Nelson Semedo

[henias]

The whole of the right side was just questionable af. Pique, Semedo and Roberto is just a mess all together.

Until we solve the right flank issue, all this are just gonna keep happening whether Semedo or not.

 

[xXKonan]

The warning signs were there with the right side even in Alves final season here.

Valverde tried the Suarez on the LWF with Messi as a False 9 trick and Dembele on the right early on last season before Dembele's bad injury with Alba trying to make up for the shortcomings of the wing play on the left.

He did try it a couple of more times but Valverde decided to put Dembele on the left and move Messi back to the right. What we got is one hell of a left side in Alba-Coutinho-Dembele but a right side that just isn't anywhere near as good.

 

[serghei]

I agree with you. But in Valverde's (or maybe the board's) defence, we had a lot of reserves that needed playing time.
To be able to get rid of them during the summer they needed playing time.
We had A LOT of deadweight, and to a large extent, we got rid of it.

Doubt this will be another season with 0 playing time for Barca B, and I don't include Aleña in those minutes since he's a first team player.

I don't think Alena will get anything other than garbage minutes in Copa. Puig no chance of getting minutes this season, even though he impressed in the preseason tour.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Pedro 2008-09 & 2009-10, 21 years of age
Busquets 2008-09, 20 years of age
Thiago Alcantara 2010-11, 19 years of age:
Jeffren, 2009-10, 21 years of age
Cuenca 2011-12, 20 years of age
Bojan, 2007-08 & 2008-09, 17-18 years of age


Let's see how many minutes these players got.

Pedro: 6 apps in La Liga at 21, 34 apps in La Liga at 22.
Busquets: 24 apps in La Liga at 20
Thiago: 12 apps in La Liga at 20
Jeffren: 12 apps in La Liga at 21
Cuenca: 16 apps in La Liga at 20
Bojan: 31 apps in La Liga at 18 years old, 23 apps in La Liga in the next season. So, to put this into perspective, Bojan at 20 years old had 54 matches in La Liga.

But now it's outrageous to ask 10 appearences for two Barca B players in total during a 38 games campaign.

Now minutes Barca B players got in La Liga under Valverde.

ZERO all around. Not a single Barca B player got any minutes during the full 38 games season, even though, get this, we won the title with around 8 games to spare. It's hilarious.

1-Most of the players you mentioned weren't promoted at the same season with another one, it was one then the other. Only exception was Jeffren and Pedro due to the fact that Jeffren who was promoted due to seniority and because no one wanted to buy him. Bojan and GDS and using those two while selling senior player with no replacement cost us the season (under a Barca coach who was obsessed with youth players) and Cuenca/Thiago, again in a season that we lost the league.
In other words, the last 2 times we heavily used 2 youth players from the B team at same time we lost the league.
2-You said use those games to promote players. other than 11/12 season. Sorry but does this mean start or playing some minutes after we win? Because what you said means the former not the later,and you are counting just the total games played
I mean you are using Jeffren as example , the guy didn't play 90 minutes in a single game out of those 12 and played 10 minutes or less in 5 of them (1 minute in 2 of them) with 1 game more than 60 minutes, Ok I won't have a problem with couple of players being given those Jeffren type of minutes.
3-Technically speaking, Arnaiz got 5 minutes and he was a Barca B player
4-Yes what you claimed is outragoues, and won't work in a current weaker La Masia and tougher Liga. And yes what EV done last season isn't the right thing, and Alena should have played in Liga and this year he really need to be treated as 1st team player once he gets his game fitness. And probably we need a bit more exposure of youth through CDR and don't waste any of our 28+ players on that competetion unless we face RM/AM or in the finals. But for me this probably where it ends except if there is injuries or Liga is won or lost already.

