Paulinho

[gatsu]

Good addition in attack but garbage midfielder.

 

[jairzinho]

Valverde is pushing it a bit it in terms of what he can provide. Hell he's done great so far but he's no Bebeto.

 

[Iarwain]

Absolutely nullified Pjanić, basically man-marked him majority of the match.

 

[PhilS]

Played good defense, did get off a fair number of (poor) shots. He adds more to goal scoring than any other Barca midfielder, that is his strong point. However, as a starter, again he is just not that good with passing the ball around the midfield, which is rather important for a Barca mid. He'll probably improve in this respect, keep up the flow better, more like Rak, Busquets and Iniesta.

I do wish Barca had more alternate players who contributed this much, quality depth is needed to win cups. Masch is still quite valuable, no complaints about Digne, Semedo and Cillessen. All the rest of the bench, meh, replace them all.

 

[Barcaman]

Shame about that header towards the end. Otherwise good match for Paulinho. Recovered many balls.

 

[bodi16]

Decent match from Paulinho. He doesn't have the best technique and at times it was visible when he received some passes from his teammates and couldn't control the ball from the first touch.

 

[Aryagorn]

Was absolutely sure he was going to score that last move on the counter - poor touch ruined it. But yeah decent game

 

[Deco 20]

I thought he was all right today. He's good enough for a sub but not starter quality.

 

[SwiftGuyver]

He's done well since he arrived. I'm happy to have him in our squad right now.

 

[Richard.H]

lol at all these comments saying "he's good but not starter quality". Who else would you start from the glorious Barca midfielders? The great Ivan? Denis the menace?

With the current state of our squad he should be a definite starter. He provides very good qualities for the current Barca team (tracks back a lot, recovers balls, makes great runs to the box, has great finishing ability)

 

[Horatio]

Had a decent game. High number of ball recoveries as well.

 

[Xaviniesta]

He should be a starter only when Iniesta and Busquets are on the pitch.


He’s much more efficient coming off the bench though

 

[Iarwain]

He's incredibly tough to outmuscle off the ball, which is why I like when he moves in the attacking third.

 

[PhilS]

He had a really good first half vs. Valencia, except his shots were off target. His movement off the ball was much improved. Did less and less as the game progressed.

I think it is a good idea to start him in the first 11, in the four man midfield with Iniesta and Rak. Start your best 11. Paulinho in midfield helps the team more than any of the current options available to play up front alongside Messi and Suarez.

 

[JamDav1982]

He played well and is giving Barca what was lacked a bit last season.

The team still lacks someone to dictate tempo or slow things down when not going well to try take control back though.

When the team panics they play at 100mph and get ball to Messi as early as possible who is giving it away too much in trying to got for throat almost every time he gets it.