Jordi Alba

gregorrin10 said:

Probably the most scared bloke in our team, once Setien is appointed. And he should be. Firpo is gonna overtake him like a tank, if given a proper chance, which is almost a certainty under Setien.

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serghei said:

Fullbacks have been crap under Ernie consistently because of his idiotic tactics.

Most big teams (except for Madrid and their obsession with crosses) play passes to fullbacks in space in the final third. They do not use fullbacks to build attacks (except rarely, and not as a go-to plan), the way you use creative CMs, because fullbacks are usually direct players with little imagination and limited field vision.

Great technique in short spaces and play-making aren't traits known for fullbacks, with the freak exceptions of Alves and Marcelo, who were fullbacks with vision and executions worthy of no10s. It's not a coincidence that they are both Brazilians. Their ability was disproportionate with the normal in-game requirements of their positions. Which is why the teams they played for used them as all-around attacking weapons, even midfielders (especially in Dani's case).

If you watch peak Zidane's Madrid, Marcelo was passed to even when marked, because he had a lot of weapons to create imbalance the way a winger does: technique, trickery, ability to play one-twos, perfect ball control. But this did not apply to Carvajal. Kroos, Casemiro, and Modric only passed him the ball when in plenty of space to make an immediate impact (receive in space, stop the ball, look in the box, place a good cross). Carvajal is a typical fullback. Up and down, fast and fairly strong on his feet, good crosser, but rather rudimentary in terms of trickery, intricate passing, and 1 vs 1 dribbling ability. So, when the ball reached Carvajal, it reached him when he had enough space to attack the box, or take his time to place a well-executed cross. The Madrid playmakers would not pull the trigger on Carvajal if these conditions didn't apply. If they passed him the ball in conditions of limited space, it was to simply move the opponent around, not to give the attacking initiative to Carvajal.

Now let's look at Ernie. Valverde used a conservative fullback like Alba, (who is similar to Carvajal) as if he was creatively good enough in the way an Alves or Marcelo is. And this applied also to Roberto. Some bad tactical stuff there. So, you have technical and creative central playmakers like De Jong, Arthur, Busi, Messi, players you can use to create central overloads and create space in the wings, and you still choose to attack and do build-up with Alba and Roberto instead (check the most passes and most touches, Alba and Roberto with the most almost each game). Mindfuck.

So of course, when these players found themselves in situations and roles, which were even challenging for the likes of Marcelo and Alves (Ernie's Barca is more static than Zidane's Madrid and Pep's Barca by far), they exposed their limitations time and time again. But limitations that (literally) all fullbacks from today would show (even past greats like peak Ashley Cole, or peak Gianluca Zambrotta would have big issues playing as fullbacks in Ernie's Barcelona).

But instead of blaming the real culprit, Valverde and his idiotic system, the players got the blame. No wonder Semedo, Roberto, Alba are some of the most criticized players from Valverde's time. The whole midfield-fullbacks relation was orchestrated wrong. The midfielders and dropping attackers are the ones who should move to ditch markers, and dominate the midfield. They can combine with each other, creating superiority, and using overloads to find fullbacks or wingers in space. Check how Liverpool and City use their fullbacks. Robertson and Arnold are the main beneficiaries of the creation of space inside Liverpool's system. Salah and Firmino are the two main overloaders (the ones who drop most often to associate with the midfielders), with Mane used more as a finisher because he is a better shooter than Salah, but a worse dribbler and worse short-spaces player.

The system is designed to create overloads around the ball, and switch the play where space is created. Midfield gets more crowded, and wings get freer. The common plan is to get the ball from the crowded area and pass it into the free area. The areas that you crowd the most (overloads) involve the best players in short spaces and the players with the most options for pass (the so-called 360 degrees passing option which wide players don't have by default) so that every overload has both progressive passing options, and both safety escapes (so-called back pass or safety lateral pass to void turnovers). Those players are usually central players.

I didn't see any of that under Valverde.

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Sailor Mars said:

Apparently some players complained about how they were depicted on the Matchday documentary series.

Guarantee it was Alba all butthurt that his crying scene was made public.

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