serghei
Senior Member
I don't know. For me he is untransferable.
Arthur
- Thread starter Jair Ventura
- Start date
I don't know. For me he is untransferable.
George_Costanza
Active member
The logical choice in the midfield is De Jong + Arthur + Any of the following players (Vidal, Busquets, Alena, Puig, Rafinha).
I have no idea why this coach is getting paid better than a Wallstreet CEOs and still can't figure out this simple formula!
I have no idea why this coach is getting paid better than a Wallstreet CEOs and still can't figure out this simple formula!
serghei
Senior Member
Yea, we should be moving towards that midfield trio. We should stop wasting time and develop the De Jong - Arthur chemistry. We don't have a lot of time until the CL knockouts.
We do that and teams will have a much much harder time trying to press us in midfield like Pool did for fun with Busi and Rakitic playing.
Messigician
Senior Member
According to Marca he has been offered to PSG
serghei
Senior Member
Good thing it's Marca then.
The solution to Liverpool press is not press resistant midfielders, it’s only part of the solution. It’s not because of that we lost.
What we lacked was players who could stretch the pitch and run in behind. Without them, we played in too compact zone. That’s what Liverpool want because we play in small places, easier for them to press
Vilarrubi
New member
This is a myth. Swap our front 3 with Mane-Firmino-Salah in that tie and the Roma tie (arguably some of the most active forwards who press and move constantly) and nothing changes. They’d just be running round like headless chickens, how does them making runs change the fact that any time Rakitic-Busi-Vidal were pressed even slightly they’d shit their pants and play nearly the whole game deep in their own half as they couldn’t hardly transition the ball from defence to attack, which is their job. Not saying the movement of forwards wouldn’t help, but I’d say that was about 10% of the problem and 90% was the midfield.
serghei
Senior Member
Not true. Long balls are the ones with the poorest success rate, especially if your team is equipped with shorter players who are more technical than good at aerial battles. If you are in possession, and you try to skip vital areas because they are too crowded or too compact, you end up playing like Stoke City under Tony Pulis. That is never a good solution. We tried long balls to Roberto vs Roma. Kolarov who is 10cm taller won all of those with absolute ease.
What we lacked vs Liverpool were a) a curageous and skilled manager, and b) players who were calm and collected and technical enough in short spaces to defuse the Liverpool traps and connect with the players up front. Neither of the 3 midfielders Valverde used are good at Liverpool's strongest asset. Not this version of Busi (slow and sluggish), not Rakitic obviously, and not Vidal who can wrestle physically with players but is also limited technically when pressed.
Valverde basically played the one midfield configuration which was the worst match-up vs Liverpool style wise. He saw that when we got dominated at Camp Nou and he didn't fix it in the return leg. We got burnt badly as a result. He should have seen the bad signs when Liverpool actually dominated on Camp Nou, something which almost never happens to Barcelona at home. By applying common logic, it was obvious that it was going to be much worse at Anfield if we kept the same plan. And it was.
The reason long balls are not effective when you don't have a physical strong team is actually related with physics and mathematics. In a long 60-70m pass, the ball takes longer to arrive to the destination, than it takes for a defender to get close to the attacking player who is at the end of that pass.
We're talking 3-4 seconds or more (depending on the height of the pass). In 3-4 seconds the defending teams is already prepared to effectively deal with the long ball. Especially a Premier League team who faces those tactics a lot in their domestic league, so they're quite trained to solve those attacks on a weekly basis.
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Vilarrubi
New member
Honestly believe that De Jong and Arthur in midfield will be special, just not sure who I’d have as 3rd pick.
serghei
Senior Member
I think it depends on the opponent. Roberto or Vidal would be my favorites, because Busi is not effective except on DM, which is the spot I'd have Frenkie in. Both would add energy, intensity, steel and maybe even attacking power.
Quite simple, in regards to what our best 11 should be, I don't think Busi or Rakitic have a spot. De Jong is superior to Busi at DM, and Roberto is superior to Rakitic at AM-CM. And both are considerably younger as well. And Arthur is clearly the 2nd best player in our midfield after Frenkie in regards to technique, ability under pressure, intelligence, and movement.
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serghei
Senior Member
Only issue for me, is that Frenkie - Arthur - Roberto, looks more like a 2-1 trio, than a 1-2. Meaning Arthur would naturally be inclined to play on the same line with De Jong. And not as an interior.
This would not be a problem in a fluid system. Because when Arthur would drop deeper, De Jong will take a more advanced position. Sort of like Xavi and Busi. When Xavi appeared in the DM position deeper, Busi would move a bit up to maintain the shape and form triangles. But under a manager who has a very limited understanding on these things, there is a risk that an automatism regarding situations when Arthur drops deeper will not be formed, and players would basically told to stay in their position and don't mix things. Which is kind of dumb, because movement will be limited in this case.
People complained about this when both were a bit confused as to who is the DM vs Arsenal in the Gamper. As if the DM is a label that is attached to a player. It is not. The DM is simply the player who is there in that space at a moment in time. So, both can be the DM at different times when in possession. But it is important to train and practice what the other one does when his teammate is in that defensive midfielder position. If that is not trained, and developed properly, yea, we might have issues with Arthur - De Jong working out, because without proper management, both will be inclined to take over a deeper position, without providing the required offensive output tied to the position of an interior.
This would not be a problem in a fluid system. Because when Arthur would drop deeper, De Jong will take a more advanced position. Sort of like Xavi and Busi. When Xavi appeared in the DM position deeper, Busi would move a bit up to maintain the shape and form triangles. But under a manager who has a very limited understanding on these things, there is a risk that an automatism regarding situations when Arthur drops deeper will not be formed, and players would basically told to stay in their position and don't mix things. Which is kind of dumb, because movement will be limited in this case.
People complained about this when both were a bit confused as to who is the DM vs Arsenal in the Gamper. As if the DM is a label that is attached to a player. It is not. The DM is simply the player who is there in that space at a moment in time. So, both can be the DM at different times when in possession. But it is important to train and practice what the other one does when his teammate is in that defensive midfielder position. If that is not trained, and developed properly, yea, we might have issues with Arthur - De Jong working out, because without proper management, both will be inclined to take over a deeper position, without providing the required offensive output tied to the position of an interior.
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CatalinR10
Senior Member
he looks like he lost a decent amount of weight in the lastest barca videos
Total-Football
Senior Member
another victim of senior players.. currently 2 times more deserving than buskets.
J
José Mourinho
Guest
not in the starting ix again ��
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