Ivan Rakitić
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
With Roberto in midfield I don't see why Rakitic should be kept.
We'll have such a dynamic midfield with a lot of options for Valverde.
Arthur and Frenkie provide control and enthusiasm. Both are already top 10 in their positions when in form.
Vidal and Roberto are energetic and hard working box-box players. With a lot of experience.
Aleña is the most vertical and is a high risk high reward type of player.
Busi provides calmness and experience as well.
Rakitic is a jack of all trades, master of none. Sure he might be the highest scoring midfielder in recent years, but I'm sure his goals can be spread out among other players.
We'll have such a dynamic midfield with a lot of options for Valverde.
Arthur and Frenkie provide control and enthusiasm. Both are already top 10 in their positions when in form.
Vidal and Roberto are energetic and hard working box-box players. With a lot of experience.
Aleña is the most vertical and is a high risk high reward type of player.
Busi provides calmness and experience as well.
Rakitic is a jack of all trades, master of none. Sure he might be the highest scoring midfielder in recent years, but I'm sure his goals can be spread out among other players.
Vilarrubi
New member
I'd rather him never score a goal again for Barca and actually be able to control the midfield, be aware of his surroundings and be able to turn with the ball under pressure instead of this one-dimensional backpassing when ANY slight bit of pressure is put on him.
He obviously can't do this, which is a disgrace seen as though he is a starting midfielder for us.
The thing is ..., as football is getting faster .., Rakitic is obviously getting slower plus he wasn’t remotely nippy in his prime .
He scores the odd goal but so what .
The most annoying part is that his default pass is either sideways or backwards...yet he’s got the ability to put some decent long ( forward ) passes in - but seems afraid .
He scores the odd goal but so what .
The most annoying part is that his default pass is either sideways or backwards...yet he’s got the ability to put some decent long ( forward ) passes in - but seems afraid .
BBZ8800
Senior Member
How many times per season we aren't controlling a midfield?
We play 38 La liga matches.
10-ish Cdr matches.
6 Cl group stage matches.
And 2-6 Cl KO matches.
We played against Arsenal yesterday. We had possession all the time even with Rakitic, Puig, Alena, Roberto, Rafinha.
So, would you trade a match from yesterday for even more possession?
You guys act as if we are playing with teams like Liverpool 40 times per season.
Again, imagine forum's favorite lineup:
Semedo brain dead in attacking.
Busi, offers nothing in attacking third.
Frenkie, offers almost nothing around the box.
Arthur, never entered in the final third. He tries 1-2 shots and assists per season.
And a mighty attack: Dembele running away from a box, Griezmann dropping deep to create and play 1-2s, Messi dropping deep for the last 5 years.
This team would have worst results against crappy La liga teams than Raki-Paulinho-Suarez-Messi lineup.
This lineup sucks technically, but at least you have assists, shots and a No9 in the box.
In forum's lineup we have 6 creators and only one guy who will take a shot here and there (Messi) when he will somehow dribble through 5 defenders from a halfline to the edge of a box.
And no, Pep's Barca didn't play that way.
And yet pass the ball to an offside Griezman. Yup side way and back pass. The same Rakitic who had a better WC than all of the Barca players. Yup he's garbage
Vilarrubi
New member
My post was actually in relation to our CL ties over the last few years, I should have mentioned that.
No. Just in CL ties, against Atletico, Juve, Roma, Liverpool.
Let's face it, they are the games we will get judged on at the end of the season.
No i'm not, we don't need more possession in La Liga, La Liga is easy for us.
Let's keep playing Roberto in key CL ties despite him being terrible based on the fact he has some assists in La Liga.......... I don't think Roberto or Semedo have been good enough but at least Semedo is more sound defensively and has the pace to keep up with players. Also having a more defensive RB is fine with me seen as though Alba plays nearly LW sometimes.
Why would our CDM need to offer something in the final third? lol defensively and physically he is bad, you could have at least mentioned that. He needed replacing this summer.
He's just joined us, only played pre-season, we don't even know where exactly in midfield he will play... at least wait a season until you judge him for Barca.
Agreed, he needs to take more shots and assists, he may or may not improve in this sense.... we didn't need shots and assists in our key CL ties over the years though. We needed MIDFIELD CONTROL, something that a midfield of Rakitic-Busi-Vidal can no longer provide in those sort of games and something that you can't peddle your stats with. Arthur can provide this, so i'm not too bothered about how many shots or assists he makes in La Liga, we'll probably win it anyway even if he never takes one shot.
Massively overpriced, hasn't improved at all since he got here, injury prone, struggles with simple passes etc etc.
Let's see how this plays out, based on pre-season it looks that way.. I think the starting 3 will be Griezmann-Suarez-Messi anyway.
There's no need for him to do it as much in La Liga but in CL, like my initial post pointed to, when teams press us high our midfield turns into a backpassing machine which invites pressure. That's why midfielders like Rakitic at this stage of his career are useless in those games, we needed midfield control in that game, players who handle pressing well with good awareness and the ability to turn an opposition player and not pass it back when any player is slightly near him, not the 3/4 goals and assists a season in La Liga you keep pointing out. There isn't a stat to show those abilities in a midfielder which you can't seem to get your head around, every time anyone mentions this you come with lines like "But he has 4 goals compared to Arthur's 0" "But he has more key passes than him" "But his defensive stats are slightly better" We didn't need any of those things in our CL games and Rakitic showed none of those anyway.
Who gives a shit about what we do against crappy La Liga teams lol we can field nearly any team and win most of the time.
I thought Rakitic was our defensive workhorse according to you for the past 2/3 seasons, noticed you've moved away from that now after our CL defeats lol Now he's a "creator" because of his 4 goals and more shots he takes so where were these shots and goals in our CL defeats over the last few seasons if he's a creator. The reality is the OPPOSITE of what you've been saying for years, Rakitic is actually fine for La Liga.. and useless in CL KO games.
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serghei
Senior Member
Jesus, when people write about Rakitic and scoring goals, you't think they're talking about Frank Lampard. He hasn't scored a key goal for us since the CL final in 2015.
If Rakitic is such a great scoring threat form midfield, how come he never found one of his shots when we needed them, vs Atletico, Rome, Juventus, PSG, Liverpool?
If Rakitic is such a great scoring threat form midfield, how come he never found one of his shots when we needed them, vs Atletico, Rome, Juventus, PSG, Liverpool?
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messi2140
6racies Xavi
Classic case of BBZ8800 writing the most retarded shit and a few members on this forum falling for it.
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