20 - Sergi Roberto

That's a very misleading list

Sometimes I don't even understand their criteria. Messi listed with zero dribbles in some games and more strange things.

That's it. Call Douglas back or play Vidal, dreadful from Roberto.

Albo said:

That's it. Call Douglas back or play Vidal, dreadful from Roberto.

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Or, you know, just call Palencia up, at least once. You know, there was once a time when our best B team players got a chance with the first team when we didn't have anyone else.

God Serena said:

Or, you know, just call Palencia up, at least once. You know, there was once a time when our best B team players got a chance with the first team when we didn't have anyone else.

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Yeah him too, Roberto needs to stay in midfield.

God Serena said:

Or, you know, just call Palencia up, at least once. You know, there was once a time when our best B team players got a chance with the first team when we didn't have anyone else.

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Yeah, should try Vidal more, or at least give Palencia a chance. Roberto as rb is not working anymore.

DonAndres said:

Roberto is still gonna get the rest of this season to show if he can improve at RB. I did like his promise early on and I think he'd have an easier time in a well functioning system where he isn't entirely alone on his flank.

However, if it proves that he's not a long term solution at RB, then I think he could be a very key player in our midfield. I find Arda and Gomes to be completely dispensable and hope they're out this summer. I like Rafinha's aggression but I don't rate him highly as a playmaker, he could probably function as a sub for the front 3 though. Rakitic too is potentially on the move this summer depending on what happens with his situation. Since we can't depend on Arda/Gomes and Rakitic might leave, Roberto could fill a big hole in our midfield options. He'd give the same workrate and defensive security of Rakitic with better technical skills and potential to improve even further.

Personally, I like the sound of Iniesta/Denis/Roberto since I believe in their abilities to function in our midfield. Denis is raw but he has great creative potential and is improving in the other aspects of his play. The faith that Xavi placed in him gives me more confidence too. I'd also reject the idea of loaning Aleña and have him grow as a 4th or 5th option. He's a talent with all the right abilities and he's coming up at the exact right time to compete and break into the team. It's time we placed trust in high potential youth instead of sending him off on loan.

The problem with all of this is that we don't know what the landscape will be 4-5 months from now. It's doubtful that Lucho is staying and, as of now, we have no idea who's going to be the one to replace him. On top of that we don't know which players will want to stay/leave and what will happen in the renovation of our current midfield. Would the new manager even acknowledge the failing investment in Gomes or would he just try to forcibly keep him on? Would he keep Roberto at RB or buy a new player? And if so, who would that even be? Lot of uncertainty right now and I don't know if we'll take the steps in the right direction to fix the glaring problems in our squad.

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Imo, Roberto will never be a starter, he just lacks something in his personality (bravery, balls, courage) and that thing is required along with skills, for a player to be a key part of a team like Barca.

Even if he had twice as good technical skills as he has, with his personality, he would never be Barca's starter or a man for big things.
Imo, Roberto and Samper are our two players with the lowest/weakest skills in balls/bravery/courage area.

I can't remember when was the last time when Barca had a scared midfielder leading them to a CL glory or even close to a CL glory.

His lack of bravery won't allow him to be anything else than a back up/rotation option for any position in Barca's team.
Except in a season like this, when he was given a chance as a RB and... no need to comment too much.

Some will reply that RB is not his true position.
Still, even as a midfielder, he was good against poor teams (and once, against RM), but the most often he played: 1 game well, then 2-3 games of hiding and being scared to actually do something on the pitch.
More or less the same level of being scared as now as a RB, when he attacks.

That's a part of person's personality which is almost impossible to change.

Imo, people shouldn't have too high hopes from Samper and Roberto, because of their personality.
I won't even enter into debating about their footballing skills.
Again, imo, even with Xavi's level of technical skills, these two would sadly end as subs due to their mental strength/personality.

Selling Gomes and keeping Roberto as a CM won't get us too far.

BBZ8800 said:

Imo, Roberto will never be a starter, he just lacks something in his personality (bravery, balls, courage) and that thing is required along with skills, for a player to be a key part of a team like Barca.

Even if he had twice as good technical skills as he has, with his personality, he would never be Barca's starter or a man for big things.
Imo, Roberto and Samper are our two players with the lowest/weakest skills in balls/bravery/courage area.

I can't remember when was the last time when Barca had a scared midfielder leading them to a CL glory or even close to a CL glory.

His lack of bravery won't allow him to be anything else than a back up/rotation option for any position in Barca's team.
Except in a season like this, when he was given a chance as a RB and... no need to comment too much.

