Ivan Rakitić

Morten

Senior Member
Rakitic is criminally underrated this world cup. Guy has sacrificed himself for the team. Everyone talks like modric is dragging them to final but Rakitic has been immense for Croatia. Does lot of dirty work. Hope he scores the winner if Croatia wins. A banger if possible. If we rotate him enough he will have even bigger impact for Barca. He plays way too many matches and he has to cover lot more ground with Messi as RW. He needs more rest.

Rakitic has been good, about as good as Modric this world cup, immense stamina to play so many games.
I dont think he has been all that underrated this world cup or in general, its just Barca-supporters who dont particulary rate him, he is welcome to come here, if you guys dont want him anymore.
 

Andrew M

New member
Rakitic has been good, about as good as Modric this world cup, immense stamina to play so many games.
I dont think he has been all that underrated this world cup or in general, its just Barca-supporters who dont particulary rate him, he is welcome to come here, if you guys dont want him anymore.

There's just a brash, loudmouthed minority that dislike him
 

RMU ReBorn

New member
Rakitic has been good, about as good as Modric this world cup, immense stamina to play so many games.
I dont think he has been all that underrated this world cup or in general, its just Barca-supporters who dont particulary rate him, he is welcome to come here, if you guys dont want him anymore.
No need to generalize . Been a big fan of him since his first season . He has been one of our best signings in recent years along with Mats . Offloading Cesc and bringing in Raki was one of the best things our baord did in last few years apart from signing Mats and umtiti
 

Joan

Well-known member
Rakitic has been good, about as good as Modric this world cup, immense stamina to play so many games.
I dont think he has been all that underrated this world cup or in general, its just Barca-supporters who dont particulary rate him, he is welcome to come here, if you guys dont want him anymore.

How would you lineup with Rakitić if we send him there?
 

BBZ8800

Senior Member
Covered the most distance in WC, people here call him turtle lmao

The other Croatian Dcm-Cm, Brozovic covered 16 339 meters in semis, a new world record of World cups.
Rakitic was the 2nd with around 14,5 kms covered.

That other dude covers even more, but hats off to our Raki, of course.

Btw, there was a video about Brozovic (the same could be said about Rakitic) on a Croatian Tv yesterday.
Coaches explained how these players are "defending" without macking tackles/interceptions.

English midfielder No1 has the ball: Brozovic runs at him.
An English player is forced to pass the ball back to a CB.
English midfielder No2 gets the ball, Brozovic runs at him, an English player passes the ball back to a Cb.

These type of actions won't results in stats like tackles and interceptions (for a Cm who defended), but these players are covering a lot of ground all the time and forcing the opponents to play long balls or some crazy actions.
So, players are actually covering and doing a lot of dirty work, which isn't shown in any stats, except in a final result of your team, maybe in kms covered, and in general "feeling" that your team is well balanced and cohesive in midfield&defense.
This is one thing that also needs to be taken into a consideration in a future Thiago vs Rakitic and similar debates regarding defending.
** I am not saying that Thiago isn't making those defensive covering-pressure runs though, but...
 
Last edited:

Judoman

Senior Member
@BBZ

How would you feel about Brozovic in Barca? He looks like a better version of Rabiot. Perhaps less technical with better shot? I think i also saw him play RM?
 

Andrew M

New member
The other Croatian Dcm-Cm, Brozovic covered 16 339 meters in semis, a new world record of World cups.
Rakitic was the 2nd with around 14,5 kms covered.

That other dude covers even more, but hats off to our Raki, of course.

Btw, there was a video about Brozovic (the same could be said about Rakitic) on a Croatian Tv yesterday.
Coaches explained how these players are "defending" without macking tackles/interceptions.

English midfielder No1 has the ball: Brozovic runs at him.
An English player is forced to pass the ball back to a CB.
English midfielder No2 gets the ball, Brozovic runs at him, an English player passes the ball back to a Cb.

These type of actions won't results in stats like tackles and interceptions (for a Cm who defended), but these players are covering a lot of ground all the time and forcing the opponents to play long balls or some crazy actions.
So, players are actually covering and doing a lot of dirty work, which isn't shown in any stats, except in a final result of your team, maybe in kms covered, and in general "feeling" that your team is well balanced and cohesive in midfield&defense.
This is one thing that also needs to be taken into a consideration in a future Thiago vs Rakitic and similar debates regarding defending.
** I am not saying that Thiago isn't making those defensive covering-pressure runs though, but...

