Arthur

[serghei]

Yellow card at the start undermined him a bit but since then his passing has been superb. Diagonals, through balls, you name it.

Frenkie breaking lines from the back carrying the ball, Arthur unlocking it in the final third.

I disagree man. The setup we are playing is not structured properly. Yes, we can see the quality these players have, but it is in bits and places. The system is not coherent. The patterns are not there. Everything is done in a static way. There are very few rules and directions which are meant to shape the way we play.

I watch Liverpool and City. These are the teams which show every game what solid management is about. Almost all their actions are drills, you can see the hours put in by the staff to make them achieve this kind of cohesion. The thousand of hours of exercises. Their football is imagined in the training sessions, and perfected there, and then transported seamlessly on the field. They have reached a way of playing built on patterns, automatisms, drills, and pre-arranged sequences. Everybody knows in advance what to do. This was never about player quality. It's about tactics and management as the common denominators of a successful football team. Player quality, the individual reading of every player and their technical execution and decisions are the garnish on top. The foundation, the skeleton of their football, is thought and executed before the games.

We don't have any foundation. We are empty in this area.

 

[BBZ8800]

One of the last players you should be digging out about the state of this current Barcelona is Arthur.

I know.
People have a pecking order of scapegoats.

It is:
1. EV
2. Raki
3. Suarez
4. Roberto, Busi, Pique, Lenglet.
Then maybe Alba.

Younger guys have more credit and will get some harsher words only when people lose all other 1000s of excuses.

Only 2 hours ago you had posts here how Arthur would have been the best midfielder in the world at City or Liverpool, lol.

From how I see his career till now at Barca:
1. he came, and he needed a few weeks to click with a team
2. then in autumn of 2018, he started to play very good. Then he turned into a starter and started to play 2 times per week.
3. and then in 2019 winter/spring=he looked exhausted and his form/motivation dropped a lot

Already then we had 2 Arthurs:
1. who played well
2. and the other one, who was quite meh in the 2nd part of a season
Also:
1. one Arthur who runs like crazy
2. and the 2nd Arthur, after 2 Months of playing, who is dead tired after 45 minutes

The excuses back then were: he was injured in the 2nd half of a season.
Then he had a vacations after Copa America and didn't play for 2 Months.
He came fresh and angry because he was a 5th pick at the end of a last season (Busi, Raki, Vidal, Alena, Arthur).
And in the first 5 matches he again played very good, running like crazy.

Then, a similar story as in the last season:
= once when he turns into a starter, he somehow loses motivation
= plus, he gets an accumulated fatigue after 1-2 Months of playing

Look at his last few matches:
Sevilla, played good, but subbed after 65 minutes
Senegal, played meh, subbed after 68 minutes
Nigeria, played meh, subbed after 80 minutes
Eibar, our midfield was MIA, subbed after 71 minutes
Slavia, midfield again MIA, subbed after 81 minutes
Valladolid, rested. Midfield wasn't MIA in that match though.
Levante, midfield again MIA and sterile slow, subbed after 66 minutes.

Now, compare Arthur's performances in the last few matches with his start to a season.
And also, check how he is tired and rested all the time in the last 5-6 matches.
While at the start of a season, he played:
Dortmund, 90 minutes
Villareal, 90 minutes
Getafe, 90 minutes
Inter, 90 minutes

While I am surely not a fan of him, mostly because I think that he is roughly 200-300% overrated by our forum, my point is: slow down, guys.
You need larger samples.

People started to make jokes how he has awesome stamina.
And how our team would easily survived against Liverpool with a mighty Arthur.

In the last 3 away matches, Arthur and Frenkie can't cope and control the midfield even against "european giants" Eibar, Slavia Prague and Levante.

So, slow down with "the best midfielder in the world".
If he'll continue at this rate, he will soon again drop down fast in EV's pecking order.

 

[te amo barca]

I know.
People have a pecking order of scapegoats.

It is:
1. EV
2. Raki
3. Suarez
4. Roberto, Busi, Pique, Lenglet.
Then maybe Alba.

Younger guys have more credit and will get some harsher words only when people lose all other 1000s of excuses.

Only 2 hours ago you had posts here how Arthur would have been the best midfielder in the world at City or Liverpool, lol.

From how I see his career till now at Barca:
1. he came, and he needed a few weeks to click with a team
2. then in autumn of 2018, he started to play very good. Then he turned into a starter and started to play 2 times per week.
3. and then in 2019 winter/spring=he looked exhausted and his form/motivation dropped a lot

Already then we had 2 Arthurs:
1. who played well
2. and the other one, who was quite meh in the 2nd part of a season
Also:
1. one Arthur who runs like crazy
2. and the 2nd Arthur, after 2 Months of playing, who is dead tired after 45 minutes

The excuses back then were: he was injured in the 2nd half of a season.
Then he had a vacations after Copa America and didn't play for 2 Months.
He came fresh and angry because he was a 5th pick at the end of a last season (Busi, Raki, Vidal, Alena, Arthur).
And in the first 5 matches he again played very good, running like crazy.

