Ivan Rakitić

He's becoming the "Bare Minimum" Midfielder where all he needs to do is barely scrape by. I mean why not? The coach will eat that shit up and a good portion of our fanbase will as well.

Dude can go 87 mins into a game being poor and all he needs to do is just score a goal or get some assist and some people will be like "THIS IS WHY HE IS OUR STARTING MIDFIELDER!" Everything about him is just that.

YodaMaster said:

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]

Have you watched the match against Eibar ? Rakitic played CM until Busquets exit. What did you think about his defensive contribution ? Lol. It was pathetic.

Remember when I told you that there is no point in comparing his defensive stats with those of Arthur because Rakitic plays DM while Arthur is a CM ?

Well against Eibar Rakitic played one hour as a CM, go watch that hour then come here and tell me if you still think that this guy is a workhorse or a great defensive contributor.

I know you're in love with stats. (Btw I'd advise you to become a professionnal statistician in life, it seems to be your passion).

Wanna know how many tackles and interceptions Rakitic had during that hour as a CM ? 0 and 0 ! He got one or two interception after Busquets went out.

Vidal (who I always said is a real workhorse) had 2 tackles and 1 interception in 25 minutes.

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I already have a profession which has absolutely nothing with stats, sadly.

I watched only a few minutes of the match.
But anyway, what stats say about yesterday:
Rakitic: 0 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 clearances, 1 block.
Arthur: 0 tackles, 0 interceptions, 0 clearances, 0 blocks.

Both guys had zero key passes.

Regarding Rakitic, stats say that he was dispossesed 3 times and had a bad control 2 times.
He lost the ball 5 times for no reason.

Regarding your question on Arthur's thread about including CL matches, no problem.
I didn't have time.

Wrong topic, but an interesting stat: Arthur didn't make a single interception in the last 8 matches or 503 minutes in a row.
Rakitic had 19 interceptions during those 500 minutes.

Btw, I still don't think that Arthur's defensive stats are bad only due to his advanced position.
For now, he doesn't look like a too defensive oriented guy.

Which is fine in matches like this one.
But imo, a midfield with Arthur and a CAM is almost impossible unless he improves defensively.
If not, he will need to play with 2 Rakitics or Vidals around him.

DonAK said:

Interesting to see that Thiago whom all of you said was inferior to Rakitic and Barca shouldn't even spend 50m on is the second player on that list.

So will you and everyone else now concede that Thiago is a much better midfielder than Rakitic? Also the younger player.... :blondemessi:

I checked and Thiago also has better or comparable defensive stats

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there's a major issue with thiago though, dudes made of glass.

He needs to be benched for Coutinho. And Dembele needs to retain his starting spot on the wing. Period.

gregorrin10 said:

He needs to be benched for Coutinho. And Dembele needs to retain his starting spot on the wing. Period.

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We were completely unbalanced when coutinho, dembele, suarez and messi were on the pitch. Couple of deadly counters but nothing more, our back line was pressed madly, lenglet couldnt get ball safely out of our third. Rakitic and coutinho were nowhere near stopping that, only vidal. Rakitic should be benched for vidal, not for coutinho in this system. In some 'guardiolish' system rakitic would rotate with busquets, vidal behind messi on the right side would be undisputable, and on the left coutinho/arthur. And coutinho should play behind dembele on that left side, its painful to watch how other teams fullbacks with help from middlefielders are choking him both defense/attack wise.

Forget the fucking bench. He needs to be sold or retire.

Gnidrologist said:

It's clear that his shit playing has nothing to do with form or fatigue anymore. He is just old has been and doesn't give a fuck about his performance, because he has a deal that guarantees him comfortable spot and no need to put in any effort for that. Oh and, one of those who is also like "Valverde does tremendous job".:

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When the sprint times were released/leaked about 9 months ago... Rakitic was shown to be the slowest player in the whole squad , even slower than the three keepers who don't have to run !
The game is getting faster faster whilst he's getting older and even slower !!

I thought he was OK last night.

What I'm not OK with is Rakitic seemingly having a locking starting position in this team - especially given how awful he was in the first 3 months of the season and the fact he hasn't been exactly remarkable nor consistent since. Arthur and Vidal are ready to eat his minutes alive.

Valverde's argument (early in the season) that Ivan knows the mechanics of the team is getting stale.

He was slow last night

Simply rotate him with Busi, keep them both fresh as possible. Then on the CL days, Atleti match, and classico, decide among Rakitic, Busi, Vidal and Arthur for who gets the start based on matchups and context. Like to see Coutinho in the mix for the most forward mid in lesser importance matches but I don't see that happening, I suppose Alena can get any garbage minutes.

Enough of bunching him together with busi who is alot more talented, effective when we have possession and hard working

BarcaMessi said:

Forget the fucking bench. He needs to be sold or retire.

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I only open this thread hoping to one day read that we've finally sold him .

I always presumed he was gonna be a stopgap , short term fix who'd be a squad player at best not the first name on the flamin team sheet week share week !

Criminally underrated on this forum. The problem with Rakitic is not lack of ability, it is lack of rotation. Keep him fresh and rotated smartly between our 4 midfielders and that will be best for everyone.

I admittedly would sell Rakitic if the right offer comes this summer as timing in business is everything, and we need to renovate some core pieces. But I would also be the first to admit that he is a great player and an asset to our team currently.

at this point i wish we sell him just to stop this bitching and shitting on him,same with suarez. it became so annoying

ronniecro said:

at this point i wish we sell him just to stop this bitching and shitting on him,same with suarez. it became so annoying

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Problem is, those whinening fuckers always find a new target to bitch about.