Some will reply that RB is not his true position.
Still, even as a midfielder, he was good against poor teams (and once, against RM), but the most often he played: 1 game well, then 2-3 games of hiding and being scared to actually do something on the pitch.
More or less the same level of being scared as now as a RB, when he attacks.

That's a part of person's personality which is almost impossible to change.

Imo, people shouldn't have too high hopes from Samper and Roberto, because of their personality.
I won't even enter into debating about their footballing skills.
Again, imo, even with Xavi's level of technical skills, these two would sadly end as subs due to their mental strength/personality.

Selling Gomes and keeping Roberto as a CM won't get us too far.

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I wonder, do you think Alena has that personality you're looking for? I know you once had hopes in Samper but changed your mind, do you see this happening with Alena as well, or do you believe he'll be a starter one day?

God Serena said:

I wonder, do you think Alena has that personality you're looking for? I know you once had hopes in Samper but changed your mind, do you see this happening with Alena as well, or do you believe he'll be a starter one day?

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I had high hopes in Samper without watching him too much. That was like 5-6 years ago.
I believed in Xavi's words and a hype around him.
Then I have seen him actually play in youth teams, his body language, crying how he can't play for Barca B during a relegation battle because it was too stressful and I have seen enough about him.
Regardless of his actual footballing skills.

Alena has "balls" and courage. He dribbles a lot, he takes the responsibility, he is not hiding.
Even when he plays or when he celebrates a goal, he is somewhat cocky.
That's a positive virtue and a needed skill for a high level footballer (unless you go into extremes with cockiness like Cr7, Deulofeu, Pogba, Halilovic).
But again, that doesn't mean that he will make it here.
But he at least has a chance to make it. Samper and Roberto will never be better than a rotation-level.

For example, this is my estimation of our team, who has a high level of courage (as a person), who is normal and who is low:
(This is imo some mix of courage, self confidence, cockiness, being a lion heart like Puyol, being a leader in key moments, leading a team, influencing teammates, fighting with opponents and referees if needed etc)
Very high 5/5: Neymar, Halilovic, Deulofeu, Suarez, Pique, Dani Alves, Valdes, Puyol, Alba
High 4/5: Messi (4 and not 5/5 only because he is not too cocky as a person. He is a somewhat quiet guy. But still brave more than enough whenever needed), Mascherano, Iniesta, Xavi, Arda, Rakitic
Normal 3/5: Busi, Umtiti
Low 1/5: Roberto, Samper, Bartra, probably Cillessen

Not decided yet, we will need to see more of them in tough times when we can estimate their true mental strength: Denis, Gomes, Mats, Rafinha, Paco

So, imo, anything with a level 3 to 5 is good enough in a combination with a world class footballing skills.
But for top leadership players, when was the last time when our leader was not somewhat cocky and insanely brave? (Or any top player in the world?)
Ronaldinho, brave, a leader, somewhat cocky
Rivaldo, brave, a leader, cocky
R9, the same
Stoichkov, the same
Messi, very brave, not cocky
Neymar, slightly too cocky

Or RM's legends like Zidane, Figo, CR7. All of them have a high level of cockiness, self confidence, bravery.

** Regardless of Roberto, I have read a few days ago one article about Halilovic and a guy who was writing the article said that today more or less all players in top clubs have almost equal skills (to some extent), and the only thing which will turn a player into a world class or a meh-mode is his mental strength and personality.

If two players have somewhat similar footballing skills, the one with better mental strength will turn into a better play on long terms.
Only if you are way, way better than other players, you can "survive" with a slightly weaker mental strength or not too brave personality.
Halilovic has a courage, but he lacks in some other mental skills (IQ, he won't train and run too much, he thinks that he is a star of every team etc)

Look, footballers are showmen to some extent.
Samper or Roberto wouldn't have problems in real life if they were working on some regular job, like all of us.
You don't have to be too cocky or brave on majority of normal jobs. That is not a required skill in a normal life, more or less.

But for example, to be a singer in a rock band and playing infront of 100 000 people, you can't be anxious, scared and similar.
You need to have balls and courage to entertain people and to make them sing.
Or to be a top actor, either in Hollywood or in a theatre...

Cr7 and Neymar have "good" DNA in that sense.
They have very, very high bravery, cockiness, not being scared etc.

Just compare Neymar (even though I don't like him for other reasons) and how he tries to do something, how he fights with opponents, how cocky is he when he celebrates.
And compare his bravery/courage with Samper or Roberto.

