Yes please.
Ivan Rakitić
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Yes please.
te amo barca
Blaugrana al vent
Personally I think every starter played well today bar Suárez and Busi. Rakitic was his usual solid self, circulated the ball well in possession and had a few decent defensive actions.
God Serena
New member
Can't wait until he starts against Tottenham and bags an assist and shuts all you haters up. I can just imagine you all flooding in here to say some rubbish like "The game doesn't even matter!" and to that I say you don't have any understanding of football. Luckily Valverde does and isn't going to risk losing points to a team we can definitely win against.
xXKonan
Senior Member
Funny reading the Barca Reddit, post-game thread and some guys suggest that Arthur is the one that needs to be benched for Vidal and not Rakitic.
Despite Arthur bring more to the table in terms of control and press resistance on the ball than Rakitic while Vidal brings out more energy and fight etc than Rakitic has this season.
Despite Arthur bring more to the table in terms of control and press resistance on the ball than Rakitic while Vidal brings out more energy and fight etc than Rakitic has this season.
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Cule4life
The Culest
I took one look at that place and never went back again for a reason
MTL_Barca
Well-known member
Yeah crazy thought right
I can't see Ernie benching him ever, he seems to be like his favorite person worldwide
Vilarrubi
New member
+1 did the basics well yesterday, nothing special. As expected from a starting Barca midfielder against Espanyol. Find it funny how the Rakitic brigade comes out when he has an average game after 5/6 poor games from him. (Not including Copa Del Rey)
BusiTheKing
Senior Member
Go to whoscored, select player statistics for La Liga. Select all La Liga CM's with minimum 5 appearances this season. Sort by most key passes pr 90 mins. There are 49 players on the list. Rakitic is nr. 45.
Three of the four players below him play as DM's.
Three of the four players below him play as DM's.
BusiTheKing
Senior Member
Compared to other top club three-man midfields, ours is by far the least productinve going forward.
Rakitic, Busi and Arthur pile together 1.8 key passes pr. 90 mins between them.
Modric, Kroos and Casemiro are at 3.8.
Kante, Jorgingo and Kovacic are at 3.5.
Pjanic, Matuidi and Bentacur are at 5.2
Silva, Gundogan and Fernandingo are at 5.3.
If you take Rakitic numbers and double them, he would still be at the bottom of this list of players.
Rakitic, Busi and Arthur pile together 1.8 key passes pr. 90 mins between them.
Modric, Kroos and Casemiro are at 3.8.
Kante, Jorgingo and Kovacic are at 3.5.
Pjanic, Matuidi and Bentacur are at 5.2
Silva, Gundogan and Fernandingo are at 5.3.
If you take Rakitic numbers and double them, he would still be at the bottom of this list of players.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Rakitic and Busquets are going to turn into an even bigger liability next season if we don't replace them. Coutinho even though he's not the best fit just gotta play as an AM and we need another CM that's able to defend, preferably de Jong so he and Arthur can change between playing the DM position. Better mobility, faster transitions and more creativity running forward.
People want to talk about Messi not stepping up in the CL KOs, and he admittedly should be more active off the ball, but that is a big reason we struggle so much. Not are they mobile or fast enough to defend, but they do shit creating anything for our attack as well.
Leo_Messi
New member
Exactly. Instead the wonderful board is doing the opposite of what they should be doing. Giving long contract extensions to senior players and not only that let us reward them with an even higher wage (despite their level decreasing and not increasing) as if our wage bill was not already the highest of freaking ALL sporting clubs in the entire world! It's like some kind of charity. Football should be/is by large a ruthless business. Had this been any other business this would not have occurred. You don't give senior employees (who are close to retiring) such big wage increases.
One can say a lot of positives and negatives about how Florentino has been running RM but there is one thing that I admire/miss at Barça and that is a more ruthless board when it comes to senior players who are declining and who are a stumbling block for needed rejuvenation of the team.
The wages of Messi (special case nevertheless far from a youngster nowadays - in a few months time he will turn 32), Suárez (32 in 1 month time), Rakitic, Busquets (both approaching 31 and both incredible slow and static already - it's only going to be worse next season), Piqué (turns 32 in 2 months time) combined probably contribute to at least 2/3's (if not more) of our total wage bill.
If rumors about PSG being willing to buy Rakitic for a huge sum this summer (80 million euros or more as claimed) were true, it's incredible that the board did not react and did not sell him and replace him with De Jong or a more established player who is much younger and whose wage bill is much smaller.
I have little trust in this board being able to replace the senior core of the team and make the necessary generational change. A generational change that will be absolutely crucial for the future sporting well-being of the club not too long in the future.
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