Sergi Roberto

xXKonan

Senior Member
Pair him up with a couple of Midfielders who also have legs and are strong on the ball, he will get the job done.

Works much better with the likes of FDJ, Alena/Puig than the likes of Rakitic and Busi.
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
My starting midfield right now is Arthur-FDJ-Roberto. Vidal backup to Roberto and to give him competition, Busi/Rakitic as bench fodder.
 

kattanib

Well-known member
My starting midfield right now is Arthur-FDJ-Roberto. Vidal backup to Roberto and to give him competition, Busi/Rakitic as bench fodder.

Why Arthur though, what is special about him? I would rather see todays Alena and Puig play there in that spot instead
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
Why Arthur though, what is special about him? I would rather see todays Alena and Puig play there in that spot instead

Cause of like 10 mins of game time where he was getting in his first touches of the preseason and the intensity had already died? Did you not watch the Copa America where he was probably the best midfielder in the entire tournament and assisted in the final?

Arthur is elite at passing, moving, making good decisions, and carrying the ball even when pressed. He is also fine defensively and improving there every day.
 

kattanib

Well-known member
Cause of like 10 mins of game time where he was getting in his first touches of the preseason and the intensity had already died? Did you not watch the Copa America where he was probably the best midfielder in the entire tournament and assisted in the final?

Arthur is elite at passing, moving, making good decisions, and carrying the ball even when pressed. He is also fine defensively and improving there every day.
Well reflecting on last season as a Barca player, I don’t see any reason why Arthur deserves to be a starter. FDJ has joined and Alena is stepping his game as well as Roberto is a midfielder now and Coutinho might have more chances to play as a midfield as well. All I am saying is that Arthur imo is over hyped. You guys make it sound as if it is an indisputable matter that Arthur needs to be a starter
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
Well reflecting on last season as a Barca player, I don’t see any reason why Arthur deserves to be a starter. FDJ has joined and Alena is stepping his game as well as Roberto is a midfielder now and Coutinho might have more chances to play as a midfield as well. All I am saying is that Arthur imo is over hyped. You guys make it sound as if it is an indisputable matter that Arthur needs to be a starter

Coutinho was beyond garbage today and should never be anywhere near the midfield. Aleña is still not close to being starter material, if you focused more on consistency instead of the last good game then you'd know that.

Reflecting on last season? Where he excelled against Tottenham/RM/Sevilla/Lyon/United? And played really well in the parts of the season where he wasn't injured? Sounds more to me like you've just bitten down hard on this mantra that Arthur was bad or underwhelming last season just for the sake of saying it.

He had several good performances in big games for Barca, and then went on to be maybe the best midfielder of the Copa America. What part of that exactly suggests we'd be much better off banishing Arthur to the bench permanently and not seriously considering that he should start?
 

xXKonan

Senior Member
Continue pairing him with players such as De Jong, Arthur, Alena, etc and giving him the original 14/15 Rakitic role, and he could very well end up being a good enough successor to that role.

He won't be world-class at it but if he can take his strengths and what he learned at RB in the past several years he can be a good option to have in that CM role when needed. Roberto was never going to be that ball-distributor as a CM.

However, his strengths without a doubt are his ability to make those runs where he completely catches people off guard where he can receive the ball and advance it to the forwards as we have seen since his breakout season. Just needs to add some goals and even some occasional long passing and through balls as a CM and he will be set.

He's 27 but he might be able to learn some of those tricks if you pair him up with the right players that allows him to use his strengths without having to worry too much about his flaws.
 

FinBarcelonafan

Well-known member
Continue pairing him with players such as De Jong, Arthur, Alena, etc and giving him the original 14/15 Rakitic role, and he could very well end up being a good enough successor to that role.

He won't be world-class at it but if he can take his strengths and what he learned at RB in the past several years he can be a good option to have in that CM role when needed. Roberto was never going to be that ball-distributor as a CM.

However, his strengths without a doubt are his ability to make those runs where he completely catches people off guard where he can receive the ball and advance it to the forwards as we have seen since his breakout season. Just needs to add some goals and even some occasional long passing and through balls as a CM and he will be set.

He's 27 but he might be able to learn some of those tricks if you pair him up with the right players that allows him to use his strengths without having to worry too much about his flaws.

Look at Liverpool and their midfield "plugs", hardly world class but they do their work and get the ball back and give it to Salah or Mane. That's what we need. Midfield who will get the ball to Messi/Dembele/Griez/Suarez.
 

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