Sergio Busquets

[Barcilliant]

You don’t need to waste that much energy to sell your case; no one is buying. Busquets is the only thing that is reliable about our current midfield

He's probably the worst component of our midfield now. He is slow in every aspect. I don't think he'd do well even at City.

Playing with Busquets is like a pro tennis player using a wooden racquet. He's out of date.

Most top teams nowadays have a fast, physical dm who has a good engine. We are sticking with him because of the past. Unfortunately this is also part of Barca DNA.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

He's probably the worst component of our midfield now. He is slow in every aspect. I don't think he'd do well even at City.

Playing with Busquets is like a pro tennis player using a wooden racquet. He's out of date.

Most top teams nowadays have a fast, physical dm who has a good engine. We are sticking with him because of the past. Unfortunately this is also part of Barca DNA.

I think you're right. He is just too easy to beat in defense or any counter. Opponents will run past him. That's why we struggle so much vs players like Willian or anyone fast/quick. Midfield of turtles.

Barca style is not modern anymore. We need to be faster in counter attacks. Now we always wait opponent to drop 10 players behind the ball, it's extremely tough to score like that.

 

[gasgas]

My hate train has a new passenger, his name is Busquets.
Imo, for a few years already, he is offering some good things in some aspects and some horrible things in some other aspects.
Long time ago, he was the best Cdm with Xavi, Iniesta and Alves around him.
Without them and with turning 30, he is weaker and weaker each new Month.

So, people asked for 433 and said that it is better than 442.
And now:
1. again, if you have 4 players of a field of width 60 meters, each player needs to cover 15 meters.
If you have 3 players on a width of 60 meters, each player needs to cover more=20 meters, especially with Cdm and 2 Cms infront of him.
So, with returning to 433, there is a high chance that our team will look like a total shit against anyone, just under Lucho.
For guys who are dreaming about Pep's 433, well, we don't have young Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets-Alves-Messi anymore.
For people who are dreaming about Real's 433, well, Modric and Casemiro are like Usain Bolt compared to Busi, Arthur and even Rakitic.
2. about Busi, in a build up, he is slowing down our play with his "old possession school" of a slow build up, and thus forcing opponents to park the bus.
Plus, if you pair an ultra slow player Busi and ultra slow Busi as a build up player with an equally slow player and a creator, Arthur, we are asking for a disaster or a recipe for falling to sleep while watching a match.
3. also, not only that Busi sucks in a faster build up play, he is horrible in defending and covering lately.

Now, please guys, watch how Busi plays in 433 and how much space he leaves behind his back, plus in general how bad is he in tackles and easy to get past by.
Often he is nowhere near the ball around the box in defense and outplayed like a turtle in any 1-2 around the box:

So, can someone enlighten me:
1. why are we playing 433?
2. and why are we playing 433 with Busquets and Arthur together on a field?
Are we asking for:
1. a slow build up
2. forcing the opponents to park a bus
3. then passing the ball sideways till death
4. and then being caught on counters due to fullbacks in attack, and Busi and Arthur being turtles?

Remember how we had 80% of matches with a clean sheet last season with 442 and scores 1:0, 2:0 all the time?
This season, with this type of 433, I can see a lot of matches like in Lucho's last season, and results like:
Betis 3:3
Deportivo 3:3
Celta 3:4 and similar

We will probably concede 1,5 to 2,0 goals on average on every away La Liga match.
Yet, we won't be scoring more goals than last season in a 442.

At least it will be fun on this forum after matches.

best DM in the world

anyways personally i would eliminate him and Suarez from the lineup.

Since Malcolm is somewhat strogn and has an impeccable off the ball movement. I would train him to play like a Henry type of forward

My formation would be


....................Ter stegen
Semedo..Pique.....Umtiti....Alba
...................Rakitic...
.........Vidal............Coutinho
..Dembele....Messi.....Malcom

But none of these will ever happen.
Suarez, Pique, Busi, Messi and Rakitic will always start together in a grandpa paced game

 

[ab739]

You don’t need to waste that much energy to sell your case; no one is buying. Busquets is the only thing that is reliable about our current midfield

Still living in 2011 I see

 

[Icarium]

I agree that we need more mobility from the midfield. Rakitic Iniesta and Busi was one of the slowest and so suspectible to counters and speedy wingers. Vidal signing should help in that, hopefully Arthur improves and becomes a dynamic midfielder. Coutinho should play in the midfield he is more dynamic than others. Coutinho Busi/Rakitic Vidal should be the starting lineup. With Arthur and Roberto backups.

 

[El Flaco]

My hate train has a new passenger, his name is Busquets.
Imo, for a few years already, he is offering some good things in some aspects and some horrible things in some other aspects.
Long time ago, he was the best Cdm with Xavi, Iniesta and Alves around him.
Without them and with turning 30, he is weaker and weaker each new Month.

So, people asked for 433 and said that it is better than 442.
And now:
1. again, if you have 4 players of a field of width 60 meters, each player needs to cover 15 meters.
If you have 3 players on a width of 60 meters, each player needs to cover more=20 meters, especially with Cdm and 2 Cms infront of him.
So, with returning to 433, there is a high chance that our team will look like a total shit against anyone, just under Lucho.
For guys who are dreaming about Pep's 433, well, we don't have young Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets-Alves-Messi anymore.
For people who are dreaming about Real's 433, well, Modric and Casemiro are like Usain Bolt compared to Busi, Arthur and even Rakitic.
2. about Busi, in a build up, he is slowing down our play with his "old possession school" of a slow build up, and thus forcing opponents to park the bus.
Plus, if you pair an ultra slow player Busi and ultra slow Busi as a build up player with an equally slow player and a creator, Arthur, we are asking for a disaster or a recipe for falling to sleep while watching a match.
3. also, not only that Busi sucks in a faster build up play, he is horrible in defending and covering lately.

