Arthur

[Aryagorn]

He's already better than Rakitic at almost every aspect they should be compared in and he does provide more forward solutions by carrying the ball effectively and calmly towards our main offensive daggers, which Raki hasn't been competent at even at his peak form.

Rakitic's rockets - Don't think Arthur can do that though

 

[biraboyz]

we can read here comments about praising him "shielding the ball" and "doing great under the pressure"

i didnt watch the match, but did he creat something? split opposition lines with forward passes?

None, but very solid protecting the ball. Very compose tho he lose the ball in the 2nd half he tried to take it back by pressure defense and he did. Overall 3rd best player in the field for Barca

 

[khaled_a_d]

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.

Hmm, what games are you watching man? Rakitic has scored 8,9,9,4 while assisting 10,5,7,5 during his career in Barca. Those are good numbers (especially scoring) for Barca midfielder. He isn't doing it by being long shot merchant nor shooting fouls, he is doing it by being able to move forward when needed and doing it smart. just like he did in the goal yesterday.

His movement was never random, he was always one of the most desciplined midfielders we had and it is one of the reasons he plays as a starter for every coach he dealed with.

I talked about offensive games, so I won't respond to irrelevent arguments you are making here abot moving and Raki being static, those are good traits in Arthur and help in ball retention but not offensive game. how many times you see Arthur in penalty area? He has done it only one in the header against Girona. And I still think it is an area he will easily develop
And Rakitic has been always instructed to support our sides so those overlaps were always wanted.

 

[Rory]

I was at the game and even spurs fans were applauding him. He was absolutely immense and he definitely made more forward passes this game. Sure they weren’t forward passes leading on to a direct chance but they were maybe the one or two passes before a chance.

 

[clemente]

we can read here comments about praising him "shielding the ball" and "doing great under the pressure"

i didnt watch the match, but did he creat something? split opposition lines with forward passes?

He did whenever he got the chance, always got out of tight positions and pushed the ball forward.

 

[BusiTheKing]

To say that he didn't have a influence offensively is really dumb and I seriously have to wonder if you have ever played serious football to assert that. Playing against someone like Arthur makes it so much harder to keep a defensive line intact and unbreachable.

Against a stationary midfield, both on and off the ball, you can basically get away with sidestepping and looking over your shoulder. What Arthur brings, flow and undpredictability, it breeds confusion and disorientation. Your marking agreements are out the window and your lines become a mess chasing around tryna get the ball of this guy who just turns like it's nothing and switches the board on you.

 

[gasgas]

Where did all the "backpass merchant" people go?

We're here
i watched his individual highlights just a few minutes ago and i'm not as impressed as i was last night.

His longballs were bad, he made too few forward passes and ignored a few runs to make the safe pass.

He did what he does best. make turns with the ball and passing to an unmarked player (though backpassing), and was reliable defensively.

it's a 6.5-7/10 performance for me

 

[Gnidrologist]

I talked about offensive games, so I won't respond to irrelevent arguments you are making here abot moving and Raki being static, those are good traits in Arthur and help in ball retention but not offensive game.

Our overall offensive game has always been better, when we have what it takes to circulate the ball fluidly. Rakitic may score an odd goal and give assist or two, but our midfield with him is mostly out of depth, overrun by any semi decent team that doesn't sit back. Ffs, this is Barcaforum, people should know better than to only judge people by their stats. Us controlling the midfield so dominantly like we did even against weakened Spurs was something i haven't seen in years.
I agree that not even good controller will help us against tight buses. There needs to be more movement off the ball by the whole team and Rakitic is hardly helping in this respect. Maybe he really know how to position himself in the final third, when opportunity arises (he was an AM before Barca, no?), but his movement as a CM is non existent and he can't handle pressure at all, which makes for shitty overall offensive play.

 

[vlad]

He did whenever he got the chance, always got out of tight positions and pushed the ball forward.

Thanks, that is great news

 

[Vilarrubi]

Our overall offensive game has always been better, when we have what it takes to circulate the ball fluidly. Rakitic may score an odd goal and give assist or two, but our midfield with him is mostly out of depth, overrun by any semi decent team that doesn't sit back. Ffs, this is Barcaforum, people should know better than to only judge people by their stats. Us controlling the midfield so dominantly like we did even against weakened Spurs was something i haven't seen in years.
I agree that not even good controller will help us against tight buses. There needs to be more movement off the ball by the whole team and Rakitic is hardly helping in this respect. Maybe he really know how to position himself in the final third, when opportunity arises (he was an AM before Barca, no?), but his movement as a CM is non existent and he can't handle pressure at all, which makes for shitty overall offensive play.

+1 Our midfield looked way more dynamic. Nothing to do with stats like you said. Arthur's movement off the ball when we have possession created space.

 

[Devils]

Dude is blowing up now.

People talking about him everywhere.

 

[gasgas]

my gala front 6

..........busi
.....vidal.....arthur
messi..suarez..cout

No room for Rakitic, he provides absolutely nothing

 

[khaled_a_d]

Our overall offensive game has always been better, when we have what it takes to circulate the ball fluidly. Rakitic may score an odd goal and give assist or two, but our midfield with him is mostly out of depth, overrun by any semi decent team that doesn't sit back. Ffs, this is Barcaforum, people should know better than to only judge people by their stats. Us controlling the midfield so dominantly like we did even against weakened Spurs was something i haven't seen in years.
I agree that not even good controller will help us against tight buses. There needs to be more movement off the ball by the whole team and Rakitic is hardly helping in this respect. Maybe he really know how to position himself in the final third, when opportunity arises (he was an AM before Barca, no?), but his movement as a CM is non existent and he can't handle pressure at all, which makes for shitty overall offensive play.

Dude, try to read things in context ffs
Did I say that Arthur should change his game? no
I am not saying he has zero influence to the game offensively, but he will need improvements (just like any player of his age) and I am stating them.
Can Arthur survive if his games stalled and he just continue what he is? may be but very unlikely for me to think he will be a CM in in 433 in such case
Xavi, Iniesta were able to make passes that break defense, not just moving the ball. Rakitic was able to find his nitch scoring wise etc.
Those are things that Arthur lacking , I understand what he has.
And I said for him he will either need those defense breaking pass like Xavi/Kroos etc, or add more of Raki type of movement where he can threat to score or make the easy assist.
Those will be essential part for him to be good regular starter here, things he will need to add to his game.

 

[Raketa10]

Dude is blowing up now.

People talking about him everywhere.

Until Valverde benches him in the next game

 

[Donatello]

Rakitic's rockets - Don't think Arthur can do that though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91n5cz4U-3I