Ivan Rakitić

[sabby]

Somehow I feel he is always conflicted between his natural play and what he has been tasked by the management.

 

[Galning]

He never was starting CM material. Once again, he is a good player but he is not "special". Good for Sevilla, not for Barça. Will never win the league with Rakitic as a starting centre mid. Never ever.

 

[ZenI]

He never was starting CM material. Once again, he is a good player but he is not "special". Good for Sevilla, not for Barça. Will never win the league with Rakitic as a starting centre mid. Never ever.

As soon as we get a decent coach and board he will be sold or backup when we get starting material CM. I understand people have their hopes up about Raki, but Raki just won't happen peeps'

 

[KyletheMuslim]

He never was starting CM material. Once again, he is a good player but he is not "special". Good for Sevilla, not for Barça. Will never win the league with Rakitic as a starting centre mid. Never ever.

Exactly, I will never understand why we replaced Cesc with him. It was a downgrade in every way

 

[Vapor]

I'm sorry, say what you will, but Cesc played damn well for us in many ways, despite his limitations. People are quick to point out all of his major flaws, namely not being a huge presence in most big games, dropping in form 2nd half of seasons etc, but he also brought a shitload of his vision and creativity to us, and we should have all known it would be near impossible to replace that quality of his with anyone else. (Out of our available options at least... Kroos would have been great, my you get my point) He wasn't perfect, but there are quite long highlight video of his brilliant passes and goals he scored for us during his time here. Even though he wasn't the best fit, and he dropped form or was played incorrectly often, his level of quality was still on display many times, even here.

I still have faith in Rakitic, I see a lot of potential there... I get the vibe that he still isn't 100% comfortable with the team and the system. Still seems like a hesitant and conservative to me... if only he ups the attacking mindset a little and becomes a little more fearless and less conservative, I can see him doing well and at least creating a lot more than he currently is, if nothing else. He does offer other attributes that are valuable that Cesc didn't have, so it's just a trade-off I guess. I love his workrate and defensive abilities, for instance.

from the first match he seems like he is scared to play for barca,he is just to scared to do anything other with the ball except pass it back or to player next to him,thats something i don't remember he was doing in sevilla
i still think that we should kept fabregas,especially now when he would play in his natural position in midfield and not on f9

Somehow I feel he is always conflicted between his natural play and what he has been tasked by the management.

I feel the same way on both accounts. His play feels very stifled and scared... it even shows on his face sometimes in my opinion. I wonder if he has it in him to get over that fear and really have a more fearless attacking mindset, and not be intimidated. Creativity is all about being fearless and trying things... the safe thing all the time never gets anyone anywhere.

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Cesc was really bad.
Never played well in a game late in the season in 3 whole years.
That's the definition of incompetence.

 

[KyletheMuslim]

I'm sorry, say what you will, but Cesc played damn well for us in many ways, despite his limitations. People are quick to point out all of his major flaws, namely not being a huge presence in most big games, dropping in form 2nd half of seasons etc, but he also brought a shitload of his vision and creativity to us, and we should have all known it would be near impossible to replace that quality of his with anyone else. (Out of our available options at least... Kroos would have been great, my you get my point) He wasn't perfect, but there are quite long highlight video of his brilliant passes and goals he scored for us during his time here. Even though he wasn't the best fit, and he dropped form or was played incorrectly often, his level of quality was still on display many times, even here.

I still have faith in Rakitic, I see a lot of potential there... I get the vibe that he still isn't 100% comfortable with the team and the system. Still seems like a hesitant and conservative to me... if only he ups the attacking mindset a little and becomes a little more fearless and less conservative, I can see him doing well and at least creating a lot more than he currently is, if nothing else. He does offer other attributes that are valuable that Cesc didn't have, so it's just a trade-off I guess. I love his workrate and defensive abilities, for instance.



I feel the same way on both accounts. His play feels very stifled and scared... it even shows on his face sometimes in my opinion. I wonder if he has it in him to get over that fear and really have a more fearless attacking mindset, and not be intimidated. Creativity is all about being fearless and trying things... the safe thing all the time never gets anyone anywhere.

We should have bought Kroos, he is the closest to fabregas in terms of vision and creativity

 

[Vapor]

Cesc was really bad.
Never played well in a game late in the season in 3 whole years.
That's the definition of incompetence.

If that's your definition of incompetence, then sure. It is a fair criticism.

My point was that his level of creativity and attacking mindset is something that is clearly missed right now, and clearly not replaced in Rakitic.

We should have bought Kroos, he is the closest to fabregas in terms of vision and creativity

Agreed, for sure.

 

[DonAndres]

Cesc was really bad.
Never played well in a game late in the season in 3 whole years.
That's the definition of incompetence.

I generally criticize Cesc but this is false. His form was generally wank in the 2nd half of the season but he did have select games that were good (hattrick against Mallorca in 12/13 most notably comes to mind).

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Hattrick against mallorca, rly great!

 

[Andrew M]

Rakitic is getting a lot of hate on here, but I am keeping the faith.

 

[Flavia]

We should have bought Kroos, he is the closest to fabregas in terms of vision and creativity

Rakitic is a fine replacement for cesc. Kroos should had come, but as a Xavi/Iniesta replacement. That's what is missing.

 

[El_e8]

Rakitic is getting a lot of hate on here, but I am keeping the faith.

Worry no more.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/547281/Man-Utd-Man-City-Barcelona-Ivan-Rakitic

 

[Andrew M]

Those are obviously bullshit rumours, but I reckon he'd beast the Premier League

 

[Ghostmaster]

I remember there was a stat sheet showing that Rakitic overall had more through balls than Fabregas in La Liga, I don't see any through balls this season, perhaps it's because of Lucho tactics, I don't know. He is hot and cold for me, good defensively, hard worker, but his creative play is dissapointing.