Ivan Rakitić

[BBZ8800]

For people who think that his defending and covering is a coincidence:
Arthur, 846 minutes this season: 5 interceptions in total
Rakitic, 78 minutes vs Borussia: 4 interceptions

Arthur has 2 tackles and 2 interceptions in the last 320 minutes for Barca.

If you think that it is a coincidence, Arthur was also the weakest link in defense in the last season in terms of interceptions, tackles, blocks and clearances.

With him you get possession, you lose defending.

 

[Nazario1985]

Ok game.

But when he went off …

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

For people who think that his defending and covering is a coincidence:
Arthur, 846 minutes this season: 5 interceptions in total
Rakitic, 78 minutes vs Borussia: 4 interceptions

Arthur has 2 tackles and 2 interceptions in the last 320 minutes for Barca.

If you think that it is a coincidence, Arthur was also the weakest link in defense in the last season in terms of interceptions, tackles, blocks and clearances.

With him you get possession, you lose defending.

How do you defend if you have the ball all the time?

 

[BusiTheKing]

Perfect condition for him to show something today. Against an offensive team that doesn't press very hard. Lots of space and time. And he was.... ok.

 

[Gnidrologist]

For people who think that his defending and covering is a coincidence:
Arthur, 846 minutes this season: 5 interceptions in total
Rakitic, 78 minutes vs Borussia: 4 interceptions

In a game where Borusia had 72-28% possession at ones point.

 

[BBZ8800]

How do you defend if you have the ball all the time?

We have the ball all the time at Camp Nou all the time regardless who plays: Roberto, Raki, Rafinha.

On away la liga matches, we struggle.
Then again, we can't have possession with Arthur-Frenkie since other players don't move.
And since we can't have possession for too long, we are murdered in defense due to this pair also.

Look, we have Messi who needs a babysitter.
We have Suarez who don't defend too much.
Those two play better when midfielders are babysitting for them.
If you add Arthur with low numbers of tackles and interceptions, then you need a babysitter even for him.
And then you have Frenkie who also plays better when someone is covering for him.

Now, if you field Messi, Suarez, Arthur, Frenkie, you have 4 players who need a babysitter support and only 1 babysitter on a field.
But when you remove one out of Frenkie/Arthur, you have only 3 players who need babysitters and 2 true babysitters in Raki and Busi on a field.

 

[BBZ8800]

In a game where Borusia had 72-28% possession at ones point.

We won in the end?
Do you realize that we were on a verge of being KO'd in a group stage for the first time since 1999, with this possession based midfield duo?

Since we can't have both:
1. Do you want possession and being Kod in a group stage
2. Or less possession and wins?

Again, we can't have both with these old players.

I'll take wins.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

That 0:4 win at Anfield last year was great too. And that 3:0 win in Rome the year before. So many interceptions in those games.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Rakitic had exactly 0.1 more tackles pr 90 than Arthur for last season's La Liga. For every ten games we play, we get one more tackle. What a fucking difference huh.

 

[JohnN]

We won in the end?
Do you realize that we were on a verge of being KO'd in a group stage for the first time since 1999, with this possession based midfield duo?

Since we can't have both:
1. Do you want possession and being Kod in a group stage
2. Or less possession and wins?

Again, we can't have both with these old players.

I'll take wins.

We were never on the verge of being eliminated since we had a home game. If am not mistaken we have many 5-0 games at home this season and are pretty dominant. Away from camp nou our problems seem to be getting worse and that is because WE DONT HAVE A DEFENDING TEAM and we give away possession too much because our midfielders are playing too high up the field. The answer to this problem is not to sacrifice even more possession for the shake of 2 interceptions. The answer is to re eastablish our possession game even away from home, by using better tactics.

 

[Gnidrologist]

We won in the end?
Do you realize that we were on a verge of being KO'd in a group stage for the first time since 1999, with this possession based midfield duo?

Since we can't have both:
1. Do you want possession and being Kod in a group stage
2. Or less possession and wins?

Again, we can't have both with these old players.

I'll take wins.

We WILL be koed with these indeed old players, who should not be there anymore on starting list in playoffs by any top team, like we used to. It was visible how geezers just couldn't keep up the tempo in second half and after Borussia scored looked like it could fall apart any minute with less luck. And against completely out of form, timid team on Campnou.
We can't park buses and we have evidences for that.

 

[xXKonan]

Nothing special today.

Just one of those games that deceives you into thinking he might be useful but like Busi, would collapse like a house of cards against a team that is much better organized at pressing.

 

[George_Costanza]

the worst player on the pitch. He should be sold in Jan

 

[George_Costanza]

We won in the end?
Do you realize that we were on a verge of being KO'd in a group stage for the first time since 1999, with this possession based midfield duo?

Since we can't have both:
1. Do you want possession and being Kod in a group stage
2. Or less possession and wins?

Again, we can't have both with these old players.

I'll take wins.

Seriously possession or no possession. We won because of Messi. I already gave you Barca's winning formula. Pls, apply the formula generously in your stats posts.

 

[Messigician]

Welcome back to the starting 11 Ivan. Keep winning and you can stay there.