17 - Marc Casadó

[FCBarca]

Nevermind that both played different positions for most of their time at the club

Using the same stick to beat Eric & Marc but giving Xavi a pass because of his talent should be clear how illogical the criteria is

Similar premature & wide of the mark assessments were made on Gavi, Fermin, Pau and even Prim

Maybe it's just too much porn for some of you, size doesn't matter

 

[Barcaman]

Some people expect too much. And having said that he had a perfect match in Girona. I could be wrong but I see him better suited for Flick's football than Bernal.

 

[xXKonan]

There are arguments to be made of either Bernal or Casado but I always assume Flick rated Bernal higher because of his height and physical traits and Bernal wasn't too shabby with the ball either during the time he got to play before his injury.

 

[Andresito]

As long as they don't ask for too much of him. When playing top teams, don't expect him to beat a high press or mark players like Musiala or Bellingham out of a game. Instead, the other midfielders need to help him out in the buildup or in defence. He's limited but it's not a big problem if you know how to counter that tactically. He's obviously a big upgrade on Christensen on the ball and in most games he'll do fine on his own.

What's important is that he stays in his position to allow the other to flourish.

 

[BusiTheKing]

A lot of prejudice around him because he wasn't picked by Xavi as the chosen one and now people seem to be nitpicking his game in order to justify that assesment.

Really no reason to detract from what he's doing. He's young and is showing great things so far.

 

[Andresito]

A lot of prejudice around him because he wasn't picked by Xavi as the chosen one and now people seem to be nitpicking his game in order to justify that assesment.

Really no reason to detract from what he's doing. He's young and is showing great things so far.

He was a mainstay on our bench during Xavi's last season. He didn't get a lot of minutes but he was always in the match squad. Not sure that means Xavi didn't like him.

 

[BusiTheKing]

He was a mainstay on our bench during Xavi's last season. He didn't get a lot of minutes but he was always in the match squad. Not sure that means Xavi didn't like him.

Not saying there was an agenda against him, but he was clearly viewed as a squad player to fill holes more than a talent to integrate into the first team.

 

[Andresito]

Not saying there was an agenda against him, but he was clearly viewed as a squad player to fill holes more than a talent to integrate into the first team.

Yes that I agree with. And I still think he's 'just' a temporary solution.

In a way it's to his advantage that people don't expect much of him. He's 21 coming in to cover for injured players. He's both older and more experienced than Bernal, plus has a lot less pressure to be generational. Expectations are low, relatively. It's still Barca he plays for.

With that said, he has a great opportunity to prove he can be a great player. If all midfielders had been fit he wouldn't even be at the club now. Need some luck too.

 

[ZenI]

Yes that I agree with. And I still think he's 'just' a temporary solution.

In a way it's to his advantage that people don't expect much of him. He's 21 coming in to cover for injured players. He's both older and more experienced than Bernal, plus has a lot less pressure to be generational. Expectations are low, relatively. It's still Barca he plays for.

With that said, he has a great opportunity to prove he can be a great player. If all midfielders had been fit he wouldn't even be at the club now. Need some luck too.

Exactly. Now we'll have FdJ (hopefully) and Gavi back we can and should rotate more anyway, both Gavi and Pedri can also play CAM. I think the club had higher hopes on Bernal than Casado, but now that Casado has had the opportunity to show of and doing it well we'll it opens some doors for a FdJ exit maybe and us not having to look for some scrub like Romeu as backup. We also have more talent coming through so we'll have a great 100% Masia midfield and CAM, Yamal on RW and we could probably even rotate Guille/Fermin on LW/RW.
So yeah, if Casado keeps it up we're going to be settled with midfielders for years to come and we can focus on a #9, a player that can cover LW/RW/CAM and soon an RB so Kounde can play as CB and LB if Balde isn't up for it. That's actually amazing we only need to look for 3-4 players and the rest from Masia in the years to come, we even have another CB coming through in Cuenca.

 

[Messi983]

He was training with the first team and while he rarely got a chance under Xavi at the same time he played regularly for BA. He started 31 games including promotion playoffs and also played full 90 minutes in most of them. I think he has improved a lot under Rafa last season. Clearly wouldn't play on current level if he would need to start games for the first team 10-12 months ago.

Don't think he's a world beater and probably won't stay long term (you never know though) but for the time being he's a very useful cheap squad player who I think can do a solid job against most La Liga teams. Will probably be exposed vs better opponents and will need help of his team mates but that's true for any player used in his role.

He's also another good example (besides Fermin) that you can also still get a chance in the first team when a bit "older". Kids shouldn't think they'll never make it here if they don't play first team minutes at 16/17. Just stay patient, work hard and doors of the first team will always be open for you.

Will be hard over the next few years as most talented youngsters will expect they are the next Ansu, Gavi, Balde, Yamal or Cubarsi and they deserve a chance in first team at a very young age but if we want to return to be a normal club (and when finances will improve) then we should allow kids more time to develop.

Will probably prevent some of them getting long term injuries before they turn 20 and both the players and the club will benefit from that long term. Some of them will surely also run out of patience (that happened before so won't be something new) and leave so it's good we also have likes of Casado and Fermin on the other side of the spectrum to put things into another perspective how player's development (or integration to the first team) should work under more normal circumstances.

As good as La Masia is we won't be a serious club again before we won't need to force teenagers carrying as much heavy weights as they had over the last 5-6 years. Yes, it's always exciting when new youngsters emerge but it's not sustainable depending on them so much long term. At least not for the club that is expected to compete for all big trophies every season.

 

[Porque]

Someone commented before that the "problem" is that youth players spend their tutelage playing the Barcelona way so when called up they can adequetely step into the first team 11 and cog right in.

The real test will be how they perform after the first 5 or 10 games.

Guys way below the Barcelona level like Damia, Oscar Lopez have stepped in out of necessity and performed admirably, and others like Oleguer stayed at the level long enough to become a villain.

If Casado is still playing well after 20 appearances then yes, we may have a longer solution.

 

[FCBarca]

I can think of no one from La Masia that shined brightly yet briefly (even after 5-10 matches) that wasn’t undone by injuries or not keeping his head on straight

Cuenca is one I think of almost immediately. Muniesa is one many were sure he would flourish and he never really got a good run of minutes with 1st team, disappearing from the club. Same for Miranda or Aleña, never really made an impact with the 1st team

Pedro & Jeffren were solid right from the start and continued to be key players

Even Busquets, many of us were confused how he kept supplanting Yaya in the starting XI that first year with the 1st team with Pep - even after some blunders

Moriba shined but we know his story