20 - Sergi Roberto

[God Serena]

Not a popular opinion but I fully expect Roberto's time at Barcelona to be over when a new RB is signed. Especially if our new coach gives a chance to Palencia when Lucho (PLEASE GOD) leaves.

At midfield he's got too much competition and the younger midfielders will always have more favor, and at CDM we'll probably see Samper become the main backup at some point. Sergi doesn't have world class potential but he'd tear Italy or England up and make them think he does, if he were to ever go there.

 

[reaper]

Roberto is the type of player who will end up in Roma - on loan from Barcelona..

 

[El Flaco]

Roberto got absolutely destroyed in 1st half against Villarreal, all of their chances were created from his flank.

Hope it gets better during the 2nd half.

 

[CatalinR10]

bad game


one of the reasons messi is playing in the midd again is cause of departure of Alves . Roberto doesn't have the qualities necessary to link up with Messi as Alves did

 

[FlaFCB]

Another bad game. He really isn't a right back. Experiments like Masch work out rarely.

 

[hulinat]

As if he was the only bad player today. Were lucky to have him.

 

[Devils]

I'm struggling to see how it is possible to blame him...

The guy is literally covering the entire right flank, Messi doesn't play there and SLOWmes isn't doing anything useful in midfield.

Roberto is covering the entire flank, of course he's going to struggle if there isn't anyone there to help him out.

 

[gasgas]

I'm struggling to see how it is possible to blame him...

The guy is literally covering the entire right flank, Messi doesn't play there and SLOWmes isn't doing anything useful in midfield.

Roberto is covering the entire flank, of course he's going to struggle if there isn't anyone there to help him out.

The first barcaforum member to interpret the Roberto situation correctly

 

[FlaFCB]

I'm struggling to see how it is possible to blame him...

The guy is literally covering the entire right flank, Messi doesn't play there and SLOWmes isn't doing anything useful in midfield.

Roberto is covering the entire flank, of course he's going to struggle if there isn't anyone there to help him out.

The problem isn't only the rcm, whoever is playing there, be it gomes, denis or raki. Roberto is half of the reason why the right side is broken. He is not a rb, and he can't attack or defend like one. He's been thrown on the fire, it's not his fault, but it's a failed experience.

 

[Horatio]

Slowmes.....lol

 

[BBZ8800]

of course he's going to struggle if there isn't anyone there to help him out.

In attacking sense, nobody is helping him because (at least Messi) have gave up on him more or less.
With Messi and some players you can easily see how they are always passing to a certain players and how they have a lot of faith in some players.
On the other hand, you can also see how a certain players never pass to some players, because they think that absolutely nothing will happen when you pass a ball to them, so a player1 is just looking for some other, better options.

Roberto at a RB is one of those players.
A player to whom you will rarely pass the ball, since in 9 out of 10 cases, absolutely nothing will happen.
He will just pass the ball back to you, or to a Cb or Busi.
Or he will try some dribble or cross, after which, again, nothing will happen.

** It slightly reminds me on a situation from a summer of 2015 (if I remember correctly), when Halilovic played for us in Usa during a preseason.
And whenever he came in in the last 10-20 minutes, he was always "free" on the right flank, no one was covering him but our players (except Rakitic) just didn't want to pass the ball to him and they just always passed to "someone else".
So, a guy was there alone and free but nobody gave a fuck about him.

Anyway, about Roberto, I wouldn't blame his teammates for not helping him.
i would blame Roberto for being extremely meh in attack to that level so that the whole right side is dead and majority of his teammates tried to play some other options with some other teammates (Messi as a No1).

Like (Messi thinking): there is absolutely no one to link up here (on the right flank). I'll just go to the middle, maybe I'll found someone to link-up there :/

Messi has to link-up with the weakest player in our team...

 

[serghei]

In attacking sense, nobody is helping him because (at least Messi) have gave up on him more or less.
With Messi and some players you can easily see how they are always passing to a certain players and how they have a lot of faith in some players.
On the other hand, you can also see how a certain players never pass to some players, because they think that absolutely nothing will happen when you pass a ball to them, so a player1 is just looking for some other, better options.

Roberto at a RB is one of those players.
A player to whom you will rarely pass the ball, since in 9 out of 10 cases, absolutely nothing will happen.
He will just pass the ball back to you, or to a Cb or Busi.
Or he will try some dribble or cross, after which, again, nothing will happen.

