God Serena
New member
Rakitic is so overrated. One good season (The treble) and suddenly people act like he's indispensable no matter how awful he plays.
Ivan Rakitić
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
George_Costanza
Active member
the past month Gomes>>Raki
Probably because Fabregas was played out of position and had Xavi and Iniesta to contend with. He's miles ahead of Rakitic.
CatalinR10
Senior Member
iniesta had to play lw so that cesc could play in the mid but still sucked . One of the worst transfers barca made. Rakitic's goal in the CL final > all useless cesc goals scored vs low tier teams in first parts of every season.
God Serena
New member
Well, tbf, Cesc was actually pretty important at one time. Back when Tito was in charge we were in full Messidependencia mode but in the first half of the season I could argue that Cesc was just as important. He was probably our best midfielder that season until his legendary Christmas bug hit and then he became an amateur.
CatalinR10
Senior Member
yeah , i agree , every start of the season he was good , scoring lots of goals but as soon as new year started he turned to trash , playing shit in important games
BBZ8800
Senior Member
As the time passes, I think that Raki will be one of those players who deteriorated physically very fast in 1-2 years from 100% to 50%.
Even in the past, he wasn't the fastest player in the world, and he was the player with the weakest long-term stamina in our team (over the whole season).
He needed to be rested all the time.
Lately, both in Barcelona and in Croatian NT team, he looks like a shadow of himself.
I always loved Rakitic and defended him (until the last 2-3 Months), but I don't think that his case is only on "crazy Lucho".
Our team in 2016 played really bad for majority of times with oldies Iniesta-Rakitic-Busi.
Lately with Denis/Gomes/Rafinha (when at least 1 of them play), everything looks much better.
We cover more ground, we are more fluid, our movement in general is better.
I don't want to be mean, but lately when Rakitic plays, I feel as:
= when Gomes or Denis get subbed and Raki steps in, it feels the same as when Pique or Umtiti go out and when granny Mathieu enters a field
Even today when Rakitic played for 20-ish minutes, I had a feeling a few times: man, he is already dead tired.
He is (at least for me) starting to look like Arda when he plays in midfield: Old, tired, slow, always a few miliseconds too slow with passes, tackles, movements.
Longterm, unless if he Rakitic suddenly starts to play in a Godmode, I am quite sure that we will sell him soon.
Rakitic from 2016 didn't offer more than current Gomes, who is aged 23.
And Denis and Rafinha aren't much weaker than current Rakitic either.
Those are 3 younger players (plus young Alena) who aren't weaker players than current Rakitic, and a maths is quite simple...
Even in the past, he wasn't the fastest player in the world, and he was the player with the weakest long-term stamina in our team (over the whole season).
He needed to be rested all the time.
Lately, both in Barcelona and in Croatian NT team, he looks like a shadow of himself.
I always loved Rakitic and defended him (until the last 2-3 Months), but I don't think that his case is only on "crazy Lucho".
Our team in 2016 played really bad for majority of times with oldies Iniesta-Rakitic-Busi.
Lately with Denis/Gomes/Rafinha (when at least 1 of them play), everything looks much better.
We cover more ground, we are more fluid, our movement in general is better.
I don't want to be mean, but lately when Rakitic plays, I feel as:
= when Gomes or Denis get subbed and Raki steps in, it feels the same as when Pique or Umtiti go out and when granny Mathieu enters a field
Even today when Rakitic played for 20-ish minutes, I had a feeling a few times: man, he is already dead tired.
He is (at least for me) starting to look like Arda when he plays in midfield: Old, tired, slow, always a few miliseconds too slow with passes, tackles, movements.
Longterm, unless if he Rakitic suddenly starts to play in a Godmode, I am quite sure that we will sell him soon.
Rakitic from 2016 didn't offer more than current Gomes, who is aged 23.
And Denis and Rafinha aren't much weaker than current Rakitic either.
Those are 3 younger players (plus young Alena) who aren't weaker players than current Rakitic, and a maths is quite simple...
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Raketa10
Senior Member
What are you talking about he was the MOST used midfielder douring his first two seasons. He played basically every single game. He was NEVER rested.
Guys do you even try to inform, read some statistics or at least look at some data before you write your posts?
Oh and one more thing, name ONE strong opponent we played agains where Rafinha, Denis or Gomes looked fluid and better than "old" players? When those guys step up and play fluid and powerful against teams like Real, Bayern, Juventus, ATM etc. than I will be the first one to say they did a great job. Until then I will not compare them with "oldies" because they simply don't deserve that for now.
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BBZ8800
Senior Member
Well, I watched all matches in the last few Seasons the same as you and everyone here.
About Rakitic not being rested, wasn't he the guy who was subbed most often out of all our players, around minute 60-70, since he was usually dead tired by then? Both in 2014/15, 2015/16 and now in 2016/17?
Imo, he is the player who (even when he was in form) gets tired the most easily in our team.
Some will reply: but that is because he covers a lot of ground.
Well, Iniesta runs a lot also. Busi also. Dani Alves needed to cover way more ground etc and he was more or less never tired...
I think that he naturally can't run as much as some other guys.
And something additional happened to his stamina+pace in the last 12-18 months (ageing too early, family problems mentioned a lot of times in papers?).
About Rafinha/Denis/Gomes playing well against big teams.
For the beginning, Denis/Gomes didn't have the chance to play well against big teams at all (plus, Rafinha was injured during the whole 2015/16), since we didn't play too many of big teams this season.
When we played a few of big matches, we played with a good old MSN+Busi-Iniesta-Raki (usually) and we mostly sucked every time.
Our big matches this season:
Supercup: Sevilla:Barcelona 0:2 (we won because we didn't play with Neymar+Rakitic combo)
-- Neymar didn't play, Arda played
Supercup: Barca:Sevilla 3:0 (Turan, Munir, Messi, Gomes, Busi, Denis)
-- we won without Neymar+Rakitic combo
-- now watch this:
-- Barcelona:Atletico 1:1 (good old MSN+Busi, Iniesta, Rakitic)
-- not working, of course
-- Barca:City 4:0
-- this time it worked, but City played with 10 men for a majority of match, so it is hard to tell...
-- Man City:Barca 3:1 (Msn, Raki, Busi, Gomes)
-- we sucked again
-- Sevilla:Barcelona 1:2 (MSN, Denis, Busi, Raki)
-- Barca:Real 1:1 (MSN, Busi, Gomes, Raki)
The only 2 matches where we won with Rakitic (plus Neymar) against bigger teams this season were City 4:0 (red card) and Sevilla away 1:2.
So, it is hard to tell that we actually have results and some fluidity lately with a good MSN+Iniesta-Busi-Rakitic.
In short, my current opinion about Rakitic:
1. team sucks against big teams in the last 12 Months when he plays, because he can't run anymore
2. the worst part is that a team often sucks even against weaker teams when he is on the field, because again, he can't run anymore
On the other hand:
1. a team looks more lively lately when Gomes/Denis/Rafinha play instead of Rakitic against weaker teams. We run more, move better, have more fluidity
2. about Gomes/Denis/Rafinha against big teams, well, we are yet to see that, but considering the form of Rakitic in the last 12 Months, we will soon get the answer:
who is better against big teams: current Rakitic from 2017 or current Gomes/Denis/Rafinha
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raskolnikov
Well-known member
I dont get all this sell/bench stuff. Raki should be a clear starter.
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