Ivan Rakitić

[BusiTheKing]

Players are walking past him honestly, he's not good defensively at all. Way too slow.

 

[gasgas]

Not a goal conceded with him in the lineup again.

I am joking. He was bad.

I laughed more than usual on your post.
Thanks man

 

[gasgas]

Lol.
I know that this is Barcaforum where football is played only in one way: in attacking way.
And passing and off the ball movement is the only thing that counts.

But sadly, outside of this "bubble", there is a real world, where football is played in 2 ways: attacking and defensive.

As I have wrote in previous posts, when someone who didn't watch a match would read our forum, it could sound as if Rakitic lost 100 balls and hasn't done absolutely nothing on a field for 90 minutes.
Since someone in the team also needs to do a dirty defensive job, tackle, intercept passes and play marking all match, let's see what actual stats say for today's match:

Defensive job vs Atletico:
Tackles:
3 Rakitic
1 Frenkie
1 Arthur

Interceptions:
3 Frenkie
1 Rakitic
- Arthur

Clearances:
3 Rakitic
1 Frenkie
1 Arthur

Blocks:
2 Rakitic
1 Frenkie
- Arthur

Total defensive balls won tonight:
9 Rakitic
6 Frenkie
2 Arthur

Rakitic made 9 defensive contributions tonight.
For example, Arthur had 8 defensive contributions in total in his LAST 6 LEAGUE matches (Atletico 2, Celta 0, Levante 2, Eibar 1, Sevilla 2, Getafe 1).

Maybe it is not such a coincidence that Leganes hadn't created chances after Rakitic entered.
That Borussia looked like amateurs on Wednesday.
And that Atletico, hasn't scored again, even though they had a few chances.

Isn't our team better defensively in the last few matches compared to a horror show in September and October?
Remember that we looked horrible against any single bottom table La Liga team on away matches.
And finally, we are even winning on AWAY La Liga matches.

For the end, I will have to quote this one more time:


Well, yes...
Erm 9 defensive contributions in 90 minutes?
Alena is an offensive minded midfielder.

I care for you man, but this is absolute poop

 

[mc_lovin]

Hes a solid placeholder. But put a really good defensive player in there for him and we will look twice as good defensively. Same can be said about Busquets.

 

[BBZ8800]

^
Rakitic was playing DM. But hey, who cares. Stats and shit.

Oh, so, we need to compare him with DMs only?
Fine. No problem.
I am waiting for new funny excuses:

ALL DMs contributions THIS season, every single match:
Busi as a DM this season, balls won per match:
Betis 4
Osasuna 5
Valencia 4
Villareal 4
Getafe 6
Sevilla 4
Eibar 4
Valladolid 6
Levante 0
Celta 4
Leganes 2
Dortmund 2
Inter 2
Slavia 6
Slavia 5
Dortmund 5

Frenkie DM:
Bilbao 4
Granada 5
Leganes 2

Rakitic, the only match as a pivot after 6-7 Months:
Atletico 9 balls won

So, basically, Rakitic was gassed out for playing his 3rd match in 7 days, after being benched the whole season.
Against Atletico he won 9 balls as a pivot, which is our defensive record in this season (for all midfield positions).
And in his only match, he won more balls than Busi in 16 matches this season, even though Busi plays as a pivot for his all life.
Also, Frenkie as a pivot won 5, 4 and 2 balls per match this season.

"A pure shit" Rakitic won 9 balls tonight as a pivot and 4 balls on Wednesday as a CM.

In his last 9 appearances or cameos, we conceded only 1 goal when he was on a field, Sancho's goal.
Not that bad for the worst player in a history of football.

 

[BBZ8800]

Lol how are you still peddling that 'defensive contributions' nonsense. Again, Wilfried Ndidi makes 6 times as many tackles as Van Dijk pr. 90. Phil Foden, Lallana, Moutinho, Dani Ceballos make more tackles pr. 90 than Jordan Henderson, Fabian Delph and Kante.

What do you think about that?

Is TACKLING the only skill on Barcaforum?
If you'll add more defensive stats like interceptions, clearances, blocks etc, maybe they won't have better stats than guys whom you have mentioned.
Also, look at larger samples.
You can't check stats of Phoden, who played 1-2 matches in a season.

 

[mc_lovin]

Well, DM is actually his niche.... he can play his completely unremarkable passing and buildup game and use his solid physique to clear easy balls. Decent enough, and all Busquets did for quite some time now (minus the few quality touches inbetween). I am really not overly bothered by him.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Also, look at larger samples.
You can't check stats of Phoden, who played 1-2 matches in a season.

aren't you literally using Rakitic' stats for a single game in your argument?

 

[KingLeo10]

aren't you literally using Rakitic' stats for a single game in your argument?

BBZ caught dead in the water.

