Arthur

[Sailor Mars]

I suppose the club sees De Jong and Arthur has having overlapping abilities and want to swap Arthur for someone with a different profile.

But I still believe in him and think FDJ,Arthur, and a good creative CM that can link with the front line would make a good midfield.

Though there needs to be more mobility and speed with the frontline. Suarez needs to replaced with a younger striker, a real winger has to be added, and maybe Messi has to provide a bit more workrate.

Guys like Arthur and De Jong aren't going to play well in a static sterile system. They are the type of midfielders that play great when there is lots of movement around them creating passing lanes and space.

 

[BBZ8800]

Lol if we know he can play well, why isn't it worth keeping him and help him keep his motivation and consistency up? He apparently has proven he's able to play here, this without a full season of consistent play time, imagine what he'll do then if he can turn up his motivation to 200% in no time and rack up a few assists.

Dembele has also shown that he can be awesome and a game-changer in some matches.

The problem is that he is injured, returning to form after injuries or lost on a field in other 90% of matches.

Or Neymar?
In some matches, he is the best.
In other matches he is injured, not available due partying, bad, selfish, slowing down the game.

My point: is it fair to cling on to those 10% of world class matches which a player is offering and forget 90% of other matches?

In his 24 months here, can you name more than 4 months of a good form?

One more time:
2018/19:
Benched early in the season and needed some time to adjust.
Playing well in December-January-February.
Losing his form, subbed at a half time on every match from March-June.
Dropped to a 5th place in a pecking order behind Busi, Raki, Vidal and Alena.

Summer 2019: playing copa
And needing 2 months of rest after that.
Starting to play in September for 30 minutes.
Playing world class for 6-7 matches in October.
Dropping his form already in November.
After that: several injuries, several scandals and meh form when he plays here and there.
In January, after EV is sacked, he returns to training, he is rusty and for the next 40 days we need to read alibies: give him some time, he has just returned from an injury (40 days ago, lol).

So really, in what is he different than Dembele?
In the next season, you can expect:
Several injuries and being off field for 30-60 days often.
30-40 days of a rusty form after returning to a field.
Playing 5 good matches then getting injured again.
And add off field partying and scandals in between.

I mean, even Raki played world class on a World cup.
Should we keep him now for a few more years because he showed here and there that he can play world class.
You can't measure a player's worth for a team by his TOP performances but by=his average performances during a season.

And Arthur's average performance since March of 2019 is=injured, unavailable, rusty, tired due to his natural fitness and a lack of consistent playing time due to recurring injuries.

Again, due to his two shiny skills and 5 world class matches per season, you are forgetting all those problems in other 80% of a season.

Even if we forget his horrible attacking play, look at this:
1. He is injured all the time
2. And even if he is not injured, he is tired after 1 month of playing and he needs a heavy rotation because his natural stamina is horrible.
So, you need to rotate him a lot.
When he plays, he is good for only 50 minutes.
And even in those 50 minutes, you won't get any attacking input.

 

[serghei]

Guys like Arthur and De Jong aren't going to play well in a static sterile system. They are the type of midfielders that play great when there is lots of movement around them creating passing lanes and space.

Which is typically how Barca should play. Except we don't anymore because we have too many veterans that don't want to run and train hard anymore.

Movement + intensity is how passing and progression of the ball is done in modern football. You can't be crap at both in multiple areas of the field, and pin down the problems on quality players like Arthur and De Jong, because they don't do magical passes to fixed targets. It's not how it works. It shows a lack of basic understanding of the game.

We have a choice to make. We either rejuvenate this team and really kickstart the full rebuilding we should've done years ago. Or we keep pretending the problem is with the young players, and continue to patch things up around an aging, lazy, and slow core.

By looking at the latest news, I'd say we have chosen option two.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Which is typically how Barca should play. Except we don't anymore because we have too many veterans that don't want to run and train hard anymore.

Movement + intensity is how passing and progression of the ball is done in modern football. You can't be crap at both in multiple areas of the field, and pin down the problems on quality players like Arthur and De Jong, because they don't do magical passes to fixed targets. It's not how it works. It shows a lack of basic understanding of the game.

Great points, static forwards, fullbacks and other midfielders mean Arthur and De Jong will obviously struggle.

 

[serghei]

http://https://twitter.com/barcacentre/status/1255044055135916033?s=21

Even getting de Ligt somehow, someway wouldn?t make this worth it. Especially for a player exchange

Anyways, been watching a lot of old footy and I rewatched the knockouts of 05-06 in particular. I mention this because Rijkaard basically played a 4231. The biggest thing I noticed tactically from his setup then was:

A) Ronnie & Messi/Giuly?s starting positions being VERY wide
B) Deco & Eto?o tactical & positional flexibility
C) AERIAL. (general theme across Europe at this time, say what you want about Becks but you can see he definitely was influential). Not spamming Square like Liverpool but more in delivering direct balls into forwards from the MF over the top. There was a general willingness from all 11 to risk more turnovers for penetration but crucially there was pace in behind to get to the balls and execution from the player supplying the ball.

All of this while still being able to slow the pace down, triangulate and find spaces from positional interchanges. Bottom line: There is a lot there that is viable tactically in this climate...

And I?m just skeptical of it being the right way forward, short of an overhaul, fire sale. de Jong would be great in this formation but he?s about it for me, outside of maybe Messi. I?m 50/50 on shifting Messi to a 10 and my biggest concern is how much of an imbalance that causes in the center. Love him to death, but I haven?t seen him be willing to do enough off the ball to make that work consistently. It?s better to have him do this naturally as a forward and have a player/players accommodate that movement and that?s a lot easier in a 433.

