Sergio Busquets

[Rory]

I think most people are well aware his passing is very good. He just doesn't have the rest of the game there anymore. Neither does he have the players around him that suit him or the tactical setup.

Over the next couple of years we're not going to suddenly have the players that would suit him because we're broke. With the current players we have I don't see how his inclusion is warranted when his positives are less on show in this setup.

Also stats are misleading. Busquets has a tendency to suck a player or two in and then release the ball passing on the pressure to someone else and sometimes down one way streets where they are basically screwed. When Iniesta or Xavi were the players he was passing to, this was fine.

 

[Bobo32]

I think most people are well aware his passing is very good. He just doesn't have the rest of the game there anymore. Neither does he have the players around him that suit him or the tactical setup.

Ok, I see a lot of complaining about his passing, for example in the post I quoted.
I think the bolded part is the main problem with regards to the rest of his game (and also his effectiveness as a passer), this is what I argue.

Over the next couple of years we're not going to suddenly have the players that would suit him because we're broke. With the current players we have I don't see how his inclusion is warranted when his positives are less on show in this setup.

I think Gavi moves reasonably well in front of him, as does Puig. Pedri has a role as well as does Fati further up.
The main thing is getting a coach who can build a well structured team, not giving excuses and blaming his players all the time but build confidence in the players instead.

Also stats are misleading. Busquets has a tendency to suck a player or two in and then release the ball passing on the pressure to someone else and sometimes down one way streets where they are basically screwed. When Iniesta or Xavi were the players he was passing to, this was fine.

This is exactly the thing that he does well, he is happy to be pressured in order to free the next one up. There is no one who takes more responsibility than him for the ball reaching someone with time and space. I doubt you really have seen the player recieving from Busquets be pressured a lot. The only time would be when he finds someone in the hole, which is the best pass to make and something an MC or attacker should be able to handle, or not play in Barcelona.

 

[serghei]

^ this video is perfect and what is needed, Busquets should be one step further forward when the pass is made, and Roberto can't let the pass go inbetween though. Maybe Mingueza could've been a bit more aggressive too.
But Busquets hinders the pass forward x2 in the first seconds of the clip and then keeps the pressure

Does this scottish troll want Busquets to sprint back into position every time the ball is lost?

Frenkie runs aimlessly but could've and should've taken a more advanced position, maybe being able to get the ball as Atletico got through the press.

What are you talking about? Busquets is too slow to cover such a wide area. He takes ages to get back to his position and creates massive holes all the time as a result. Slow players should stick to their position more since they don't have the legs for more.

 

[JamDav1982]

Hope for Bobos sake he is a troll as no one should be that stupid/clueless.

 

[Bobo32]

What are you talking about? Busquets is too slow to cover such a wide area. He takes ages to get back to his position and creates massive holes all the time as a result. Slow players should stick to their position more since they don't have the legs for more.

It's a perfect example as I said. He is the slowest player on the pitch but gives good pressure, hindering forward play for a while. I just explained what could be done differently, but look again and focus on Frenkie, who clearly took over Busquets position in that sequence. Not so great for a player that is much faster!

 

[JamDav1982]

Anyone that thinks the DM following the ball to double up on the left back is 'good pressure' is a moron or a troll.

 

[jairzinho]

At the end of the day he is a DM. All those neat passing stats mentioned by bobo count for nothing because his lack of awareness and athleticism results in the entire defensive shape collapsing. He just doesn't anchor the midfield very well and is unable to cover ground to foil counters. If we value his passing so much then maybe we should try moving him higher up the pitch?. Just a thought. Either that or he moves to the bench.

 

[Bobo32]

At the end of the day he is a DM. All those neat passing stats mentioned by bobo count for nothing because his lack of awareness and athleticism results in the entire defensive shape collapsing. He just doesn't anchor the midfield very well and is unable to cover ground to foil counters. If we value his passing so much then maybe we should try moving him higher up the pitch?. Just a thought. Either that or he moves to the bench.

Lack of awareness was a new one.
Maybe he should keep playing and you should look more closely about where the fault lies. It is clear that some people here never understood or valued this era-defining midfielder, the greatest defensive midfielder ever. Him, Xavi and Iniesta destroyed football, I am sure the jamming scotsman with beriberi and a fake passport here would've preferred a midfield consisting of Yaya Toure, Lampard and maybe even Gerrard.

