6 - Gavi

Bobo32

Senior Member
just watching this again

all actions

0:11 - fine i guess
0:16 - nice one but nothing special
0:19 - bad, inexcusable
0:30 - fine i guess
0:36 - good
0:41 - fine
0:52 - fine (balance doesn't exactly look reassuring)
0:59 - fine
1:02 - not terrible but certainly not good
1:09 - fine
1:15 - straight up bad
1:21 - good, but there's a limit to how excited I can get over a player winning a header
1:22 - good
1:28 - straight up bad
1:36 - fine
1:43 - not good
1:47 - not terrible but not good either

I'm not trying to be a downer here and I have nothing against the kid (I created the thread), but this is nothing to get excited about. Mediocre to bad showing.

The best you could say about him is that he was involved. Positioned well and actually offered himself up.

Nice of you to post timestamps, and I agree with all of them actually. Only thing I want to add is that both free kicks looked pretty cheap, and I agree that he actually does look a bit too weak there.
As I said though, he is good with his off the ball positioning, he seems to understand intuitively where to be in order to connect. This is his main strength I see so far, he is good technically too but nothing extraordinary from what I've seen so far.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
He looks like he understands how to play CM while Puig looks like he doesnt have a clue.

Will need to learn where and when he can take players on at this level and will play deeper than that when settles into team.
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
Wow. He's good but to give him a first team number this quickly is stunning. He must have really impressed the coaches in training, personally I think he could use a season in Barca B.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Love it. He's too good to be wasting time playing for Barca B.

Agreed. Far too often good players have been wasted in B team when should have been promoted or if not ready loaned out.

B team is too 'safe' and environment and doesnt sort the wheat from the chaf enough.

Too much emphasis on trying to get promotion at times when should be getting these La Masia trained youngsters out into real world much earlier.

The biggest trick the devil ever pulled was making Barca think they created Xavi and Iniesta and could repeat nice lad/genius types.
 

te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
I see no reason to have him a permanent A player already if that's what this is about.

There is a lack of depth. We have Pedri, De Jong and Roberto (who we'll probably see at RB again several times) as CM options. It's clear Koeman doesn't count on Puig. Gavi will be Pedri's sub.
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
There is a lack of depth. We have Pedri, De Jong and Roberto (who we'll probably see at RB again several times) as CM options. It's clear Koeman doesn't count on Puig. Gavi will be Pedri's sub.

But in context:
On the midfield as a whole Busquets, Pedri or de Jong barely missed or will miss one game when they are fit.
Roberto has also mostly played when fit, although sometimes at RB you are correct.
Koeman has experimented a lot and seemingly prefer, to play with only two midfielders.
I think Gavi should get a lot of playing time against adults, and I think his place right now is as the fifth choice in a midfield that sometimes only consists of two. Maybe Koeman even rates Demir ahead of him still, too.
The natural thing would be for him to start at Barcelona B and play regularly there while being called up to sit on the bench for A sometimes too.

I also think that Barcelona have Puig and Collado already on the payroll, who cannot play at Barcelona B or anywhere else, who have some experience of playing against adults and whom the club should want to play if only to get a better deal later, but that's a bit beside the point.
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
Here is his game vs Portugal u18 yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K13fJzQX7U4

I didn't watch the game, but from the compilation he looks to have had a decent game, playing a bit Xavi-like, linking up from the buildup.
He still looks like a youth player though. He is weak in duels and loses balance easily, he missed opponents when attempting longer passes multiple times (three times towards the RW, two were intercepted), the challenge that gave him a yellow was silly. He didn't offer much in the final third, or many surprising solutions, and looked a bit too conservative in his decisions once more...

I like his style, but think he has a lot to improve still.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Bobos usual.

Breakdown performances of any player he sees as a rival to Puig and try to make it seen as poor as possible.
 

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