Ivan Rakitić
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
KingMessi
SiempreBlaugrana
Is your user name a reference to the rapper?
MarcoVerratti
New member
Thoughts on Raki [Controversial]
I'll start it off by saying I think he's an incredible player, but for another system / in a different position. Not for us. Genuinely believe that the Croatian is the biggest reason our midfield is so below standards this season, bigger than Iniesta being completely off form or Lucho experimenting with the width of our CMs at the start. He's the cause for why in nearly every big game we find ourselves: relying on counterattacks, losing the midfield battle, holding most of our possession towards the wings / less midfield based style, have Messi dropping so deep. Brilliant legs & workrate, incredible shot (overrated trait in midfielders imo, but that's a discussion for another day), great long passing & crossing. Not too much else. His short passing, speed of thought, first touch, dribbling, spacial awareness, decision making in tight spaces - all below the level a Barça midfielder should possess. Rafinha is better on the ball than he is. I watch every game and the only ones where he's truly impressed me were recent ones, against City and then Granada, who both provided tons of space in the center of the pitch. I don't think he's a long term fix or replacement for Xavi and I don't think he was a bargain or great signing, even at 18M (?).
By the way, this isn't me complaining. I'm extremely happy with the team's overall performance as of late, despite us steering away from our midfield a bit :[ Just sharing my thoughts on him because his performances have been completely overrated by tons of people, mainly other Barça supporters. Along with Alves (though he's been lots better recently), our weakest link. Certainly the weakest when we're in possession, especially now that Alves crosses less / stays more central / has Messi to constantly & almost telepathically link up with. Wondering if anyone agrees or I'm alone on this?
Also, I'm new to this forum. Might not have gotten off to the best of starts :3
I'll start it off by saying I think he's an incredible player, but for another system / in a different position. Not for us. Genuinely believe that the Croatian is the biggest reason our midfield is so below standards this season, bigger than Iniesta being completely off form or Lucho experimenting with the width of our CMs at the start. He's the cause for why in nearly every big game we find ourselves: relying on counterattacks, losing the midfield battle, holding most of our possession towards the wings / less midfield based style, have Messi dropping so deep. Brilliant legs & workrate, incredible shot (overrated trait in midfielders imo, but that's a discussion for another day), great long passing & crossing. Not too much else. His short passing, speed of thought, first touch, dribbling, spacial awareness, decision making in tight spaces - all below the level a Barça midfielder should possess. Rafinha is better on the ball than he is. I watch every game and the only ones where he's truly impressed me were recent ones, against City and then Granada, who both provided tons of space in the center of the pitch. I don't think he's a long term fix or replacement for Xavi and I don't think he was a bargain or great signing, even at 18M (?).
By the way, this isn't me complaining. I'm extremely happy with the team's overall performance as of late, despite us steering away from our midfield a bit :[ Just sharing my thoughts on him because his performances have been completely overrated by tons of people, mainly other Barça supporters. Along with Alves (though he's been lots better recently), our weakest link. Certainly the weakest when we're in possession, especially now that Alves crosses less / stays more central / has Messi to constantly & almost telepathically link up with. Wondering if anyone agrees or I'm alone on this?
Also, I'm new to this forum. Might not have gotten off to the best of starts :3
KingMessi
SiempreBlaugrana
Welcome to the forum!
I can't say I really agree. There was a stretch where he was struggling, but right now, I think he's our best midfielder after Busquets.
Kerrybai
New member
XaviMessiGirl
New member
Hi MarcoVerratti, nice username. 
Though, like KingMessi I must respectfully disagree with your post.
Though, like KingMessi I must respectfully disagree with your post.yes, call it reference
Butaan4barca
New member
welcome, but...
i think he is exactly what we needed. I will make reference to my older posts that our older system. with xavi dictating the tempo of the game and messi playing as false 10 was becoming increasingly predictable and after 3-4 years of success teams started to figure out ways to counter that. So besides all other changes i am jsut going to point two inevitable changes:
1. Xavi was getting older, less influential and there was a replacement needed.
2. Messi had to move to the right, or play in a deeper role. much deeper so as to create the space behind him, which he used to create when playing as false 9. (as defenders marking him, followed him). But when he started dropping deeper, teams used there midfielders to mark him. to killing the advantage we had.
so if we go back before the time we signed rakitic. And imagine lucho planning the team ahead of him. he would be thinking of playing messi on the right, but as the main man, that should only mean our attack orientation should move with it.
simultaneously there is need for alexis to go out as messi is to take the right flank. And from marketing, and team's dynamic perspective luiz suarez is the high profile signing required.
