Barcelona preseason first match: Valerenga-Second half
After reporting the performance of the first half selection against Valerenga, we continue with the second half.
Selection:
Mino-Dalmau - Armando - Muniesa – Adriano-Keita-Sergi Roberto - Edu Oriol-Benja –Nolito-Ibra
Mino: Quality talent. He didn’t do impressive stuff but his commanding and Agility showed that he is on the right track.
Dalmau: A player with reasonable potentials. But he had to deal with the most dangerous player for the Norwegians. Good going forward. He will have to challenge Montoya for a chance to be the future of Barca’s fullback. An interesting battle to keep an eye on.
Armando-Muniesa: It’s not easy for two youth like them to be left alone, playing against more experienced team that’s in its form. They did fine though both still need time to be considered reliable for the big stage. I believe one more year playing in the second division can do miracles, especially for Muniesa.
Adriano: Alves’s left-side-clone is ready. You can see it clearly. He is relaxed with his role and he is showing what he will offer. Too early, but you can predict the thesis quality from the headings. And he is quality.
Keita: Respect. To serve as a water carrier in the presence of the big names is something, to do so even when you are the big name in the selection is exceptional. Deserved the captain badge.
Sergi Roberto - Edu Oriol- Benja- Nolito: Obviously talented and still need time to be listed on the promotion’s queue. Yet Sergi Roberto (and maybe Oriol) can expect some copa appearances.
Ibra: Watched him while thinking how it will be if the two players moving in front of him are Villa and Messi. Playing in the space and delivering passes to the forwards is something he masters for sure, even if in this game he wasn’t as sharp as he will after he is back in shape. Last season I pointed out that one of the factors that complicates Ibra’s presence in the selection was that everyone was sinking deep to contribute in the buildup while he like to have players demanding the ball in front. At least, We know that Villa will be there next season.
Nice warm up. The team will be heading east for couple of games. The Squad traveling will miss Bojan and Jeffren who were called for international friendly (Under 21). But Fontas, Alves, Messi and…HLEB!!! will be there. I can’t put lot of hopes that Hleb will win back Pep’s trust, I just can hope he does. At least to contribute for one more season. Maybe he will perform well and we will not need to beg teams to buy him for a price of a corner flag.
Marquez left...Respect for our Mexican Kaiser! Make no mistake, we will have a post dedicated for one of the knights of Barcelona’s golden era.


The battle of Sergi Roberto vs JDS is interesting. JDS seemed to lose his place in the end of last season to Sergi, but I think that had something to do with injuries and WC selections. Which one do you think is currently better? And which one of Bartra, Muniesa, and Fontas do you think is better suited to be promoted this season? Dalmau is still way too young to compete with the pros, but if you watch him in his youth league, he seems like one of the best players in the team, and I think he can be our future Alves. However, I am not too sure if he can take over Montoya. Montoya is currently better than Dalmau, and only a year or two older. Montoya is also vastly improving his attacking qualites, and Dalmau's attacking abilities are what made people prefer him over Montoya in the first place... Since Montoya is the more defensive one of the two and because he seems like he always wants to cut in, maybe he can be transformed into a LB? But then again, Carles Planas plays there and he apparently was one of Spain's 19 stars in the European championships.
How many of Dalmau, Montoya, Mino, Fontas, Bartra, Muniesa, Sergi Gomez, Edu Campabadal, Botia, JDS, Sergi Roberto, Thiago, Rafa Alcantara, Oriol Romeu, Rochina, Delofeu, Tello, Riverola, Espinosa, and Etock (I know that's a hell of a lot, but they are all considered amazing talents) do you think will ever have a future in Barcelona's first team?