Sergio Busquets

[Laplacian]

We were. We were trying to get Griezmann.

Regarding Rakitić, we invested in Arthur.

And he refused us before the world cup even began, it's been like two months already.

 

[BBZ8800]

If we did our business early, Icardi or a young talent like Timo Werner. Maybe impossible to get them at the moment but what pisses me off is that we weren't even looking for a replacement in the market.

If you want Timo Werner from a counterattacking team, then we should sell Busi, Arthur, Rafinha, Suarez, Munir and play like France with:
Rakitic, Pogba, Vidal and Dembele, Werner, Messi.

If you want counterattacking forwards, then we need midfielders for that style.
You can't play counters with Busquets and Arthur slowly moving the ball out of our half.
Fans would whine about that type of football (too counterattacking).

On the other hand, if we would play possession style against parked buses, then Werner has been utterly horrible in that system at a World cup for Germany.

So, for current Barca: no for Werner.
In the future: he will need to improve plus we would need to switch to ultra counterattacking, low possession football.
We already have one player, Dembele, who is struggling with our possession style and needs more free space.
Not to mention that Werner is not that tall (181cm) to offer a plan B with some crosses and headers.

When you sum everything: no for Werner.

 

[henias]

Busquets is a problem no doubt, but I think the major problem these days is we have no penetration or cohesiveness in the attack.

Midfield may need to be fast, but at the end of the day, our attack is not troubling the opposition one bit. This allows them to maintain shape and compactness with little to no effort at all. Suarez is just allowing easy turnovers, easy counters, and I think even the best midfield will eventually crumble because of that. No longer the guy who used to turn his body in a blink of an eye, nutmeg David Luiz, give inch perfect passes to Neymar, Messi.

Getting a goal early is also crucial because this allows opponent to open up more and we can attack and counter attack, easily. If we cant attack properly and get a goal, then obviously it invites more confidence and attacks from opponents. No wonder midfield keeps getting "exposed".

Remember when we had Busquets, Iniesta and Rakitic in midfield during MSN days, all of them are not particularly fast. But what was so effective is the quick MSN combnation that was able to get to the end of their passes, with alot of speed, accuracy and effectiveness, every attack is something positive, and we were causing major problems for their defence.

Messi and Suarez together is a huge issue and it is becoming more and more apparent as they age. It's too obvious too ignore. I used to think we should bring another Neymar, but I'm starting to see replacing Neymar isnt the problem now. Imo i would rather ditch Suarez than Messi.

 

[Judoman]

Imo i would rather ditch Suarez than Messi.

That goes without saying. Messi does his job in attack and Suarez is currently game play liability.
The issue is, that there is no replacement. I guess Munir will get his chance this season.

I m wondering if Malcom can adapt to CF role. He is strong, fast and technical.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Lacked sharpness/misplaced some easy passes, as expected coming back from holidays. Good to know we'll have solid back up so he can get some rest during season.

 

[Catta]

The club should have cashed in on him when City was interested. I hope at least that he doesn't get a new deal and becomes an even bigger burden.

 

[xXKonan]

Played CB today with Lenglet in the second half while Arthur was a DM.

So is this going to be a thing? If so I don't like it all. Honestly thought we would be done with the Busi at CB stuff after the Tata era, but it still rears its ugly head in 2018. If Valverde was concerned that having two LCB's together that limits our build up from the back then what was the point of us signing Lenglet and not going after a RCB?

At this point I would rather play Lenglet at RCB and hope he keeps improving his right foot than play Busi at CB.

 

[Joan]

It was probably just used to test Vermaelen as a LB.

 

[FCB1987]

Is it just me or was he not very impressive today? Maybe this wasn't his sort of game against a team that drops deep but he also struggles against high press teams as well

 

[Devils]

Busi has been underwhelming for awhile now but he goes under the radar.

Unfortunately EV is not the manager to bench the likes of Busi, Suarez or Pique.

 

[fergus90]

He has been sub par but he’s gonna play almost every game no question.

 

[Danic]

I would rotate him more often. Dont think hes still indispensably.

 

[GOAT_SUAREZ]

Busi has been underwhelming for awhile now but he goes under the radar.

Unfortunately EV is not the manager to bench the likes of Busi, Suarez or Pique.

There isn't an excuse for EV not to. He can use proper replacements like Lenglet and Vidal now.

 

[xXKonan]

According to rac1 there's an agreement with Busi and the Club to raise his salary in his new contract however his contract will still run through 2021 and the release clause remains the same at 200 Million euros.

Apparently in Busi's original contract renewal one of the agreement was that if we bought a player who has higher wages, Busi has to get a salary raise.

 

[DonAK]

Oh great.

Just keep handing out money like candy.

Love Busquets, but I have an opinion about him I've thought about for quite some time now. I think we're failing to recognize a very obvious flaw in his game and the trend in football these days with CDMs.