Ivan Rakitić

[Givenchy]

Bench him till his contract runs out if he doesnt want to leave. We should do the same like real did with bale. Him not wanting to leave means someone needs to leave instead maybe even someone we dont want to leave....

im no fan of Raki but that would be a shitty thing to do. Madrid and Zidanes treatment of Bale is disgraceful and cuntish

 

[Vilarrubi]

Same rakitic played great world cup and was one of the best midfielders on that tournament, long balls, forward passes, defending, everything was on point. He doesnt suddendly turn into average MF when he is playing for barca without a reason. At NT, he had mandzukic, perisic and rebic infront, that guys did their work, exploiting empty spaces behind defence, tracking back, you name it, automaticaly rakitic had more options and less running to cover the pitch. At barca front three doesnt run, they dont track back, they dont exploit empty spaces, nothing, all that is part of the problem why rakitic is playing today like he is, also part that he cant get no rest.

All that said, i want him to go, but thinking how rakitic is biggest problem why midfield doesnt work great, is wrong, good luck to next guy who will have to cover messi's ass and at the same time be danger for opponents.

Ahhhhhhhh so because Rakitic played well in an international competition held every 4 years it’s not his fault and we should forget how he performs in our CL defeats even though he is one of the main culprits in them. Lovren played great in the World Cup too does that mean that every team is after him? Nope. Does that mean Liverpool kept him in the starting lineup? Nope.

Croatia play NOTHING like Barca, their games were mostly end to end football and none of the teams they played employed a high press like we’ve had in our CL defeats. Apples and oranges.

You think if we’d had more movement up front from Messi and Suarez, Rakitic would have all of a sudden learned the ability to cope with pressing and high press, been able to be aware of his surroundings, turn the pressing player and find our attacking players who are moving more up front?????? Not a chance lol it’s easy to blame Messi/Suarez as they are the big name players so automatically people think the responsibility is more on them. The midfield is most to blame, they are the ones that have the job of controlling the game and the high pressing, being able to transition the ball from defence to attack under that pressure OR collapse under that high press and become completely dysfunctional, which is what has happened in ALL of our recent CL defeats.

The reason why the responsibility is mostly on Rakitic in the Liverpool game for example (and this is without the mistake he made with the bad pass) as our most regular starting CM it’s his job to transition the ball from defence to attack, but instead he does the opposite (backpassing, no awareness when pressed) which invites pressure on the team as a whole. Can’t blame Vidal as much in the slightest, shouldn’t have started that game so Valverde’s fault there, his job should be rotation in smaller games and coming on as sub only. Busi also terrible but in terms of blame he’s a CDM and it’s more of the CM’s job to be passing through the lines rather than him in a more defensive central position. Valverde got lucky with the win in Camp Nou and thought that the same “workhorse” (lol) midfield would be able to defend the lead at Anfield, when actually they are the worst/slowest combination of midfielders we could have played as we saw in earlier games like away at Bilbao. Should have been Arthur instead of Rakitic or Vidal 100%.

Raki is fine for La Liga now, he can stick to the basics, keep possession, get his few goals and assists.. but in big games where a team can press effectively he is useless and has been for the past few seasons.

 

[Zidane82]

Is he still here ?

 

[BBZ8800]

I believe what almost every user in this forum has been saying, is that on all possible cases, Rakitic seems to be the odd man out. He doesn't offer anything more than his alternatives, in any department anymore.

In which of the above scenarios, would rakitic be an improvement over any other selected player and why?

Arthur is good in press resistance and recycling possessiin.
In pure defending, he is the worst among Busi, Raki, Arthur, Vidal, Frenkie.

Final third, again, Raki is probably the best among these 5 players.

But then again, him and Vidal are the worst in recycling possession and playing rondos.

Our current midfield:
Busi: past it.
Meh in defending.
Ok in build up.
Useless in attacking third.
Slow, bad in counters, bad in the air.

