That’s how you try to develop players BBZ - you know actually try to integrate them into the first team and make them feel valued as opposed to spare parts in dead rubbers.
To be honest even when he performed well he got benched anyway.
Because Valverde doesn’t reward performances. He rewards names.
I know how players are developed.
The problem is that majority of fans are emotional, too emotionally attached to young players, overrating their abilities and unwilling to cut the loses.
As I have wrote a lot of times, if you ask an average Barca fan here, this is how they will rate our youngsters:
Dembele=a generational talent. If he doesn't play or perform, it is on a coach. There is no way that Dembele actually has a lot of irreparable flaws
Arthur=one of the best young midfielders in the world. He needs to play all the time. He is way better than Raki, Vidal, Busi.
Malcom=a very good squad player (even though nobody here can name one single virtue in which he excells at. But he is good, people will say)
Semedo=world class
Alena=awesome, our future. He needs to be given 1000s of chances.
Puig=the biggest talent. Xavi said that he would play as a starter. EV is dumb, Xavi knows the best. This kid needs to play a lot.
Oriol=the next Busi. No questions about that.
Wague=a future RB, no questions about that.
Now, not all of these players are bad.
But also, there is no way that all of them are as good as people think.
And then, people would give 10s of chances to every single of those kids. That is a problem.
You aren't realistic and you don't know to assess risks and whether it is worthy to play a player (and how much to play him).
In the eyes on an average fan, every single player out of these above is a sure thing, an insane talent, and all of them deserve ton of playing time=with the starting 11.
Which itself is physically impossible, since: if you are giving chances to Alena to play with a starting 11, then you can't pair him with Puig, since then Alena won't play with a starting 11.
If you play Alena, then Puig needs to be on the bench.
If you play Puig, then Alena needs to be on the bench.
If you play Alena, then Puig and Malcom need to be on the bench.
If you play Malcom, then Alena and Puig need to be on the bench.
If you play Puig, then Alena and Malcom need to be on the bench.
If you play Oriol, then Alena, Puig and Malcom need to be on the bench.
If you play 2 of then, then Messi will be rested. And then people will whine that we didn't play the best team with kids. So, the coach must be stupid.
In short:
You can't play kids in CL knockout matches=since those matches are not for experiments.
Then, you can't play kids against Real, Atletico, Sevilla=since those matches are not for experiments.
Then, you can't play kids on an away match against Sociedad, Bilbao or Valencia=if we will lose, which is the most likely, people will say=a stupid coach. He threw those kids into a tough away game. What an idiot. Now he killed their confidence, sack the clown.
So, basically, which matches are left to play kids?
= CDR matches
= home Camp Nou matches against weaker teams
= the last round of a CL group stage
So, you don't have 100s of matches to play kids, but more like 10-15 matches over a season.
And there is another problem: since Messi, Busi, Raki, Suarez, Alba are old, they need rest and they can't play 60 matches per season.
And now:
1. you won't rest Messi and Busi in a CL KO matches
2. you also won't rest Messi and Busi against RM, Atletico, Sevilla
3. you won't rest Messi in the first matches of a group stage of a CL since we need to win the 1st place
4. you won't rest Messi in away matches of La Liga, since we need points
That means that the only place to rest 3-4-5 starters in the same time is: CDR matches and Camp Nou matches against weaker teams.
And that means again: that kids usually won't get more than 2-3 chances to play with a starting 11.
And they will usually get chances in CDR matches and Camp Nou matches with 3-4-5 squad players.
This is exactly what happened with Malcom.
And then, when he (imo) wasn't good in those matches, you will reply: he didn't get a chance with a starting 11.
Lol.
Now go back to a part of my post where I say:
If you play Alena, then Puig needs to be on the bench.
If you play Puig, then Alena needs to be on the bench.
If you play Alena, then Puig and Malcom need to be on the bench.
If you play Malcom, then Alena and Puig need to be on the bench.
If you play Puig, then Alena and Malcom need to be on the bench.
If you play Oriol, then Alena, Puig and Malcom need to be on the bench.
If you play 2 of then, then Messi will be rested. And then people will whine that we didn't play the best team with kids. So, the coach must be stupid.
So, is there a way in mathematical way to make your wishes come true?
1. to give a lot of chances to 5 different youngsters?
2. to play every single of them as much as possible with a starting 11?
3. and to rest starting 11 for key matches in the same time?
I'll help you=that is physically impossible.
This is why Malcom, Puig and others need to shine on training grounds, in friendly matches, preseason matches and in those rare 1st team matches when they get a chance.
** I didn't even mention a thing when you need to cut the loses if a player is meh and a staff figures out that the risk for him making it is too low too even bother.
That option doesn't exist in the eyes of fans.
They have faith in every single kid for 3-4 years, until it is proven too many times that he is a very, very bad, like Halilovic, Bartra or Sampe.
