Mavericky Puig

[Gnidrologist]

Both Puig and Pedri seem to be comfortable in either CM or CAM positions. Both can hold back or be more incisive so good for interiors. It's more of a question whether DJ can be real DM, which he would have to be if playing alongside those two. For me his defensive ability and athleticism seems very good, but he often looses position, because of his tendency to roam around. Tbh, i haven't seen much purpose of him going forward. He is not sharp passer like Puig, he just drags on indefinitely most of the time and then passes sideways so i'd rather he'd do his primary job as a pivot, but i'm not sure if he can play that way. Puig and Pedri are better than him at anything he tries to do apart from deep playmaking so if he can hold back and maintain discipline, i don't see why that mid would lose defensively to the veteran sloths. And we would have way more possession and pressing with them, which means less defending needs to be done.

 

[Gnidrologist]

The problem is FDJ needs two strong mids to cover him which Pedri and Puig are not. Playing with the 3 would indeed be a disaster. We have seen time and time again that FDJ as the lone DM never works.

That's the thing here. It's DJ, who should do covering for others duty, because 1) he is good at it, no wonder he can play decent CB 2) he's mediocre at best in advanced role. He's not Beckenbauer so just make him stick to is DM duties and be no more advanced than Busi usually is .

 

[Laplacian]

Exactly. Frenkie should be one of the midfielders responsible for defensive solidity in the midfield. His ability to drive the ball forward is a true weapon, but with his inconsistency in creating with passing there really isn't a point to making it our main midfield weapon. He should prioritise being defensively solid, distributing the ball, maintaining possession, and being the catalyst to beating the press. His forward runs should be used sporadically in order to maintain balance, and to ofc catch the opposition off guard

This idea that he should be supported by two other defensive midfielders is ludicrous, because we are essentially sacrificing creativity for less creativity; makes no sense.

 

[Richard.H]

Exactly. Frenkie should be one of the midfielders responsible for defensive solidity in the midfield. His ability to drive the ball forward is a true weapon, but with his inconsistency in creating with passing there really isn't a point to making it our main midfield weapon. He should prioritise being defensively solid, distributing the ball, maintaining possession, and being the catalyst to beating the press. His forward runs should be used sporadically in order to maintain balance, and to ofc catch the opposition off guard

This idea that he should be supported by two other defensive midfielders is ludicrous, because we are essentially sacrificing creativity for less creativity; makes no sense.

Well, exactly. That's primarily why FDJ doesn't fit here. You can't just convert him now to be a DM. That's not the way he plays. Sure, I want to see FDJ as DM with Pedri and Puig ahead of him. I highly doubt it'll work though.

 

[vuji_31]

De Jong can cover this two.

If Bayern was playing with Thiago and Kimmich in CDM, with Muller,Gnabry,Lewa and Coman in attack then this trio can be really good against park the bus team.

We already seen that you don't need two CDM against Cadiz,Getafe and rest park the bus teams.

 

[Laplacian]

Well, exactly. That's primarily why FDJ doesn't fit here. You can't just convert him now to be a DM. That's not the way he plays. Sure, I want to see FDJ as DM with Pedri and Puig ahead of him. I highly doubt it'll work though.

I see him as a DM/CM hybrid, partnered with a true DM and another CM, i think that could work. I don't see Pedri and Puig playing together, it just doesn't seem sensible. But yeah, we don't have the personnel for FdJ.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Well, exactly. That's primarily why FDJ doesn't fit here. You can't just convert him now to be a DM. That's not the way he plays. Sure, I want to see FDJ as DM with Pedri and Puig ahead of him. I highly doubt it'll work though.

Not true at all. When i watched him at Ajax since Barca rumors started to come around, which is at least year and a half, he played there quite conservative most of the time. Mostly as a deep lying play maker, distributor, who quite often covered even for his CBs. His ventures forward were occasional and circumstantial. It was never his purpose to carry the ball forward and participate in the final third. It was just a consequence of Ajaxs overall play style and his knack of roaming around that made him sometimes be offensively creative. At Barca he seems to force himself going forward and is allowing Busquets or Pjanic do the work that he was doing in Ajax. Just another case of player forced to change his natural role, when arriving at mismanaged Barca.

 

[Joan]

The problem is FDJ needs two strong mids to cover him which Pedri and Puig are not. Playing with the 3 would indeed be a disaster. We have seen time and time again that FDJ as the lone DM never works.

