21 - Frenkie de Jong

I like that he's got balls unlike Arthur and actually tries to drive the team forward.

Would rather see him as LCB then CM.

Terrible game. His situational awareness was zero. I could count at least 5 possessions where he had no idea there was a Valencia player behind him. Passing was off too. He looked totally lost out there.

People say that he needs to be a CDM...

Again, at Ajax he had Schone to cover for him.
At an NT team, he had De Roon and Wijnaldum.

He can't play a lone pivot away from home currently, because he is funky at defending, leaves his position often and often isn't aware of his opponents behind his back.

Then we have Arthur who is shit in defense and braindead in attack.

And then people wanted to try Frenkie, Arthur, Riki where:
1. Arthut can't defend
2. Riki plays like a 13 years old girl
3. Frenkie doesn't positionally hold his lone pivot position well

In short, you guys shouldn't dream too much about Frenkie-Arthur duo.
One will play, the other will get benched.
Frenkie will get a true physical pivot to cover for him.
And a 3rd guy will be someone who knows to create, shoot and dribble.

Luxury player. Not good enough attacking to play anywhere but cdm. The problem is is he not good enough defensively at the highest level to play cdm

Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor said:

Luxury player. Not good enough attacking to play anywhere but cdm. The problem is is he not good enough defensively at the highest level to play cdm

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But but but: he played awesome at Ajax.
= well, they had players suitable for a different formation and a coach has build a team to get the best from Frenkie

People will say: let's play 4231.

Well:
Where will Messi play?
Who will be a No9 without Suarez?
Who will play as a double pivot with Frenkie?
Who will be 2 attacking wingers in 4231? No one except Dembele since all of our players are slow and more like midfielders than wingers.
And even then, Dembele is useless due to a lack of IQ.

In short, we can't play 4231.
That means that Frenkie will struggle in 433 and 343.

Basically, we can't play 433 due to Messi.
We can't play 4231 due to Messi and a lack of wingers.
People don't want 442.
And 352 and 343 suck in defense.

So, basically, we can't play anything with a current set of players.

Yet, fans are mad at coaches for not finding a perfect formation and for not getting the best out of players.
Yet, this is the most dumbest assembled Barca team since 2003.

Messi is ruining every single formation.
Griezz can't play with Messi.
Dembele is a player for counterattacking teams.
Busi can play only in 433.
Frenkie suits the best in 4231 with a defensive cover for him.
Arthur suits the best in 4231 but also with Casemiro covering for him.
So, Frenkie and Arthur can't cover for eachother and also they are weird fits for 433 due to both being a total shit in attack and both being questionable in defense, especially Arthur.

I am asking any fan here: try to create a good formation with these players for any away match.
You can't.

And then again: Pep and Klopp are allowed to buy players whom they want, who are perfect fits for their system.
Yet we have a team of randomly assembled players, as if some 8 years old kid played Football Manager with cheating codes (unlimited transfer funds) and as if he was just buying random superstars without any plan:
1. Who will be a coach
2. What formation will we play
3. Will we play possession or more direct
4. And whether these players are compatible with eachother

I will repeat for 1001st time: in terms of players and team's balance, this is the worst mess since 2000-2003.

A horrible, truly horrible team in overall bar Messi and 2-3 bright spots.

I agree with you BBZ and said it for a long time. We need different types of midfielders, we need midfielders who are specialists in their roles.

Give me a ball-winning athlete DM who is good on the ball in the mold of Casemiro, Fabinho, Kante

Give me an advanced midfielder who can create and score and at the same time has stamina to run.

De Jong between those two.

BBZ has a good time ;D Same in the Arthur thread.


Would be nice to hear from him which midfielders would shine behind a Griezmann-Messi-Fati frontline? I guess prime Xavi would have a hard time.

We definitely need a more diverse set of midfielders to choose from. I suggested before if we're not talking spending fifa money but realistic financial choices signing Eriksen and Partey could have been done for around €70m altogether. Whether they are "elite" enough is another matter, it adds diversity to our game. Partey can cover for frenkie in a double pivot or with Arthur. Eriksen can be in a midfield 3 being the attacking aspect or as a cam, he's even played rm and lm very well on numerous occasions. I don't actually want eriksen anymore but someone like him would have sufficed.

Yeah it's true and [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION] is right on this. I am starting to see his point of view

We need diversity in every area of the pitch

One full back who is more all out attack and one who has more discipline and defensive nous

We need one CB who is a ball playing flamboyant and another who is rugged tough tackler.

If we have a ball playing flamboyant DM, then one CM needs to be more box to box- vidal like

And the third CM can be flamboyant but a final third specialist example de bruyne, eriksen

Same thing with forwards.

We need one who needs the ball at his feet and can create magic with passes and goals (ala Messi)

We need one who is strong, a bully and occupies the CBs also capable of making runs, scoring headers etc. Examples Haaland, Aubameyang

And the last forward needs to be a pacey runner.
The kind you wanna release on a counter attack e.g Son, Werner

The problem we have is that all our players are the same. They have the same strengths as well as weaknesses. Our midfielders are all the same.

No significant difference between Busi, De jong and Arthur. Compare the contrast with Vidal for example. That's what we need.

Look at our forwards: griezmann, messi all the same

We don't even need to buy worldclass players for hundreds of millions.

Just get players who have the ability and complement each other and get a manager who can maximize their abilities.

Look at what Liverpool did.

I agree, we will not see any improvement even with Setien, rather from not controlling games under EV, to sterile possession under Setien meanwhile looking scared to death when opponents attack us with their 15% possession

Rory said:

We definitely need a more diverse set of midfielders to choose from. I suggested before if we're not talking spending fifa money but realistic financial choices signing Eriksen and Partey could have been done for around €70m altogether. Whether they are "elite" enough is another matter, it adds diversity to our game. Partey can cover for frenkie in a double pivot or with Arthur. Eriksen can be in a midfield 3 being the attacking aspect or as a cam, he's even played rm and lm very well on numerous occasions. I don't actually want eriksen anymore but someone like him would have sufficed.

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No planning whatsoever, Eriksen is a low-risk signing giving his price tag and would do well under QS. Now panic buys this summer, we will spend 200m on Neymar thinking he is the missing piece of the puzzle.

For me this would have been a good signings (past/future)

Attack: Haaland cost 20m
MF: Eriksen cost 20m, Camavinga 60m
RB: Emerson cost 12m
CB: Either Milan Skriniar or Upamecano or Koulibaly

We can all agree he was at least mediocre or anonymous this game.

JohnN said:

We can all agree he was at least mediocre or anonymous this game.

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Nowhere near as good as hes hyped up on here by some , just like Arthur.

Raki13 said:

Nowhere near as good as hes hyped up on here by some , just like Arthur.

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He was brilliant at Ajax, but this hasn't been shown with Barca if we are being honest. I will not speculate on the reasons for that.

He's still young and it is his first season under 2 different managers, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I do agree, though, that there is a lack of variety and balance in personnel and how we play.

Let's remember that Pep wanted him too and they had to settle for Rodri. He's definitely better than Rodri.