 

[serghei]

1-Mots of the players you mentioned weren't promoted at the same season with another one, it was one then the other. Only exception was Jeffren and Pedro due to the fact that Jeffren who was promoted due to seniority and because no one wanted to buy him. Bojan and GDS and using those two while selling senior player with no replacement cost us the season (under a Barca coach who was obsessed with youth players) and Cuenca/Thiago, again in a season that we lost the league.
In other words, the last 2 times we really used 2 youth players from the B team at same time heavily we lost the league.
2-You said use those games to promote players. other than 11/12 season. Sorry but does this mean start or playing some minutes after we win? Because what you said means the former not the later,and you are counting just the total games played
I mean you are using Jeffren as example the guy didn't play 90 minutes in a single game out of those 12 and played 10 minutes or less in 5 of them (1 minute in 2 of them) with 1 game more than 60 minutes, Ok I won't have a problem with couple of players being given those Jeffren type of minutes.
3-Technically speaking, Arnaiz got 5 minutes and he is a Barca B player
4-Yes what you claimed is outragoues, and won't work in a current weaker La Masia and a tougher Liga. And yes what EV done last season isn't the right thing, and Alena should have played in Liga and this year he really need to be treated as 1st team player once he gets his game fitness. And probably we need a bit more exposure of youth through CDR and don't waste any of our 28+ players on that competetion unless we face RM/AM or in the finals. But for me this probably where it ends except if there is injuries or Liga is won or lost already.

1. Technicalities. They were young players who did not deserve to play for anything other than the fact that they were young and had potential. Valverde wouldn't have played Pedro, Busi, Thiago, neither of those. It's clear as daylight that he is a manager who likes to work with experienced players and doesn't give youth chances to grow. He gives chances to young players like an alibi, to not be blamed that he doesn't. Not because he actually wants to develop them. Hell, he had a game in CL with no pressure, no nothing, and he didn't play any Barca B player.

You're going over your head to find some excuses for Valverde when it's clear he's not what is needed in terms of developing La Masia players. La Masia is not a lot weaker. It's just that these players don't have someone in charge of the first team to give them chances, and also a board with a defective medium to long term plan.

2. Playing counts any time. Nobody is crazy enough to suggest Puig should start for example 12 games in La Liga just all of a sudden. But he can be tested in some games. 5-6 games in which he can check maybe 15 mins here, 20 mins there. There are maybe 200 mins to be give to Puig just by subbing him at home when it's 3-0.

I said 10-15 games should be used to promote players. You can pick the games and the manner in which you hand out these chances. Maybe start with subbing them for 15-20 mins, then if they respond well, give them a start in the next easier game at home.

Jeffren, who was not a great talent by any means, just a good, young player, had 12 apps in a season where he had a very hard battle for the title with Pellegrini's Madrid. I believe we won the title in the last round. In a stacked team, Jeffren played a lot more than Alena in a team that won the title 2 months in advance almost.

Jeffren played 400 mins that season. 400 mins is about 7 hours of playing first team football next to players like Messi, Coutinho, Busquets. More valuable than just about anything for these young players.

3. I stand corrected then. Valverde gave 5 mins to a Barca B player in La Liga last season. Hu-fucking-rray.

4. Not outrageous at all. La Masia is the real treasure of this team and needs to be treated as such. It should be a job description.

 

[Cule4life]

Dissing La masia to defend Valverde.....the lengths to which his apologists go never fails to astound me

 

[Joan]

Look at how high the ball was, I don't understand what is Semedo supposed to do there, he kept the guy in an uncomfortable position to score a header from, what Roberto is doing is the real question here.

What did he do exactly to keep him in an uncomfortable situation? No pressure, no aggressiveness, no nothing.

Yeah he made a mistake on that there's no one denying that.

But I do find it funny that you read articles on how Valverde is concerned about the defensive stability yet he still persists on playing the chuckle brothers in Roberto and Pique as our RB/RCB pair. One can't defend for shit and the other is nowhere near as good as he was back in the 2014/15 season.

The whole right side needs to be redone at this point. Our best dudes are out on the left such as Coutinho, Alba, Dembele and you have Umtiti there to cover and that's easily our best attacking and defensive area of the field and yet our right side consists of Messi who really isn't a fan of staying on the right, Rakitic not really that creative and Pique and Roberto who are both poor in regards to defending with Roberto being marginally decent going forward at this point.

In my opinion, Pique's the one who shouldn't be starting. We're basically playing with false wing Messi relying on FBs to provide width. For which one has to be capable with the ball in the final third. Not scared playing with your head down.

