Ivan Rakitić

[God Serena]

Another decent performance.
Now with him on form again, together with Roberto getting better and better plus Grandmaster Busquets and not to forget Arda coming soon our MF problems seem to be gone for now.

Don't forget the captain, the DON, Andres Iniesta!

 

[barcanuck]

He's a good man Raki. Really does well with his defensive duties and covering for Dani. Best signing not named Luis.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

Wins EL last year, gets all other trophies this year. That is how Raki rolls. Underrated beast.

 

[dakt]

Almost no forward balls offered from him in the 1st half. He should not start the next game against them.

 

[te amo barca]

He created the chance for Suarez.

 

[dakt]

He created the chance for Suarez.

Cool. Point is, when we're not dominating, he's not offering much in terms of finding free space, making deep runs with the ball and he just lacks skills when caught up in tight spaces.

 

[evilhita666]

Shoot the goddamn ball, man!

 

[Barcaman]

Apart from sombrero he did poor.
His overall play dropped since he got married.

 

[God Serena]

He was poor again but I'm seeing improvements. At least now he's trying something every now and then. Perhaps he is the reverse Cesc, and we'll have a world beater on our hands come CL time.

 

[Neymessi]

Imo he hasn't been bad or anything but roberto should be given some matches ahead of him and then sub raki for roberto in 65 min.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

He was poor again but I'm seeing improvements. At least now he's trying something every now and then. Perhaps he is the reverse Cesc, and we'll have a world beater on our hands come CL time.

Poor? He was our best defensive midfielder. I dont understand the critisism for Raki. He is doing so much work defensively for us.

 

[Galning]

Shoot the goddamn ball, man!

Right? Two times in yesterday's game he was all alone outside Espanyol's box and he decides to pass. Lack of confidence? If anyone should have a crack it's him.

 

[God Serena]

Poor? He was our best defensive midfielder. I dont understand the critisism for Raki. He is doing so much work defensively for us.

He's not a defender or a defensive midfielder though. He's supposed to do midfielder things, things we know he's capable of doing.

 

[Barcaman]

That's not true. He basically has a role of defensive midfielder. He guards that right side as Messi barely helps off the ball.
He also usually covers top distances.

 

[God Serena]

A defensive midfielder often shifts to cover for an attacking fullback though. Raki was doing the role of a CDM far more obviously early on last season when he had to do all the covering for Alves and imo that was a large part of why we were so weak at the time. Putting in more defensive work to compensate for a non-defensive winger is him taking more effort defensively but I wouldn't say that's the role of a defensive midfielder. He puts in his shift on defense but that is not his primary role. Even you said he was poor, Bojan. His creativity has been poor and it's a stark contrast to when we have Roberto there, who not only helps defend but also carries the ball forward and can pick out the obvious forward pass.