Ivan Rakitić

[Respekt_III]

lucrative isn't the right word for those types of midfielders.

 

[Raketa10]

When people think about Rakitic, they are skewed due to a current, bad version of Rakitic.

In younger days, he was a key player of Sevilla under Emery.
At Barca he was the most used player for 5 straight seasons in a row under Lucho and EV.
He is also a guy who played at a World cup final with Croatia and for years at an NT team, he was always playing for 90 minutes, while even Modric got tired and subbed from time to time.

So, again, for a moment forget a current, old and declined version of Rakitic.
During younger days his virtues were:
1. NEVER, absolutely NEVER injured and always available to play
2. somewhat versatile since he can play as a pivot, CM in a 433, CM in 442, CAM in some formations (for Sevilla and Croatia) or even a RM in EV's 442
3. in younger days he was always among top 2-3 players in every team regarding distance covered
4. he always had high numbers of interceptions and tackles for a midfielder
5. and in younger days, he was a way better scorer and used to make assists

So, in short: he was never a shiny, technical, eye catching players.
But he was a tireless midfielder, never injured, who was offering a nice All-round input in defending, covering and even in scoring and assisting.

Kinda master of none skill, but very good at everything.

Again, don't be blinded by a current Rakitic, who even for my standards, have way too many wtf moments lately.
If he played like he is playing today, he surely wouldn't have been a starter for years at Sevilla and Barcelona.

Even if you look at his goals for Barca from the last few years, you can see that he was somewhat faster, less scared, sharper in shots and passes than today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybn4ZUKlExE

He used to be a nice allrounder.
Today he is not an allrounder anymore since he is barely scoring, he is scared in creation and has bad passes and even in defense he is slower and weaker than before, due to age.

Great and objective post. I would also add one more thing to this. Do some of you honestly thing that a genuinely bad player would won all of this individual awards?

Swiss Super League Young Player of the Year: 2006–07
La Liga Player of the Month: January 2014
UEFA Europa League Final Man of the Match: 2014
La Liga Team of the Season: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018-19
UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 2013–14
UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2014–15
Croatian Footballer of the Year: 2015
Croatian Sportsman of the Year: 2015

You may like him or not, and he has undoubtedly regressed but FFS no one can claim he had a bad career or that he was always a bad player. As BBZ said a current version of Rakitic is awful but saying that he was always on this level apart from his first season here is just a total bullshit.

 

[LeeRomeno]

Rakitic has been given so much shit in in recent years that is clearly not proportional to how bad he has been compared to rest of the squad, because he really has not. BBZ explained it very well, his work often goes unnoticed. Saying that, he is clearly in decline and this season he has been really bad. Similar to Valverde, he should have really left during summer, not taking a hint with FDJ signing was poor decision from his side.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Rakitic for Sevilla was a beast too, his role changed a lot when he came here though. He's declined a lot though and his time is up as starter for us.

This flick and assist was ridiculous the season before we bought him:

[youtube]D-heZS8VYAE&t=8s[/youtube]

 

[BBZ8800]

Rakitic for Sevilla was a beast too, his role changed a lot when he came here though. He's declined a lot though and his time is up as starter for us.

He declined, yes, even me, as one of his biggest defenders will say that.
Lately his passes are really: wtf and what kindo of a touch is that?
Not to mention that he is afraid to make forward passes and that his shots are inaccurate lately.

But people act as if he was on this shitty level since always.
At Sevilla in 2012/13 and 2013/14, he won Uefa cup as a key playmaker and had 20 goals and 22 assists in two seasons.
I mean, can you get to 22 assists out of nowhere, with a pure luck?

Also, when we look at him today, he seems as if he is some crappy defensive minded midfielder, yet before Barca, in his early 20s, he used to play as a CAM for Croatian NT team, Basel, Schalke and Sevilla.
Also, for me, he was my favorite Croatian midfielder since always because he was always consistent, while Modric was more hot and cold.
Modric was either a genius in one match or totally MIA in the next match.
While Rakitic was always the same (his ceiling was lower than Modric's, of course), but he always delivered let's say 8 out of 10 performances.
Also, he used to be versatile and played as a pivot, CM, LM, RM, CAM and even as a CF in early 20s.
Plus, he was absolutely never injured and had quite a good stamina (he was always among top runners in every team in which he has played).

For a comparison, today people have faith in young Riki Puig who is 20, Alena who is already 22, and Oriol Busquets who is 21.
Now, Rakitic has already played at Euros 2008 aged only 20 and 1 Month.
So, back then he played against Germany and other big teams as a starter, and he was younger than a a current Puig and 2 years younger than a current Alena.

