Busquets, the brilliant mind

S wrote:Appropriate title of this thread should be ' Busquets the brilliant myth '

Because ive never seen a more overrated overhyped footballer in my lifetime. A footballing fraud who was riding the coat tails of two midfield legends for nearly a decade.

How useless is this guy?

Turns out playing DM is a bit more challenging when your team is not suffocating the opposition in their own half or when you don't have Xavi and Iniesta in your passing triangle.

he's been shit for 4 years at least and we've all been saying it

should've been permanently benched with frenkie in the team

Agreed. Way overdue.

Its strange because he was very good up to a point about 2 years or so ago, and he just suddenly dropped massively, hes relatively young and his position also relatively speaking hasnt required him to cover enormous amounts of space due to our game apart from pressing. We are way overdue to find a DM.

Setien has said Roberto/Arthur could play there, but obviously thats laugable and not doable anymore anyway. Rakitic is also done, and I hope the board are not thinking of sticking Vidal there looool.

So its gonna be Pjanic with De Jone and whoever we will stick on the other side, not looking good at all.

his entire game looked like that mind you

Wow. He looks like he should be playing in Miami FC

Is Koeman really going for De jong - Busquets double pivot with Messi as AM?

Messi as false 9, Coutinho as AM. It's not a bad idea if Pjanic plays instead of Busquets imo.

Cruijf wrote:Messi as false 9, Coutinho as AM. It's not a bad idea if Pjanic plays instead of Busquets imo.

yep. Even if its early stages, i liked our setup vs Villarreal because Messi wasn't the focal point, he was just part of the team and every attack didnt have to go through him.

This is also why I like Coutinho at AM because he doesn't look for messi with every pass, he just does what's best for the team instead of passing it every time to Leo like Busquets does.

where do we rank this guy all-time amongst other great DMs?

A Barça legend says goodbye. #5ergioUnic pic.twitter.com/SWlDN2GtA2

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 10, 2023

El Gunner wrote:where do we rank this guy all-time amongst other great DMs?

About time? On his day hes still elite, but there are numerous aspects of his game irreplacable, we still struggle in those next season. His best attributes must be anticipation of the ball when the opponent has it, so often he goes in earliest to win the ball back straight away, or is the first to press or at least force them into mistake. I dont think I seen another player ever as good as it. Then his technique n control when under pressure obviously, passing range n managing the game in general covering large areas until recent yrs And we all know his weaknesses as been increasing as yrs go on n its finally time.

Thank u to another Barca legend absolutely... we'll need to find someone I imagine apart from just De Jong, Pedri n Gavi, unless they learn to adjust into the DM role. Barca has usually had top DMs into to play 4-3-3 n dominate play, so important.

El Gunner wrote:

El Gunner wrote:where do we rank this guy all-time amongst other great DMs?

in the top 5, just behind Benzema.

There's a reason why this thread is named "the brilliant mind". In terms of reading the game, he's probably the best. No other could read the game like he did. In his prime, opponents didnt even bother to press him because there was no point. His influence diminshed as the game evolved due to his not-so-brilliant athleticism which is now crucial. This is evidenced by the emergence of Rodri, who is a similar player but much more physical and athletic.

People like to say that he was carried by Xaviesta, the way I see it is that he carried them as much as they did him. The most unique player in his position for sure.

bill cartwright, tito jackson, draymond green

eh, i'm not so sure about "brilliant mind", was never that completely sold on him, that's why i asked the question

during Barca's prime he really didn't have to do much defensive work because of Xaviesta and Barca's ball retention capabilities. He was good at reading the game, sure, but no level greater than Italy's deep-lying playmaking 6s such as Pirlo and more recently Jorginho.

He's solid and good no doubt, but in terms of pure DM work i don't think he holds a candle towards ball-busting DMs such as Makelele, Essien and more recently Kante and Casemiro

titosantill wrote:draymond green

now there's a brilliant mind for you in terms of reading a game defensively and making up for physical attributes

Myesyats wrote:

El Gunner wrote:

El Gunner wrote:where do we rank this guy all-time amongst other great DMs?

in the top 5, just behind Benzema.

This never fails to make me laugh

It's a bit weird, as he's very clearly an entirely different mold of DM than typical or what people generally rate when thinking of this position. He's not athletic, strong, big on tackles. But if he plays in a system that values interceptions, distribution and intelligence then he's elite.

I'd say he belongs in the top 5 for that alone, but it might not be enough for others.

The other strike against him is that he overstayed his welcome by like 7 years.

Lol, yep... hes not a real DM in the traditional destroyer physically bully type, hes the newer technical game controlling type we have had for so many yrs now?

Anyhow, it definitely means we got a big task in replacing him. Will prolly need to adjust our play n players in general to compensate...

Myesyats wrote:

El Gunner wrote:

El Gunner wrote:where do we rank this guy all-time amongst other great DMs?

in the top 5, just behind Benzema.

Never gets old. Always makes me smile...