Sergi Roberto

[Alarcón]

I don't see glimpses of genius in him. A lot of people here want him to be better than Thiago, but he's not.

Yeah I have to agree... I really like him and want him to succeed but he's had plenty of chances and was never extraordinary... in fact, the one thing he constantly stood out for was sloppiness and a poor first touch

 

[Messi_Goal]

I had a lot of faith in Roberto but he is disappointing me.

 

[Galning]

I don't see glimpses of genius in him. A lot of people here want him to be better than Thiago, but he's not.

Agree.

 

[Fibonacci]

This is a bit ridiculous. It's the guy's first year with the senior team, and he's been played a lot by Tata which shows that at least someone has confidence in him.

He's not the most talented or the most technically skilled. But he is very good (especially for a young player) at positioning and movement. Those two qualities are very important at Barca. And generally speaking they are way underrated skills (hey, you can't make a youtube highlight reel of them).

 

[KingMessi]

This is a bit ridiculous. It's the guy's first year with the senior team, and he's been played a lot by Tata which shows that at least someone has confidence in him.

He's not the most talented or the most technically skilled. But he is very good (especially for a young player) at positioning and movement. Those two qualities are very important at Barca. And generally speaking they are way underrated skills (hey, you can't make a youtube highlight reel of them).

^^^ This. So much this.

 

[DonAndres]

This is a bit ridiculous. It's the guy's first year with the senior team, and he's been played a lot by Tata which shows that at least someone has confidence in him.

He's not the most talented or the most technically skilled. But he is very good (especially for a young player) at positioning and movement. Those two qualities are very important at Barca. And generally speaking they are way underrated skills (hey, you can't make a youtube highlight reel of them).

Having abnormally good off the ball intelligence like positioning is crucial for a defensive role like Busquets or with players making runs. Central midfielders having the movement to receive passes is completely basic, they need to be able to marshal our play and add some quality to it.

An "invisible skill" as you would call it should leave some sort of a mark, as in our play should somehow be better because he's on the pitch and lacking that quality when he's not. Yet he could play or not play and no difference would be made due to him. I'm not saying that he has to be so good that he's the reason we succeed, just that there is some tangible or noticeable difference that can directly be traced back to him, which there hardly is. A player who actually does possess that underrated off the ball skill is Busquets, and we can clearly see how that works out.

 

[Jadentheman]

An "invisible skill" as you would call it should leave some sort of a mark, as in our play should somehow be better because he's on the pitch and lacking that quality when he's not. Yet he could play or not play and no difference would be made due to him. I'm not saying that he has to be so good that he's the reason we succeed, just that there is some tangible or noticeable difference that can directly be traced back to him, which there hardly is. A player who actually does possess that underrated off the ball skill is Busquets, and we can clearly see how that works out.

He's not developed enough to have that kind of impact yet.

 

[Kerrybai]

He isn't showing much so far but after so many people wrote off Bartra they should be patient with Roberto. He's young and inexperienced, let's not throw him under a bus yet.

 

[DonAndres]

He isn't showing much so far but after so many people wrote off Bartra they should be patient with Roberto. He's young and inexperienced, let's not throw him under a bus yet.

You're right and I hate to be such a naysayer on him but let's be honest and analyze the Roberto praise for a second.

A lot of times people only applaud him for what they want him to be, not what he is. When he does something good on the ball, "He's better than Thiago, doesn't make sloppy passes, etc.". When he doesn't even do that, "He's so good off the ball, movement and intelligence, unappreciated gem like Busquets". It's just searching in the dark for reasons to praise him and create the image that he actually is what people want him to be rather than him actually showing some high aptitude and then getting praise for it.

He is young and he can develop, so the door obviously shouldn't be shut on him. It's just that a lot of the high Roberto love is because he's tagged with the unlucky role of being everyone's romanticized heir-apparent to Xavi and in a sense Thiago too. Due to this, they create a over-reaching player profile and expectation for him only for it to be extremely idealistic. Whatever he's done so far hasn't warranted some of the odd commendation he's received, but that's not to say he's trash or incapable of amounting to anything.

 

[CatalinR10]

 

[DinhoR10]

The people on this board are extremely fickle you turn on players at the slightest hint of non-otherworldlyness.

I still have faith.

 

[Flavia]

The people on this board are extremely fickle you turn on players at the slightest hint of non-otherworldlyness.

I still have faith.

Everyone here is making observations based on games. I watch sergi since his times at the b team. Fickle are the people claiming for Messi's head during half time, than praising him after the game.

 

[DinhoR10]

Everyone here is making observations based on games. I watch sergi since his times at the b team. Fickle are the people claiming for Messi's head during half time, than praising him after the game.

I only watched up to about the own goal, I didn't see anything bad he even played long balls which suprised the hell out of me since I havent seen him play a ball off the ground whole season. Was the rest of his game so horrible?

 

[Flavia]

I only watched up to about the own goal, I didn't see anything bad he even played long balls which suprised the hell out of me since I havent seen him play a ball off the ground whole season. Was the rest of his game so horrible?

He wasn't good today, lost a lot of balls, bad 1st touch. But my comment on him wasn't based solely about this game, but from all I've seen of him so far.

 

[coura]

The people on this board are extremely fickle you turn on players at the slightest hint of non-otherworldlyness.

I still have faith.

He´s gonna be 22 in February. Plenty of time to have shown quality. When you are trully good you show it. He´s just average. I see Rafinha playing with high intensity and better skills. Easily.