Nelson Semedo

serghei

Senior Member
It is not a fall back plan it is terrible.

You dont plan for the starting RB to cover for the starting LB if injured and at Albas age that is increasingly likely.

Even if that RB was equally adept at LB it is terrible let alone someone out of position that never plays LB like Semedo. It is like claiming dont wide player as back up as Roberto has played there before.

Why would they need to have a RB as good as Semedo? If that player is to be a back up and cost less than 40m?

This is going in circles.

As I said, I rate Semedo higher at LB than Firpo. It comes down to that basically. Unless Firpo improves a lot in defense, he can't be trusted in big games.

Because that player needs to challenge for starting position, because Roberto is not a great solution there.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
This is going in circles.

As I said, I rate Semedo higher at LB than Firpo. It comes down to that basically. Unless Firpo improves a lot in defense, he can't be trusted in big games.

Because that player needs to challenge for starting position, because Roberto is not a great solution there.

Semedo is not a LB and never will be. Firpo although looks nervous this season has proven more in his career but if management think in some games Semedo better there fine.

But you dont plan for that to be the case it would be as a result of the LB back up not being good enough and that includes Semedo.

Roberto and Semedo are around the same standard but Roberto not a great solution? What is Semedo then?

He wants to leave, has not shown any great levels and club will have to pay more money to keep him and less to sell him next summer.

Type of thing Barca would get attacked for usually and other clubs heralded for selling at right time.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Semedo is not a LB and never will be. Firpo although looks nervous this season has proven more in his career but if management think in some games Semedo better there fine.

But you dont plan for that to be the case it would be as a result of the LB back up not being good enough and that includes Semedo.

Roberto and Semedo are around the same standard but Roberto not a great solution? What is Semedo then?

He wants to leave, has not shown any great levels and club will have to pay more money to keep him and less to sell him next summer.

Type of thing Barca would get attacked for usually and other clubs heralded for selling at right time.

The problem is not that much that we are losing Semedo. The problem is we will replace him with junk probably. Our options next season will probably be Alba, Roberto, Firpo, somebody clearly worse than Semedo.

I thought the plan was to improve the defense. :lol:
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
The problem is not that much that we are losing Semedo. The problem is we will replace him with junk probably. Our options next season will probably be Alba, Roberto, Firpo, somebody clearly worse than Semedo.

I thought the plan was to improve the defense. :lol:

So Barca should let Semedo contract run down and pay more money for him when they have another RB of similar standard?

Zero chance the FBs for next season are just Roberto, Alba and Firpo.

Semedo is not a LB he cant cover there. Would be awful to have him as a back up should Alba get injured. It will not come into the thinking of anyone at Barca.
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
It says a lot about the sorry state of this club that Sergi fucking Roberto may well end up with more seasons as starting RB than Dani Alves.

A guy who was used as a makeshift stop gap for the RB position somehow never got replaced and got over-inflated into being a starter AND a captain. Despite years of proving to be entirely ineffective in the CL and a total defensive liability.

If we sell Semedo he better be replaced by someone they presume can be an eventual starter.
 

mc_lovin

Senior Member
It says a lot about the sorry state of this club that Sergi fucking Roberto may well end up with more seasons as starting RB than Dani Alves.

You are ridiculously entitled. There have been a handful of great fullbacks in the last 10-20 years, we cant always have one. Thats what makes guys like Dani Alves so special. Roberto has been solid, we could have had far worse. Just look around, the quality right now is dire. There were maybe two teams who had better fullbacks than us the least few years.

Unless you think Cancelo, Carvajal (the last 2 seasons) and the likes would have been an upgrade over Roberto :lol:
 

Richard.H

Senior Member
You are ridiculously entitled. There have been a handful of great fullbacks in the last 10-20 years, we cant always have one. Thats what makes guys like Dani Alves so special. Roberto has been solid, we could have had far worse. Just look around, the quality right now is dire. There were maybe two teams who had better fullbacks than us the least few years.