If a FB goes forward and the ball's lost in the meantime, he can either rely on speed to track back (like Alba), stay put and be mostly solid defensively (like Semedo, which doesn't work for us - see above) or be caught upfield here and there (usually Roberto, sometimes Alba). Umtiti's usually able to cover for Alba. But Pique's terrible at defending wide areas. A trait we'd need. I'm sure you can see all those situations, Pique's wide, Roberto tracking beck behind him. Not a rare sight. Shame neither of them is good 1 on 1.

 

[Calidad]

I don’t quite get the criticism. He’s solid enough when he plays and has good set of tools in his locker to be a well rounded FB.

But he gets absolutely NO continuity. He plays half a game, or if he’s lucky, a full game, followed by a spell on the bench, before getting a random appearance again. What other players, let alone defenders would thrive under that sort of set up? His confidence must be shot. He needs a run of games.

 

[xXKonan]

In my opinion, Pique's the one who shouldn't be starting. We're basically playing with false wing Messi relying on FBs to provide width. For which one has to be capable with the ball in the final third. Not scared playing with your head down.

If a FB goes forward and the ball's lost in the meantime, he can either rely on speed to track back (like Alba), stay put and be mostly solid defensively (like Semedo, which doesn't work for us - see above) or be caught upfield here and there (usually Roberto, sometimes Alba). Umtiti's usually able to cover for Alba. But Pique's terrible at defending wide areas. A trait we'd need. I'm sure you can see all those situations, Pique's wide, Roberto tracking beck behind him. Not a rare sight. Shame neither of them is good 1 on 1.

I really don't get why Pique is playing as much as he is honestly.

Roberto has problems but he at least has youth and is hardworking and is willing to run his ass off even despite the limitations. Pique though? there's really no excuse for him. He's the Veteran in the back line he's suppose to be the leader back there and he's a La Masia boy as well.

He's suppose to set the example but yet he's not doing any of it. Ter Stegen has much more authorty on the back line than Pique does despite being only 26 years old and being here for only 4 years. I guess without Mascherano being there to lead he's pretty much gone back to being Pique.

Stuff like that makes you question why Valverde puts up with it. Pique was never the best in 1v1 situations and he wasn't the fastest but he made it up in other areas and at his best he was easily one of the best CB's out there. But the dudes is pretty much a traffic cone with his lack of concetration these days.

 

[clemente]

What did he do exactly to keep him in an uncomfortable situation? No pressure, no aggressiveness, no nothing.

What pressure and aggressiveness? They both ran towards the ball in 1 second of time that there was, the other guy was obviously futher away and the ball was flying away from the goal so he was the one who got it, Semedo cannot fly, what would Carvajal would have done here? Won the header or something?

 

[BBZ8800]

I don’t quite get the criticism. He’s solid enough when he plays and has good set of tools in his locker to be a well rounded FB.

But he gets absolutely NO continuity. He plays half a game, or if he’s lucky, a full game, followed by a spell on the bench, before getting a random appearance again. What other players, let alone defenders would thrive under that sort of set up? His confidence must be shot. He needs a run of games.

He played 36 matches last season.
How MUCH exactly a player needs to get confidence?
Even more than that?

Even worse, what if we give him even more matches and he fails?
Then you will have 2 seasons lost, 40+40 matches (chances) given to a failure.
Then we'll buy a new RB and go through the same process (40+40 matches) again.
If he will make it, that will be 4 years of tests.
If the 2nd guy will also fail, we will move to the 3rd guy.
Then, you need to give him again 40+40 matches before he will improve/gain confidence (I am posting these numbers based from Semedo's case, since 36 matches per season is obviously NOT enough to gain confidence and learn team's mechanisms).
If he will make it, that is 6 years lost on testing.
If he fails, go back again to 40+40 and 2 years of testing.

In short, in some moment you need to speed up this test process and give MORE chances only if there is very high probability for a future success or cut losses and move on sooner to a new guy if a guy has quite a low percentage for success at Barca.

Based on Semedo's 0 assists in 40+ matches, his total confusion in an attacking half, zero chemistry with any of teammates (except often with equally as lost Dembele), his time and chances at Barca are ticking.

