Ronald Koeman

[DonAK]

Tello was a fast, athletic player too. Sarr is not good enough. Someone like Chukwueze fits the bill, but he would obviously cost more.

Besides RW is covered with OD10S and and Trincao.

 

[Birdy]

Almost certainly not. Pep would be an idiot to try and give him room deep at the cost of KdB and Bernardo seeing the effects of it here. He'd surely be a #9. Which is not his game, but he is 33. And he's no idiot sportswise.

I think we have enough indications to know how Pep will use him:
easy games as a '10' in a 4-2-3-1 with either Jesus or Aguero on top
CL and hard games as a false 9, essentially forming a midfield diamond, with Sterling and Jesus on the flanks

They could improve and still be nowhere near good enough.

Only so much can blame system for when Alba in 18/19 was producing amongst his best stats and Roberto in same system was far better than Semedo on ball nd going forward for most part.

They are limited players, average to poor in possession for top level, neither great defenders unless a foot race. That wont change.

We have gone over this so many times.
Semedo is in the top5 RBs at the moment. Check market value of all RBs at the moment and you will see that. Check also interest from other clubs, and you will see that again.
The only two players Barca had offers before the end of the fiscal year were Arthur and Semedo, the only candidates to get sacrificed to cover up board's financial mishandling. There is a reason they were the only two to arise interest.
Eventually Arthur went and Semedo stayed, but it could have been the other way round.
Coaches also are not stupid, no one wanted to sell Semedo - even Ernie. It's only the board who saw him as one of the few that can generate cash.

You might not like him, but that does not change the objective fact: Semedo is a RB (which Roberto is NOT) and if you cannot have Trent or Hakimi at the moment in world's football, there is no one out there worth buying to start over Semedo in the line up.
Until a new world-class RB emerges, we stick with Semedo.

 

[DonAK]

Semedo is not a top 5 RB in the world. You can argue he's not even the best RB at Barca. Transfermarkt market values is not an indicator of how good a player truly is unless you also believe Raheem Sterling is better or more valuable than Neymar, Sancho, Mane, De Bruyne, Salah and others.

 

[Birdy]

Semedo is not a top 5 RB in the world. You can argue he's not even the best RB at Barca. Transfermarkt market values is not an indicator of how good a player truly is unless you also believe Raheem Sterling is better or more valuable than Neymar, Sancho, Mane, De Bruyne, Salah and others.

Not better at Barcelona? Who is better?
Age matters also. That's why Sterling is more valuable than Neumar, Mane, Salah. Sancho you can argue about. De bruyne different position, not comparable. By the way, Sterling is another (like Semedo) underrated player only by fanbase (and not coaches who know football much better)

Again, just give me right backs a club would buy right now, apart from the ones I mentioned. It's either proven and good but close to being past their prime (Walker for example is too old to buy) or unproven gambles (like Dest).
Accept it that Semedo is the best we can have for the next few years. And again: coaches know that, that's why Koeman is keen on upgrading on Alba but not on Semedo.

 

[vegitot]

Not better at Barcelona? Who is better?
Age matters also. That's why Sterling is more valuable than Neumar, Mane, Salah. Sancho you can argue about. De bruyne different position, not comparable. By the way, Sterling is another (like Semedo) underrated player only by fanbase (and not coaches who know football much better)

Again, just give me right backs a club would buy right now, apart from the ones I mentioned. It's either proven and good but close to being past their prime (Walker for example is too old to buy) or unproven gambles (like Dest).
Accept it that Semedo is the best we can have for the next few years. And again: coaches know that, that's why Koeman is keen on upgrading on Alba but not on Semedo.

Sterling vs Lyon lol.

Semedo vs Davies lol. Worst performance ever by a RB.

 

[Richard.H]

Sterling vs Lyon lol.

Semedo vs Davies lol. Worst performance ever by a RB.

I don't think Semedo will ever be the same after that match. That was a complete domination, I mean Davies shitted on him so badly. As a pro I'm not sure how you recover from that.

 

[ryuken]

What to recover, he can basically play like shiet for the next 2 years and still collect paycheck, that is FC Bartomeu to you, still FCB but sucks.

 

[Messigician]

What to recover, he can basically play like shiet for the next 2 years and still collect paycheck, that is FC Bartomeu to you, still FCB but sucks.

True

 

[Sterlingfan2000]

I don't think Semedo will ever be the same after that match. That was a complete domination, I mean Davies shitted on him so badly. As a pro I'm not sure how you recover from that.

Same can be said to everyone in the squad. Time will tell how they recover after this.

 

[Andrew M]

Same can be said to everyone in the squad. Time will tell how they recover after this.

