Ivan Rakitić

[Behrox]

I don't think he ever had so many longballs at Barca.

Rakitic's longballs, Roberto as a starter, Dembele as a starter and a comment from one coach from La Masia yesterday how maybe we need changes, made me think that EV and our coaching staff are not happy with a slow shortpassing build up game "pass to the next guy" and imo, they will try a lot of new things this season to speed up our play.

Again, Rakitic has never tried so many longballs at Barca.
He was surely instructed to do that.

hopefully so, cause our core team can't move for shit. They just don't have the legs for the total football close the space game, much better to have a mixed style of short passing to draw people, open up spaces and pick out a runner with a long ball or two.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

[tw]1031048966857740290[/tw]

1 key pass

1 dribble

will add few that you omited .

Rakitić's stats against Alavés:

94% pass accuracy
100% long balls completed
128 passes completed
21 long balls
1 key pass
1 dribble completed
1 foul won
6 duels won
2 interceptions
4 ariels won

 

[DonAndres]

None of Raki, Arthur, Busquets is good in a fast build up play against parked buses.

Busquets is bad against anyone lately.
Arthur is slow aged 22, and extremely slow in a faster direct play. He never heard for a long ball, faster play or a forward pass.

Rakitic is slow and not good in tight spaces.

Yet, Raki can play a forward pass or a through ball.
Positionally, for now, Arthur occupies same area as Busquets (Messi and Dybala analogy).
Not to mention our defending in Busquets, Arthur, Coutinho trio.
For DonAndres, yes, Rakitic defends better and covers a larger area than any of our midfielders.
With or without stats.
Use an eye test.

Rakitic is only a few days here, and played already.
Coutinho is not a safe starter anymore.
Arthur was behind Roberto in a pecking order.

Our current midfield trio is:
Busquets, Rakitic, someone.

About Rakitic, btw, it really seems that Modric has given him some tips during a World cup.
Rakitic plays more confident than before, faster, and is trying a lot of longballs, like for Croatia.
Imo, this season he will be braver after a world cup success.
I expect more longpasses, more assists and more shooting attempts from him than in the last 2 seasons.

He doesn't pass to the closest teammate every single time, like Arthur.
So, I would say that his passing game is faster and less obvious than Arthur's.
And closer to a faster, direct play.
Even Croatia played more direct and with counters with him and Modric.

Yeah this is all very rose tinted. Rakitic has always played long balls against La Liga fodder pretty effortlessly. This isn't new and he didn't just suddenly become some creative player in the WC. Even in the semis and the final his performances were very muted and negligible against teams that pressed him properly. Seems like quite a bit of hype came from those two pen shootouts. Just as he doesn't ever tend to make passes against proper CL sides or high pressure teams like those lobbed through balls to Messi against Alaves.

And it's not just about "passing it to the guy next to you". It's about movement off the ball when we're in possession, in which Rakitic is even more static than Busquets. Arthur unlike both is always moving off the ball. You said Arthur and Busquets contribute to the same problem but it's actually Busi/Rakitic who are in the same boat. Both don't move at all. Busi has far more line breaking passes and Rakitic far more long balls. But that still doesn't change that Rakitic is just as bad as anyone or even worse when it comes to slowing down the play. He doesn't move, takes time to make his decisions (unless it's a backpass), and takes more time to execute.

Besides a vast majority of Rakitic's long balls and non-adjacent passing is just passing it as wide as possible to the fullback. Always switching the play from one fullback to another to the point of total redundancy at times. It's never through the pressure in the middle. So I don't get this idea that he's out there breaking defense down from deep a la Pirlo or anything, it is very much taking a safe option just like Arthur playing a short pass is.

It was no coincidence that we clearly stepped it up offensively when Arthur came on and began to get Coutinho involved in better ways attacking through the middle rather than just spreading it to the wings as Rakitic always does.

 

[BBZ8800]

It was no coincidence that we clearly stepped it up offensively when Arthur came on and began to get Coutinho involved in better ways attacking through the middle rather than just spreading it to the wings as Rakitic always does.

