Ivan Rakitić

Cule4life

The Culest
He should play Vidal over him for a month and then challenge Rakitic to win his shirt back by playing well since he's probably forgotten what competing for a place in the starting 11 even means these days.

Do you have multiple personalities? You just slammed Vidal for expressing his desire to play more and now you say Valverde should play Vidal more?

Or you mean players should just shut up and put up with a terrible manager who ignores them? Vidal is not that kind of player and both the board and Valverde should have known that.
 

xXKonan

Senior Member
What can we do to get the Rakitic of last season?


I was rooting for Croatia to win the World Cup, I was happy they went all the way to the final thinking it would elevate Raki's game even more for the upcoming season but it seems it has had the very opposite effect.


It's more than just fatigue, it's almost as if he's depressed with nothing to play for any more. Every average Joe is just walking past him on the pitch like he's not there.

Now I also hear Modric has been appalling so far this season as well. The World Cup run might have broken them. And Rakitic is only 30 and not 33 like Modric.


It's strange.
Fatigue is part of the culprit but Rakitic is really limited in a 4-3-3 now. Well to be fair even when he was younger he relied a lot on Messi-Alves to do creative work and all he mostly had to do is cover the ground and contribute to a goal here and there and a good pass.

Fast forward to 2017 onward, he only thrives in a two-man Midfield next to a Modric and Busi type. Once we switched back to the 4-3-3 he's pretty much the odd man out in this Barca side now. He's basically being carried by Arthur and Busi now who are much better with dealing with the press, recycling the ball and controlling the game.

Despite that Rakitic could be useful as a possibly RCAM instead of being mostly there just to defend.
 

EdmondDantes

New member
Do you have multiple personalities? You just slammed Vidal for expressing his desire to play more and now you say Valverde should play Vidal more?

Or you mean players should just shut up and put up with a terrible manager who ignores them? Vidal is not that kind of player and both the board and Valverde should have known that.

You're misinterpreting me. I slammed Vidal's unearned holier-than-thou attitude and behaviour, especially toward his teammates. We just won 2 important games and there he is being a childish sour-puss.


But I have been advocating for Rakitic to be dropped - due to his poor form and fatigue - for a good while. And since Vidal is the main alternative, I've been saying I'd like to see him being given an opportunity as well. Provided he earns it on the training ground. But according to the manager he's not done so, unlike Arthur, the youngster Arthur I should add.
 
He's basically being carried by Arthur and Busi now who are much better with dealing with the press, recycling the ball and controlling the game.

There's really no shame in being worse at any of those things than Busquets is, seeing as Busquets is clearly one of the best in the world in the aspects you mention. However, I would say that the jury is still out on Arthur, even if he has been impressive so far. He hasn't even played the equivalent of five full games for us.

I think Rakitic is being vastly underrated here. He's looked a little under the weather recently, but I think he was excellent before the summer break, even in the periods where we struggled as a whole and especially had issues in the midfield. He was extremely important last year in several phases of the game, and was heavily involved in our build-up play. Statistically speaking his impact was much, much bigger than that of Modric as seen with his xG Buildup (check the stats on understat.com for yourself if needed).

Rakitic is a proven midfielder, who's been a keyman in our midfield for the past four years. I understand that he's not performing as well as we'd all like right now, and maybe giving him a break or two would do the trick. What I don't think we should do, is overreact and call for his head. He doesn't deserve to just be benched like that. Especially not when the alternatives aren't better than they currently are.
 

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