NELSINHO: THE RISE OF SEMEDO AND HIS VALUE TO BARCELONA

   

         One of the key missing pieces in the Barca attack has been the marauding right back, as we saw for years with Dani Alves. This always brought goals, allowed Messi space and kept the opposition guessing....now it would also give Jordi Alba room from markers on the left.
          In the wake of Alves' departure to Juventus and now to PSG, managers like Enrique and Valverde have thrown Sergi Roberto, a natural midfielder, out at right back and hoped for the best. At times, Roberto has been dynamite going forward, casually providing 6-7 assists a season while being played entirely out of position.
          What Roberto has accomplished is often dismissed too easily by naive Barca fans, trashing his existence whenever a defensive error is made.

           The fault isn't on Roberto that he naturally glides into the middle of the pitch, where often times Ivan Rakitic is saddled next to him, giving us two right sided Barca players who are cutting inside. This gives an opponent total clarity when stopping someone like Ousmane Dembele or even Lionel Messi when pinned at the right forward position, with no vertical attack giving width and therefore no one offering just that little inch, that tiny gap for world class attacking talents like Ousmane Dembele and Messi to exploit.
        That is simply why we saw so many goals coming from the Messi-Alves partnership: the left back can only cover one and the center mid falling back to help can only mark another, this provides a 2 on 2 direct attack, but when coupled with a midfield run or two from deep to occupy even more of the opposition box and get those defender's heads turning over the shoulder to check, that creates an innumerable amount of positions and combinations to attack from.
       What we're seeing from Nelson Semedo in the last few matches is exactly what Barcelona has been missing, and although lacking a fully fit and properly positioned Messi, or a healthy Dembele to take full advantage of these developments, we've still watched Semedo earning penalties and drawing in markers and playing brilliant small passes to runners into the box.

        It's not perfect yet, it's not polished and sometimes Semedo wastes these opportunities, but with a goal, an earned penalty and 2 assists in his last 5 matches, Semedo's vertical, attacking play has brought on a new dimension to the Barcelona attack unseen since the days of Dani Alves, though now with added oomph when Ousmane Dembele is on the right to combine alongside the Portugal international and Lionel Messi.
        Semedo is already a breathtaking defender at times, throwing himself into last ditch tackles that almost always meet their target and showing fantastic recovery pace and positioning.  It's taken him a full  season to begin to put the package together: during the first leg against Madrid, Semedo attempted and completed 5 tackles, expertly shutting down and intimidating Vinicius Junior into 4 wasteful first half shots, when a less aggressive right back may have given him the time and space to pick a pass inside. He was booked for a weird shove on the young Brazilian winger, though the shove had the desired effect of forcing Vinicius to back the f$%k up!
       Semedo even pulled off 7 dribbles against Madrid, expanding his once conservative presence on the pitch into a player daring opponents to make a tackle.
       Now that he has put all this together, Barcelona will begin to reap the benefits from this expansion of play, and at the most crucial time in the season.

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Watch this Semedo analysis video to get an even fuller picture of his brilliance 

https://youtu.be/aQtDDLsHpNU

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