 

[God Serena]

I agree with you. But in Valverde's (or maybe the board's) defence, we had a lot of reserves that needed playing time.
To be able to get rid of them during the summer they needed playing time.
We had A LOT of deadweight, and to a large extent, we got rid of it.

Doubt this will be another season with 0 playing time for Barca B, and I don't include Aleña in those minutes since he's a first team player.

This type of nonsense is why our entire team will retire and we'll have to buy an entirely new squad in the next few years. Fuck Barca B and fuck La Masia, we need Gomes and Denis to play because we need to sell them. Even though every time Gomes played he was shit and was somehow loaned anyways, and Denis didn't actually leave. Masterful strategy. It sure was worth ignoring each and every B team player we had.

 

[serghei]

He played 36 matches last season.
How MUCH exactly a player needs to get confidence?
Even more than that?

Even worse, what if we give him even more matches and he fails?
Then you will have 2 seasons lost, 40+40 matches (chances) given to a failure.
Then we'll buy a new RB and go through the same process (40+40 matches) again.
If he will make it, that will be 4 years of tests.
If the 2nd guy will also fail, we will move to the 3rd guy.
Then, you need to give him again 40+40 matches before he will improve/gain confidence (I am posting these numbers based from Semedo's case, since 36 matches per season is obviously NOT enough to gain confidence and learn team's mechanisms).
If he will make it, that is 6 years lost on testing.
If he fails, go back again to 40+40 and 2 years of testing.

In short, in some moment you need to speed up this test process and give MORE chances only if there is very high probability for a future success or cut losses and move on sooner to a new guy if a guy has quite a low percentage for success at Barca.

Based on Semedo's 0 assists in 40+ matches, his total confusion in an attacking half, zero chemistry with any of teammates (except often with equally as lost Dembele), his time and chances at Barca are ticking.

It's true that Semedo is not doing enough. Still, it's a bit early to lose hope on him. But I'm fine with him being 2nd option because he needs to show more. However, if Roberto starts to make mistakes every game, then he should be punished for them. Keep it consistent at least. So far, I'm seeing Semedo getting punished for his bad games, while Roberto gets away with his and continues to start as if nothing happened.

Semedo and Roberto are around the same level with a plus for Roberto for the time being. Neither is certified class. So, just alternate between them until one of them gets the edge in a clear fashion. If it doesn't happen, just split the minutes until we buy someone better than both.

 

[Trafalgar]

We should stop buying portuguese player, too much failures ... (Except Deco)

 

[Danic]

He played 36 matches last season.
How MUCH exactly a player needs to get confidence?
Even more than that?

Even worse, what if we give him even more matches and he fails?
Then you will have 2 seasons lost, 40+40 matches (chances) given to a failure.
Then we'll buy a new RB and go through the same process (40+40 matches) again.
If he will make it, that will be 4 years of tests.
If the 2nd guy will also fail, we will move to the 3rd guy.
Then, you need to give him again 40+40 matches before he will improve/gain confidence (I am posting these numbers based from Semedo's case, since 36 matches per season is obviously NOT enough to gain confidence and learn team's mechanisms).
If he will make it, that is 6 years lost on testing.
If he fails, go back again to 40+40 and 2 years of testing.

In short, in some moment you need to speed up this test process and give MORE chances only if there is very high probability for a future success or cut losses and move on sooner to a new guy if a guy has quite a low percentage for success at Barca.

Based on Semedo's 0 assists in 40+ matches, his total confusion in an attacking half, zero chemistry with any of teammates (except often with equally as lost Dembele), his time and chances at Barca are ticking.

Come on. Stop 36 matches bullshit. Thats not what everyones saying. We are talking about several games in a row.
And with the same RW. Remember last season how often this position was changed as well? There was no real chance for him to really develop a chemistry with someone else on the right side. This side is a pure experiment since 2 seasons.

I stand by the point if this guy was handled different from the beginning of last season we would see a different semedo.
Right now think he should leave as soon as possible for his own good... He wont develop this way.
No potential RBs in la masia right now?!