I do agree with this. Busi has far more freedom now than in the past. But don't know if it is more because of Raki or Enrique. I think the whole team chasing the ball start at the very front is key to Busi performance in attack and interception. Off cause he can read the game so well but one bad pass is not going to happen randomly. It happen a lot more often when the FWs keep putting on pressure up high. And that is may be every one's legs to run but Enrique's words to guide and I think Lucho is the man to be praised most. He build the team with commitment to chase down every ball, let Busi talent free. Now I think I could call Busi's position as Modern Libero. He has freedom to read and pick the most effective play that suits the situation by him self like messi has in the front. That's when we see the best of Busquets' talent.
Sergio Busquets
- Thread starter Evil
- Start date
I do agree with this. Busi has far more freedom now than in the past. But don't know if it is more because of Raki or Enrique. I think the whole team chasing the ball start at the very front is key to Busi performance in attack and interception. Off cause he can read the game so well but one bad pass is not going to happen randomly. It happen a lot more often when the FWs keep putting on pressure up high. And that is may be every one's legs to run but Enrique's words to guide and I think Lucho is the man to be praised most. He build the team with commitment to chase down every ball, let Busi talent free. Now I think I could call Busi's position as Modern Libero. He has freedom to read and pick the most effective play that suits the situation by him self like messi has in the front. That's when we see the best of Busquets' talent.
footyfan
Calma, calma
This sounds exactly like the posts early this year after Messi came back from injury and went on somewhat of an assist spree while not scoring that much, with people saying he's playing deeper than normal and Tello etc. were benefiting from it. Proven to be false pretty much for the rest of the campaign under Tata, because in reality Messi was just playing how he usually plays and just had a run of games where he got a lot of assists. This is also probably relevant to what is happening now with him, he's playing the same way but he just has a lot more chances to give assists because of how narrow the wingers are and their improved movement.
I'm not gonna dispute that Rakitic is providing more cover than Xavi/Cesc but to reason that this leads to Busquets feeling more confident going up and intercepting is something I'll pass judgment on after a larger sample size. If this were true (what you said in your first sentence), Busquets average position would inch up, but if you take a look at the following figures, there's not that much of a difference if any (pick the player positions tab, and also check the position of wingers this season re:Messi)
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/862070/MatchReport/Spain-La-Liga-2014-2015-Villarreal-Barcelona
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/862059/MatchReport/Spain-La-Liga-2014-2015-Barcelona-Elche (how frikkin structured was Barca in this game!)
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/862110/MatchReport/Spain-La-Liga-2014-2015-Levante-Barcelona
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/862080/MatchReport/Spain-La-Liga-2014-2015-Barcelona-Athletic-Club
Game from exactly 1 year ago:
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/738521/MatchReport/Spain-La-Liga-2013-2014-Barcelona-Real-Sociedad
Game from exactly 2 years ago:
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/633675/MatchReport/Spain-La-Liga-2012-2013-Barcelona-Granada
His tackle and interception stats are also identical across all the games.
Sumlit
San Claudio Bravo
Those player position stats I would guess are calculated based on heat map and are not pertinent to my point, which again was not interception numbers, nor positioning, but the way Busquets is surging forward to make interceptions higher and generally taking more risks with those interception attempts higher up.
If you watched the games so far this season you'd notice Busquets surging forward leaving his general area to attempt recuperation really high. A few of his passes to Messi resulted from these surges forward. My point was he can afford to this more now because Rakitic tracks back more and covers his back more. He can afford to be more risky and aggressive in recuperation.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
What's not to like about the man. He is awesome, he is a great player and vital for our team, he is awesome, he's from La Masia and whenever he is not playing, his lack of presence is felt big time, and did I forget to mention that he is awesome?
He is also dating the beautiful lady on the right.
BOSSquets
(even the smiley of him is awesome)
He is also dating the beautiful lady on the right.
BOSSquets
(even the smiley of him is awesome)eye-switcher
Banned
He is simply slow, both with the ball and without, everybody complains about Iniesta, but what about this guy???
Sumlit
San Claudio Bravo
He was never fast. His virtue was positioning, intercepting balls, and quick releases. He is still doing the first 2 well, but he is getting too cute with his passing and it is getting him into trouble.
eye-switcher
Banned
He was bad. plain and simple, and it wasnt the first time latley, everybody hold him high regards becuase of what he meant for this team in the past, but this is just a continuation of last year.
evilhita666
Barçapocalypse NOW!
Same here... It's ok if it happens once, but he kept making the same mistake over and over...
We knew he can't do anything in attack but lately he does nothing in defense either. He has no competition and suffers from lack of motivation.
Mascherano had a superb World Cup at dm, holding the midfield practically on his own and has deserved a chance to start there for Barca as well. He distributes the ball faster, can shoot and is as much of an interceptor as Busquets.
Busquets in his prime is probably better but that Busquets is lost in 2011.
Mascherano had a superb World Cup at dm, holding the midfield practically on his own and has deserved a chance to start there for Barca as well. He distributes the ball faster, can shoot and is as much of an interceptor as Busquets.
Busquets in his prime is probably better but that Busquets is lost in 2011.
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