11 - Ousmane Dembélé - V1

[Raketa10]

He needs to learn how to pass. Why did Valverde started him instead of Deulofeu or Denis?

Also, I'm pretty sure Denis was an excellent passer when he was 20.

How can you even compare Denis to Dembele? Denis is just an average player and that's on his good day. He should NEVER be a starter for Barca!

 

[George_Costanza]

Ousmane Dembele is a huge talent. He will definitely win the BDO in 4-5 years. Ousmane and Umtiti are future WC players. I would argue Umtiti is already a WC and among the best.

 

[Barcaman]

I think many of us are getting ahead of ourselves. Dembele has a long way to go before becoming world class. Let him integrate slowly and don't expect too much in these first months with Barca.

 

[cro-man]

He seems to be clumsy on passing like suarez. I hope he will fit into a ball keeping team where you dont have much space around you. He is a special player but when i look at this previous numbers passing isnt one of his strenghts...

He is very young hard to tell how he will turn out....

 

[Givenchy]

Ousmane Dembele is a huge talent. He will definitely win the BDO in 4-5 years. Ousmane and Umtiti are future WC players. I would argue Umtiti is already a WC and among the best.

Umtiti is already imo hes just so underrated outside of Barca. Dembele will come good, hes learning from the best

 

[BBZ8800]

I think many of us are getting ahead of ourselves. Dembele has a long way to go before becoming world class. Let him integrate slowly and don't expect too much in these first months with Barca.

Yes. We already expected slightly too much.
In the last 2 matches, I watched Barca more or less only to see Dembele (of course, and to see a win of our team).
But my eyes were on Dembele all the time, and I would yell on a Tv all the time: pass the ball to Dembele, guys, pass the ball to Dembele!

And then, I was slightly disappointed yesterday.
Not because he WAS bad, but because we are too hyped and I expected Messiesque match from him, right away.

So yes, he is a huge talent, everyone can see that.
But it will take a lot of time until he will gel into our team, until he will learn our movements, system and until he will create chemistry with Rcm, Semedo and Messi.

Also, it will take time until he will improve passing, improve his decision making and until he will find his place/position in our formation.
We need to be fair and say that he was somewhat lost yesterday.
Rakitic wasn't passing the ball to him at all (he was passing to the left and to Messi all the time).
When Semedo passed the ball to Dembele, those two were too close and Dembele didn't know where to go with a ball (plus, Messi was around that area also).
When he had the ball, he was either dribbling or looking for Messi all the time.

I know that it was his debut, but it will take at least a few Months until he will start to click better with teammates and with our system.

Also, as this user mentioned:

I'd like to see him on left flank however, since well, all of our build-up goes trough Messi, and for Messi the obvious pass is towards left-flank. Feel like he will see too few balls on right side of pitch.

Maybe it would be good to try him at LW, since currently on the right we have Semedo who can go high up the pitch.
Then we have Messi who plays somewhere in between center and RW position.
So, it gets too crowded there and not too much space for Dembele to take the ball and create something in an open space.

So, imo, currently it is like:
Right side: Semedo, Dembele and even Messi.
Left side: Alba alone, or sometimes Suarez.
Let's say that Rakitic and Iniesta are in the center.

So, in majority of yesterday's match, it was 1:3 or 2:3 players on the right.
3 good dribblers on the right (Messi, Dembele, Semedo), while we have only a headless chicken Alba on the left.

So, maybe Dembele would have much more space and opportunities on the left.
It is just too crowded currently on the right side.

Even though, we won last 4 matches with 12:0 score, so it is hard to say that we should change too much in our formation.

 

[Trafalgar]

Give him time people

 

[DonAndres]

What? I'm saying that Dembele's passing leaves a lot to be desired and that his age shouldn't necessarily be an excuse considering Denis is great at passing

Denis is literally 3 years older, and even then not that great a passer. Dembele's final ball is already proven to be much better than Denis's, as shown in last year's Buli and immediately to Suarez in his debut. Denis hardly ever manages the kinds of final passes that Dembele can produce, only one pre-assist ball to Arda from last season comes to mind.

