Nelson Semedo

[Potroh]

Of course such situations as Navas’ save are unorthodox. But that was not luck.

Sounds better.
I'm happy you didn't say that the keeper needs to practice to strengthen and hang his testicles as low as possible, in order to stop the ball when he is nutmeged... But that's just a joke, so I withdraw it, it's not a nice Xmas sentence anyway...

But we seem to be getting close, because the rest only depends on the definition of "luck".
If you state that the keeper consciously throws his entire body to the way of the ball, then you are right, it is a save.
But if the ball has already passed him and gets deflected from a static body-part, that he is not even able move consciously in that situation, then it is the very same thing, as if the ball hits the post, because there is no conscious movement involved. So:
Conscious move or instinctive move = it's a save.
Unconscious move or other factors (wind, uneven ground, slippery grass or ball, etc.) = luck.

 

[Zincubus]

From what I've seen of Semedo he's been great going forward and good defending ... nearest thing we've had to Dani Alves ..

 

[serghei]

he is good 1v1 but the problem is that the wing battles are rarely 1v1 due to overlapping wingers being a very popular strategy and every time I've seen Semedo in such a position he has failed to track the overlap leading to a dangerous attack for the opposition

True, but here is where the right wide midfielder comes into place. Overlapping fullbacks need to be blocked and tracked by wide midfielders when there is also a winger from the opposition involved, as the RB is going to block the LW in most cases (if the LB stays closer to the sideline). The corresponding midfielder has to make sure there is not a 2 vs 1 overload (as it happened vs Valencia), when Guedes and Gaya succesfully created a superiority of this type.

 

[DonAK]

His pace is crazy. Even if he doesn't have to start, he got to be on the bench. Can even bring him on as a winger late in the game when the other team is tired as he'll just blaze past them. Will be far more useful than bringing on Deulofeu late.

 

[serghei]

His pace is crazy. Even if he doesn't have to start, he got to be on the bench. Can even bring him on as a winger late in the game when the other team is tired as he'll just blaze past them. Will be far more useful than bringing on Deulofeu late.

Yea, was like a TGV past the Madrid players at that chance. Lightning fast.

 

[Horatio]

I still think he will become WC RB. I can feel it in mah bones.

 

[serghei]

I still think he will become WC RB. I can feel it in mah bones.

Quality wise, no doubt. Jury's still out on the brains part. This is a very underrated part of becoming world class.

 

[Barcaman]

He'll play plenty soon enough with our busy schedule in January.
Roberto isn't moving to midfield though. His performances were good at RB and now Rafinha is returning too so midfield is packed.

Still, 20+ or so matches played in his first season isn't that bad and we shouldn't have expected too much in the first place.

 

[FCBfan22]

I think that the right thing right now would be to start Roberto in RB and Iniesta in LCM. Then do the sub that Valverde did in Classico and move Roberto to RCM, because he has shown more in CM in that 10 minutes he played there than any other of our options (Denis, Gomes (lol)). That way Semedo would get playing time and destroy teams when they are tired (60th minute onwards) and we wouldn't lose the midfield when Iniesta is subbed.

 

[henias]

I think that the right thing right now would be to start Roberto in RB and Iniesta in LCM. Then do the sub that Valverde did in Classico and move Roberto to RCM, because he has shown more in CM in that 10 minutes he played there than any other of our options (Denis, Gomes (lol)). That way Semedo would get playing time and destroy teams when they are tired (60th minute onwards) and we wouldn't lose the midfield when Iniesta is subbed.

Yeah I totally agree. Semedo can take advantage when teams are tired and burst forward with his pace. At the same time Roberto can take a breather and allow Semedo to do the running and cover him while he do his thing in the midfield.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I think that the right thing right now would be to start Roberto in RB and Iniesta in LCM. Then do the sub that Valverde did in Classico and move Roberto to RCM, because he has shown more in CM in that 10 minutes he played there than any other of our options (Denis, Gomes (lol)). That way Semedo would get playing time and destroy teams when they are tired (60th minute onwards) and we wouldn't lose the midfield when Iniesta is subbed.

That sounds like a good idea. Like it a lot.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

Quality wise, no doubt. Jury's still out on the brains part. This is a very underrated part of becoming world class.

Yes. Dani for instance was very strong on the brains part.
Quality wise Semedo was by far the most talented player on our bench vs Madrid. He has the right skillset to make it here but you can see that he still struggles in our system and doesn't know what to do with the ball at times. Let's see if Valverde changes our winning system into a 4-3-3. When it comes to the 4-4-2 Roberto is better suited to the RB position as he is an additional midfielder when we have the ball while Semedo is more like a "winging" RB that is pretty useless because he has no passing options upfront.

 

[Potroh]

When it comes to the 4-4-2 Roberto is better suited to the RB position as he is an additional midfielder when we have the ball while Semedo is more like a "winging" RB that is pretty useless because he has no passing options upfront.

- It shouldn't come to 4-4-2 as permanent Barca setup, because it is definitely NOT Barca's style and approach. It's good to win - even important - games that could also have been easily lost, just like the 1st half of the classico.

- Roberto is "better suited" to the RB position, until he doesn't make some horrendous mistakes at important moments (last year he did quite a few of those), because whatever the results are, whatever people and even the coach think, he is still not a defender, as he is lacking important qualities of a "born" defender...

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

- It shouldn't come to 4-4-2 as permanent Barca setup, because it is definitely NOT Barca's style and approach. It's good to win - even important - games that could also have been easily lost, just like the 1st half of the classico.

- Roberto is "better suited" to the RB position, until he doesn't make some horrendous mistakes at important moments (last year he did quite a few of those), because whatever the results are, whatever people and even the coach think, he is still not a defender, as he is lacking important qualities of a "born" defender...

I agree with second. Roberto is just not defenseman. He should be midfielder bringing the ball up, thats is the best part of his game and passing.

I assume next season Semedo will start all the games.

 

[henias]

[MENTION=21136]Potroh[/MENTION] is right. For some reason, people thought Roberto can be "developed" more defensively and somehow transform into one of the best RB of the world is ridiculous. He never has that height or defensive presence, even against Real Madrid, he was poor defensively. And he isnt fast or explosive enough like Alves.

All he is good at is dribbling and passing, but in terms of being a natural RB, he's far from it. Whats worse is that Alba is a full time attacker now without Neymar, trusting Roberto and Pique to defend is not the smartest thing to do. Rakitic is very slow as well. I wouldn't feel safe with them against a quick counter attack.

Some big team with a good left winger will come along and tear these three apart.