Adrien Rabiot
- Thread starter Lutece FC
- Start date
Next season we will have Arthur, Alena, Puig, De Jong, Sergi Roberto,Sergio Busquets, Oriol Busquets & Coutinho(who should be seen as a midfielder)
And I am not even counting Raki or Vidal & Denis, Rafinha.
MTL_Barca
Well-known member
I don't expect Puig or Oriol to play much tbh so i wouldn't really count them atm. Coutinho...well we said the same thing last summer but he still is mostly between bench and LW so who knows. Sergi might still be 50/50 RB/CM, not convinced Semedo got his spot save.
Wouldn't really be numbers here and more about that we would replace two experienced players with Frenkie from dutch league and Puig from Barca B, that can be risky especially if Frenkie needs some time to adapt.
I could do with the midfield you mentioned so maybe "absolutely need" wasn't worded right but it certainly wouldn't hurt to add another midfielder, ideally someone who adds a bit of physicality because besides Frenkie our CMs all would be offensive/lightweight.
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BBZ8800
Senior Member
Roberto=not a good midfielder. He wasn't a good pick as a midfielder in the last 2-3 seasons, and now we should rely on him? You do realize that even Raki, Vidal, Pualinho were actually better fits as midfielders than Roberto, on a larger sample? He can play a good match here and there, but on a larger sample, he is just a meh midfielder. And quite bad as a CM.
Oriol=aren't you rushing a lot?
Puig=aren't you rushing a lot?
Coutinho=a bad fit
Alena=playing his first minutes here, plus he is an attacking midfielder, like Coutinho and Rafinha.
So, basically, we'll have from your post:
Turtle granny Busquets.
Arthur=let's say: what if he is injury prone?
De Jong=hasn't played a single minute here.
Let's say that De Jong or Arthur get a 3 Month long injury.
Whom we'll play? Busquets, Arthur, Alena/Puig for 3 Months?
Granny Busquets will play all the matches twice a week?
Who will give him a rest, Oriol Busquets, a new shiny toy who hasn't played a minute of a serious football yet?
Busquets is old.
Arthur and De Jong both had a few injuries in the last 12 Months, iirc. Arthur had 2 injuries in the last 12 Months.
Busquets can't play all the matches since he is old, slow and he will be even slower and more tired.
Arthur is usually tired after 60th minute, plus we don't know yet how tired will he be after playing 10 matches in a row, since he never played more than 3-4 matches in a row in Europe (he was always benched or injured after that).
So, add stamina, injuries and Busi's age in maths. Plus none of these players are actually a defensive beast (ok, that thing is not too important on this forum, but ok).
If we won't sign Rabiot, then there is NO WAY that we will get rid of both Rakitic and Vidal.
1 out of 3 or 2 out of 3 of Rabiot/Rakitic/Vidal will be here in the next season.
Experience, some physicality, players who can cover for Busi and play a more defensive minded role of a current Rakitic etc.
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Arizona Scott
New member
Mtl and bbz i agree. No world class team would have oriol or puig being "counted on" players. The are prospects, and not exactly destroying lower tier spanish opposition. Alena we see more--but when he does play he doesnt stick out as a game changer, or even one if the better players on the pitch. Fdj we are all super higvmh on--but never had to play vs la liga opposition nor adapt to barca structure and that is usually not immediate and some times for even great players it just does not all the way click.
Lose 2/3 of busi, rakitic and vidal, id want rabiot or herrara coming in on low risk free deals who are proven big club level roster players. I like rabiot more because he is young and more of a physical presence.
Lose 2/3 of busi, rakitic and vidal, id want rabiot or herrara coming in on low risk free deals who are proven big club level roster players. I like rabiot more because he is young and more of a physical presence.
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FCBfan22
Senior Member
Rabiot is a shit DM. Every time he played there, PSG suffered. He is best as a CM.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Majority of you guys are looking at it in a way: a player vs a player or a player for a player.
As if: Arthur/Alena is better than Rabiot/Rakitic.
You are not looking at a midfield as a unit.
Let's look at it this way:
1. In a Brasilian NT, Arthur has Casemiro behind his back
2. at Barca, Arthur has Busquets and Rakitic behind his back
3. At Netherlands NT, De Jong has De Roon and Wijnaldum to do a lot of dirty work around him
So, De Jong and Arthur, for example, are not the dirtiest players in their midfields, or players who will do the most of dirty work and defending.