Now, please guys, watch how Busi plays in 433 and how much space he leaves behind his back, plus in general how bad is he in tackles and easy to get past by.
Often he is nowhere near the ball around the box in defense and outplayed like a turtle in any 1-2 around the box:

So, can someone enlighten me:
1. why are we playing 433?
2. and why are we playing 433 with Busquets and Arthur together on a field?
Are we asking for:
1. a slow build up
2. forcing the opponents to park a bus
3. then passing the ball sideways till death
4. and then being caught on counters due to fullbacks in attack, and Busi and Arthur being turtles?

Remember how we had 80% of matches with a clean sheet last season with 442 and scores 1:0, 2:0 all the time?
This season, with this type of 433, I can see a lot of matches like in Lucho's last season, and results like:
Betis 3:3
Deportivo 3:3
Celta 3:4 and similar

We will probably concede 1,5 to 2,0 goals on average on every away La Liga match.
Yet, we won't be scoring more goals than last season in a 442.

At least it will be fun on this forum after matches.

Interesting read I've to say.

 

[Kul_z]

Interesting read I've to say.

I dont hate him, and i'm not on hate train of any player in our squad. But..
If the player is constantly bad and out of form, that's time for change. Right now, we have many options in middlefield, so i dont see the reason why he wont be benched. Same goes for suarez. No matter what you were, nobody except messi deserves to be in starting line up if they dont perform near or same as the level they produced in the past. Messi is our best player for a decade, and he still is on top of his game, so to all the others players, get your shit together or fuck off. But ev is ev

 

[Zidane82]

I dont hate him, and i'm not on hate train of any player in our squad. But..
If the player is constantly bad and out of form, that's time for change. Right now, we have many options in middlefield, so i dont see the reason why he wont be benched. Same goes for suarez. No matter what you were, nobody except messi deserves to be in starting line up if they dont perform near or same as the level they produced in the past. Messi is our best player for a decade, and he still is on top of his game, so to all the others players, get your shit together or fuck off. But ev is ev

You're spot on about Suarez who hasn't played well for ages but we need Bysqs in the team to make things happen and gel things together ..the problem has always been playing Rakitic as well as Busqs . Today's football is just to fast paced to have two sluggish midfield players .

I'd play Busqs in his usual position just covering behind the midfield and replace Rakitic with A Vidal who will add so much to our midfield.

They could being Rakitic on late on say the 60th minute to slow things down and close the game out .

Rakitic and Suarez would never start for me .

 

[soul24rage]

Busi is god as a sole pivot in a possession based classic Barca 4-3-3. But in EV's 442/4231 formation or even Enrique's back to forth 433, his weaknesses is more revealed and the likes of Rakitic and probably Vidal and Roberto are more suited for that type of football. I don't think he declined, he's just not suited for the type of football we have been playing recently.

 

[Kul_z]

You're spot on about Suarez who hasn't played well for ages but we need Bysqs in the team to make things happen and gel things together ..the problem has always been playing Rakitic as well as Busqs . Today's football is just to fast paced to have two sluggish midfield players .

I'd play Busqs in his usual position just covering behind the midfield and replace Rakitic with A Vidal who will add so much to our midfield.

They could being Rakitic on late on say the 60th minute to slow things down and close the game out .

Rakitic and Suarez would never start for me .

Again, i dont understand the hate against rakitic. Raki is playing how he is told to play, a real soldier and one of the best players last season. We need rotation, thats clear as day, but busquets is one who is lost when rakitic is not on the pitch, not vice versa. Vidal should bring something exciting that i'm looking forward to, but they all need rotations and finally we are stacked for that withou losing quality

 

[Andrew M]

Busi is god as a sole pivot in a possession based classic Barca 4-3-3. But in EV's 442/4231 formation or even Enrique's back to forth 433, his weaknesses is more revealed and the likes of Rakitic and probably Vidal and Roberto are more suited for that type of football. I don't think he declined, he's just not suited for the type of football we have been playing recently.

He's just so specialised that it is his weakness. It's like how certain animals in the wild are really adapted to a certain habitat and environment that they are vulnerable to extinction when even the slightest condition changes. Such specialism is not always good.

 

[Laplacian]

We have to adapt to Messi's new game as he plays deeper, we have to adapt to Suarez being slower, and we have to adapt to Busquets being slower.
We can't do it all at same time unfortunately

Exactly. Most teams usually just replace their old guard, but because Barcelona's incompetent they're going to wait until they're all 35 and replace them all at the same time. This should have been the window to replace Suarez with a striker and Rakitic with a more mobile box-box midfielder, at the very least.

 

[Andrew M]

Exactly. Most teams usually just replace their old guard, but because Barcelona's incompetent they're going to wait until they're all 35 and replace them all at the same time. This should have been the window to replace Suarez with a striker and Rakitic with a more mobile box-box midfielder, at the very least.

Who could we possibly buy to replace Suarez this summer?

 

[Laplacian]

Who could we possibly buy to replace Suarez this summer?

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.

 

[Joan]

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.

We were. We were trying to get Griezmann.

Regarding Rakitić, we invested in Arthur.