That's true. There will probably be some CL PTSD for sure. Even more than before

 

[te amo barca]

Not better at Barcelona? Who is better?
Age matters also. That's why Sterling is more valuable than Neumar, Mane, Salah. Sancho you can argue about. De bruyne different position, not comparable. By the way, Sterling is another (like Semedo) underrated player only by fanbase (and not coaches who know football much better)

Again, just give me right backs a club would buy right now, apart from the ones I mentioned. It's either proven and good but close to being past their prime (Walker for example is too old to buy) or unproven gambles (like Dest).
Accept it that Semedo is the best we can have for the next few years. And again: coaches know that, that's why Koeman is keen on upgrading on Alba but not on Semedo.

Carvajal, Kimmich, Arnold, Cancelo, Pereira, Hakimi (RWB, I know) are all better than him. Roberto and Pavard arguably too. Semedo is a good RB but he is not sensational by any means. Has zero awareness in the attacking third. If we could sign Dest, I would do it. Emerson might become a good enough RB as a potential stop-gap and we can cash in on Semedo in a year as well.

 

[khaled_a_d]

For me the biggest problem is the connection between the midfield and the attack when off the ball. It's non-existent.

If the midfield is revamped, and Suarez and Messi are sold/let go, we'd look totally different. Teams won't get to our back-line that easily.

It is all connected.
When you have slow CBs, teams will take advantage of it and use speed to force you to alter plans.
When you lack speed upfront (and I am talking real speed, not Trincao/Griezmann speed) teams can play highline because you can't take advantage of it.
With both, even the greatest passer will have difficult to connect to each other. Regardless of who is your midfielders/ attackers.
You need some real physical tools to force your game plan

 

[serghei]

It is all connected.
When you have slow CBs, teams will take advantage of it and use speed to force you to alter plans.
When you lack speed upfront (and I am talking real speed, not Trincao/Griezmann speed) teams can play highline because you can't take advantage of it.
With both, even the greatest passer will have difficult to connect to each other. Regardless of who is your midfielders/ attackers.
You need some real physical tools to force your game plan

True, it's all connected. That's why you have to replace old slow players with young and fast ones.

Why don't we wait to see Trincao play first before we pass judgment on him. And Griezmann is not a slow player. He may not have Mbappe pace, but he doesn't look and move like a slow player at all.

Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Rakitic, Vidal. These are all slow and old players, some are also lazy on top of that (Suarez and Messi). And they are, or were, 83% of the front 6 on the field vs Liverpool. Maybe you can do with 1 being old and slow (Messi), if the others don't share his flaws. But we had too many players who were old players with very poor movement, stamina and intensity. Only Vidal somehow makes the cut, but his age is visible as well late in the season, especially when you ask him to run even more than necessary to compensate for Messi and Suarez.

The problem in defense for me started with Messi and Suarez. Everybody concentrates on the back line because they don't think about football in modern, 2020 terms. Effort and coordination up front to block the construction of the opponent in deep phase is essential today. Our forward line didn't do anything to keep the Bayern CBs deeper, Alaba moved up on the ball at ease and created superiority in midfield time and time again. By this, your midfield becomes outnumbered very easily. Not only this, but a CB breaching our midfield allows a midfielder to do a forward run and still keep good numbers in midfield.

You need forwards who act as the first layer of defense, meant to stop defenders from the other team to be daring and create superiority, thus overpowering our midfield. Not necessarily press, but keep position well enough, and with enough work-rate and movement, to discourage the opponent's CBs from pushing up on the ball and breaking our lines. That's why Bayern used Perisic, not Coutinho in the forward line. Messi and Suarez not only didn't press, but Bayern CBs moved past them easily because they knew they don't bother to stop them.

 

[JamDav1982]

It is all connected.
When you have slow CBs, teams will take advantage of it and use speed to force you to alter plans.
When you lack speed upfront (and I am talking real speed, not Trincao/Griezmann speed) teams can play highline because you can't take advantage of it.
With both, even the greatest passer will have difficult to connect to each other. Regardless of who is your midfielders/ attackers.
You need some real physical tools to force your game plan

Griezmann is one of the best going at breaking a high line even without crazy speed.

Times runs very well and quick enough to not get caught. Most of his goals came from that last season even in a ridiculous position that did not suit him at all.

Trincao looks plenty fast enough without having the electric pace that some have.

Barca just never look for those runs nearly enough as attack is focused on Messi/Suarez who suit a slower game and come to ball. Most breaks have to go through one of them first and there is little variety.

 

[serghei]

Griezmann is one of the best going at breaking a high line even without crazy speed.

Times runs very well and quick enough to not get caught. Most of his goals came from that last season even in a ridiculous position that did not suit him at all.

Trincao looks plenty fast enough without having the electric pace that some have.

Barca just never look for those runs nearly enough as attack is focused on Messi/Suarez who suit a slower game and come to ball. Most breaks have to go through one of them first and there is little variety.

And when one of them has the ball, they almost never speed up the game. It's always tempo-ing, slowing down the game, for our other slow and old players to assume advanced positions in near-walking pace. It's terrible. This is evident when a faster player in our team has the ball and runs with it trying to penetrate and break. In a few seconds, every team-mate is behind him and he is forced either to go solo, cross to nobody, or pass back. Simply because the others are too slow to transition at the same rhythm as him.