21 - Frenkie de Jong

Great game, hopefully there are many like this to come.

jairzinho said:

[tw]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">de Jong: "I cannot say that this was my best performance in a Barcelona shirt."</p>— barcacentre (@barcacentre) <a href="https://twitter.com/barcacentre/status/1226652660788539392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> [/tw]

Frenkie is class. Put in a MOTM performance and still thinks he could improve.

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Setiens system fits Frenkie much better than the stale one with Valverde.

Finally we have two magicians to pull the others through ..

I saw somewhere that Messi recently voted FDJ as best player or something... was that Balon D’or or something else ??

Speechless.

One of the best midfielders I have ever seen.

Great performance by him, potential to develop into the best midfielder in the world

For me, Frenkie is the precisely the profile of player both in terms of talent & personality. We have been spoiled for years but there are too few of his ilk in the squad these days. That too, is on this board - thankfully among the litany of errors assessing talent & signing players, they somehow succeeded in securing this kid's signature

Interesting article where Ten Hag says Frenkie is being misused at Barca.

"Ten Hag recalled the importance of the midfielder at Ajax and explained that he had to be reprimanded once for going too far up the pitch.
"Once I got him out of there," he said in relation to substituting De Jong."I asked him: are you a No.10? Then when do you score goals?"

He's wasting time trying to reach his Ajax level in other areas of the pitch, while instead he could be naturally progressing in his strongest areas. His development will stagnate and he'll become yet another "jack of all trades" midfielder in no time.

It is very dumbfounding that all it takes is one good game against an open team for people to hype Frenkie up again, especially after a series of very bad performances. Yet expectations are different for players like Vidal who cost a fraction of Frenkie's price tag and has been the better midfielder overall this season.

Andresito said:

Interesting article where Ten Hag says Frenkie is being misused at Barca.

"Ten Hag recalled the importance of the midfielder at Ajax and explained that he had to be reprimanded once for going too far up the pitch.
"Once I got him out of there," he said in relation to substituting De Jong."I asked him: are you a No.10? Then when do you score goals?"

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Love Ten Hag but he also had him playing as a central defender, helps that Ajax had better balance in the attacking third that didn't require FDJ to play as high - moreover, Frenkie is a ballwinner and what better way to initiate attacks by winning the ball back, especially deep

Frenkie is a DM but I honestly see him as a 6/8 going forward - seems Setien feels similarly. Irregardless, he needs to be on the pitch and at times it would be smart to consider letting FDJ sit deep as a DM and letting say Busquets & Rakitic play higher up close to Messi since that connection is more established

De Jong warrants all the hype. To hold one own at Barca at that age and during your first season. Will replace Busquets at one point and will play as a starter for a decade. Best transfer in years.

FCBarca said:

Love Ten Hag but he also had him playing as a central defender, helps that Ajax had better balance in the attacking third that didn't require FDJ to play as high - moreover, Frenkie is a ballwinner and what better way to initiate attacks by winning the ball back, especially deep

Frenkie is a DM but I honestly see him as a 6/8 going forward - seems Setien feels similarly. Irregardless, he needs to be on the pitch and at times it would be smart to consider letting FDJ sit deep as a DM and letting say Busquets & Rakitic play higher up close to Messi since that connection is more established

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Yes, and according to some Ajax fans he played his best football as a sweeper CB. So not something that should be considered a minus.

boixos said:

It is very dumbfounding that all it takes is one good game against an open team for people to hype Frenkie up again, especially after a series of very bad performances. Yet expectations are different for players like Vidal who cost a fraction of Frenkie's price tag and has been the better midfielder overall this season.

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Very dumbfounding that Amigos like Rakitic/Vidal/Busquets and the likes get to have favorable, sympathetic reviews of their performances where they get to play in their natural positions and have a proven track record of shitting the bed in the biggest games. While new players like FDJ and Griezmann get blasted despite being played in wrong position almost exclusively.

Just look at the way FDJ played at Ajax/Netherlands compared to Barca. Didn't have to play with his back to goal for a vast majority of the game, instead he got to drive the ball from deeper areas in the pitch with full vision of the field ahead of him. He ran the show and had a huge area of impact on the pitch, often getting 100+ touches every game. Even in a great game he played vs Betis in this role, he still barely cracked 66 touches.

Our insistence on sticking with the carcass of Busquets at the base of our midfield is the reason FDJ has been held back. Put him in the pivot role with guys like Vidal and Arthur in front of him, and he'll shine. As a deep lying midfield general, FDJ gets to demonstrate that he is one of the most industrious and high IQ midfielders in the world. At this new pseudo attacking midfielder role, he is chained and becomes just another guy with good technique/vision and more limited touches.

What about arthur?
Isnt his play similar to fdj too ? Xavi role.

Damn too many playmaker in our team, when theres also the goat. Just the goat is more static.