 

[BBZ8800]

aren't you literally using Rakitic' stats for a single game in your argument?

BBZ caught dead in the water.

I posted a single match because you are writing that he is the worst, yet he offered the best defensive contribution this season (except 1-2 bad passes around the box, of course).

You can look at larger samples in Rakitic's case, he was always a guy who was winning shitton of balls for us.
2015: 2,6 balls won per match
2016: 3,8 balls won per match
2017: 3,2 balls won per match
2018: 3,4 balls won per match
2019: 3,4 balls won per match

For example:
Frenkie 2020: 3,2 balls won per match
Arthur 2019: 1,2 balls won per match
Arthur 2020: 1,5 balls won per match

If we compare a single match=you guys are not happy.
If we compare more seasons and larger samples=you guys are not happy.

What is left?
To listen to your eye test where only attack (and young forum favorites) matter?
= he is bad, he was lucky and everything is just a coincidence.

 

[CatalinR10]

This guy together with Griezmann were our worst rated players tonight.


Hopefully he can fuck off to any team in the winter and Busquets to the bench so we don't have walking disasters 9 games out of 10.

 

[BusiTheKing]

you have some serious cognitive dissonance issues mate.

edit: to bbz8800

 

[JohnN]

You can look at larger samples in Rakitic's case, he was always a guy who was winning shitton of balls for us.
2015: 2,6 balls won per match
2016: 3,8 balls won per match
2017: 3,2 balls won per match
2018: 3,4 balls won per match
2019: 3,4 balls won per match

Let's put some perspective to these stats.
Is Rakitic in 2019 a better player than he was in 2015?
because that is what these stats will tell you. If the answer is no, these stats are useless and highly misleading.
He was a walking danger today in defense and irrelevant in offence. That is what any non biased football spectator will tell you. Again this is the simple truth. You can fight it all you want but it will still be there.

 

[BBZ8800]

He was a walking danger today in defense and irrelevant in offence. That is what any non biased football spectator will tell you. Again this is the simple truth. You can fight it all you want but it will still be there.

I am reading ratings from papers, where neutral journos should be writing and doing their job, right?

For example, player ratings on Sport.es: (Google translate):
Rakitic: 5, seized
He noticed the lack of a pace in a game of a maximum demand, especially at the start. He did not have the strength to successfully complete a counter, but he improved with the passing of the minutes and gave more continuity to the game.

Arthur: 4, soft
Against an opponent like Atletico, the degree of intensity and concentration must be much higher. He lost a ball that could cost a goal from Herrera and was replaced to increase the revolutions in the core.

Frenkie: 5, Willful
The Dutchman always shows his face and shows his character or that the opponent puts him in as many difficulties as happened in the Wanda. His attitude compensated for his deficiencies in construction.

You see, I like to read both stats and the opinion from more neutral spectators than on Barcaforum.
As I have wrote in the past, you can't read too much here about Arthur being soft in defense, or Frenkie not doing anything in attack. You will get bullied and Barcaman will get requests for you to get banned, lol.
On our forum, they are usually "always good", while other, older players are horrible and flops of the match.

In this article on Sport, in 2-3 lines of text, you can read more realistic, negative remarks on Arthur's defending and Frenkie's lack of ideas in attack than you will read here in 6 Months in 500 posts.

A hint: just try to open the doors to an option that Rakitic is not as bad in real world as Barcaforum is portraying him.
And that other midfielders are also less good as Barcaforum are portraying them.

They are not black and white and on the end of extremes in a real world.

 

[Rory]

I am reading ratings from papers, where neutral journos should be writing and doing their job, right?

For example, player ratings on Sport.es: (Google translate):
Rakitic: 5, seized
He noticed the lack of a pace in a game of a maximum demand, especially at the start. He did not have the strength to successfully complete a counter, but he improved with the passing of the minutes and gave more continuity to the game.

Arthur: 4, soft
Against an opponent like Atletico, the degree of intensity and concentration must be much higher. He lost a ball that could cost a goal from Herrera and was replaced to increase the revolutions in the core.

Frenkie: 5, Willful
The Dutchman always shows his face and shows his character or that the opponent puts him in as many difficulties as happened in the Wanda. His attitude compensated for his deficiencies in construction.

You see, I like to read both stats and the opinion from more neutral spectators than on Barcaforum.
As I have wrote above, you can't read too much here about Arthur being soft in defense, or Frenkie not doing anything in attack.
On our forum, they are usually "always good", while other, older players are horrible and flops of the match.

A hint: just try to open the doors to an option that Rakitic is not as bad in real world as Barcaforum is portraying him.
And that other midfielders are also less good as Barcaforum are portraying them.

They are not black and white and on the end of extremes in a real world.

Are these ratings out of 10? Bit harsh. Frenkie was a 7, Arthur and Rakitic probably a 6 each imo. Very little between them.