Arthur

[BusiTheKing]

His acceleration is good, which is what matters. His top speed is nothing special and absolutely doesn't have to be. Coutinho is also far from a turtle. I'd say he's pretty quick actually. Nothing like Rakitic or Busquets.

 

[Kingkongkong]

If people are right about him being ‘fat’ he should get faster When he has lost weight, right?
It should also help on his ‘getting tired’ problem you’re talking about.

 

[ATLBarcaFan]

Don't think he's slow, did feel like every one of his passes went backwards however. Overall, thought it was a decent first performance, great goal.

 

[serghei]

Neither of Coutinho and Arthur is slow. And Arthur is not fat. It's just that he has like some players more of a bulky frame.

 

[BBZ8800]

did feel like every one of his passes went backwards however.

16 backpasses
9 sidepasses
2 forward passes
1 bad pass (around our box near the corner flag)

25:2 ratio of backpasses vs forward passes (even though 2-3 sidepasses were good since they started counters)

This is not hating on a player, but I just feel the need to write something like this when majority of posts are overly optimistic with lines: the new Xavi.

Also, someone mentioned that we will play awesome counterattacking football with Dembele, Malcom, ARTHUR...
Dembele and Malcom probably won't play in the same time and Arthur will need to play forward passes and not slowing down the game and keeping possession for possession's sake.

Anyway, it has only been 45 minutes.
But again, since we have a lot of premature overly optimistic posts, let's add some things to watch in upcoming matches.
My picks are:
1. pace
2. stamina after 30 minutes
3. backpasses
4. being slightly too defensive (like a defensive midfielder)?
5. needs to get rid of the ball faster in some moments (Brazil vs Europe, less time to think)

 

[Pepe Silvia]

My only critique of Arthur is his unwillingness to get into open space off the ball. He played defense pretty well and held his position, but he needs to be more available off the ball. Other than that, he protects the ball brilliantly and distributes like a champ. He is the FUTURE!

 

[henias]

BBZ

Obviously there's not going to be a new Xavi. There's certain elements in midfield there Barca lacked in recent years, and Arthur is here to fill in some of the voids and hopefully piece Barca back together. It's like how Xavi did for us and I think that's what people meant by the "new Xavi". Not literally comparing him to prime Xavi.

You should also stop overanalysing with those nitpicking, it's just going to be useless in the end. At the end of the day, our playstyle depends on someone who can control the midfield and transition the ball smoothly and decisively. We finally found one who manage to suit the profile as compared to Paulinho or Gomes. I think that's something to be optimistic about. Unless we change our style of play completely, there's no way we can find your so called perfect tall, physical, technical, fast midfielder. It's either one or the other and Arthur will fit us just right.

 

[eaman]

Xavi was not a quick player so if Arthur is the same speed I'll be happy coz it sounds like he did alot of the things xavi used to do with the dictating play and one touch stuff

 

[BusiTheKing]

Playing it on the safe side is pretty normal in a debut and when you don't know how your teammates run. Of course creative initiative will come gradually as he becomes comfortable with his place in the system and learns what part of the offensive responsibility he should take on.

 

[Jombi]

1. How is he slow as a turtle? No one caught him from behind at that counter when he passed to Semedo. He runs fine. Tottenham players are turtles too?
2. All players tire fast in the first game of the preseason tour. It's why you do a preseason tour in the first place. To adjust the fitness level of the players.
3. When 3-4 opponents caught him he passed backwards because the players around him didn't give him a better alternative. He is not a player who is scared to make a pass if one opens up to him. This will be the job of the players around him.

Let me say this:

If you say that 4 opponents caught him, it means 3 Barca players were left unmarked (or were loosely marked at best) as a result of their markers pressuring Arthur. Those unmarked players need to do something to get on the ball. Basically move around and make gestures so they can be spotted by the ball carriers. You always saw the likes of Alves making gestures like that he was open and unmarked. Messi does that too. This is exactly what we want. Opponents crowding our skilled players. It means they leave gaps that can be exploited. It's hard to spot unmarked players if they hide behind opponents, or if they don't make themselves available. From ground level the view must be very different and a lot harder to cope with.

Man, literally, nothing makes sense from what you wrote. You're looking for flaws that aren't there in this game. Wait some more.

True, that's why its so important to also give the ball to players who have a lot of opposition players closing in on them. Its a way to lure the opposition out of position if the player receiving the ball actually has the brains to realize it. BBZ8800 is just looking for flaws because someone calls a player "new Pele and Maradona". He will automatically be against that player if that happens, even if he has never seen him play.

 

[TitoTata]

Although you can never predict the future from the game we seen he's shown a lot of talent that we have been missing.

