6 - Gavi

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Porque

Senior Member
Depor won 3-1 in the end. Their counters were excellent and Noel looks like a very interesting striker.

Barcelona side is good, quick and technical but not enough ideas in the final third.

Just finished watching the second half on 1.75x speed and the funny thing was that every time Rico got the ball the game slowed down to normal speed. I like him though, tidy defensive midfielder with smart pass selection.
[MENTION=7348]Bobo[/MENTION].
First time watching this group together this season so can't tell you who to watch more than who the media hyped this season. Gavi, Ilias, Angel, Luzzi.

I thought Ndiaye looks a decent CB but undersized. The Sergio Ramos looking guy CB was OK but pretty poor on the ball.
 
Bobo32

Bobo32

Senior Member
Porque said:
Depor won 3-1 in the end. Their counters were excellent and Noel looks like a very interesting striker.

Barcelona side is good, quick and technical but not enough ideas in the final third.

Just finished watching the second half on 1.75x speed and the funny thing was that every time Rico got the ball the game slowed down to normal speed. I like him though, tidy defensive midfielder with smart pass selection.
[MENTION=7348]Bobo[/MENTION].
First time watching this group together this season so can't tell you who to watch more than who the media hyped this season. Gavi, Ilias, Angel, Luzzi.

I thought Ndiaye looks a decent CB but undersized. The Sergio Ramos looking guy CB was OK but pretty poor on the ball.
Click to expand...

Ah BarcaTV are at min68 right now, Luzzi just arrived..
Gavi and Ilias have been behind much of the attacks, but I think Gavi in particular looks lost on ideas a lot of the time...
Outside of Ricos mistakes, I think he played very well, doesn't have to be very fast in that position. He still recovered his lost ball with a nice sliding tackle one time.

I didn't spot Angel so far, what number/position?

edit: and with regards to CBs, I didn't look too closely, but disregarded them pretty early...
 
Bobo32

Bobo32

Senior Member
Rico had a very nice lofted through ball for Luzzi, who in turn got it to Gavi, who lost the ball. But it was a very nice combination.

In the 77th minute, Gavi had another poorly weighed through ball for an overlap.
 
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Porque

Senior Member
Sorry for ruining the result.

I liked Gavi alot technically but decision making needs to grow. Some nicely weighted through balls and some poor selection. He doesn't look like a central midfielder like Collado doesn't, but I think Gavi is a bit quicker in seeing what to do and will find it easier to adapt there. He has a great idea of space though and is excellent technically to slow time down on the ball. But if we are expecting a Messi or even Iniesta breakthrough, we will be disappointed.

But we can't forget that he is the youngest in the team by 2 to 2.5 years in most cases.

Yeah I think Rico is very good, and if his size develops nicely then he is going to be very interesting. He had some nice reverse vertical passes that alot of the DMC coming through since Busquets haven't tended to play.

As for Angel, he is injured. From the little I seen of every player he seems the best player in the age group.

Ilias is very interesting too. But lacks a bit of size even in this game. Again one of the youngest.

I am looking up some of the ages of the players and it is surprising. Alex Rico is the second oldest in the team and turns 20 in January. 22 days younger than Nico Gonzalez so I guess that curbs the expectations.

While the Sergio Ramos lookalike Diego Almeida at CB is only 17 so alot of room and time to grow.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-barcelona-u19/startseite/verein/2470
 
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Bobo32

Bobo32

Senior Member
Porque said:
Sorry for ruining the result.

I liked Gavi alot technically but decision making needs to grow. Some nicely weighted through balls and some poor selection. He doesn't look like a central midfielder like Collado doesn't, but I think Gavi is a bit quicker in seeing what to do and will find it easier to adapt there. He has a great idea of space though and is excellent technically to slow time down on the ball. But if we are expecting a Messi or even Iniesta breakthrough, we will be disappointed.

But we can't forget that he is the youngest in the team by 2 to 2.5 years in most cases.