Cover for De Jong to do what exactly? His trips high up the field bring next to nothing. Takes plenty of time to choose, not that much of a sharp passer. He's better suited for a deeper role.

Of course, should take a chance when one presents itself, but not force it like now.

 

[Gnidrologist]

DeJong would suit the role of "libero" in ye olden days more than anyone else. His natural deep lying instinct is obvious. He looks unprepared and clumsy, when being forced to create. He's destroyer and ball retainer first and foremost and that is fine. He was good at exactly that in Ajax. That's why he was deemed Busi hair at first. It's funny how so many people on here have forgotten that and spew gibberish how he should be supported by "real DMs" now.

 

[BBZ8800]

It's funny how so many people on here have forgotten that and spew gibberish how he should be supported by "real DMs" now.

He was questionable in defense and positioning since his first match for Barca.

He could be "Barca's type of a lone pivot" like Busi.

But probably with mediocre results.

Btw, Frenkie is the biggest hype job of a modern era.
I remember one article from my country when we bought him, the author wrote: "Frenkie De Jong, the player who will save football."

Btw, not so long ago, a lot of fans believed that Frenkie-Arthur is the best midfield duo in the world who will rule for the next 10 years.

Yet, out of those two, neither can score, create or defend.

Instead of new Xaviniesta we got a crappy Farthur.

 

[serghei]

Well, Frenkie-Puig-Pedri looks shit on paper. I am all for 433, and I guess Frenkie+Puig/Pedri+Pjanic/Busquets would be a good compromise for now.

Why don't we give it a go before we discard it as shit? Give it a go and see how the boys do. What he's tried so far had poor results. Time to try something else, and a midfield 3 with the younger, faster guys is something else.

Cover for De Jong to do what exactly? His trips high up the field bring next to nothing. Takes plenty of time to choose, not that much of a sharp passer. He's better suited for a deeper role.

Of course, should take a chance when one presents itself, but not force it like now.

Yea, I see him as a deeper player as well.

 

[serghei]

He was questionable in defense and positioning since his first match for Barca.

He could be "Barca's type of a lone pivot" like Busi.

But probably with mediocre results.

Btw, Frenkie is the biggest hype job of a modern era.
I remember one article from my country when we bought him, the author wrote: "Frenkie De Jong, the player who will save football."

Btw, not so long ago, a lot of fans believed that Frenkie-Arthur is the best midfield duo in the world who will rule for the next 10 years.

Yet, out of those two, neither can score, create or defend.

Instead of new Xaviniesta we got a crappy Farthur.

Yea, we all know it. Everyone is shit. When every signing you make turns to shit and gets worse with time, it's pretty clear the club is the one with the biggest problem.

 

[BBZ8800]

Yea, we all know it. Everyone is shit. When every signing you make turns to shit and gets worse with time, it's pretty clear the club is the one with the biggest problem.

Not everyone is shit.

But in the last 5 years, majority of players didn't reach expectations.
Dembele, Malcom, Semedo, Gomes, Denis, Arda, Junior, Cou, Griezz, Arthur etc

The more I think about it, we are trying to play one rare style of play which majority of players don't know how to play.
And then we are trying to fit them into our style.

In the last 20 years, majority of our success came from Messi's golden years and from La Masia golden generation.

In 2006, out of 15-16 players used: Valdes, Puyol, Oleguer, Motta, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi were all from La Masia.
That's around 40% of a team.

During Pep:
Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Busi, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Bojan.

So, maybe we should ask a question: can our style work at all without a golden domestic generation?
In late 90s and early 00s, we were bad because we had too many foreigners in Dutch, Brasilian and French players.
We returned to wins only when we went back to La Masia plus having a few awesome foreign superstars.

Today, who is from La Masia?
Granny Messi, granny Busi, granny Pique, average Roberto.

So, maybe we should ask ourselves: should we even try to play Barca Dna football without domestic players?
It almost never worked.

Some of our signings were bad.
But some of them were good players but misfits for our style, Griezmann for example.

Basically:
1. We can't pay our style because foreigners don't "get it"
2. And we can't move away to a new style because: we are Barca, that's our style, we won't change

And then we are stuck where we are.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Funny how nothing you ever say is true and even here you excel, because you invent more untruths on the fly, to cover up the previous ones. High IQ trolling if ever saw one.

 

[JohnN]

Even if that is accurate, FDJ for example, is a player who should be able to get our system, coming from ajax who follows the same philosophy.