Also, today, Rakitic looks like a guy who can't control a ball, who can't make a simple forward pass and who can't run or dribble even if his life depends on it.
But then, look a player in this video, NT qualifying match Slovenia:Croatia from 2008, when Rakitic was only 20 years old.
Look at his body, legs, hips.
He was slimmer and way more mobile and faster.
He played as some sort of Iniesta-Cam or even a silent striker.
Also, check that kid: he was dribbling, shooting, creating, scoring.
Quite a different player than a current Rakitic who is making 5-10 passing mistakes per match, isn't it?

My point: it is unfair to remember Rakitic by his last 2 years when he has obviously declined.
He was a very, very good allrounder in his 20s and there is a reason why he was a starter in every single club where he played, even under Emery, Lucho and EV.

 

[mc_lovin]

My point: it is unfair to remember Rakitic by his last 2 years when he has obviously declined.

Well, part of the reason why hes so "hated" is that guys like you religiously defended him - even last year when it was evident as fuck that hes a liability. At least theres no denying anymore, and even admitting he was like that for more than this season.

As for Rakitics standing: he belongs to the 2nd tier of players, who are not downright legends, but the next best thing. Not the kind of player who will carry his weight when shit gets real, but very good in a specific role (see 14/15). And generally I am more than content with guys like him (cause real maestros are rare), but I just cant get over the fact that we could have had Kroos instead (most probably).

 

[Messi983]

We could've bought both Raki and Kroos for a combined fee around 40-45m. Still believe signing Raki was the right decision. Not signing Kroos (or a similar midfielder not even in years after that) wasn't.

Lucho probably choosed Raki because he was already adapted to La Liga. For the same reason he also wanted Bravo eventhough we've already bought MATS (to give him more time to adapt).

But then again, do you think having Kroos here instead of Raki for the last 6 years would make all that much difference in terms of having more success in CL (we still won most domestic titles even with Raki) if nothing else would change (so with us still spending big money on the wrong players - Cou, Dembele - and not addressing some urgent needs for years)? Surely Kroos was integral part in Real winning multiple CLs so we would've weaken them had we signed him instead but they would've just got someone else. They've always had great depth in midfield and a luxury of having players like Isco and James on the bench.

So I don't think much would really change had we signed Kroos instead of Raki. Having them both at the same time could though.

 

[BBZ8800]

Well, part of the reason why hes so "hated" is that guys like you religiously defended him - even last year when it was evident as fuck that hes a liability. At least theres no denying anymore, and even admitting he was like that for more than this season.

I defended him because he was always getting too much hate due to not being Barca DNA player.
That is a psychological thing.

Majority of posters here are aged 15-26 which means that they are heavily influenced by Pep's era and their brains are wired that way.
And everything which resembles of Pep=is kinda good and positive.
And everything which is moving away from Pep=is kinda negative.

No offense to anyone, but look at a hype and faith in Riki Puig.
At first:
1. none youth Spanish NT coach has EVER called him.
People used to reply=that is an anomaly, he is awesome.
2. then we had: youth NT coaches don't call him and EV has never used him.
We got replies=EV is an idiot, Puig is awesome, a new coach will play him.
3. now we have Setien who said in the first days that he will return to La Masia and that Riki will play a lot.
But then, imo, when he has seen him on training grounds and realized his skills and flaws, he stopped playing him. For a reason.

So, you have cases like this, where a player is obviously extremely average, but people rate him to heavens because he has Barca DNA and some shiny moves.
And then you have players like Rakitic, who don't have too much with Barca DNA, yet every single coach plays him to death, and people are calling him the biggest cancer ever and one of the worst players who has ever worn Barca's shirt.

I didn't want to post in Riki's topic in the last few days, because some would jump and say: you are just a wind up merchant and a contrarian.
Yet, nobody wants to say the obvious: Riki sucks and he is just a product of our dreams and hype.

But you see, NO ONE is posting bad in Riki's thread.
And no one is called for or laughed at for posts when they say that we should sell Busi, Raki, Vidal and keep Frenkie, Arthur, Alena and Puig, lol.

Also, not too many users get angry at posts how Raki is the worst player/biggest shit in Barca's history.

And a small test, I won't even say it, but just imagine if I say now: Riki is the biggest shit in Barca's history.
I can already imagine a lot of fans behind their screens saying: ban this guy. He is a troll or something.

If you get my point?
This place is far from an objective place and is insanely biased towards Barca's DNA, Pep's era, everything which resembles even slightly on that era.

