Arthur
- Thread starter Jair Ventura
- Start date
Gnidrologist
Senior Member
Rakitic has good movement in final third? You must be on some good dope, brah.
Few times Arthur was having ball in the final third he actually looked way cooler than Raki, who mostly panic passes instead of being able to hold on to the ball like Arthur seems to be natural at. Not saying that he shouldn't improve his offensive play though.
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khaled_a_d
Senior Member
Rakitic has good movement in final third? You must be on some good dope, brah.
Few times Arthur was having ball in the final third he actually looked way cooler than Raki, who mostly panic passes instead of being able to hold on to the ball like Arthur seems to be natural at. Not saying that he shouldn't improve his offensive play though.
By movement I mean off the ball movement which indeed I think Rakitic is very good at
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
What games are you watching that you see this? That is maybe Rakitic's worst trait, he often just sits in open, deep positions and doesn't move off the ball while walking. Then he'll just shuttle forwards at random times. He rarely moves into zones of higher pressure, he rarely ever has non-linear movements (checking in for passes and circling around zones). Him and Busi being so static is half the reason our offense would get so bogged down. And Busi, being the spine of the midfield, has justification for it and has more or less always played this way.
If anything the only times Rakitic moves off the ball are overlapping out wide. Which is really not what you want from your CM. If you see the way Arthur moves off the ball constantly while Rakitic just zones out you can see the clear difference. Rakitic is almost as bad as Messi on his bad days in terms of movement and activity off the ball.
I don't think it's a coincidence, and stats finally show it. xG buildup per 90 measures how much impact a player has on a possession that leads to an expected goal. Arthur is LEADING the squad in xG buildup per 90 at .87 in La Liga. xG chain is the same stat except including key passes and shots, where Arthur is 5th in the squad (and 1 of those ahead of him is Munir who only played 1 game). Though tbf Arthur only has 87 mins under his belt, but that's over 3 different games so it is not skewed.
For reference Rakitic is at .6 xG buildup compared to Arthur's .87
https://understat.com/team/Barcelona/2018
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Love this guy's game so much. But the only thing I don't love is his hesitance to make the key pass forward. Sometimes you can see him thinking about it, but then he's like never mind, let's keep it simple(which most of the time is great). But love what he brings to the midfield.
xXKonan
Senior Member
If there's another thing we learned tonight is that Valverde can no longer afford to just keep Arthur pinned to the bench with him only getting scrub minutes while the likes of Roberto get picked ahead. Vidal is in the same situation as Arthur as well, both have skill sets you can't just only use them as second half subs.
If Arthur had a bad game, it would have given Valverde the idea that He's not ready to start games yet and he needs more time to adapt. But today he showed that he's certainly ready to take a much bigger role within the team like Vidal than just typical second half subs.
It really isn't a bad thing for Ernesto, I mean if Rakitic's poor form is down to him struggling due to exhaustion as he played a ton of games in the past year or so then he should really consider having Rakitic come off the bench a lot more often while Both Vidal and Arthur get to play.
If Arthur had a bad game, it would have given Valverde the idea that He's not ready to start games yet and he needs more time to adapt. But today he showed that he's certainly ready to take a much bigger role within the team like Vidal than just typical second half subs.
It really isn't a bad thing for Ernesto, I mean if Rakitic's poor form is down to him struggling due to exhaustion as he played a ton of games in the past year or so then he should really consider having Rakitic come off the bench a lot more often while Both Vidal and Arthur get to play.
SeloBarca
Senior Member
He did exactly that today and its the reason he got alot of praise from everyone.
Sumlit
San Claudio Bravo
Arthur's movement after the pass is such an invaluable addition to a midfield. The quick circulation and immediate movement to the open space gives so much oxygen to the midfield. Xavi was great at this, part of the reason no one could take the ball from our midfield.
He's only 22 years old too. He's got so much more growth in him. Very encouraging.
So this forum is back on the Arthur train now? 
Arthur strikes me as the type of player that when hes not training, hes studying tapes of how to improve his game. He is going to have good games and average ones. Long term he is going to need the more progressive midfield partner. It can be Coutinho or a De Jong type.
Just a shame he doesnt get to learn from Xavi or Iniesta in training. Or from Pep as coach. Hopefully Xavi can put his ideas into words as good as he did his actions on the pitch, if he is ever back in a coaching role.
But really happy he had a good confidence building game. Key to earning the trust as a midfield rotation option. Next on the list, Malcom.
Arthur strikes me as the type of player that when hes not training, hes studying tapes of how to improve his game. He is going to have good games and average ones. Long term he is going to need the more progressive midfield partner. It can be Coutinho or a De Jong type.
Just a shame he doesnt get to learn from Xavi or Iniesta in training. Or from Pep as coach. Hopefully Xavi can put his ideas into words as good as he did his actions on the pitch, if he is ever back in a coaching role.
But really happy he had a good confidence building game. Key to earning the trust as a midfield rotation option. Next on the list, Malcom.
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You're dumb.
You probably started watching football last year or something, so I'm not even mad.
The amount of talent for him to do those twist, turns and beat the pressure are... nevermind why am I debating you
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