Arthur

BBZ8800

Senior Member
Well, guys, if you want to get into EV's head and compare Arthur with similar players:
1. Coutinho was a starter in his 1st La liga match when he was in a squad:
Alaves 66 minutes
Espanyol 90 minutes
Getafe 62 minutes
Eibar, a sub +27 minutes
Girona 90 minutes
Las Palmas, a sub +33 minutes

So, Coutinho was a starter in his first available La liga match.
And he played in all 6 first matches (4 times as a starter and twice as a sub for around 30 minutes).

Further, Paulinho:
1st round H Betis: not in a squad
2nd round A Alaves: a sub, +2 minutes
3rd match: H Espanyol: a sub, +17 minutes
4th match, A Getafe: a sub, +13 minutes
5th match: H Eibar: a starter, 90 minutes
6th match: A Girona: a starter, 66 minutes
7th match: H Las Palmas: a starter, 45 minutes
8th match: A Atletico: a sub, +11 minutes
9th match: H Malaga: a sub, +14 minutes
10th match: A Bilbao: a starter, 90 minutes

So, since Paulinho was available in a squad list, he played in all first 9 La liga matches in a row.
And he was a starter already in matches 4, 5, 6 and 9.

Arthur:
1st round: H Alaves: a sub, +13 minutes
2nd round: A Valladolid: -
3rd round: H Huesca: a sub, +14 minutes
4th round: A Sociedad: not in a squad
I'll add a CL match here since the sample is small:
5th match: H Psv: a sub, +7 minutes

Dembele:
1st match available: H Espanyol: a sub +22 minutes
2nd match: CL H Juventus: a starter 72 minutes
3rd match: A Getafe: a starter, injured later

I know, each player is unique.
Each player develops under different pace.
And a coach can change his mind.

But for now, according to stats, imo, is is safe to say:
1. EV rated Coutinho the highest right from the start
2. Dembele quite high also
3. Paulinho lower than them, but played in every single match as a sub and soon turned as a starter

After 1st match matches available:
Coutinho had 335 minutes in the first 5 La liga matches
Dembele was a starter twice in 3 matches and got injured.
Paulinho had 184 minutes after first 5 La liga matches.
Arthur has 34 minutes after first 5 matches. Again, I know that I included a CL matches, but a sample is too small so I had to do that.

Anyway, maybe you guys should lower your expectations, there are lost of possibilities:
1. maybe EV doesn't rate Arthur that highly (as you). Me neither.
2. maybe EV thinks that Arthur needs slower integration than Coutinho, Paulinho, Dembele
3. maybe EV likes different type of midfielder since he played Rakitic the most, Paulinho a lot and Gomes a lot. Maybe Rafinha, Denis and somewhat Arthur are not his first pick.
* I know that Arthur is not the same as Denis and Rafinha, but if we would make a black and white scenario with: either stronger or lighter midfielders, then Arthur is closer to short and light midfielders.

Anyway, anything is possible and a coach can change his mind, but according to Arthur's start and comparing him with starts of Coutinho, Paulinho and Dembele, he plays less and is probably trusted less by a coach.
Btw, even Semedo and Deulofeu played more in opening matches than Arthur.
 

Gnidrologist

Senior Member
The expectations with EV are at maximum low already. With him, though, the phrase "i didn't expect nothing and still came out disappointed" probably applies.
 

George_Costanza

Active member
Anyway, anything is possible and a coach can change his mind, but according to Arthur's start and comparing him with starts of Coutinho, Paulinho and Dembele, he plays less and is probably trusted less by a coach.
Btw, even Semedo and Deulofeu played more in opening matches than Arthur.

I don't think most posters here post about what Valverde wants, what he likes or what he doesn't like. What's the point of this forum if all we post is an analysis of EV's mind? I think we post what we think is right. Yes, maybe it's different of an opinion of the manager, but it's our opinion.
 

Raketa10

Senior Member
First of all he needs to raise up his fitness level significantly to be able to compete in Europe and than we can talk abot other things. It will require time and a lot of work.
 

xXKonan

Senior Member
I know what I'm waiting for. Cheers, BBZ.
He will shit on him even though he wasn't the real problem.

This was his first start in the league in some pretty shitty circumstances with the Lenglet red card. I felt like he and Vidal's energy in the Midfield was the biggest reasons why we were playing much quicker than we have been all season.
 

te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
He looked spent physically after the first half. Not accustomed to European football just yet I guess? Was jogging while we were being counter attacked. He did have some good interceptions though. Not gonna comment on his attacking game, it seemed rather poor.
 

Raketa10

Senior Member
I know what I'm waiting for. Cheers, BBZ.

I bet he will talk about his fitness level and how he was dead tired after 45 minutes and he will be 100% right. Our fitness coach needs to take care of his diet and physical condition ASAP!
 
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Coutinho: successful dribbles after successful dribbles, through passes, forward passes, followed by threatening blasts from distances with occasional Tiki Takas mixed in

Arthur: back passes, side way passes, more back passes, side way passes, the easiest plays, the most obvious plays = the new/next Xavi

LMAO
 

xXKonan

Senior Member
Coutinho: successful dribbles after successful dribbles, through passes, forward passes, followed by threatening blasts from distances with occasional Tiki Takas mixed in

Arthur: back passes, side way passes, more back passes, side way passes, the easiest plays, the most obvious plays = the new/next Xavi

LMAO
Two different profiles.

One has been in Europe much longer and is older vs a 22 year old dude who came from Brazil making his first La Liga start. Yep sounds about right.
 

BBZ8800

Senior Member
I know what I'm waiting for. Cheers, BBZ.

As said, he moves off the ball and he is good at getting the ball from our box into an opponent's half.

But that is more or less it from his virtues for now.
I have said after 1-2 preseason matches that he seemed to moving like a bunny for 30 minutes and then he would suddenly slow down as if he lost the energy.

Today it was the same.
After 30-40 minutes, his off the ball movement was gone and he started to walk more and more.

Another question mark in my eyes: his defending.
I don't think that he is THAT good in defending.
He IS though good in those actions where you need to jump like a bulldog on your opponent (applying pressure right away after your team loses the ball).
So, he is good in that pressure and his stats will show some tackles and interceptions in that part.

But, once when an opponent keeps the ball for 10 seconds (when we don't get the ball back RIGHT away due to this pressure), he is quite meh in that regular defending when we sit deeper in our half.

If I am not mistaken, once when Rakitic stepped in, Girona barely came close to our box in the last 30 minutes even though we had only 10 players, right?
We can't say that it was only due to Rakitic, but Arthur has a lot to learn in that part of *regular* defending, positioning... and stamina, of course.

I know that people are blinded by his Xaviesque skills, but this player will need to improve LOTS of skills to come close to a level of Barca's starter in the future.

Stamina, regular defending, defensive positioning when we sit deeper, forward passes.
 
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