Yeah I think Rico is very good, and if his size develops nicely then he is going to be very interesting. He had some nice reverse vertical passes that alot of the DMC coming through since Busquets haven't tended to play.

As for Angel, he is injured. From the little I seen of every player he seems the best player in the age group.

Ilias is very interesting too. But lacks a bit of size even in this game. Again one of the youngest.

I am looking up some of the ages of the players and it is surprising. Alex Rico is the second oldest in the team and turns 20 in January. 22 days younger than Nico Gonzalez so I guess that curbs the expectations.

While the Sergio Ramos lookalike Diego Almeida at CB is only 17 so alot of room and time to grow.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-barcelona-u19/startseite/verein/2470
Click to expand...

Yeah Gavi and Ilias looked to be the "stars" of the team and that is a bit impressive in itself if they are younger than the rest. Rico looked like the best player to me, though.
Angel must be the one getting playing time in Barcelona B as well, didn't really form an opinion of him there...

I thought the RB and the CF looked a bit interesting too, Alegra and Lopez?

Gavi did look like the kind of player relying very much on his technique, and "automated movements", as when he nutmegged the defender - this exact movement was something he surely had already trained on - compare with Messi or famously Cruyff, who said his Cruyff turn was something he came up with in the moment...
Based on this game, I don't really rate him, but I will watch him a few more games before I dismiss him. But he also looked a bit lazy to me in his positioning, or if he just didn't know when to press or make himself free - also with the ball he played a lot of sideways/backwards passes when he had time on the ball, his decisions were a bit "out of tune" for me a lot of the time, especially when the team needed to score. But he had a general idea of where to move to be free in the half space, and he can handle the ball well - I was very disappointed with two of his final balls though!
 
BusiTheKing

BusiTheKing

Senior Member
Could be great but needs to work on trimming the frills off his game, kill his darlings, learn how to cut to the core, exorcise that Isco-gene.
 
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Porque

Senior Member
Ywah. His flair seems naturally inbred into his game like Thiago.

Only issue is that it can sometimes put off managers.
 
Bobo32

Bobo32

Senior Member
I never saw Thiago-like flair from him yet... But I wish I'll do, he seems to have some basics right, but he has made me a bit irritated with his decisions both games I watched him tbh.
 
P

Porque

Senior Member
Bobo32 said:
I never saw Thiago-like flair from him yet... But I wish I'll do, he seems to have some basics right, but he has made me a bit irritated with his decisions both games I watched him tbh.
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Well Thiago had innate natural ability. Sometimes (and still does at 30 - lol) to the point where the basics would suffice better. But more often than not he gets away with it and become a world class midfielder.

Anyways, to me, (and I have only seen Gavi 5 or so times in full so take this with a pinch of salt) Gavi too seems that this is just naturally how he players and not something he groomed copying previous players.

But yeah, I recall watching Thiago in his formative years and he was a very special player. Gavi seems closer to a young Alena (not in terms of style but general youth level and hype) who also was having friendly debuts around 16/17 years old.
 
P

Porque

Senior Member
vegitot said:
Does he do some step overs or elastico or something???
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No. Well he does stepover it's more of the top of the ball side drags (don't know the exact word for the technique) when receiving possession rather than a simple trap and the way he pivots and changes direction.

Basically the style is fine and effective when you have excellent technical skills, which he does. When you don't it just looks like you are trying to showboat.
 
V

vegitot

Senior Member
Porque said:
No. Well he does stepover it's more of the top of the ball side drags (don't know the exact word for the technique) when receiving possession rather than a simple trap and the way he pivots and changes direction.

Basically the style is fine and effective when you have excellent technical skills, which he does. When you don't it just looks like you are trying to showboat.
Click to expand...

Just watch the highlight video above and his performance last game. Good technique though i don't think it is like Isco or Thiago technique. He is just 16 so there are plenty times for development.
 
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