And for them to excel in things in which they are good at, they need some Rakitics alongside them.
So, Frenkie will probably pair a more balanced allround midfield with at least one Rakitic behind him.
But no, people here usually look at football and Barca only in onedimensional and simplified way where attacking is the only important part of football.
So, basically, a lot of guys here (waiting for Jombi to post a reply about whether a lot of guys or only SOME guys have said that) want: De Jong, Arthur, Alena midfield, lol.
Where basically, you have 3 guys who NEED some dirty guy behind their backs for them to excel, and you are pairing those 3 together without any dirty guy, hoping that suddenly De Jong and Arthur will become dirty guys.
We had some posters from Netherlands here saying that De Jong is a very light player.
Which is not a problem, AS LONG as he has someone behind his back and NOT when he is the guy covering for backs of other light players.
Then you have Arthur, who lately started to do some defensive tackles, but who is dead tired after 60 minutes and who will never win a defensive header.
And then you have an attacking player Alena.
This type of midfield would probably work awesome on Fifa and other games.
It could work though at Camp Nou against weak La liga sides.
Now, even though Frenkie and Arthur are on paper pivot-Cm hybrids, everyone sane with a pair of eyes and some objectivity will not call them: defensive beasts.
But in 2020, in a physical football, you need to have at least one different guy in midfield.
But I'll probably get a good old reply: but it worked with Busi-Xavi-Iniesta...
Well, it worked INSPITE of them. Those guys plus Messi and Alves were so good that we were winning INSPITE of their poor defensive input and we were able to score more than they could screw up in the defense.
Btw, even then we were losing in almost every single CL away knockout match, right?
Or, we lost all CL knockout matches against physical teams, even with Pep (Chelsea 2009' ref's help, Inter 2010).
Interesting stat...
All in all, if Rabiot won't come, we will keep 1 or 2 out of Rakitic/Vidal.
And I wouldn't be surprised if we'll just buy Ndombele in the end.
We can't play serious CL football in 2020' with 3 light midfielders.
So, be prepared for some combinations with Rakitic/Vidal/Rabiot/Ndombele in midfield. With 1-2 of them in a rooster in every single of upcoming 3-4 seasons.
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What I meant to say was that we already have way too many midfielders, and some good up and coming prospects. You need to sell some and give proper chance to some.
Rather than buying a midfielder next summer, clear out the deadweights and use the youngsters for the depth. Give it a year and then go as per needs. Plus, we will have a much clearer idea of what kind of midfielder that we need.
Coutinho needs to play as a midfielder, if not then sell him & yes, get a new midfielder.
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Gnidrologist
Senior Member
Rakitic has been utter crap defensively. BBZ simply does not watch matches, but keeps mumbling his redundant shit time after time out of senile inertia. Our CBs are exposed time after time because of how our supposed defensive pivots can't keep up with anyone, who isn't absent minded grandpa too. Arthur has been actually doing great in helping defense with his sharp pressing and sticking the leg in at the right moments, but i agree that we need proper DM, to allow him and De Jong in the future more freedom in build up. Neither Rakitic, Biskvits or Vidal are good enough for that anymore. Their physics mean shit, when they need oxygen tanks to move around the pitch.
Rakitic is not shit defensively... hes pretty much a slightly worse busquets in that aspect. And i probably agree with BBZ that we need 2 players who can cover the dm spot. Frenkie shouldnt though. For me hes a pure cm.
Busquets+Rakitic is probably ideal, but if you can "switch" (money wise) Rakitic for Pepe/Jovic/De Ligt you have to think about it. Frenkie/Busqeuts/Arthur + Alena/Roberto/dm looks alright. But I honestly dont know if Rabiot would (or even can) play dm for us. He surely looks like one, but doesnt seem to have the workrate/mentality. I wouldnt take Rabiot for free in a more advanced role - hes not talented enough for that.
Busquets+Rakitic is probably ideal, but if you can "switch" (money wise) Rakitic for Pepe/Jovic/De Ligt you have to think about it. Frenkie/Busqeuts/Arthur + Alena/Roberto/dm looks alright. But I honestly dont know if Rabiot would (or even can) play dm for us. He surely looks like one, but doesnt seem to have the workrate/mentality. I wouldnt take Rabiot for free in a more advanced role - hes not talented enough for that.
Sorin
Well-known member
Only if Rakitic and/or Vidal leave, otherwise I'd rather we pass on him.
Joan
Well-known member
Yes. I would do so too.
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