Unless you think Cancelo, Carvajal (the last 2 seasons) and the likes would have been an upgrade over Roberto :lol:

The problem is Roberto is not even an RB. Yes, Cancelo and Carvajal are better than him and have better defending instincts than the midfielder that is Roberto. We are never sniffing a CL with Roberto as an RB starter.
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
You are ridiculously entitled. There have been a handful of great fullbacks in the last 10-20 years, we cant always have one. Thats what makes guys like Dani Alves so special. Roberto has been solid, we could have had far worse. Just look around, the quality right now is dire. There were maybe two teams who had better fullbacks than us the least few years.

Unless you think Cancelo, Carvajal (the last 2 seasons) and the likes would have been an upgrade over Roberto :lol:

What a bad take

Roberto is 'solid' like Rakitic has been 'solid' for the past 2-3 seasons. Largely invisible, mediocre performances with the occasional good show against a chaotic RM side in a Clasico and then producing absolute meltdowns in European competition.

Roberto has 0 assists in the CL in his entire career. Zero. Solid. lol

Fuck yes I would take Carvajal over him and would never look back, who has had multiple seasons where he had outstanding and crucial contributions for RM winning consecutive CL's while also being defensively better. Roberto has performances getting clowned on by the likes of Willian and being such a huge defensive liability that Lucho had to change our formation to 3 at the back in 16/17 just to try to make up for him.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
It says a lot about the sorry state of this club that Sergi fucking Roberto may well end up with more seasons as starting RB than Dani Alves.

A guy who was used as a makeshift stop gap for the RB position somehow never got replaced and got over-inflated into being a starter AND a captain. Despite years of proving to be entirely ineffective in the CL and a total defensive liability.

If we sell Semedo he better be replaced by someone they presume can be an eventual starter.

Alves was slaughtered on here by a lot of fans in last couple seasons.

Roberto has not been starter for years he has been first choice for a lot of it and in and out of team but Barca will buy a RB.

Semedo is no big loss to be pining for and now is right time to sell him if wont renew.
 

KingLeo10

Senior Member
You are ridiculously entitled. There have been a handful of great fullbacks in the last 10-20 years, we cant always have one. Thats what makes guys like Dani Alves so special. Roberto has been solid, we could have had far worse. Just look around, the quality right now is dire. There were maybe two teams who had better fullbacks than us the least few years.

Unless you think Cancelo, Carvajal (the last 2 seasons) and the likes would have been an upgrade over Roberto :lol:

Yeah Carvajal has been bad recently. But his peak (15/16 and especially 16/17) was better than anything our FBs have come up with in the last 10 years with the exception of Alves (obviously). Yes, that includes Alba, our second best FB in this time.

Roberto is a liability in CL in the defensive phase and really even the attacking phase against top teams not named RM. Bayern have Kimmich/Pavard on the right and Davies/Alaba on the left. We can surely do better than Roberto.
 

mc_lovin

Senior Member
I guess it depends on which players you pin down our recent CL meltdowns. For me:

Vs Liverpool: Rakitic, Alba and Coutinho - all complete zeros.
Vs Roma: Busquets, Rakitic and Umtiti.

Maybe a better fullback could have made a difference, but then again who? Carvajal, Kimmich and Arnold have been better. Thats it. Every other fullback (like Semedo) is at best a slight upgrade. Or worse.


@DonAndres: The difference to Rakitic is that there are/were better midfielders available. We cant just raid Madrid or Bayern. Or get Arnold. My point: do the classic routine: keep one of the solid guys (Roberto or Semedo), get a decent talent as backup and hope for more.
 
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DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
I guess it depends on which players you pin down our recent CL meltdowns. For me:

Vs Liverpool: Rakitic, Alba and Coutinho - all complete zeros.
Vs Roma: Busquets, Rakitic and Umtiti.

Maybe a better fullback could have made a difference, but then again who? Carvajal, Kimmich and Arnold have been better. Thats it. Every other fullback (like Semedo) is at best a slight upgrade. Or worse.


