What do you see in Rakitic?
A player whom COACHES actually use and play as a starter mudfielder.
Unlike Roberto, who is a squad level midfielder for COACHES.
For Barcaforum fans though, Roberto is a top level, world class midfielder, whom only "stupid coaches" don't play as a cm.
People will reply: he plays as a Rb because we don't have a Rb.
Imagine if Xavi was a world class Cm and an average Rb.
Would you waste him at a Rb or would you play him as a Cm and play someone else as a Rb?
Coaches wouldn't waste him at a Rb position if he was THAT good as a cm.
Coaches are wasting him as a Rb, because as a Cm, he is as equally as flawed (or even worse), the same as Rakitic, Gomes, Denis, Rafinha.
So, the answer: Rakitic isn't good anymore.
But he is still better than current forum saviors: Denis who is not a cm at all, Roberto who is almost 26 and hasn't played 50 senior matches as a cm till now, Alena with 5 senior matches in his career, Arthur from a tactically funky Brasilian league etc.
If Rakitic is bad, it doesn't mean that his subs are suddenly better.
Denis, Roberto and similar were never Barca's starting cm material. And never will be, not even close.
About Raki, he is not that bad lately.
If his form was 2/10 a few weeks ago, imo lately he is at 4/10.
He is still poor to average, but he did improve, compared to Rakitic from September and October.