Memphis Depay

He isnt productive enough to be the main man at a club like Barca and be allowed that many sloppy mistakes.

Good signing for free in time Barca have no money but should look to move on in summer and take what cash can for him.

Would rather have a player that can do less of the spectacular but is more consistent with the ball. Barca have enough players that easily lose it.

He really tries to make something happen. He might not be a world class player, but he was free, so there is that.
We need attacking patterns badly. We seem to rely on individual moments from players that don't have the quality to provide. It's actually not their fault.

JohnN said:

He really tries to make something happen. He might not be a world class player, but he was free, so there is that.
We need attacking patterns badly. We seem to rely on individual moments from players that don't have the quality to provide. It's actually not their fault.

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This reads like coping mechanisms... Reading your posts from week to week is like seeing someone slowly realizing they're headed towards a mountain wall in 150km/h, but in 0,000001 times the speed.
It's impossible to have attacking patterns when you have a player missing as much as Depay, and also playing as much on 'inspiration', which is another thing I didn't focus that much on yet. Even when he succeeds, his decisions are taken as from a tombola, not really predictable. He is out of phase with his team mates and with the world, it is his style, he can't really change it at 27, and it is impossible to play in any way that does not rely on individual moments when you have a player like that. It's the same with Dembele and to some degree Coutinho and Fati too.
Maybe in a year, more people will realize he wasn't such a good signing, despite being """"free"""""

Bottom line is our attack would be even worse without him.

He was never going to suddenly be good enough to start all the time and rescue us. A good player who can provide goals and assists in a squad role would be his role in a functioning Barca.

Multiple times yesterday the ball was passed into him, he held it up well and then passed to his teammates who did nothing with it. Attacking patterns start with the manager, we might as well not have a manager in Koeman.

Depay was poor yesterday in general though. However, our biggest goal threat so far this season.

Rory said:

He was never going to suddenly be good enough to start all the time and rescue us. A good player who can provide goals and assists in a squad role would be his role in a functioning Barca.

Multiple times yesterday the ball was passed into him, he held it up well and then passed to his teammates who did nothing with it. Attacking patterns start with the manager, we might as well not have a manager in Koeman.

Depay was poor yesterday in general though. However, our biggest goal threat so far this season.

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He is looking for the goal threat every single time he has the ball facing forwards. He shoots, crosses, dribbles or tries a fancy pass, and roughly half the time he fails and often there is a counter on at the other end, as on 0-1 yesterday. When Depay fails, no other player can be a goal threat in that attack, but they all have to run backwards to defend instead. Mostly Depay doesn't care about defending himself, he did feel an unusual shame for 2 seconds after losing the ball yesterday and jogged towards Vinicius for a bit, but then he stopped.
He did have a couple of good flicks yesterday though, and his crosses are pretty decent. I think Collado would've been a better option, and he was actually completely free.

Bobo you'd have some fair points if you didn't come out with something like "Collado would've been a better option". There's 0 evidence to suggest that would be the case. Collado is 22 years old and can't get in the squad and wasn't wanted by half decent teams either.

Just imagine a Fati-???-Collado front line. Or Konrad-Fati-Collado That sucks. Depay at least adds physicality.

mc_lovin said:

Just imagine a Fati-???-Collado front line. Or Konrad-Fati-Collado That sucks. Depay at least adds physicality.

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Depay is even slower than Collado, and I see him lying on the grass 1/3rd of the time, so he cannot be very strong either, despite the gym muscles he is so eager to show off. Fati and Konrad are much quicker, and brings threat without that extreme fail%, and they work for the team.

No there is no evidence, the only evidence is Depay playing all but 20mins so far this season, and he looked decent the first 2 games maybe. Collado isn't at a place where he can play all minutes and take all set pieces etc, but if he did I am pretty sure he'd offer more and that the team would perform better. I don't care if it seems ridiculous to you.

Bobo32 said:

He is looking for the goal threat every single time he has the ball facing forwards. He shoots, crosses, dribbles or tries a fancy pass, and roughly half the time he fails and often there is a counter on at the other end, as on 0-1 yesterday. When Depay fails, no other player can be a goal threat in that attack, but they all have to run backwards to defend instead. Mostly Depay doesn't care about defending himself, he did feel an unusual shame for 2 seconds after losing the ball yesterday and jogged towards Vinicius for a bit, but then he stopped.
He did have a couple of good flicks yesterday though, and his crosses are pretty decent. I think Collado would've been a better option, and he was actually completely free.

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Absolutely 100% agree with you Bobo32. It is absolutely true. That means you really followed his reaction after he lost the ball for 0-1. It is really strange how still they are people who see any quality in this player. To me anybody else should be given a chance to prove instead keeping this wrestler entire time match after match.
But what is very bad, the idiot Cowman, being his countryman never spoke bad about him even if we already lost 2 important matches because he lost the ball. Instead, he immediately reacted to other players like Nico, Dest, Puig and so on. When his wrestler mate make these clear errors, he is blind. I am already too full of these 3 Dutchmen, Cowman, Depay and Luuk. Such a bad situation at Barca at the moment.

Maybe he is undisciplined or lacks tactical instruction but it isn't very clear what his role is. Sometimes he will be on the wing, sometimes in the box, sometimes holding up the ball, and doesn't really have a clear position in the attack. Despite winger being his natural position he gravitates towards the inside spaces a lot and loves to play in the box, whereas say on a counter where you are looking to get the ball to your wingers he isn't the type of player who will take it and get it down the line fast as he is too slow/not that good at dribbling. He is great at making chances in the final third though through his back to goal play and linking the midfield to the attack.

Doesn't have the movements of a lone 9 really either. Great at holding up the ball and playing in teammates but doesn't attack the space and make runs onto balls or have much of an aerial threat. So he could actually be better in a second striker role where he can lie deeper, hold up the ball, link the midfield to the attack as he has done well and fashion chances for his teammates/striker accompanying him.

Would like to see us try a 4-4-2 like this to see how it goes :

MATS
Mingueza-Pique-Araujo-Alba
Dest-Gavi or Busi-FDJ-Coutinho
Fati-Depay

And have Fati play higher up the pitch so he doesn't need to carry the ball, Depay sitting in behind him to receive as the point of reference and take advantage of Fati's clinical finishing when these opportunities arrive. Also lets Coutinho play in a comfortable position, on that side you have a more attacking and fast LB in Alba to overlap him so that flank will have some width..

He's good but can't do everything on his own. Would also benefit with some rest but can't really afford that with other injuries.

Low testosterone type of guy

He should have had a red card.

Did well to create the penalty.

About time to miss a penalty.