Arthur:
Also slow and somewhat weak in Stamina.
The weakest link in defending.
Useless in the attacking third.
Good in press resistance and recycling possession.

Vidal:
Past it.
Has heart and a fighting spirit.
The worst fit for possession play.
Good in tackles, but he is wild, unpredictable and leaving his position all the time.
Good in attack, but plays too many first touch passes, not suitable for our play around the box.

Frenkie: good allrounder

Alena: he will play for Girona's level soon.
Puig: has nice passes, a horrible physique, weak defending, way too young etc.

Roberto: basically a Rakitic with fresher legs and less experience.

You have mentioned a few scenarios, and I agree with an option of few different scenarios.

But still, it amazes me this faith in Arthur and how he is the man against weaker teams.
In a spring at home vs Espanyol and Sociedad, he was subbed around a minute 55 because he was just making useless sideway passes as always.
And we needed goals because the score was 0:0 or 1:1 iirc.

In those moments, everyone is a better option than Arthur: Raki, Alena, Puig, Roberto, Rafinha, Coutinho.
Each of them can shoot and make an assist.
In those moments there is no pressure on us.
Just a play around the box against parked buses.

The same was against Valencia in a Cdr final.
He was off after 45 minutes because we were chasing a score.

And what baffles me is how people are mentioning: Raki is a culprit for loses in a CL due to his bad press resistance, yet Arthur is not a culprit for sterile 0:0 possession matches with his style of play.

Anyway, I agree that Arthur is better than Raki against Liverpool (even though we don't know yet how he defends).
But La liga is league with Mickey Mouse opponents.
And Arthur has a high chance to end as Semedo of midfielders.
Good in our half.
Good against strong teams who are attacking us.
But useless and braindead against weaker La liga teams at Camp Nou when we need goals and victories.
Sadly for him, majority of La Liga matches are against weak teams.

 

[JohnN]

But we shouldn't need amazingly attack minded midfielders against weak teams. That's why Arthur could even start those games. Couthinio could provide that type of player if needed, but having a 160ml player with insane wages in order to use him against small teams is kind of bad. If rakitic was his older self I would go with him, Frankie and Arthur for most matches. That would be for me the most balanced team.
But I think he has been worn off due to overplaying and age catching up.

 

[mc_lovin]

If Arthur cant step up vs weaker teams in La Liga he doesnt belong here. But Im sure he will be okay.

 

[Andresito]

He's staying isn't he.. No offers so far with PL window closing.

He'll either stay or go on loan to Italy.

 

[Sorin]

Just contact Sevilla and offer him on loan plus obligation to buy next year for around 30m.

Not sure they would agree to that deal though.

 

[Kul_z]

3 more days left for united to submit a bid for Ivan "i scoreed 3 goals in la liga" Rakitic. The transfer window in england closes on the 9th of August.



Because he chokes hard under pressure. Hence why he was the worst-rated midfielder in all those thrashings.

Rakitic chokes hard under pressure? Wc penalty's? Hes just too slow nowdays for very best football, thats all.

 

[Xaviniesta]

Rakitic chokes hard under pressure? Wc penalty's? Hes just too slow nowdays for very best football, thats all.

I don’t care how he plays with Croatia against the likes of Denmark or whatever. He chokes hard in the CL games when wearing the Barca shirt, and that’s all that matters here.

 

[Andresito]

Not very reliable but Sport are saying that PSG want Rakitic in the Neymar deal.

Sounds too good to be true, but at least it's a Rakitic exit rumour.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Not very reliable but Sport are saying that PSG want Rakitic in the Neymar deal.

Sounds too good to be true, but at least it's a Rakitic exit rumour.

 

[CatalinR10]

Not very reliable but Sport are saying that PSG want Rakitic in the Neymar deal.

Sounds too good to be true, but at least it's a Rakitic exit rumour.

 

[Raketa10]

 

[Andresito]

a
L E T S ,,,,,,H O P E
E
T
S

H
O
P
E