Arthur

[serghei]

In that case, I'd expected Arthur to have been more creative in a more open game.

Missed the first 1/2

Almost scored the 3rd goal after a counter he set up. Wasn't useless. Just not a good game overall.

 

[Raketa10]

Don't know what happened to him. He was great until February but in the last couple of games he is playing awful, basically all he does is pass the ball to the guy next to him. He needs to grow a pair and stop playing alibi football all of the time.

Arthur won't succed here if he'll continue like this. He isn't defending, he isn't making forward passes he isn't shooting the ball. He really needs to raise his form ASAP because this is the most important part of the season and we need him.

 

[BBZ8800]

So you actually commented on the player for the 10 mins after Villareal scored the 3rd goal and before he was subbed? Because Villareal parked the bus, so to speak, after they went in front, since they needed 3 points.

So, yea, you're right. Arthur wasn't able to break Villareal's bus in those 10 mins.

Lol.
Till the 50th minute and 2:2, we played half arsed.
He was average, not bad till then.
But far from good.

Then after 2:2, we tried to wake up and Villareal parked the bus.
From 50th to 73rd minute, while we were seriously trying to create something and score, Arthur was beyond useless.

Since exactly the same happened 3 days ago against Espanyol's bus in the 2nd half, maybe it is not a coincidence.

Till now, matches when teams are applying a high pressure and when matches are more open=are his matches.

Against parked buses, he is quite lost currently.
But lost even more than Raki and Busi.
Busi is trying some through balls and granny dribbles.
Raki can play a long ball, a cross and try a long shot.
Even Vidal can offer some fast 1-2s around the box, crosses, risky through balls and some shooting attempts.
Arthur can offer only a slow motion sideway passes against a parked bus.
Or, that is what he offered in the last 2 matches against parked buses.

 

[Raketa10]

I agree with BBZ regarding Arthur not trying to make trough balls and dribblings at all. He really needs to improve in this area. People tend to compare him with Xavi but Xavi was much more than just passing the ball to the closest guy around. He knew haw to make a perfect assist and he also knew how to score a goal. So far Arthur lacks those qualities. He has ONE assist in La Liga this entire season and he didn't score a goal so far. He really needs to improve his overal game to be able to carry Barca midfield in years to come. Same goes for FDJ. Both of them have a great potential but both of them are far from finished product. Maybe the biggest problem is that both of them need to improve similar aspects of the game.

 

[Horatio]

I have been saying for months guy needs to bring them throughballs. I still have a lot of faith in him. Only his first season here and hampered by injuries. With more time and getting more acustomed he will contribute more.

 

[serghei]

I agree that when we play more end to end stuff he has to risk more. It's why we have Vidal next to him. To pick up the loose balls and close down/foul players when we mess up in build-up.

 

[clemente]

He's good against teams that are pressing him, this is where he shines, when he get surrounded by 5 players, they all jump on him and he still gets the ball out, and then we are on the counter-attack outnumbering opponents. Today he was just passing around freely and trying to defend their counters.

 

[SeloBarca]

He was man marked by the nr 28 and 10 most of the match while others were left alone.
Busi and Vidal had no players on them.
Maybe their tactic was to shut down the midfield play by marking Arthur.

 

[Arizona Scott]

None of our players is good against buses. Even Messi struggles. It's because of Valverde's completely static tactics. Singling out Arthur about this is disingenuous.

Well run buses are hard for everyone and is a way to try to get points when your opponent is a lot better. The CL finals Barca and Real have not made the last 8 are so years are usually because they encountered a well run bus along the way. We are probably the one team Real has a losing record and goal differential in over this period because they don't know how to do it (or won't do it by choice). Its also why City and Liverpool have dropped points this season too. In footy a well run bus can always nick a point or even a tie off a better opponent, and when you are way talent overmatched the way to give yourself a chance.

In general Messi, Suarez, Coutinho, Dembele, Ratitic, Alba--some of the best players you could want to either beat a bus with a long shot, or intricate passing and movement. Still takes genius in the right moment and doesn't always happen.

 

[Raketa10]

I would try to play with 2 DM's (2 out of Raki-Busi-Arthur) and Coutinho in front of them. I see no point in playing Vidal-Busi-Arthur midfield because non of those 3 can send a through ball and non out of those 3 shoots the ball from outside of the box. This is the worst combo by far. Valverde should have used Alena instead of Vidal yesterday or he should have changed formation entirely.