 

[jairzinho]

Lack of awareness was a new one.
Maybe he should keep playing and you should look more closely about where the fault lies. It is clear that some people here never understood or valued this era-defining midfielder, the greatest defensive midfielder ever. Him, Xavi and Iniesta destroyed football, I am sure the jamming scotsman with beriberi and a fake passport here would've preferred a midfield consisting of Yaya Toure, Lampard and maybe even Gerrard.

No one cares about whatever he did 4 or 5 years ago with Xavi and Iniesta. Of course he was good back then but right now he's shit. Those wack jokes won't change that.

 

[Bobo32]

No one cares about whatever he did 4 or 5 years ago with Xavi and Iniesta. Of course he was good back then but right now he's shit. Those wack jokes won't change that.

When you pass the ball, someone has to be there to recieve it.
Xavi and Iniesta always spoke about how easy it was to play with Busquets, as he always found them. Nico said about the same just the other day.
It is very easy to see from the screen that Frenkie and Pedri often take up the wrong kinds of spaces, leaving Busquets with the option to play towards a marked player with his face pointing backwards, or recycling the ball, or finding Depay or someone on the feet, who will mostly lose the ball immediately.
Busquets is the one player in the team with a spark of regular creativity right now. Yesterday it was him and Gavi, there is Puig when he plays, and Pedri can find a few nice passes but it's few and far between, some games he hides and touches the ball 30 times... Depay has the kind of "creativity" where he just plays completely freely and accepts losing the ball half the time.

It's very sad to me that so few in a forum like this appreciate Busquets right now.

 

[Leo_Messi]

What is exactly the agenda of denying the obvious decline of Busquets? His level has been declining each season since the 2016-17 season and he has been a constant problem in our neverending CL humiliations in the past 4.5 years with no exception.

This is obviously not solely the fault of Busquets and the other vacas sagradas natural decline. However even the current ‘La Rioja’ version of Busquets (where his obvious weaknesses are better masked) is light years away from his prime. No amount of tactics will mask his physical decline or the decline of his thought-execution.

There is no point dwelling in the past. This is what partially destroyed this club under Barto’s reign of terror. I am quite sure that this Bobo troll was praising Barto for handing out absurd and far too long contracts to the likes of Busquets, Piqu?, Alba etc. when they were already declining at the time of their newly received contracts. Solely due to their status and what they HAD achieved and not what they WOULD achieve in the future.

 

[Bobo32]

No, I was very critical of pretty much every move of Bartomeu since he arrived, the same with Rosell.
Alba and Busquets were the best on their positions and deserved long and good contracts, as did Messi. 90% of the players Bartomeu bought deserved nothing.

There is no agenda, I am only writing what my eyes see. Busquets had a few of his best games ever this spring, there was one in particular where he was completely unbelievable. I have pointed out some stats here from this autumn that might help some of you understand why even the tiki toki hating cowboy see Busquets as crucial still.

 

[Leo_Messi]

No, I was very critical of pretty much every move of Bartomeu since he arrived, the same with Rosell.
Alba and Busquets were the best on their positions and deserved long and good contracts, as did Messi. 90% of the players Bartomeu bought deserved nothing.

There is no agenda, I am only writing what my eyes see. Busquets had a few of his best games ever this spring, there was one in particular where he was completely unbelievable. I have pointed out some stats here from this autumn that might help some of you understand why even the tiki toki hating cowboy see Busquets as crucial still.

Busquets had his fair share of good to great performances in the spring (indeed) as did the entire team as a whole. Not a coincidence. However none of those performances occured against the heavyweights in the league. His performances in the CL (as usual) are better left ignored.

The main points remain unanswered from your part for obvious reasons.

Alba and Busquets did not ‘deserve’ such absurd contracts length and money wise. Anyway hard not to take advantage of a naive fool like Bartomeu. Not much different from Piqu?’s unacceptable hypocritical antics that I described in the Piqu? thread.

 

[iniestaGOAT]

No point talking about him. He will be starting next year too cause we all know club ain't signing no CDMs

 

[Zidane82]

Hope for Bobos sake he is a troll as no one should be that stupid/clueless.

According to people like you ... anyone who has a different opinion or sees things from a different point of view is trolling ..

BOLLOX