Arthur

xXKonan said:

According to AS, both Arthur and Cillessen will be tested to see if they can make the Classico squad.

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for the Copa one or the league one??

soul24rage said:

for the Copa one or the league one??

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The Copa Match.

Please don't rush him. We need him for the CL. Badly.

Give him time to recover. Sergi Roberto is enough to beat RM.

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Rest him for the CL

FinBarcelonafan said:

Rest him for the CL

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Don't want him to totally lose form and game conditioning. Give him basically an average of a half game, 30 minutes here, 60 minutes there, until the CL.

Unsurprisingly, Valverde was asked about Arthur twice in the press conference today. First how he planned to 'replace' Arthur tomorrow with Vidal or with a player with similar characteristics like Sergi or Alena.

The second question was interesting in how the journalist asserted what many have been saying that Arthur's absence has visibly affected our play over the past 3 weeks.

"No tengo ninguna duda de que es un gran jugador, un jugador diferente que nos aporta muchas cosas", reconoció el técnico del FC Barcelona antes de puntualizar que "hemos hecho grandes partidos con él y sin él".

Valverde recordó las victorias contra el Espanyol y el Levante y el duelo de Lyon: "Hicimos un gran partido y solo nos faltó el acierto que tuvimos en Sevilla".

El 'Txingurri' zanjó el tema: "Cuando hay jugadores importantes que no están, hay otros que les suplen. No ponemos excusas cuando nos faltan jugadores".


Valverde's answer:

I have not a single doubt that Arthur is an great player, a player that's different from the others, and one that brings us many things on the pitch.

...We've had good performances with and without him, including the one against Lyon last week.

When you have important players that are missing, there are others who fill in. We don't make excuses"


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His answer basically says he will start Sergi Roberto in midfield tomorrow. And I think that's a good selection given he played well in midfield against Lyon and how the entire world can see that Rakitic & Vidal together in central midfield is an absolute disaster.

EdmondDantes said:

...We've had good performances with and without him, including the one against Lyon last week.



His answer basically says he will start Sergi Roberto in midfield tomorrow. And I think that's a good selection given he played well in midfield against Lyon and how the entire world can see that Rakitic & Vidal together in central midfield is an absolute disaster.

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And this is why we can't have nice things about Valverde.

In the squad along with Cillessen for the Copa Classico.

Another one rushed back...

Shouldn't start under any circumstances.

they said he'd be out for 3-4 weeks. he's managed to make the squad in the 2nd week. what are they injecting him with lol

i say risk him ! this is the most important match of the next month. we should be able to crush lyon without arthur.. league we are doing fine. tomorrow is the final of one of three trophies.. messi always plays horribly when our midfield is neutralized and when he is forced to drop deep. that will never happens with athur in. its very possible though that our turtle midfield without arthur get killed by a swifty trio: modric kroos kasemiro.

Xaviniesta said:

they said he'd be out for 3-4 weeks. he's managed to make the squad in the 2nd week. what are they injecting him with lol

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they said that 3-4 weeks on February 8th, so it's not as extreme

Total-Football said:

i say risk him ! this is the most important match of the next month. we should be able to crush lyon without arthur.. league we are doing fine. tomorrow is the final of one of three trophies.. messi always plays horribly when our midfield is neutralized and when he is forced to drop deep. that will never happens with athur in. its very possible though that our turtle midfield without arthur get killed by a swifty trio: modric kroos kasemiro.

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I think we should try play without him for at least half time because there is chance he didn't get full 100% match fit after injury (even Messi struggled after injury). If he is fully fit and our midfield needs his ability in 2nd half then release him to the wild.