Sick of Keita and these lineups

Keita does not solidify any midfield, if anything he makes it weaker(best examples of this are against arsenal at emirates but there are many others). He is not a DM, he is a box to box, pressing midfielder who should most definitely not be used as a substitute for a DM

The Franchise wrote:To be honest, I think the PL has soiled him in this regard.

He is used to running off the ball into the box to get on the end of things, its the role he has been playing for Arsenal fora while now.

Thats why he is getting goals and even Pep has commented on that ability. It is clearly his biggest assest after the final pass.

I couldn't agree more with every word.

BarcaKizz wrote:Tbh... its not playing Keita that is the problem... its that playing Keita means 'not' playing someone else.

Today playing him instead of Villa meant Pep used a dumb 3-4-3. I understood the logic in playing Keita today. He wanted more steel in the mids, but he should have played instead of Cesc and not Villa/Adriano/Afellay.

I think Pep felt, and I would feel the same, that a midfield of Xavi, Busquets and Fabregas would be too static. Hence he needed one ball carrier or at least a runner and presser. Earlier Keita has been used as Iniesta's understudy especially in the 2009-10 season. Yesterday he was given a similar role unlike the DM role that he has been doing recently. Now many of us would say Pep should have played Thiago. I think Pep doesn't feel that Thiago is fully ready and does not want to play him in a position of great responsibility as yet especially in a crunch game with the right support cast not along side him. Now in this mix he still wanted to play Fabregas because he's been in good form and is one player capable of getting goals when we need them. Considering all these things some kind of tradeoff was anyway needed resulting in this lopsided formation the way I see it. At least this time Pep did not play Busquets in defense.

Do you all think Dani Alves has become a little reckless with his tackling and would do well to be more careful in avoiding dangerous challenges?

As some have suggested Keita is not really the problem.
The problem is when you feel like experimenting with one of your league’s toughest rivals.
In games like this you ought to present your strongest squad and that doesn’t mean only the players but the formation as well
I’d rather have Keita in Thiago’s place than Alves in Pedro’s

messixaviesta wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:Tbh... its not playing Keita that is the problem... its that playing Keita means 'not' playing someone else.

Today playing him instead of Villa meant Pep used a dumb 3-4-3. I understood the logic in playing Keita today. He wanted more steel in the mids, but he should have played instead of Cesc and not Villa/Adriano/Afellay.

I think Pep felt, and I would feel the same, that a midfield of Xavi, Busquets and Fabregas would be too static. Hence he needed one ball carrier or at least a runner and presser. Earlier Keita has been used as Iniesta's understudy especially in the 2009-10 season. Yesterday he was given a similar role unlike the DM role that he has been doing recently. Now many of us would say Pep should have played Thiago. I think Pep doesn't feel that Thiago is fully ready and does not want to play him in a position of great responsibility as yet especially in a crunch game with the right support cast not along side him. Now in this mix he still wanted to play Fabregas because he's been in good form and is one player capable of getting goals when we need them. Considering all these things some kind of tradeoff was anyway needed resulting in this lopsided formation the way I see it. At least this time Pep did not play Busquets in defense.

I didnt think Keita had a bad game.He was decent.But the problem was Thiago not playing.
The kid is a bonafide superstar in the making and I would argue that outside of Barca he is good enough to start for any other club.And I also dont think nerves affect him all that much.He seems to have outrageous confidence in his abilities.Against Valencia after coming on he proved to be a threat.
From here on out in every situation I would want Thiago to get minutes instead of Keita.

Bump

And at the same time...