For big games I would go with: Raki-Busi-Arthur and against weaker teams I would try with 2DM's and Coutinho or Alena in front of them. We absolutely need to incorporate Coutinho in our midfield or sell him next summer to get another AM player because we can't play with 3 possession oriented midfielders all of the time. I know majority of you don't like Rakitic but he is basically the only midfielder we have who knows how to shoot the ball, how to move in the final third and who knows how to score goals. If we sell Raki and Cou we need to buy Eriksen type of player or we'll be in trouble.

 

[BarçaBarça]

He can't play full time against both Atletico and ManU, imo - he needs rest right now to perform well.

 

[Arnaez]

This guy is so limited, just a keep ball machine.

 

[Riordon]

His offensive contribution has been - as a lot of has said for months now - very poor. No penetrate dribbles, no through balls, no late runs in the box, no shooting, rarely assist and so on. Very few balls into space. He is a good asset in keeping the ball though. Defensive Imo also bad.

 

[defyqa]

You can't really expect him to play through balls, when it's a really rare occurence that one of our old lazyasses makes a timely run.

 

[BBZ8800]

You can't really expect him to play through balls, when it's a really rare occurence that one of our old lazyasses makes a timely run.

It is not becuase of that.
With that logic, even Messi couldn't make forward passes because no one is running into space, yet majority of Messi's passes are forward, risky passes.

Arthur's natural instincts seems to be: "let's keep the ball for 90 minutes and A GOAL of the game is NOT to allow opponents to ever TOUCH the ball".
And Arthur is quite good at it.
I am sure that with his way of playing we could keep the ball for 5-10 minutes without letting the opponents touch it.
The problem is that a goal of football matches is to create chances and score goals and NOT keep the ball till eternity.

Now, I have checked these last 2 matches and 2nd halves in those matches (0:0 vs Espanyol and 2:2 vs Villareal).
In both 2nd halves, we needed to risk and look for forward passes and creating chances.
And now check how ARthur played in the moments when we needed to take more risks:
Espanyol, 2nd half starts az 2:46 mark on this video:

Arthur had 9 passes in the 2nd half when we needed a goal:
= 8 passes were backpasses or sideway passes with 0% risk
= and the only pass out of those 9 passes in the 2nd half was the last pass to Alba, and then he actually passed the ball FORWARD.
But even then, it was a 0% risk pass since Alba was alone with absolutely no one around him.

So, more or less, Arthur played 9 backpasses/sideway passes in the 2nd half against Espanyol and showing zero incentive to try to make some riskier pass.

Villareal, 2nd half, 2nd hlaf starts at 0:50 on this video:

He played 9 passes again.
The first 2 passes in the 2nd half were vertical passes, those were good passes.
After those 2, he played 7 sideway/backpasses in a row (and thankfully) got subbed after that.

So, in the last 2nd halves against parked buses, Arthur played 18 passes:
2 forward passes, but not passes which were creating chances, and those passes weren't particularly risky or creative. They were just normal forward passes between 2 opponents to a closest forward teammate.
A thing which our midfielders were doing all the time in previous years.
Other 16 passes were safe, alibi, possession keeping backpasses.

Now, you can check Messi's 2nd half vs Espanyol, starts at around 6:00 at this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JziH0laJKH8
He had 13 forward and very risky passes, 6 backpasses and 2 sideway passes but he passed the ball at the edge of a box to a player in a better position, so they were still closer to assists or risky passes.
So, Messi had something like 13 out of 19 forward passes or 15 out of 21.
That means that 60-70% of ALL Messi's passes are forward/risky passes which are trying to create immediate danger and a chance for a teammate.
In the last 2 matches, Arthur had 0% of forward/risky passes and with total of 2 forward passes which is around 10% of his total passes.

I see that people are starting to use an alibi:
1. EV and his system is guilty for everything
2. and our players are static and not moving at all=are guilty for everything

So, when Semedo doesn't know what to do in attack: it is EV's system and lazy teammates.
When Arthur is playing backpasses like a scared girl, it is again on EV and lazy, slow teammates.
Yet again, Messi is able to play 60-70% of forward passes inspite of EV and lazy, old, granny teammates, hmm...