Arthur played 13 minutes.
I can pull a few crazy estimations also why we played better in the last 13 minutes.
It works both ways, you won't like it.
Here we go:

1. We played better in the last 13 minutes because there was no Semedo.
We didn't play with a man less in creation.
2. We played better in the last 13 minutes because Dembele was finally out. It is a no coincidence that our best 13 minutes of play came when he was finally off the field.
3. We played good because BOTH guys who struggle the most with Tiki-Taka, Dembele and Semedo were out
4. We played better because we had more Cms and less wingers on a field:
Roberto as a Rb
Busi, Arthur, Rakitic, Coutinho.
So, when we fielded 4-5 cms in the same time (two wingers Dembele and Semedo out), we were better in fluidity, movement and chemistry.
So, we should go back to 442.
5. Busi was out, so we were even better

Note: I don't quite believe in all of these things mentioned above.
But you created a theory out of the last 13 minutes. I can do the same.
As said, the simplest one is:
Arthur was in
Dembele was finally out

As always, instead of just a single factor and a single player, way more factors were responsible for some outcomes, even in the last 13 minutes.

 

[Zidane82]

Yes, let s ignore the usefull contributions and emphasize the ones we perceive as bad.

#truefan

I wish they'd add side and back passes in these stats !!

 

[Zidane82]

will add few that you omited .

Rakitić's stats against Alavés:

94% pass accuracy
100% long balls completed
128 passes completed
21 long balls
1 key pass
1 dribble completed
1 foul won
6 duels won
2 interceptions
4 ariels won

6 duels won is irrelevant if it doesn't say how many he went in for .... he may have lost 26 ...

128 passes presumably includes about 100 side and back passes ..

 

[vlad]

6 duels won is irrelevant if it doesn't say how many he went in for .... he may have lost 26 ...

128 passes presumably includes about 100 side and back passes ..

When its about rakitic and his back passes he gets criticized because of this


Somebody writed in arthur thread that he is making alot of back passes and rarely forward, we could read how back passes are not that bad and they are part of the game


Double standards, hype about arthur is crazy

 

[RMU ReBorn]

6 duels won is irrelevant if it doesn't say how many he went in for .... he may have lost 26 ...

128 passes presumably includes about 100 side and back passes ..

You can assume as much as you want . Sorry to say it's as stupid as most of your posts . He gave two through balls to Messi, of which one of them were wrongly called offsides and all his ariel balls were forward passes and helped us to take the ball from our half to the attacking third depsite Busquets slowing the attack umpteen times . We were facing Alaves not Real Madrid for Rakitic to attempt 26 duels . Better luck next time

 

[RMU ReBorn]

I wish they'd add side and back passes in these stats !!

He had more forward passes and less back passes than his double pivot partner last season .

 

[Judoman]

What s the deal with this obsession with side-back pasess? The players play the way they are instructed to play, with the exception of few individuals, with more creative freedom.

Some ppl just don t understand how team sports works. Usually the hostile ones.

 

[Zidane82]

You can assume as much as you want . Sorry to say it's as stupid as most of your posts . He gave two through balls to Messi, of which one of them were wrongly called offsides and all his ariel balls were forward passes and helped us to take the ball from our half to the attacking third depsite Busquets slowing the attack umpteen times . We were facing Alaves not Real Madrid for Rakitic to attempt 26 duels . Better luck next time

My point still stands .. can't you see that saying he won 6 tackles is useless if there is no mention of how many tackles he made

I actually praised Rakitic for the two fabulous through balls to Messi .. but it's not enough to justify starting in Barca's midfield.

Notice I didn't have to resort to personal insults

 

[Zidane82]

What s the deal with this obsession with side-back pasess? The players play the way they are instructed to play, with the exception of few individuals, with more creative freedom.

Some ppl just don t understand how team sports works. Usually the hostile ones.

Back passes have a use of course but they can't be your default pass as is the case with Raki

 

[Zidane82]

When its about rakitic and his back passes he gets criticized because of this


Somebody writed in arthur thread that he is making alot of back passes and rarely forward, we could read how back passes are not that bad and they are part of the game


Double standards, hype about arthur is crazy

Watch Arthur again ... he never stops moving .. he will receive the ball and if there's nothing on he WILL pass backwards but then he moves a few yards away and demands the ball back and THEN looks for the through ball ..

 

[Judoman]

Back passes have a use of course but they can't be your default pass as is the case with Raki

Sure. It s not like the coach instrusts him where and who to pass right? It s not like we play inside a well defined system. He should be able to do what he wants, play
as many flashy passes as possible right? Who cares about pass completion and ball posession and all that useless things.

 

[Judoman]

Dude don't waste your time with the people here. They've settled for mediocrity in midfield and will disregard your opinions and insult you if you say otherwise. My advice would be to not go down to their level, but rather, just ignore them

Down to their level

Says the poster guy for outright Rakitic hate. How come that hatefull profile picture disappeard?

Typical millennial hypocrisy.