I bet Busi and Rakitic would be dying to play with someone like Arthur. While Iniesta helped with the control in the last couple of seasons he has had his fair share of muscle injuries and his legs and Mobility weren't what the use to be.

Arthur will bring the control and mobility, especially the Mobility the Midfield has been missing for quite some time. This will help take a load of pressure off Both Busi and Rakitic and Rakitic will gain more confidence that he has someone else to help secure the Midfield and he can open up a lot more like with in Croatia.

Rakitic never had a younger Mobile CM in vein of Arthur next to him during his time at Barca. He played with Xavi and Iniesta but Xavi was 34-35 and left after the season he came and he played with Iniesta but he was also slowly on the decline as he was getting older. Guys like Gomes,Denis,Arda etc just simply couldn't do what Xavi or Iniesta could in a Midfield three.

So you're thinking that Rakitic will still be a starter ?

You mentioned him alongside Arthur but then how are we gonna fit those two plus Couthinho plus Busqs plus Messi & Suarez and Dembele & Malcom. ?

That's before we get another player in ... Willan ??

 

[abiabi]

Arthur doesn't give me a zombie vibe like Rakitic. Therefore he should begin the season as starter please.

 

[xXKonan]

So you're thinking that Rakitic will still be a starter ?

You mentioned him alongside Arthur but then how are we gonna fit those two plus Couthinho plus Busqs plus Messi & Suarez and Dembele & Malcom. ?

That's before we get another player in ... Willan ??

Willian isn't coming anymore as Malcom was the backup option.

Rakitic will be a starter next season along with Coutinho as Valverde is a big fan of Rakitic. But Valverde could mix it up a bit here and there with Arthur in the mix in the Midfield especially if he performs well.

 

[TitoTata]

But I think we should be transitioning Coutinho to the midfield as well, and that we need a change in identity in that area.

Arthur seems like a player that is a culture changer in a team. There were several times yesterday that Arthur orchestrating a bunch of 1 touch passing plays between 3-4 players at a time. He was at the center of it all and freed the movement of the ball around the midfield and backline. It isn't just his passing, but his movement that ties all this together and keeps our possessions more open/moving.

We need that to give our midfield some unity and cohesiveness. Too often we've come under gridlock in our buildup play where the entire team is static and can't get things going. Arthur alone moves around so much that he can get several players more involved than they'd usually be and keep the offense playing freely. That can be invaluable when it comes to Messi most of all, but Coutinho and Busi as well. I think Rakitic had a big hand in that gridlock problem last season, namely in the CL. If we can successfully incorporate 2 players in midfield like Arthur/Coutinho that make our offense and possession play almost as formidable as it was in years past, then we should.

Edit: Arthur also changed the passing culture at Gremio. The way they played possession football in Brazil is not a normal thing and Arthur was central to all of that as their best player and heart of the midfield. I think that impact is a big part of what he brings to the table.

I fear that Valverde will be to nervous to play Arthur as a starter , just bringing him on as a sub like Dembele last season

 

[DonAndres]

Lmao BBZ shits on Arthur for backpassing and shits on FDJ for forward passing, and every other possible tiny nitpick out there in the world under the eye of intense scrutiny. Only person I've ever seen complain about how accurate forward passes are a bad thing.

Funnily enough though, when it comes to Rakitic or Paulinho being totally frozen under pressure and being extremely limited in every way on the ball, the blind eye gets turned every time. Then, the caviat of "muscles" and "height" and "workhorseness" totally negates any and all technical weaknesses.

Half of the backpasses you're whining about were in the context of 1-2's where Arthur is playing the ball as quickly as he gets it to the immediate man he's facing. That's pretty much the foundation of tiki taka play. He plays the pass and keeps moving for the next pass and the one after that. Even if Arthur's passes are backwards/sideways the ball moves forward in the end as a result of the play. That's the whole point, and it doesn't matter if backpasses were used to achieve this. He keeps the ball moving in the areas it needs to go, in whatever way possible. Even Xavi passed the ball backwards ALL the time to the same effect of progressing the play. But I wouldn't expect you to understand this.

Sideways/backpassing is only a problem when it's done by players like Rakitic or Mascherano. Slow to receive, slow to turn, ponderous as fuck on the ball, just wasting time by even being on the ball, and then not making the right movement after playing the pass. Rakitic especially just passes it and then barely moves at all, keeping the play as static as possible. Those sideways/backpasses achieve nothing and are only done because they are limited in playing through pressure. There's a difference between passing with purpose and passing without.

Also, lmfao at "slow". If Arthur is slow, what is Rakitic? But tbh I'm not even gonna entertain that argument from a guy that said Modric is slow. Imagine actually believing that.