Then, a similar story as in the last season:
= once when he turns into a starter, he somehow loses motivation
= plus, he gets an accumulated fatigue after 1-2 Months of playing

Look at his last few matches:
Sevilla, played good, but subbed after 65 minutes
Senegal, played meh, subbed after 68 minutes
Nigeria, played meh, subbed after 80 minutes
Eibar, our midfield was MIA, subbed after 71 minutes
Slavia, midfield again MIA, subbed after 81 minutes
Valladolid, rested. Midfield wasn't MIA in that match though.
Levante, midfield again MIA and sterile slow, subbed after 66 minutes.

Now, compare Arthur's performances in the last few matches with his start to a season.
And also, check how he is tired and rested all the time in the last 5-6 matches.
While at the start of a season, he played:
Dortmund, 90 minutes
Villareal, 90 minutes
Getafe, 90 minutes
Inter, 90 minutes

While I am surely not a fan of him, mostly because I think that he is roughly 200-300% overrated by our forum, my point is: slow down, guys.
You need larger samples.

People started to make jokes how he has awesome stamina.
And how our team would easily survived against Liverpool with a mighty Arthur.

In the last 3 away matches, Arthur and Frenkie can't cope and control the midfield even against "european giants" Eibar, Slavia Prague and Levante.

So, slow down with "the best midfielder in the world".
If he'll continue at this rate, he will soon again drop down fast in EV's pecking order.

if you picked new scapegoats in Arthur and Frenkie, it is futile. None of the players are directly responsible for this shitshow we have.

Club de amigos are complacent and conformist, but it is one of the manager's primary goals to motivate them. Our dumb board won't sack him, however.

 

[serghei]

Somebody tell BBZ that the WHOLE team is dead last in CL in terms of physical shape and effort. It seems that he didn't get the memo. And that Arthur is averaging 10.5kms per game, the same as Verratti from PSG.

So, stop pinning on Arthur the physical deficiencies of the team which are on a generalized scale and clearly show a lack of proper coaching and fitness preparation in terms of management.


Arthur started to get exhausted?!? What planet are you living on? The whole team is fucking terminated in terms of effort and work rate. The only players who are well in this aspect are Semedo, who's a fucking beast, and De Jong who seems to have natural unreal stamina.

 

[BBZ8800]

if you picked new scapegoats in Arthur and Frenkie, it is futile. None of the players are directly responsible for this shitshow we have.

Club de amigos are complacent and conformist, but it is one of the manager's primary goals to motivate them. Our dumb board won't sack him, however.

I haven't picked on Frenkie.
Yet.

I am only at Arthur for now.

Also, a question for you will be the same as for Serghei:

Somebody tell BBZ that the WHOLE team is dead last in CL in terms of physical shape and effort. It seems that he didn't get the memo. And that Arthur is averaging 10.5kms per game, the same as Verratti from PSG.

So, stop pinning on Arthur the physical deficiencies of the team which are on a generalized scale and clearly show a lack of proper coaching and fitness preparation in terms of management.


Arthur started to get exhausted?!? What planet are you living on? The whole team is fucking terminated in terms of effort and work rate. The only players who are well in this aspect are Semedo, who's a fucking beast, and De Jong who seems to have natural unreal stamina.

Ok, guys, let me ask you something, and try to find a logical alibi:

1. if we all agree that EV is bad and dumb
2. if we all agree that Club De Amigos is bad and old
3. if we all agree that a whole team is shit in terms of running and physical training

Then, HOW COME:
1. that Arthur played awesome in the first 5 matches of a season, even though:
1) EV was the same
2) club de amigos were the same
3) our running as a team was the same
2. and now, only 2 Months later, Arthur is kinda lost in midfield, less dominating, making more passing mistakes and looks to gets tired sooner than 1 Month ago.

So, yes, I get it, EV is dumb and our tactical movement is zero.
But again:
Why has Arthur played well in the same circumstances 2 Months ago, and now is a way weaker version of himself?

Your answer: it is EV= doesn't make sense in this case.
My answer makes more sense in this moment:
1) Arthur was either ULTRA motivated in the first matches to show to EV that he is good, but has lost his motivation soon and now: it is what it is.
2) or, his weaker performances lately are a product of his indeed poor stamina and he can't play at 120% both in creation, defending and keeping possession for 90 minutes as in the first few matches.

Feel free to quote me, over upcoming Months even you two will realize that there was more to this (Arthur's mysterious case) than just: EV sucks and a whole team is bad.
There are some individual reasons here also.

But hey, let's wait and see.

 

[serghei]

I haven't picked on Frenkie.
Yet.

I am only at Arthur for now.

Also, a question for you will be the same as for Serghei:



Ok, guys, let me ask you something, and try to find a logical alibi:

1. if we all agree that EV is bad and dumb
2. if we all agree that Club De Amigos is bad and old
3. if we all agree that a whole team is shit in terms of running and physical training

Then, HOW COME:
1. that Arthur played awesome in the first 5 matches of a season, even though:
1) EV was the same
2) club de amigos were the same
3) our running as a team was the same
2. and now, only 2 Months later, Arthur is kinda lost in midfield, less dominating, making more passing mistakes and looks to gets tired sooner than 1 Month ago.