** It slightly reminds me on a situation from a summer of 2015 (if I remember correctly), when Halilovic played for us in Usa during a preseason.
And whenever he came in in the last 10-20 minutes, he was always "free" on the right flank, no one was covering him but our players (except Rakitic) just didn't want to pass the ball to him and they just always passed to "someone else".
So, a guy was there alone and free but nobody gave a fuck about him.

Anyway, about Roberto, I wouldn't blame his teammates for not helping him.
i would blame Roberto for being extremely meh in attack to that level so that the whole right side is dead and majority of his teammates tried to play some other options with some other teammates (Messi as a No1).

Messi has to link-up with the weakest player in our team...

Agree with this very much. It can be attributed to other players as well. "Safe" players that will only play a pass only when it reveals itself to the degree that the risk of a mistake is minimal. In order to make a great pass you have to be a master at all 3 elements that make a pass possible, imo. Vision, confidence, and execution. Vision means you see passing options that other's don't see, confidence means you trust your ability to make the pass, so you try it when others don't, and execution means the ability and technique to pull off the pass and complete the process.

 

[Messi983]

bad game


one of the reasons messi is playing in the midd again is cause of departure of Alves . Roberto doesn't have the qualities necessary to link up with Messi as Alves did

Of course he doesn't have same quality as Alves but he also doesn't have same kind of chemistry with Messi as Alves did after playing together for so long. Now, this is understandable because Roberto is our full time starting RB for only 6 months but I think it's unfair to blame only Roberto. It seems like Messi doesn't even try to establish any kind of understanding with Roberto and whoever plays as RCM by staying on the right wing and help him/them out in attack. He won't do much in defense, we know that but Roberto and RCM tasks would be easier if they'd had help in attack so they could focus more on defensive tasks. I probably also don't have to say that opposing LB/LM/LW would have a lot less time and willingness to go forward and cause our defense troubles if they'd have to worry about Messi instead of only Roberto/RCM defensively.

Yes, this might be because of Lucho's tactics but I believe Messi has a total free role and choose himself whether he plays on the wings or in midfield. There are games when he's needed in more central role to help us keeping possesion but there are also many games when he'd be much better staying on the right but he keeps shifting to AMC/CM. Now people will say that he needs to go there because our CMs are unable to create chances but I don't totally agree with that. I love Messi but I don't think he receives fair shares of criticism for the struggles of our right side.

Like (Messi thinking): there is absolutely no one to link up here (on the right flank). I'll just go to the middle, maybe I'll found someone to link-up there :/

Messi has to link-up with the weakest player in our team...

Messi has linked up well with worse players than Roberto and he made them look better. Why can't he also do that with Roberto? At least try to stay on the wings for some games and see if they can get some understanding and chemistry together. With La Liga most likely lost it won't be the end of the world if we try that before CL starts again. I think this would also benefit Messi. If he stays on the RW there are only 1 or 2 players covering him so he'd have more space to dribble/try through balls than in midfield where there are constantly 3 or 4 players covering him.

 

[FlaFCB]

Messi has linked up well with worse players than Roberto and he made them look better. Why can't he also do that with Roberto? At least try to stay on the wings for some games and see if they can get some understanding and chemistry together. With La Liga most likely lost it won't be the end of the world if we try that before CL starts again. I think this would also benefit Messi. If he stays on the RW there are only 1 or 2 players covering him so he'd have more space to dribble/try through balls than in midfield where there are constantly 3 or 4 players covering him.

Messi starts games on the right, then goes central because he doesn't get the ball when in the wing. I remember one play from yesterday, right in the beginning of the match. Messi tried a combination with bob and gomes. He started from the midfield, passed to gomes. Then messi moved up, gomes passed to bob, and bob, instead of passing back to messi, passed it to busi. That happens a lot. Messi also wouldn't get many touches there because of this, and we know what he does when he doesn't get the ball. He goes after it.

 

[Potroh]

Messi starts games on the right, then goes central because he doesn't get the ball when in the wing. I remember one play from yesterday, right in the beginning of the match. Messi tried a combination with bob and gomes. He started from the midfield, passed to gomes. Then messi moved up, gomes passed to bob, and bob, instead of passing back to messi, passed it to busi. That happens a lot. Messi also wouldn't get many touches there because of this, and we know what he does when he doesn't get the ball. He goes after it.

Well said!
Messi indeed plays more or less freely, so obviously he often starts playing a midfielder's role when he feels if it depended on the actual midfielders or the right back, he would rarely get a useful ball at all...
He has incomparable talent to see & feel the entire game, thus when he comes back deep, he wants to create the chances too - in the place of others.