Keita has enjoyed adapting his game
Barcelona defensive midfielder and Mali international Seydou Keita (29), who has played every minute of the new 2009-10 season so far, has enjoyed changing his game from a ball winner to that of a more attacking midfielder. Speaking to Catalan paper Sport, Keita said,”To put it simply, I used to run after the ball and now I wait for it and I move when I am required to.”
“Now I understand everything. The key in this team is for everyone to know what they have to do and to know exactly what your team-mates are doing.”
Barcelona assistant manager, Tito Vilanova is very pleased with Keita’s willingness to adapt, and has also praised his willingness to learn new aspects of the game during training.
“Keita seems like he came up through the youth ranks,” he explained. “He is like a sponge soaking up any piece of advice in training.”
Guardiola also says that as a person, Keita is the best he has ever coached.
Keita has been impressive so far this season.
Agreed! I've been really impressed with him so far this season.
it's actually sad that when iniesta is fully fit he will be benched alot and that may hinder his progress. i want to state the fact now that busquets is more of a xavi type player after the assists he made in pre season and against atletico and cesc shouldn't be a major priority and not signed for anything over 25 mil. the bad news is that a defensive midfielder is still needed to back up yaya. i dont know if mascherano would accept a bench role and the same goes for yaya so i hope they sign diarra from real madrid, hargeaves from manchester united, kompany from manc or even gattuso or ambrosini from milan.
-Marc4barca
Pique or Marquez can play DM when needed
hargreaves? u must be kidding.. he spends most of his time injured.. and RM wont sell diarra to us.
There was a rumour about us wanting to buy Sissoko today on goal.com. Dont know how true it is seeing as how we already have the yaya. He is Keita's cousin though.
pep has really done wonders with guy. keita is better cos he's motivated and he feels valued by guardiola. hope he continues the great form.
The Sissoko thing is just a rumor. He wouldn't fit into our style because he cannot pass the ball. He is more of a defensive midfielder who destroys everything in midfield and wins back the ball. He's a good player and I like him a lot, but you have to have certain attributes to play Barca's style and he doesn't have them. He would be good for us if we didn't play the way we do.
Keita's emergence and improvement are huge. He will give us so many options now that he has learned to play the Barcelona way. And about Iniesta benching Keita: I wouldn't worry about that too much because we have so many games coming up that we will have to rotate and Keita will get plenty of playing time. Plus, injuries are inevitable and it is just a matter of time until they happen.