I will run away before I get a similar question for the millionth time: why are you Barca's fan if you don't like Pep and Barca's DNA?
= I am Barca's fan.
But Barca existed before Pep.
And there are different types of players and tactics besides Pep's tactics.
Not to mention that a football world evolved and moved on and that Pep's football is light years behind Klopp's football today.
And yet, a we are kinda chasing Pep's football from 2011, which is miles behind current Pep's football, and yet current Pep's football is miles behind Klopp's football.
So, we are stuck far, far away in the past.
And this is why people here still think that players like Riki or Alena could offer anything in today's football.

This don't have too much with Rakitic in general, but you get the point.
Barca's fans are too romantic and too biased about some things which don't work in a real world.
Rakitic and similar topics for me are a symbol of moving forward or fighting against Barcaforum bubble.

So, Raki isn't the answer.
But neither are Puig or Alena.
And in the future, it is more likely that we will win CL titles with some better version of Rakitic than with players from the past like Puig and Alena.

I rambled a lot in this post, but I know that deep down you will understand a point.

 

[fergus90]

We could've bought both Raki and Kroos for a combined fee around 40-45m. Still believe signing Raki was the right decision. Not signing Kroos (or a similar midfielder not even in years after that) wasn't.

Lucho probably choosed Raki because he was already adapted to La Liga. For the same reason he also wanted Bravo eventhough we've already bought MATS (to give him more time to adapt).

But then again, do you think having Kroos here instead of Raki for the last 6 years would make all that much difference in terms of having more success in CL (we still won most domestic titles even with Raki) if nothing else would change (so with us still spending big money on the wrong players - Cou, Dembele - and not addressing some urgent needs for years)? Surely Kroos was integral part in Real winning multiple CLs so we would've weaken them had we signed him instead but they would've just got someone else. They've always had great depth in midfield and a luxury of having players like Isco and James on the bench.

So I don't think much would really change had we signed Kroos instead of Raki. Having them both at the same time could though.

Think you're right about the La Liga bit, I remember reading that Enrique basically knew more about Rakitic because he was superb for Sevilla against Celta Vigo, whilst he wasn't quite as aware of Kroos. I also remember reading he would have liked both but the funds weren't available.

 

[mc_lovin]

[...]

Whataboutism at its best. Its not about Puig, Arthur or whoever. Its about Rakitic.

And I guess the absolute minority here see Puig as the all conquering La Masia prodigy for example. Hes exciting for sure, even technically brilliant, but god knows if his phsysique will ever match up. Thats a reasonable opinion right there, but both extremes ("BBZ/Valverde cult"<->"Club de amigos") like to portray the other side as the forum consensus - it just gets tedious.

 

[Rory]

Whataboutism at its best. Its not about Puig, Arthur or whoever. Its about Rakitic.

And I guess the absolute minority here see Puig as the all conquering La Masia prodigy for example. Hes exciting for sure, even technically brilliant, but god knows if his phsysique will ever match up. Thats a reasonable opinion right there, but both extremes ("BBZ/Valverde cult"<->"Club de amigos") like to portray the other side as the forum consensus - it just gets tedious.

Exactly, you can still be annoyed at a player for playing poorly even if it's not his fault there's no one better to choose from. Rakitic should have been what Roberto is to us but shoddy work in the transfer market kept him in his big role.

 

[Latschenkiefer]

I think he slowly got found out after 1 1/2 years. When his opponents started to pressure him from the back he maybe didn't loose the ball, but he either played a back pass or draw the foul. His back passes got our other players in trouble and his dawn fouls heavily interrupted our build up play. He may be a tidy player on paper, but he just doesn't have the vision for quick passes and open space or the ability to recieve the ball, make a body feint and free himself from his opponent to actually make a forward pass, which, for me, are essential elements of our build up play.

 

[Xaviniesta]

how many times we gonna have the same convo guys? we all know he's been finished for years now. exposed as a water-carrier since april 2016

 

[Zidane82]

I think he slowly got found out after 1 1/2 years. When his opponents started to pressure him from the back he maybe didn't loose the ball, but he either played a back pass or draw the foul. His back passes got our other players in trouble and his dawn fouls heavily interrupted our build up play. He may be a tidy player on paper, but he just doesn't have the vision for quick passes and open space or the ability to recieve the ball, make a body feint and free himself from his opponent to actually make a forward pass, which, for me, are essential elements of our build up play.

I’d say he was decent for about 6 months ..

 

[Thiago10]

Looks like an amateur whenever he comes on. I feel embarassed for him.