Sergio Busquets

Sailor Mars

Well-known member
He possibly IS the best fit for us to be fair .. we should give him more games with two great footballing midfielders FDJ and Arthur..

He looked terrible in both CL games against Dortmund and Inter. There was a reason he was taken off shortly after half time in each of those games.
 

Ritchie

New member
We have been playing better with Frenkie as the pivot so busquets should become 2nd choice. Still has my total respect for the service he has given barca. Easy to forget sometimes once players decline

He's kind of been the victim of his own success. Club and country have ran him into the ground. He's played over 650 games for Barca and Spain, most of them 90+ minutes and it's not like Messi walking around the pitch most of the time, he's constantly having to recover the ball and concentrate. Barca have never had adequate cover for him. The idea at one point was Alex Song and that was a disaster. Since then they haven't even bothered trying to cover him.

His imperious legacy of the Pep era has been harmed by his presence on thrashing after thrashing away from home in Europe, while he was the DM. Xavi, Iniesta haven't had that reputation hit.
 

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Must be tough losing his undisputable starting spot in both Barca and Spain during the same couple of weeks. Let's hope it helps him improve.
 

Tackle

Senior Member
He was a tremendous player at his peak, but he was also lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Every player needs some breaks to reach greatness, but even more so for Busi.

If he was coming up right now under this current Barca team on the verge of rebuilding with mediocre coaches like Valverde at the helm he would've still been a very good player, but also an afterthought in world football in the vein of Thiago. Xavi, Iniesta, Alves and Messi would have become icons of football on any top team. They were too talented not to. Cannot say the same about Busi.

Playing for peak Spain, peak Barca, being surrounded by Xavinesta for most of his career, Pep as his first manager coaching a team that perfectly suited his strengths etc. was nothing something no other DM in history had going for them.
 

Aryagorn

Improvin' Perfection!!
He was a tremendous player at his peak, but he was also lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Every player needs some breaks to reach greatness, but even more so for Busi.

If he was coming up right now under this current Barca team on the verge of rebuilding with mediocre coaches like Valverde at the helm he would've still been a very good player, but also an afterthought in world football in the vein of Thiago. Xavi, Iniesta, Alves and Messi would have become icons of football on any top team. They were too talented not to. Cannot say the same about Busi.

Playing for peak Spain, peak Barca, being surrounded by Xavinesta for most of his career, Pep as his first manager coaching a team that perfectly suited his strengths etc. was nothing something no other DM in history had going for them.

The words that you used to describe Busi would actually suit Pedro Rodriguez to a T! Not so much for Busi tbh; yes, he did indeed get benefited by the system but he did do well otherwise also
 

El Gato

Villarato!
Watching it, it really shows how far behind he is now. Imagine him trying the 4:54 chasedown now against any average winger.. Sergio has great awareness of pressure, impeccable decisions and usually great touch, but his pressure escapes relying so much on agile turns and balance have gotten slower every year. Not only is he not successful defensively anymore, he is losing all the traits that made him such a crucial player in transition.

Contract for 3.5 more years... Difficult to imagine him as anything but a sub against younger good teams. He's just never going to keep up and will be a liability any time Barca cannot control the fixture. Otherwise a useful vet. But I'd worry about him getting stubborn. Players who are the brains of the operation often have issues with fading away.
 

EdmondDantes

New member
"Spain manager: Sergio Busquets needs to be used properly
Robert Moreno defended Busquets amid criticism"


"“I simply do not have the perception that Busquets is so far from his best version that we speak of. In the end, everything is relative and we have to speak in context,” Moreno said.

“What I do know is that Busi is still good at what he’s always been good at. That’s starting play and getting out of pressure where no one else could get out, and giving solutions for the team to switch play, and always becoming the first to press after losing the ball. For that you need a context. The context is that he has to have teammates to pass to, that the team attacks together, and that the team defends together. If we start to think that Busi has to be good in transitions of 80 meters running backwards, we are fooling ourselves. He’s not fast in long movements,” the manager said.

“Judging him on something that is not his capability is unfair. If the teams he’s a part of, Barcelona or us, get close to the identity that makes him strong, which is to have the ball, attack together, defend together, and let him apply that first wave of pressure... well, then we will have the best Busi that we had in that time and that Spain had as well. If we stray from that, he will suffer, it’s a matter of context."


source:

barcablaugranes.com/platform/amp/2019/10/15/20915915/spain-manager-sergio-busquets-needs-to-be-used-properly


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Interesting perspective by Moreno.


I feel Busquets will be back to being a starter for us, but Valverde will manage his minutes more than ever. Vidal is generally better off the bench - to see out games - where his 'flaws' on the ball aren't that exposed.
 

El Gato

Villarato!
[MENTION=19659]EdmondDantes[/MENTION]
Don't think he said anything groundbreaking. Though his words point out a good fact - he's a system player. If a team evolves/gets old and cannot play the way they used to, whatever is left of Busquets will not be effective. He's not flexible. And in all likelihood it basically means he's finished at the top level.
 

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