Again, imo, 99% of us (football fans) are giving too much importance to pure technical/footballing skills of a player.
While they are probably only 50% of things needed for a player to make it at the highest level of sport/entertainment.

My general advice to people would be: don't shape opinions of someone whom you don't follow. Aleñá will show himself on a bigger level eventually, but it won't be with his youth days in mind. You start from the bottom and from scratch on the first team.

BBZ8800 said:

Again, imo, 99% of us (football fans) are giving too much importance to pure technical/footballing skills of a player.
While they are probably only 50% of things needed for a player to make it at the highest level of sport/entertainment.

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Great post!

It’s absurd to think that a club as big as Barcelona continue to use a make shift RB for an entire season. Surely Enrique can see that trying to turn Roberto into a RB is not working out.

Barcelona are the only big club in Europe that prefers to turn midfielders into defenders. The Mascherano experiment was a success but he should be the exception to the rule, not the norm.

There’s a good reason why other big clubs in Europe aren’t so stupid to use this method as a solution to fix their problems. Every other club knows that you are more likely to fail than succeed with this mad tactic.

MIXA said:

It’s absurd to think that a club as big as Barcelona continue to use a make shift RB for an entire season. Surely Enrique can see that trying to turn Roberto into a RB is not working out.

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On the contrary, I think he can not see that... If you read the September-October comments by the coach, all of those are filled with confident and optimistic statements, saying that the team has finally "found" its long term RB.
I think the truth is that all these are panic-reactions from the management after sort of realizing that Alves's departure has left a big wound or hole on the body of the team. Vidal in and out, praised and cursed, eight (!) actual midfielders being there, the invention of the "rotation" idea, which will hardly ever work (unless playing against very weak opponents), finding a post for Turan, admitting that nobody at present can substitute Iniesta, etc. all show that the management is superstitiously hoping the wonders to happen, without actually knowing what to do...

Potroh said:

On the contrary, I think he can not see that... If you read the September-October comments by the coach, all of those are filled with confident and optimistic statements, saying that the team has finally "found" its long term RB.
I think the truth is that all these are panic-reactions from the management after sort of realizing that Alves's departure has left a big wound or hole on the body of the team. Vidal in and out, praised and cursed, eight (!) actual midfielders being there, the invention of the "rotation" idea, which will hardly ever work (unless playing against very weak opponents), finding a post for Turan, admitting that nobody at present can substitute Iniesta, etc. all show that the management is superstitiously hoping the wonders to happen, without actually knowing what to do...

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Totally agree. Alves was absolutely immense for Barca and his absence is now beginning to show just what an important player he was. Management certainly did not plan appropriately to deal with Alves leaving the club. We lost a world class RB and the whole team has been thrown into turmoil because of that. Imagine what's going to happen when Messi leaves

MIXA said:

Totally agree. Alves was absolutely immense for Barca and his absence is now beginning to show just what an important player he was. Management certainly did not plan appropriately to deal with Alves leaving the club.

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Yeah... Alves has left because the mindless management suggested that Vidal was better, for half a year the flourish of trumpets had been blowing Vidal's praises... Every world class player would have left in Alves's place - if having the minimal pride or self-esteem...

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION], very good post man. Very good. But the one thing I don't agree with is that there is a certain personality that would lead to a better football player than other personality. I've seen sensible, shy players fail, just as much as cocky ones.

Just because some players let their personality hinder their development and performances doesn't mean anything. Take a look at Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic. Extremely arrogant, and cocky and egocentric. Does that make them bad footballers? No, because they are great players. What matters is to have the required ability, and the confidence to take advantage of every opportunity to show it. Confidence, ability, work-ethic, luck. You have those 4 elements you can be a great footballer no matter if you are shy, or arrogant, or cocky or whatever. Arrogance and humbleness are there in players' personalities, but they do not form the core characteristics which make players fail or succeed imo.

A player has the control to be great regardless of his personality. So it's not the personality that makes him fail, imo, but how he controls it. Ronaldo controls his personality. He works hard, gives everything in order to allow himself to be arrogant and egocentric. So, him being arrogant and egocentric doesn't really hurt his career, because he backs that up with some extremely rare qualities, like immaculate work-ethic, ambition to be the best and others. He can be as arrogant as he wants, that will not hurt his career because his career is established on some solid foundations (foundations that every sportsman would love to have).

Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic are arrogant. Deloufeu is not arrogant, he is stupid and naive. Arrogance requires achieving the position which allows you to be considered arrogant, it is a form of aggression exercised by those that are superior to others. Deulofeu is not superior. He is a substitute for a midtable PL team.