I'm glad you pointed this out. You get a lot of folks on here who worship stats and don't trust their eye enough.

A true scout will watch the games to come to conclusions not peruse data like a statistician.
 

Andrew M

New member
Should have said some "Barca-supporters", i guess, sorry about that, perhaps most of you do rate him.

I've always found him worth his place in the team. And many others do as well, but get shouted down as he doesn't have incredible technique and touch. He has other qualities, though.
 

BBZ8800

Senior Member
@BBZ

How would you feel about Brozovic in Barca? He looks like a better version of Rabiot. Perhaps less technical with better shot? I think i also saw him play RM?

To be honest, I watched Rabiot way less.
While I have watched Brozovic a lot of times.

Brozovic is running and covering like crazy, but isn't too good in a build up (for top teams).
So, Croatia sometimes have problems because: Brozovic is not THAT good in build up and Rakitic can have problems sometimes, as we know from Barca, and then it all comes down to Modric and passing the ball to flanks right away.

So, for example, Barca with:
Coutinho-Rakitic-Brozovic would be good in defense and we would be a tough team to break in defense.
But, we would also struggle in attack and build up and we would probably play a lot of 1:1s like Croatia.

So, we wouldn't lose, but we wouldn't win either...

So, Brozovic plus Rakitic as 2 out 3 Cms for Barca, for the highest level is not good enough.

On the other hand, if we would have 2 technical, light, isanely good creators, like Xavi/Iniesta/even Coutinho, then Brozovic could work as a Cdm, like RM's Casemiro.
He wouldn't help too much in a build up, but he would close down every single attack in defense.
He would play short-sideway passes in attack.
In that type of a setup, let's say a team consisted of Cdm Brozovic-Cm Xavi-CM Iniesta, RB Alves would have been good enough.
Brozovic wouldn't be as good as Busi, but he would offer way more running, covering, defending, recycling of possession and passing the ball straight to Xavi-Iniesta-Alves.

So, you see, it all depends on circumstances and imo, we always need a mixture of runners/workhorses and technical guys (except during that short Pep's era where we survived with technical guys only).
Even today, Thiago, whom I don't like too much, could work with one Casemiro/Edmilson as a Cdm behind him.
Xavi-Thiago-Casemiro/Edmilson in enough of technique/vision/physique/defending/thugs in midfield.
But Busi-Thiago-Coutinho, that is imo, an invitation for a horror show (with lazy in defending Messi and Dembele infront of them).

About Rabiot, he could work in pair with mobile, light, technical players like Coutinho, Xavi, Iniesta.
On the other hand, if we pair, Rakitic-Rabiot as Cms, that won't be good either.

So, 3 workhorses=not good enough in creation.
3 light players=not good enough in defending.
Some combination like 2-1, 1-2 or 1-1-1 sounds like the best option for 2018, 2019 and similar.

So, I am not 100% against Thiago, but it depends who are his partners in midfield.
Also, about Rabiot, even though I like workhorses, I surely wouldn't want to see Rakitic-Rabiot-Gomes/Paulinho/enter a random similar player in the same time.
 
Last edited:

BBZ8800

Senior Member
[MENTION=22246]Judoman[/MENTION]

Edit: After your post, I though a little about it and then wanted to say that Brozovic looks more like a fighter/runner/thug for Atletico Madrid than for Barca.

And then I googled this, lol, of course:
http://sempreinter.com/2018/07/04/atletico-madrid-identify-inters-brozovic-as-possible-gabi-replacement/

Following Gabi’s transfer to Qatari side Al Sadd, Atletico Madrid are looking out for a replacement for their now former captain who made over 400 appearances for the club.
According to a report Marca, Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic is among the names under consideration by Atleti bosses but the Spanish news outlet warn that Inter have absolutely zero intention of allowing the Croatian international to depart the club this summer following a complete upturn in form in the second half of last season.
The 25-year-old still has three years left to run on his current contract with the Nerazzurri and has asserted himself as a key cog in manager Luciano Spalletti’s system as one of two midfielders in front of the defensive line in the 4-2-3-1 formation.
Last season Brozovic made 33 appearances across all competitions in an Inter jersey, scoring on no less than four occasions and provided an assist for teammates nine times.

So, that's a more accurate what type of a midfielder he is.
A perfect choice for Atletico (and Italian teams).
 

Home of Barca Fans

Top