Dembele needs to improve short passing and instinctive combination play, which is just due to him being raw as it'll develop in time. His vision is superb though, something that Denis has never shown. The main source of Denis's creativity is his dribbling and movement, not outstanding vision or passing. To say he's a "great passer" is nothing more than a projection and not actually true, as his passes are rarely ever actually great.

 

[Nothanks]

Dembele needs match fitness and time to be integrated into the team
he went two weeks without training to later have one week (during international week) to train and then be thrown in against Juve.. give him time.

 

[beogatts]

juve game was a huge erly test for him as a starter. juve = top serie A team. a few injured players wont make tht much difference to juve.

gotta admit OD was quite lost but he also created space for messi's shots. he was one of juve's threat after all and this guy will improve..

 

[Messi983]

I know that it was his debut, but it will take at least a few Months until he will start to click better with teammates and with our system.

When he had the ball, he was either dribbling or looking for Messi all the time.

3 good dribblers on the right (Messi, Dembele, Semedo), while we have only a headless chicken Alba on the left.

Agree with everything you said. One thing he has to do first is to calm down. It was his first start at Camp Nou so it's understandable he was nervous but this will go away with more games under his belt so nothing to worry about. Then he'll show more of his talent but I agree that he'll probably need a few months to know his teammates and system better so he'll feel fully comfortable in his role and he could play his natural game without (over)thinking things. I hope his adaptation period will be as quick as Umtiti's last season or as good as Semedo's seems so far but I won't be surprised if he'll need more time to adapt and even a full season or two to improve some of his deficiencies like passing. As you said everyone can see his talent but he's still a work in progress and I hope people will have patience because there will be growing pains with him for sure but at the end it will be worth the wait.

I understand why he wants to get to Messi's good side but I also hope he'll start to look for other pass options than just Messi when there are 4 or 5 opponents around and it's very likely the ball won't even come to him. But again, this will probably come with more time and confidence.

I've mentioned yesterday in Suarez thread that I expect Valverde to try Dembele at left wing too (probably in games where Alba will be unavailable so he'll play with his friend Digne who is not offensively as good and will need more help) but for now I think he'll play most of the times as RW to build a chemistry and help each other out with Semedo and let Alba on his own. I'm not Alba fan either but so far he has been a very positive surprise to me. With no Neymar around he has more freedom and seems very comfortable in more offensive role. He'll still have his brain farts here and there but overall I think he's a few levels over what he showed in previous seasons so hopefully he can keep this up as it seems our system depends on him quite a lot so far. Injury history is a concern though as I don't think Digne can play that role himself so he'll probably need help from Dembele and then we'll let Semedo alone on the other side. Or we'll have to change formation to 4-2-3-1 with Deulofeu/Denis coming in for one of the midfielders, probably Iniesta who can't play in holding midfielder role alongside Busquets.

 

[Julien]

And then, I was slightly disappointed yesterday.
Not because he WAS bad, but because we are too hyped and I expected Messiesque match from him, right away.

same.

But there's only one Messi.

I also guess we expected a lot because we paid 145m, but we should not since we paid that much because the market was crazy, and because we needed a signing.

It's just two games. Once it clicks we're in for a ride.

 

[ASordidGod]

Not trying to be argumentative, but why would anyone expect Dembele (at 20!) to be anywhere near Messi? Hell, he never ever WILL be - that's just a fact. No-one will. What Dembele is, at the moment, is a very good prospect. That's it. He's capable of excellent things, I'd say, but not consistently. He needs time and patience.

 

[Ronaldinho10]

same.

But there's only one Messi.

I also guess we expected a lot because we paid 145m, but we should not since we paid that much because the market was crazy, and because we needed a signing.

It's just two games. Once it clicks we're in for a ride.

I have confindence in OD he will prove his worth I have no doubt about it.. i'm more worried about other positions like midfield..

 

[KingLeo10]

And then, I was slightly disappointed yesterday.
Not because he WAS bad, but because we are too hyped and I expected Messiesque match from him, right away.

there's only 3-4 players in history who were absolute beasts at the age of 20. messi, maradona, ronaldo, and pele. you can't measure dembele to any of these 4 as he simply isn't going to be on that level.