Denis Suarez

[barcanuck]

RIP Rafinha

 

[Nucky]

He is loosing sometimes to easily the ball but thats everything i found negative about him. Still some of these situations could lead a good counterattack.

Well he is still young and will only improve in Barca.. He will be great player, just watch.. I expect big things from Denis..

 

[gasgas]

Those chipped diagonals
Brilliant

 

[FC B]

Hope he starts tonight..

 

[anguy]

It does seem that way, but you may be underestimating Rakitić. The role he's been playing here is difficult, and part of that role is that if you're doing your job right, you don't draw attention and you don't get the praise. But to put it differently, I agree that Rakitić is the first from our main midfield trio who could be fighting to keep his spot in the future. Not because he's that much worse than the others, but because his potential replacement is closer to his level than Iniesta's and Busquets's replacements are.

ň

Rakitic's main weakness is his passing, and that's pretty huge weakness for Barca. After 2 years with us it is mind boggling how he can misplace simple short pass. He is the main reason why our midfield is not as creative as before IMO. He has great work rate, defends moves around a lot, but I'd rather have a player with these attributes who can also pass.

 

[Messi983]

Disagree.

Rakitic's apparent lack of creativity has much more to do with his role here than his inability to pass/create. He was among the best assistents in La Liga during his time at Sevilla when he played with more free role as AMC. Here he's often used almost as second DM alongside Busquets. Of course he's no Xavi or Iniesta when it comes to passing but noone will ever come close to their midfield dominance under Pep (together with Busquets and Messi) so we shouldn't really expect that from midfielders we currently have. He's still a very good passer and would also create more chances if that would be his primarily role in the team. It's not.

 

[anguy]

Uhm, I'm not just about chances creation. He often misplaces simple passes deep in middle of field and so breaks the flow of our game, or passes to teammate in poor position, so we lose ball and have to chase it etc. Just watch the game, it's pretty frustrating sometimes and is not a result of his role on field, more the result of his skills. He is better in taking the ball from opponent than our previous "Barca style" CMs like Xavi or Fabregas but he is also "better" in losing it. And yes he was better as AM in Sevilla, but that's not the same as CM. AMs might take more risky passes to get assists for RCM in Barca system you need to be RELIABLE passer. And Rakitic is not reliable. I'm not saying he's bad player, but he would be much better player in other system where he would be allowed to shoot more and play right behind striker.

 

[poncirus]

Rakitic is technically sound and very tidy player. When he has time and space, his passes are perfectly weighted and precise. He just doesn't have that speed of thought and smoothness like Busquets or Xavi, and is burdened with tough defensive work.

 

[Stric]

Exactly. He doesn't have the speed of thought and smoothness of Xavi, but more importantly, he doesn't have the freedom that Xavi, Iniesta & co. had/have to excel at certain tasks. We're using Rakitić in a way that severely limits most of his strong points and gives him no room to shine, yet he still works very well with the team. That only goes to show what a great player he really is.

 

[Wick]

Uhm, I'm not just about chances creation. He often misplaces simple passes deep in middle of field and so breaks the flow of our game, or passes to teammate in poor position, so we lose ball and have to chase it etc. Just watch the game, it's pretty frustrating sometimes and is not a result of his role on field, more the result of his skills. He is better in taking the ball from opponent than our previous "Barca style" CMs like Xavi or Fabregas but he is also "better" in losing it. And yes he was better as AM in Sevilla, but that's not the same as CM. AMs might take more risky passes to get assists for RCM in Barca system you need to be RELIABLE passer. And Rakitic is not reliable. I'm not saying he's bad player, but he would be much better player in other system where he would be allowed to shoot more and play right behind striker.

Rakitic is definitely reliable as a passer. Everyone misses passes, even Busquets and Iniesta. They've missed more passes recently than they usually do. Yet their misplaced passes don't get amplified like Rakitic', even though the margin between them as passes aren't that big.
You don't have to be Xavi to be reliable as a passer. If he is the standard that any Barca CM has to meet, then you're got a whole lot of disappointment in the future. Rakitic fits perfectly into Lucho's way of playing - not they way we played under Pep maybe, which is what some call the Barca way. No the current Barca way of playing in Lucho's way of playing with the tweaks he has made. In this, Rakitic fits perfectly.

 

[SeloBarca]

We aren't playing that different. Maybe a bit more like 4-4-2 since Messi has to drop down to CM role to create. Raki and Iniesta have never exelled at the ball distributing passes from CM or the cut through passes Xavi or Messi can do. They are more the m type of player that drives the ball forward then releases it just outside the box in the run.

 

[Kuchi]

Shabby 1st half, hope he turns it around in the 2nd

 

[dakt]

clumsy 1st half.

 

[Total-Football]

Sloppy during this 1st half

 

[CatalinR10]

xavi would have scored that