With Greiz as a 10, its just the classic Barca move to buy an expensive toy and play him out of position because m e s q u e u n c l u b.

I?m just not a fan of ideas like this, honestly if we are going to do that, sell Griezmann and recall Coutinho, because it?s his more natural position than Griezmann. It?s the same logic with Messi, Greiz playing as a 10 just wouldnt significantly boost the squad to overcome the MF imbalance. As Im sure BBZ will point out, anchoring Rijkaard?s system was Edmilson, Motta and Van Bommel and you really need two shutdown defensive MFs, who can cover ground while also being technically sound on the ball. Right now, only Frenkie really checks all of those boxes and Vidal comes close, but is most likely gone this summer. Again, we?d need several players (anchoring MF to support Frenkie, a real attacking MF who could actually cover ground and create, 9, LW) to make this work.

I think itll be better to stick to 433 long-term and short-term. It takes less of an overhaul and is easier for youth to integrate into in the future. Specifically why we shouldnt be letting Arthur go because he will help that formation work, now and potentially in the future. We simply need to bench Busi for Frenkie, the time has come and let Busi come on as an impact sun to shut games down with possession. Think of how Lucho used Xavi and that?s how I think we should be using Busi moving forward. Then, two key MFs play in their preferred roles and all we have to work out is the LCM, which for me, should be a battle between Alena/Pedri/Puig at least for a year or two.

I really don?t think the market is all that great, outside of the two big ones we all know about. The only other players I?d really want (somewhat realistically) is de Ligt and/or Fabian, otherwise, it?d be nice for once to see what our youth can do now that the squad is finally starting to open up for them.

This is a very good post. Also I would like to add that the Rijkaard team, when it worked, it was characterized by physicality and strength in all areas of the field, not on midfield alone, from backline to attacking trio. People sometimes act as if the forward line was as lethargic, slow, and lazy as it is today. Far from that. We had a very intense trio. Giully was a very fast, and a player who would run all game. He was basically some sort of French Pedrito. Ronaldinho was impressive in this area, he was a pretty strong player, and physicality was an underrated component of his game, which allowed him to get into these 1 vs 1. It was more than trickery that made him special, it was sort of trickery + power and intensity. Eto'o was Eto'o, one of the most mobile, versatile and hard working forwards.

As he is saying in this post, only De Jong and probably Semedo (my opinion) fit the profile of players that are needed to build a team like that. I disagree with Messi. Not in this version.

 

[Messigician]

It's done dawg he's gone even Juve us commenting on it.

Fabio Paratici (Juventus director): "Swap deals with Barcelona like Arthur-Pjanić? We're speaking with Bar?a as we do with many top clubs because it will be a particular summer. We need ideas, swap deals and something new next summer." [sky sport via @FabrizioRomano]

 

[Messigician]

Barcelona think Pjanić' arrival would help the team out a lot as he can deliver quality performances immediately. The Bosnian international would help Messi in the final stretch of his career. [as]

 

[Givenchy]

this just shows how the Barca board have all of their priorities wrong. lets buy more old players to help Messi in his final years, screw having an actual plan for the future

 

[Porque]

So if Arthur goes to Juve does that make him the first player to play in the same club side as Messi and Cristiano?

Or would that be Pjanic?

 

[mc_lovin]

this just shows how the Barca board have all of their priorities wrong. lets buy more old players to help Messi in his final years, screw having an actual plan for the future

Unfortunately they dont need one.

 

[serghei]

So if Arthur goes to Juve does that make him the first player to play in the same club side as Messi and Cristiano?

Or would that be Pjanic?

Pique?

Barcelona think Pjanić' arrival would help the team out a lot as he can deliver quality performances immediately. The Bosnian international would help Messi in the final stretch of his career. [as]

You'd think they're talking about Kevin De Bruyne .

 

[KingLeo10]

Scenes when Arthur turns into Xavi-lite controlling the tempo and feeding CR7 up top.

Barcelona's board is easily the worst one around.

 

[serghei]

Scenes when Arthur turns into Xavi-lite controlling the tempo and feeding CR7 up top.

Barcelona's board is easily the worst one around.

Easily. I agree. Even if he turns up half as good as Xavi, he's still be one of the best midfielders in the world.

 

[MTL_Barca]

When there is no money left to waste just start trading off the young players to further destroy the squad

 

[vuji_31]

When there is no money left to waste just start trading off the young players to further destroy the squad

I am done hahahahhaha
I still believe Bartomeu is Florentinos right hand.
If actions speaks more then word, then it is true.

Well my opinion is Arthur is really good but lacks in attack and defense. Not too good at chance creation, not good in defense.

He is great on the ball but problem is what is he doing other 85 minutes?

He seems overweight, I remember one Croatian journalist was watching live game against Valencia when we lost 3-0 or 2-0 (anyway that was this season).
He said that he was barley breathing in 15th minute.

I think he should stay, I don't want idiot Pjanic who went to Juve instead of Barca before 4 years.
He can fu*k off now , we don't need another Rakitic here.

My point is I would not mind letting go Arthur for cash, or some other player but for Pjanic who is shit at Sariball...
He can't do shit in Barca.

Rather sell him to Juve and bring back Thiago if we are for some experience and immediately impact for Messi's last season or two.