@DonAndres: The difference to Rakitic is that there are/were better midfielders available. We cant just raid Madrid or Bayern. Or get Arnold. My point: do the classic routine: keep one of the solid guys (Roberto or Semedo), get a decent talent as backup and hope for more.

Part of it is the combination of horrible scouting and coaching. To Barca, a talent doesn't exist until they're already outrageously expensive, or "la liga experience". Look at what Bayern did with incredible scouting on Davies, or RM discovering a talent like Hakimi early.

We had Mateu Morey who was an extremely promising La Masia talent was let go a year ago, even though he did want money I think the club has to be smart and give in to some demands for prospects that have the ability to make a real contribution. His potential is seriously high and he could've made the RB role his own, he was a standout player in multiple international tournaments and for youth club teams. Just debuted for Dortmund recently and had his first assist yesterday.

On the other side, horrible coaching prevents us from being able to galvanize the average talents we have to play like something greater. Chelsea were able to win a PL with the likes of Alonso/Azpilicueta looking great who many consider average talents. Who even knows how someone like Robertson would do without Klopp there, although Trent is a wizard.

I've little doubt someone like Klopp would have done way more to get the best from Semedo than Valverde did, as Semedo really did look like a great talent at Benfica. In fact, I would say Semedo has looked absolutely great under Setien and should be given more of a chance before getting disposed. He has been a constant attacking threat in those games and had more attacking moments in a few games under Setien than entire seasons under Valverde. Including a key assist in an away CL game vs Napoli.

Firpo too isn't necessarily a lost cause if we develop him right.

Right now I would look to buy back Morey if possible or to get someone like Sergi?o Dest. Players who are really talented offensively early on can improve their defensive IQ over years, more easily than the reverse. And look to other teams relying on young players (Trent, Kimmich few years back, Davies) to see that being U23 doesn't automatically mean they should be 2nd option behind Roberto just because he's Catalan golden boy.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Part of it is the combination of horrible scouting and coaching. To Barca, a talent doesn't exist until they're already outrageously expensive, or "la liga experience". Look at what Bayern did with incredible scouting on Davies, or RM discovering a talent like Hakimi early.

We had Mateu Morey who was an extremely promising La Masia talent was let go a year ago, even though he did want money I think the club has to be smart and give in to some demands for prospects that have the ability to make a real contribution. His potential is seriously high and he could've made the RB role his own, he was a standout player in multiple international tournaments and for youth club teams. Just debuted for Dortmund recently and had his first assist yesterday.

On the other side, horrible coaching prevents us from being able to galvanize the average talents we have to play like something greater. Chelsea were able to win a PL with the likes of Alonso/Azpilicueta looking great who many consider average talents. Who even knows how someone like Robertson would do without Klopp there, although Trent is a wizard.

I've little doubt someone like Klopp would have done way more to get the best from Semedo than Valverde did, as Semedo really did look like a great talent at Benfica. In fact, I would say Semedo has looked absolutely great under Setien and should be given more of a chance before getting disposed. He has been a constant attacking threat in those games and had more attacking moments in a few games under Setien than entire seasons under Valverde. Including a key assist in an away CL game vs Napoli.

Firpo too isn't necessarily a lost cause if we develop him right.

Right now I would look to buy back Morey if possible or to get someone like Sergi?o Dest. Players who are really talented offensively early on can improve their defensive IQ over years, more easily than the reverse. And look to other teams relying on young players (Trent, Kimmich few years back, Davies) to see that being U23 doesn't automatically mean they should be 2nd option behind Roberto just because he's Catalan golden boy.

Semedo would be horrible under Klopp and Liverpool would never consider him.

Dont think he has put in one decent cross his whole time at Barca and plays with head down in final third and just drives and cuts back ball.
.
Robertson and TAA pepper the box with crosses and their final ball is top class.

Although not Barcas style Alba has put in better crosses/final balls as has Roberto.
 
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Barcilliant

Senior Member
The problem with the club a d it's DNA is that defense is just an afterthought.
The club pays so much attention to forwards and midfielders and then looks to plug the gaps with mediocre defenders.
 

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