11 - Ousmane Dembélé - V1

Pathetic performance yesterday from a ridiculous waste of cash very average player.

Ousmane is super talented but he needs to do better. We see flashes of his talent every game but he needs to improve and stop standing still on the pitch with the ball thinking he won't lose it. And if/when he does lose it, he needs to bust a gut to try and get it back. He's got the pace for it.

People were shitting all over Mats when Bravo left and look at him now. Dembele had a great start of the season and than Reatardo Valverde benched him. This is basically first really bad half he had this season and he gets trashed while some other players had few disastrous games in a row and they were never benched. Some of you really need to stop having double criteria for Barca players.

I think he made a bad game yesterday which is ok or me giving the fact he played zero minutes over last games. What annoys me though is his body language and effort. Ofc i can have a bad day where nothing works out but i still can fight and dont have to lose a dozen balls so easily.

Been a hater of his transfer from day 1, still I am. He will be 22 year old in May next year. Messi, at that age was creating a havock in CL finals in Rome, CR was leading ManU to PL titles and we have this guy who should be our future main star ? He's average pace merchant without or very little positional awereness. He's not Barca player, its painfully obvious as of now. Valverde, even being a shit coach like he is, is not guilty for this guy's lack of effort and overall body language. He's just not alpha.

Pacy but clumsy.

Raketa10 said:

People were shitting all over Mats when Bravo left and look at him now. Dembele had a great start of the season and than Reatardo Valverde benched him. This is basically first really bad half he had this season and he gets trashed while some other players had few disastrous games in a row and they were never benched. Some of you really need to stop having double criteria for Barca players.

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Dembele wasn't great at the start of the season. A few screamers can't change that. Not once looked like a part of the team. Not a coincidence we're better off without him. Considering his poor form, don't know, don't care attitude, why would he play in front of a hard worker like Arthur? Who brings something to the table. Easy to blame the coach, but some things are just not meant to be.

Against Inter is his big chance. To shine and prove that ge belongs in this Club. He is needed more than ever

JerseyAddict said:

Against Inter is his big chance. To shine and prove that ge belongs in this Club. He is needed more than ever

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I'm not even sure that Dembele will start vs Inter. Munir, Malcom and maybe Rafinha are all candidates for that RW in EV's mind.

soul24rage said:

I'm not even sure that Dembele will start vs Inter. Munir, Malcom and maybe Rafinha are all candidates for that RW in EV's mind.

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Munir and Rafinha maybe... Munir is much worse than Dembele. Malcom is a candidate for stands in EV mind (I hope I am wrong tbf)

I expect 442 lineup in Milano

Joan Laporta said:

Dembele wasn't great at the start of the season. A few screamers can't change that. Not once looked like a part of the team. Not a coincidence we're better off without him. Considering his poor form, don't know, don't care attitude, why would he play in front of a hard worker like Arthur? Who brings something to the table. Easy to blame the coach, but some things are just not meant to be.

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I agree, but:
the problem is that we spent 140Mio, he must be a starter, a key player for the team

Coutinho and Dembele costed about 300mio, so they have to be fixed starter, otherwise we'd be a joke, so: Messi or Suarez should be benched,
or we play with Coutinho-Dembele-Suarez-Messi together with only 2 true midfielders.

But (as you said) we play better with 3 true midfielders + Cou-Suarez-Messi


Whatever, if EV wanted these players (i really hope the HE wanted these players, not the board), I would like to know what ideal 11 had in his mind.

Joan Laporta said:

Dembele wasn't great at the start of the season. A few screamers can't change that. Not once looked like a part of the team. Not a coincidence we're better off without him. Considering his poor form, don't know, don't care attitude, why would he play in front of a hard worker like Arthur? Who brings something to the table. Easy to blame the coach, but some things are just not meant to be.

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Even if he doesnt start, he needs to be an important sub. Problem with the coach is he brings on very very late subs and plays Rakitc, Suarez and Pique to the ground. Thats no excuse for a coach. They need rests as well. I dont think Dembele has been quite suited for the possession type of play but the man management has been nothing less of horrendous. Dembele and Semedo are the usual scapegoats, and the only time they play is only if Roberto or Messi gets injured. And he forced him to play LW at the start of the season which doesnt suit him due to the tight spaces.

Nothing is not meant to be or not. You can get the best out of most players by switching up tactics, adapting to the games, which havent been shown till now. Zidane got the best out of Asensio and Lucas Vasquez and most players shone under him. Under EV, it's the opposite. Imagine if Arthur hasnt been a starting role because of Coutinho being pushed to LW, we'll probably see him stuck on the bench because of the coach's imcompetency to get the best out of the squad. Squad has been underutilised and underexplored. No one has that responsibility except for the person in charge.

What is frustrating for me is that it really looks like a mental thing with him (at least to me it looks like it). At the beginning of the season he started to show what I expected from him and defended him for. He kept it simple most of the time, made good passes, runs and had good dribblings and goals. In addition, I felt like his defensive contribution also improved.
But for some reason in recent weeks he looks lackadasical, sluggish maybe. He tries unnecessary stuff and basically everything looks a step down from the beginning of the season.
That is really frustrating to see considering that his talent for the game is unmatched by almost every young player in the world and if he really is dragged down so easily (by the managers‘ decisions or whatever), it is quite a shame because I still think he could be great for Barca. But apparently not under our current circumstances.
Despite that, I hope he gets himself together again and can make the most of the fact that he will play more now that Messi is injured and will come back to his form from earlier this season.

I have said before, for a kid to make it at Barca, you need 2 things:
1. world class skills and being fit for our style
2. being mentally strong and mature for this job, pressure, obstacles

Iirc, the only foreign guy since 2000 who had both of these in our shirt was Umtiti.
And to some extent Mats.

Neymar had skills, but he never had needed mental skills.

Dembele:
1. his skills are quite questionable (he can make some world class things, only to mess up some basic, simple things after that. As time goes by, now we are all realizing WHY he had only 67% passing accuracy at Dortmund).
2. about his mental skills, I was posting from a day1 his weird interview with right and left foot, and I had some questions about his IQ.
About his professionalism and being mature, well:
1) he doesn't know how to stretch and warm up properly
2) he wasn't talking about his injury problems to our medical team
3) he was eating unhealthy
4) he forced his move both from Rennes and Dortmund in a childish way
5) he didn't want to eat what a club ordered him and fired our chef

Further:
6) his body language was always weird and he never looked like a fighter
7) and lately, he is even a snowflake who is mentally dead after someone yelled at him during a hafltime (for a reason).
What is next? We should be careful with him and don't say any bad words because he will lose his confidence?
Lol, if he is that sensitive, maybe he should try to look for a different job.

In short:
1. his "world class skills" are quite questionable and are probably just a dream/delusion/a huge overhype by our fans
2. he is a horrible fit for our club
3. mentally, he is just a kid, years away from being ready for a challenge named Fc Barcelona

Personally, unless if something drastically changes in Dembele's maturity and footballing skills, I don't see how will he survive a summer of 2019 and stay here.

So, maybe it is a time to talk more in Barca's transfer thread about whom will a club buy next, at a winger position.
People will reply: stupid EV won't play anyone and he will ruin all young players.
Regardless of EV, Dembele still can't play a simple pass and is mentally not ready for this challenge.
Malcom, there is high chance that he is just not good enough also.

So, with or without EV, we should start to mention some new Lw and Rw names from now on in a transfer thread.
And maybe it will be wiser this time to buy some 25 year old player and not 21 year old kids.

Had a feeling he was playing bad on purpose and i am sure about it, in a few plays u could tell he was doing it on purpose, he doesnt like how he is being treated.