Ivan Rakitić

[Antimilan]

lol Nothing against Antimilan as a Sevilla fan but I have to question his vision if he thinks Fabregas is slightly quicker than Rakitic, even if he watches him week in week out. That's an insane judgement tbh and you don't need to watch 50+ games of Rakitic to realize that. If Cesc isn't the slowest player in the world I don't know who is. Pepe is one of the fastest CBs in the world and Rakitic grilled him with ball at feet. Cesc got outpaced by Varane in a 10 yard sprint with a 3 yard headstart without ball at feet. But not only in terms of pure pace is Cesc slow; he lacks a certain sharpness and intelligence to his game which makes him look like a lost lamb at times. Busquets is also slow physically but it very rarely is an issue because he is sharp in his movements and intelligent in his positioning.

Antimilan also judges Rakitic's defensive capabilities as a DM and even compared him with Gabi who sits infront of the defense in a double pivot in another thread. Which matters squat all for our purposes. We want to use Rakitic as a #8 infront of Busquets, not as part of the pivot. His defensive abilities, mobility and workrate for our purposes in 4-3-3 are 9/10. And he will press consistently like everyone else in the collective under Lucho unless he has huge ego problems and thinks he will be the king at Barca. In which case he'd be insane so I doubt it. We don't plan to use him as part of the "2" in a 4-2-3-1 like Sevilla's system where obviously he would be better off as a #10 further forward which is probably where Antimilan's judgement is coming from.

Good observation. As you have already read it, I commented that Rakitic's speed is the same when he is with the ball, just as when he is off the ball, and than can tell a lot. Cesc is probably faster without the ball, but Rakitic could be faster with the ball. That didn't favor Sevilla that much because as you mentioned, we used him differently, and moreover, we've used him in both AM and DM, where he obviously performed better in AM. But Sevilla's philosophy is different from Barca's, that's why I always mentioned: IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW A TEAM USES RAKITIC. That can make a lot more sense for you now hopefully.

I also understand that you are excited of the new signing (don't know if it is official yet), congratulations to you and all of Cules here, but I wouldn't be very happy, even if he would extend the contract with Sevilla believe it or not. I am more sad to see M'bia wanting to leave, and this case is reminding me of the fake euphoria of Fabregas signing at first, when he was considered a God..... now, garbage. Very interesting.

 

[hardyboy]

Admit it you just want to keep Cesc because of his gf

I'm just being realistic. Rakitic is in no fucking way better than cesc in any department. Any club in the world will choose Cesc over Rakitic everyday of the week..

 

[Hamzah]

Raki is not better than Cesc which some people on here seem to think. He might be better for Lucho's system though but we won't know until he plays. He is nothing special in terms of talent.

If you genuinely think Cesc is rubbish then I feel sorry for you.

 

[linetty]

I'm being realistic. Rakitic is in no fucking way better than cesc in any department. Any club in the world will choose Cesc over Rakitic everyday of the week..

We should have never bought the guy and Guardiola realised that. He shipped off because they didn't let him sell Cesc.

Let him play only half of the season somewhere else.

 

[spark]

We should have never bought the guy and Guardiola realised that. He shipped off because they didn't let him sell Cesc.

Let him play only half of the season somewhere else.

You really are special.

 

[linetty]

You really are special.

The truth is being spoken, that's all.

 

[Behrox]

The truth is being spoken, that's all.

+1 these guys just can't handle the truth

 

[Hamzah]

+1 these guys just can't handle the truth

Aren't you the guy that thinks "Vanarane" is the best cb in the world?

 

[Behrox]

Aren't you the guy that thinks "Vanarane" is the best cb in the world?

Nope. Never did and hopefully never will

 

[Ursegor]

What do you mean by mobility? Fabregas is a very mobile midfielder who covers a lot of ground per game. Maybe the word you're looking for is awareness. And his workrate is certainly not worse than Rakitic's. If he had stayed under Lucho's regime and played in Xavi's position, he will press consistently too. He is slower than Rakitic but not significantly so and his dribbling is definitely worse. What you're going to lose is a great understanding with the likes of Messi and Alexis and a source of piercing through balls (not really Rakitic's specialty). For 15M+ profit, it's a great swap.

The hyperbole around Rakitic by some has been annoying though.

Fabregas' puts in a shift, I won't question that. He tries. He even flies in with tackles at times. He's simply not good at it which is the problem. It doesn't matter if he presses. Bypassing him is easy. Rakitic is an infinitely better defender.

This is all you get when Cesc presses:

Meanwhile:

I also don't see much hyperbole here. Most people rather prefer a big name from a big club. Different case on another forum where people have been raving about Rakitic the entire season, including Madrid fans who are butthurt right now that he's leaving for possibly € 15M.

 

[Hamzah]

Nope. Never did and hopefully never will

Got you mixed up with some other guy then. He thought Kyle walker, debuchy and phil jones were better than koscielny.

Ursegor. Neither iniesta or Xavi win the ball much either. Those two midfielders press to put pressure on not to win the ball.

 

[DonAndres]

Ursegor. Neither iniesta or Xavi win the ball much either. Those two midfielders press to put pressure on not to win the ball.

Well they position themselves to cut off passing options and decrease the amount of space to play into which discourages creating attacks in the first place. However I'll concede that these days Xavi isn't the same defensively and isn't much more than a well positioned cone.

 

[Hamzah]

Yeah. Tackling is overrated anyway. What's important is team shape and interceptions. That's the sign of a good team IMO.

 

[Behrox]

Well they position themselves to cut off passing options and decrease the amount of space to play into which discourages creating attacks in the first place. However I'll concede that these days Xavi isn't the same defensively and isn't much more than a well positioned cone.

At least he is well positioned. Cesc defends like noobs on Fifa online

 

[footyfan]

Fabregas' puts in a shift, I won't question that. He tries. He even flies in with tackles at times. He's simply not good at it which is the problem. It doesn't matter if he presses. Bypassing him is easy. Rakitic is an infinitely better defender.

This is all you get when Cesc presses:

Meanwhile:

I also don't see much hyperbole here. Most people rather prefer a big name from a big club. Different case on another forum where people have been raving about Rakitic the entire season, including Madrid fans who are butthurt right now that he's leaving for possibly € 15M.

Unfair comparison. Cesc is being asked to press Modric while Rakitic is being asked to contain Iniesta in his own box with a lot of support near him. Watch either of Iniesta vs Sevilla or Messi vs Sevilla videos for evidence of what happens to Rakitic when he tries to press. There's also a lot of evidence for Fabregas winning the ball during his time at Arsenal.

Anyway, I understand these are just examples - but on how many occasions will Rakitic be asked to contain like in that gif while playing for Barca?