nolito or someone it could solve some of our issues. But our midfield depth will be shortened a lot if we sell Arda so for now we are stuck with him. Lets just hope he finds his place in the midfield.

 

[JackaL]

I don't think Arda was bought to replace Xavi, not at all. First of all, Xavi was a monster, he had eyes almost everywhere and was like a radar on the pitch. Arda never really managed to play in the center of the pitch, he always felt more comfortable on the side, especially on the left side. He has added a lot to his game at AM, especially tactical discipline. I guess he himself doesn't really know how to play at Barca and Lucho couldn't find a good place to use Arda's best qualities. I think he is getting the yellow cards because his positional play is out of order, he struggles to understand the game at Barca, so he is always too late. Add frustration to that and you'll get silly fouls and yellow cards. Seriously, why would Barca need an AM style aggressive guy in midfield? We don't rely on fouls and tackles, they are counter intuitive to our game and they destroy the flow we need to bring the ball to MSN!

 

[Keki]

And the Calvary rescued the the day in the second half thank god.

 

[MaxY]

I'm not saying he won't adapt but I still think this was a really dumb idea. Taking someone from Simeone's thug bus-parking Atletico to play in Barca's possession game. A defender or an attacker could make the switch but the middlefielder is the worst. You're taking someone who was pretty much a defender for Simeone and hoping that he'll be Xavi/Iniesta-esque for Barca.

 

[Keki]

I'm not saying he won't adapt but I still think this was a really dumb idea. Taking someone from Simeone's thug bus-parking Atletico to play in Barca's possession game. A defender or an attacker could make the switch but the middlefielder is the worst. You're taking someone who was pretty much a defender for Simeone and hoping that he'll be Xavi/Iniesta-esque for Barca.

We got Suárez he wasn't exactly an angel

 

[Keki]

It's fairly typical of these Arda fanboys to try and point the blame at every single player that isn't Arda when everyone is coming down on him. Arda is lazy, has no passing range, tends to go invisible for large stretches of the game, does not link up at all with our forwards, provides nothing defensively, commits stupid fouls constantly, has poor positional awareness, can hardly control a ball, doesn't fight for possession, etc., yet these people always go on with their "It's only been 3 months!" and "X and X were also bad this game!"

He's yet to help us win a game but he's done a damn good job of doing nothing to help the team when we're on the back foot. This is our 40m transfer? We'd be better off playing Douglas in midfield, at least we know he'd give an effort somewhere.

And the Calvary rescued the the day in the second half thank god.

 

[Jombi]

World class midfielders are hard to find and world class midfielders who are a good fit for this club are even more rare.

Even if we sell Arda who will we get?

Jorginho from Napoli is a good player who would fit our style. Ruben Neves could be a good option too.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

We got Suárez he wasn't exactly an angel

He's talking about style of play not level of douchebaggery.

 

[Keki]

He's talking about style of play not level of douchebaggery.

We all know Suárez's style, Git if he don't get his way magic other times ,let's say if he was playing for Atleti, with Diego simeone , hand on your heart say he wouldn't become a thug , don't get me wrong i love him since day's he played for Liverpool. i know it's in him.

 

[God Serena]

And the Calvary rescued the the day in the second half thank god.

Once again ignoring the extensive list of Arda's shortcomings in favor of pointing the blame everywhere else.

Anyone saying we need Arda for depth must be forgetting that we're bringing Denis back this summer.

 

[Keki]

Once again ignoring the extensive list of Arda's shortcomings in favor of pointing the blame everywhere else.

Anyone saying we need Arda for depth must be forgetting that we're bringing Denis back this summer.

i'm only stating the fact , you making out Denise is our savior for god sake ,if he was that good we wouldn't of loaned him out .