20 - Sergi Roberto

Porque said:

Atal looks a better fit for us than Emerson.

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Yet to watch Emerson. But a good way to judge fullbacks these days are how they are when going through the middle.

A lot of athletes can run op down the flank

Where was his famed crosses that EV worshiped today vs Sevilla or the last ten games?

I like SR as a mid but as I've said the last few years. Barcelona are not winning the UCL with him at RB. He always gets exposed against better teams. Semedo might be limited offensively but he is better defensively than SR and with his speed can recover from mistakes.

Semedo is also more agile than Roberto beside being ALOT faster.

The superior agility AND speed makes Semedo very tough to beat 1 on 1

It's obvious Roberto doesn't have enough defensive skills to play as a RB but he also seems much slower to me than 2-3 years ago.

He should be dropped to making sub appearances. I think he has gotten comfortable this season as a starter and has no more fire left in him, which was his best quality.

It is not since yesterday that we have the RB problem, this is the third season that Alves has left us and already since before he left us we had to already think about finding a solution (if we had a serious management with clear plans and visions).... and the best that we have done it has been buy Douglas, Samedo and turn Roberto into a RB !

still dont know why he's valverde's #1 RB choice. he just doesnt have the legs for it. Semedo is way faster and better defensively but isnt that good going forward. so i understand there's a dilemma.
hopefully Wague gets a chance to prove himself on the first team as it seems he's got both sides of his game.

Messi983 said:

It's obvious Roberto doesn't have enough defensive skills to play as a RB but he also seems much slower to me than 2-3 years ago.

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I always go back to this video and think "Man he looked pretty good here" when you compare him now vs then. Looked more energetic and quicker and more ballsy at times.

Messi983 said:

It's obvious Roberto doesn't have enough defensive skills to play as a RB but he also seems much slower to me than 2-3 years ago.

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He has been rusty after those injuries he had this season, started season bad but was starting to get back to his form before 2nd injury hit hard

Worst football player in Barcelona’s squad. This guy is the first guy we need to sell or even let go for free. That’s the only way to avoid him being in the starting 11 and fucking up all Barca’s matches he takes part in.

Guy scored that 6th goal vs. Qatar Moneylaundry FC...which is one of my best footballing memories..

Other than that, semedo all the way for rb and him as a jack of all trades for back up

Jack of all trades master of none

It's pretty clear by now that whether Semedo or Roberto are at RB, this position is not a strength for the team this season. Roberto certainly had one of his worser games against Sevilla.

The team has plenty of oomph elsewhere, RB just has to be adequate. These two sure help me appreciate the superb fullback play we have seen in recent years from Alves and Alba. We saw fantastic fullback play in the Barca game this Wednesday, unfortunately it was from Jesus Navas. Barca better hope Navas can't play in the game next week.

PhilS said:

It's pretty clear by now that whether Semedo or Roberto are at RB, this position is not a strength for the team this season. Roberto certainly had one of his worser games against Sevilla.

The team has plenty of oomph elsewhere, RB just has to be adequate. These two sure help me appreciate the superb fullback play we have seen in recent years from Alves and Alba. We saw fantastic fullback play in the Barca game this Wednesday, unfortunately it was from Jesus Navas. Barca better hope Navas can't play in the game next week.

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That would be enough if we had a good RCB. Alas, we do not.

xXKonan said:

I always go back to this video and think "Man he looked pretty good here" when you compare him now vs then. Looked more energetic and quicker and more ballsy at times.

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Thanks for that reminder, buddy. Brings back memories to a holiday in Cannes where I and my youngest brother where looking for a bar to watch the game in and when we first discovered that Roberto was playing as a right back our initial thought was that Lucho had smoked something interesting. After the game we were silenced and at one point in time I remember us discussing whether we had found the substitute of Alves. In hindsight that was a silly talk and blind faith but compared to today, that version of Roberto was twice the RB.

Also who can forget the 0-4 win against RM at the Bernabéu in November of 2015 where SR was one of the better players and had an outstanding game. Sure, not as a RB, but we have not seen such a performance ever since. I miss that version of SR.

However more than that, I miss a prime Dani Alves. A thing of beauty. In particularly the debut season where he took everyone with storm and began that amazing partnership with Messi. That autumn of 2008 where Pep's team was beginning to form and the dynamics that later would change the club's history and that of football's history, were very exciting times after those two previous very disappointing seasons.