6 - Carles Alena

[jamrock]

1-what does Bilbao has to do with it? Pep has coached Busquets and Pedro and were shaping their career there, youth coach has more access for those kids and normal they promote and give chances to them. He did that in Barca and Zidan did it again when he moved from B team to first team. Bilbao has their Basque only strategy and not asked to win anything.

2-Again, you can speak about young, but to make valid comparison you need to consider other factors. Valverde played Dembele as a started against CL runner up in his 3rd game, Jesus is same level of talent. EV doesn't have talents like this except Dembele.
Semedo is getting enough time, and I am sure Valverde doesn't think "Roberto is 20 months older than Semedo, he should get the starting spot".
We have Alena, but no player of Alena age and status is getting more playing time in City, just rubbish minutes here and there and that's it.
Would subbing Alena in 30 minutes once every 3 or 4 weeks when we are already winning help Alena more than 90 minutes every week in Segunda?

Yes at the last, training with the first team week in week out and getting 30 minutes every 3/4 games would 100% be better for his development.

 

[JamDav1982]

Yes at the last, training with the first team week in week out and getting 30 minutes every 3/4 games would 100% be better for his development.

No it wouldnt.

He would be getting minutes when tempo has dropped and he would play it safe and try to keep it ticking.

Being with B team and tough games with some first team training an minutes is better for him at moment.

 

[jamrock]

Didn't Pep play Delph out of position instead of trusting young Zinchenko?

Not saying Pep doesn't trust youth more that EV, but you are making too much out of it.

Isn't Zinchenko being played out of position himself, it's not like he is a natural lb, if he were what you are saying would be more valid.

1) Well, he did a pretty good job at Bilbao playing some young players there. At Barcelona he'll also have to develop young players. This is part of his job. Considering we're in the rebuilding phase, I want to see more from him because this is the man that will be in charge of the future Barcelona.

2) Yes, giving Alena 30 mins in some games in La Liga would be a good start, and a step in the right direction. At City, many players of Alena's status have played in the first team in the Premier League. Some even played in Champions League. Alena has played no games in CL or La Liga. Just some Copa games, and even those in very very experimental teams filled with youngsters and bench players.

Foden, a 17 years old player (17!!) just played 90 mins in a CL knockout game. Alena wasn't even trusted to start a completely irrelevant game vs Sporting in the Group Stages. It's details like that that matter.

Exactly at the last bit

No it wouldnt.

He would be getting minutes when tempo has dropped and he would play it safe and try to keep it ticking.

Being with B team and tough games with some first team training an minutes is better for him at moment.

Okay

 

[JamDav1982]

Alena has also started a game vs Espanyol which had more at stake than that CL game.

Pep has been there longer, under less pressure to win and has had players leaving due to not thinking there is much path into first team.

 

[jamrock]

I don't know how playing in the segunda as helped him, when every time I see him, he looks like he has stagnated, how will that help him more than training with iniesta & busquets and getting some good first team action in games the first division

 

[JamDav1982]

I don't know how playing in the segunda as helped him, when every time I see him, he looks like he has stagnated, how will that help him more than training with iniesta & busquets and getting some good first team action in games the first division

He does train with the first team a lot.

The first team action he gets wouldnt be good if it is 30 mins odd every time Barca a few goals ahead.

 

[serghei]

I don't know how playing in the segunda as helped him, when every time I see him, he looks like he has stagnated, how will that help him more than training with iniesta & busquets and getting some good first team action in games the first division

Precisely. He's a combination player. A lot of his passes and actions need to be supported by the right teammates. You could see a bit of magic vs United, when he started exchaging quick passes with Iniesta, Busi, and Messi as opposed to players from Barca B. Some of those sequences were just amazing.

Alena has also started a game vs Espanyol which had more at stake than that CL game.

Pep has been there longer, under less pressure to win and has had players leaving due to not thinking there is much path into first team.

That's literally the only game he played which had some sort of difficulty in it and in which he had around him players who usually play as starters. 1 single game in the whole season so far. And it can't be compared with a CL last 16 game.

 

[Neeraj]

Alena seems a lot more talented and suited to our team than the likes of Paulinho, Gomes and Vidal. I'm not sure why he hasn't been given a chance over Gomes, for example. Gomes is just terrible, cut your losses ffs.

 

[God Serena]

There really is no strong justification for why Alena hasn't gotten any La Liga minutes so far. It's not as if Alena could possibly do worse than Paulinho, who only managed 16 successful passes against a relegation team, or Gomes, who plays like he belongs in the B team more often than not.

If Alena had already been promoted prior to Valverde's arrival there's little doubt he'd already have a larger role than both of those players, as the bar is set so low that if he produced similar performances he'd have been considered a flop after only a couple of games.

I don't really feel a need to compare Valverde to past coaches as I think it's unfair, but his refusal to integrate Alena into the team while forcing Paulinho and Gomes in under the guise of having no other options is a major area of disappointment for me.

 

[tacticvarium]

Tired of Valverde being all talk when it comes to youth development.

 

[clemente]

He needs to have a talk with someone that would guarantee him certain amount of games or he should be loaned out next season, I don't want to see such talent being wasted by an ignorant/insecure manager.

 

[God Serena]

He needs to have a talk with someone that would guarantee him certain amount of games or he should be loaned out next season, I don't want to see such talent being wasted by an ignorant/insecure manager.

Our loans almost never work out. There are way too many factors that can go into causing a loan to fail. Just look at Samper...

 

[Barcaman]

And now the next flop Arthur is coming. Alena is screwed.

 

[messi1995]

Played really well today.

 

[Raketa10]

And now the next flop Arthur is coming. Alena is screwed.

They are not the same type of players. Gomes and Denis will be sold and Iniesta is 34 years old. There is also a question if Arthur will come this summer or in January 2019 so Alena will get his chance for sure.

There is also a possibility of one year loan but I am quite skeptical regarding loaning him since all of our recent loans were PURE DISASTER! IMHO we should be in charge of his development and not some other team.

Goal + assist today. Well done kid!