So, yes, I get it, EV is dumb and our tactical movement is zero.
But again:
Why has Arthur played well in the same circumstances 2 Months ago, and now is a way weaker version of himself?

Your answer: it is EV, doesn't make sense in this case.
My answer makes more sense in this moment:
1) Arthur was either ULTRA motivated in the first matches to show to EV that he is good, but has lost his motivation soon and now: it is what it is.
2) or, his weaker performances lately are a product of his indeed poor stamina and he can't play at 120% both in creation, defending and keeping possession for 90 minutes as in the first few matches.

Feel free to quote me, over upcoming Months even you two will realize that there was more to this (Arthur's mysterious case) than just: EV sucks and a whole team is bad.
There are some individual reasons here also.

But hey, let's wait and see.

I'll try. Don't make any promises, but I'll try to reason with your terms.

First you start with a valid statement which is fairly obvious by now, that EV is a bad manager for Barcelona. And that Barcelona is in a bad state physically, which is no wonder since the manager doesn't think that running is very important. In fact, he thinks the less you run the better it is because he thinks that this is what Cruyff once said.

Arthur played awesome in the first 5 matches of a season because he is a top player. That is obvious. Why isn't he keeping that up? Because what he did was individual brilliance. Superb individual actions like the goal vs Osasuna, the line breaking pass that Perez missed, the superb goal vs Villareal I think (an absolute golazo). This kind of individual output doesn't last if it is not backed by a functioning system. Again, it's obvious.

Arthur can't produce magic every game, and fix the systemic issues that Barcelona has, and which I've explained a lot of times, sometimes with images and videos who took me days to put together. He can sometimes do genius things, but they are called genius things because they do not last. He can only do them in bits and pieces here and there. Arthur, like De Jong (his numbers look horrible too under Ernie btw, curious to see how many assists or key passes as you call them he has, probably very low numbers even though he played as offensively as Arthur), is a consistently top midfielder horribly miss-used by an incompetent manager.

So, let me get your thinking process stright, cause it's really hard.

So,
1. You agree the management is doing a bad job with the fitness level of the players (fairly obvious, if you look at the team's fitness stats in games which are terrible)
2. You say Arthur's performances dropped because he has fitness issues.

And you still fail to see how point 1) affects point 2), and instead blame the player?

Arthur played out of his mind in the first games in the season. Then, his level dropped, as it's not normal to pull off golazos and insane passes every game. How is that unreasonable to you?

 

[KingLeo10]

Even Messi with alien tier talent can't produce magic every game to bail out EV.

And BBZ wants Arthur to be held to a higher standard than Messi by effectively demanding a top performance EVERY game.

 

[serghei]

Even Messi with alien tier talent can't produce magic every game to bail out EV.

And BBZ wants Arthur to be held to a higher standard than Messi by effectively demanding a top performance EVERY game.

Something like that. And still, while not playing great, in the last 3 goals we scored with him playing, he made the passes which let to 66% of the goals. Like the assist for Messi in Prague, and the pass for Semedo's penalty which ended with Messi's conversion. And that with Valverde's chaotic system.

 

[Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor]

His lack of creation has been blamed on the lack of movement ahead of him. Yesterday he had Duracell bunny Griezmann and the pacy Fati to work with - and still nothing. Sad fact that Semedo was more creative than him yesterday.

I've seen people here compare him to some of the greats over the years. Steady on. The man has a long long way to go. But he is the shiny new toy so I'm sure he will escape criticism.

 

[aqua2nd]

His lack of creation has been blamed on the lack of movement ahead of him. Yesterday he had Duracell bunny Griezmann and the pacy Fati to work with - and still nothing. Sad fact that Semedo was more creative than him yesterday.

I've seen people here compare him to some of the greats over the years. Steady on. The man has a long long way to go. But he is the shiny new toy so I'm sure he will escape criticism.

He had two dangerous through balls. One resulted to the penalty and one put Perez in very good position. That's huge improvement compared to last year.
Also both him and Vidal were ineffective because they didn't receive much ball from the back. Not sure why but our midfield was pushed too high into crowd area and the ball was usually passed directly from the back to attack line. I think it might be the strategy from the coach

 

[xXKonan]

Considering he has 4 assists and two goals in 10 games so far this season.

Sure he will have his bad games this season but damn man, some people in this forum that are literally waiting for him to have a bad game is funny as hell.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Considering he has 4 assists and two goals in 10 games so far this season.

Sure he will have his bad games this season but damn man, some people in this forum that are literally waiting for him to have a bad game is funny as hell.

Funny how those same people disappear from this thread when Arthur has great individual performances, but are the first ones on here when we lose even though our losses are collective failures as a team due to tactics/manager not individual bad performances from Arthur. He even made the killer pass which led to the penalty and another similar, probably one of the only players who did anything of note all game.

 

[Messigician]

Arthur Melo is left out of the squad due to a technical decision for the second time in one week. [via cope]

 

[JerseyAddict]

Wtf???

 

[CatalinR10]