Now this leaves us with 1. messi on the right (still the main man) (loves to hold ball and dictate play), neymar on left (loves to dribble/shoot/ and dictate) 3. suarez a perfect 9 (who is coming from a team from where he is the main man, likes to linkup, dribble/shoot/ and all).
and then we have iniesta, a captain and one of the first few names in the starting lineup. (likes to dribble/ pass/ link/dictate play)
with these four something which becomes absolute necessary is not to have another player who likes to keep the ball. With the 90 min in total, if the idea is to retain possession for 65% of those 90 i.e around 59 mins. the strategy should be to allow messi to keep the ball atleast for 20 mins, so he can be influential. Neymar/suarez/iniesta should see more of the ball aswell.
Another important thing, with messi moving to right, but suarez in center will keep the central defenders busy, alaba and alvez helps keep the defense stretched to the fullest. And with the space availabe our attack can do wonders
With this in mind, i see rakitic as the player with best profile. Is intelligent, has a good passing range to release neymar/messi/surez with long/short/lob passes and quickly too. And takes no time in converting the defense into attack. Plus adds equally to both defense and attack.
Plus his set pieces, ability to score, from long, short range and crossing ability are added advantage. Simple adds too much to the team, which was just not there.
brilliant buy.
Last edited:
Alen
New member
So you are Kollegah?
BBZ8800
Senior Member
But, this is our best Season since Pep's 3rd Season.
We are aiming for a treble, we have like 17 wins in the last 18 matches (or something like that), we play the best football in the last 5 years, we have finally moved away from that sterile possession-Tiki Taka-football from the past, and we have finally found some new options to unlock opponent's buses.
In shorter, it seems that you are still trapped in the past, and you think that Barca means=always pass the ball till death, no matter how sterile it turned out to be lately.
Also, you probably think that the most important thing in football is to control the midfield, in a possession way?
Again, we play "crappy", more direct, with more counterattacks and we have 17 wins in the last 18 matches.
With possession football we couldn't connect 5 wins in a row in the last 3-4 Seasons.
So, do you want a false sense of control (possession) or the current possession+counterattacking football which produces awesome results?
Midfield battle is not always about possession. Controlling possession is only one way to dominate the midfield and Barca was one of the teams that perfected that but time caught up with the players of that system and opponents found ways to neutralize it. We now instead of working solely for possession work more to control the spaces in the midfield and thats where Rakitic's brilliant workrate and Messi overloading the midfield by dropping deep comes into play and this attributes much of our success in recent games even though the style might seem somewhat unorthodox and un-Barca like for those who have become accustomed to Pep's era. This is very close to the way we used to play under Rijkaard.
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
I agree with the assessments made, but not with the conclusions drawn. He's not the most technically brilliant midfielder out there but as a support player, there aren't many I could imagine better and that's essential to our team right now. We don't have a tactically perfect system a la Pep's Barca anymore so I don't expect us to fully dominate the middle or play like we used to (and a lot of our tactical roles will have some players making up for others deficiencies through individual abilities).
Rakitic is great at what he does. Off the ball, his movements and runs are fantastic (an important influence for the Alvessi telepathy that you mentioned) and he is a big part of our linkup on the right flank. He'll drift to the RW when necessary, plays quick balls to Messi often (better passing between lines than he had before), and his presence generally frees up the more creative players. He's not great in tight spaces but he anticipates that and positions himself in places where that doesn't screw us over. He makes use of his better long passing range by spreading passes and keeping the play moving rather than trying to unsuccessfully be a ball carrier or play like Xaviniesta. Defensively, not much needs to be said as he gives Busquets crucial support and mitigates our troubles with Alves. He's positioned right where he needs to be to apply pressure even when we have the ball. Then there's the extraneous/bonus abilities such as his added physical presence, proficiency in set pieces, and great long shot. Plus, he's a humble signing. He came here for a pretty cheap price, displays a tremendous attitude (he used to be a star man, now he does the 'dirty' work), and genuinely loves it here. He doesn't need to be Xaviesque as an individual because his value as a unit in the team is very high, even if he's unorthodox.
Last edited:
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Tend to agree with both you and MarcoVerratti. I do think Rakitic lacks technical ability, but mostly found out under pressure with his back to the opponent. He was actually key to the wins over Atletico, helping overload the right flank. If Barça comes up against a quality high-pressing side, I think he could be a liability, but his assets might still override his limitations. He's a rather crude player by Barça technical standards, but doesn't mean he's without value in the current system to advance the ball quickly to the forwards. I personally would still like to see a midfield *also* capable of sharp technical passing buildup play (Neymar also contributes to killing that), but given the current personnel, Barça's recent version of direct play is likely the smartest use of the available resources.
If Barça picks up players like Gündoğan (and, please please please, in my dreams, Reus replace Neymar), then Barça would have the ability to integrate the midfield more potently into the attack.
Home of Barca Fans
