Sergi Roberto can’t defend: every goal the midfielder has cost Barcelona this season

Sergi Roberto has had a mixed bag of a season, but one thing is for sure: he can’t defend.

Sure he can tackle, but positionally he’s a nightmare. Overall he’s just not a good defender, yet Ernesto Valverde loves to play him at right-back. Why? Well as a La Masia graduate he is very much in tune with the style of build-up play Barcelona produce, so he helps hugely in that area. But defensively he is a big problem.

Barcelona have conceded a whopping 22 goals in 18 games so far this season (18 in La Liga, 3 in the Champions League and 1 in the Supercopa de España). They have looked defensively permeable in a way that they simply didn’t last season.

The reasons for this weakness run through the entire team and are more to do with structure and system than any one player. To be clear: Barça are not being countered to death because of Sergi Roberto. But they are conceding a lot of goals because of him.

Or, are they? In the nine games this season where Roberto has played right-back, Barcelona have kept just three clean sheets. In the remaining six games they have conceded 12 goals. That’s more than half of their total for the season so far.

But how many of those were Roberto’s fault? We’ve had a look through them all and we’ve got the answer for all of them.

vs. Huesca (8-2 win)

0-1: The opening goal of the game came because Roberto utterly failed to mark either Samuele Longo at the far post or Cucho Hernandez just off him. As a result, Longo headed down the back-post cross and Cucho tucked it in to give Huesca a shock lead. 100% his fault; had no idea where anyone was on a hopeful cross. Just useless.

3-2: As play is unfolding on the right-hand side of the box, the ball is deflected in the air. At this point, only Roberto can see that eventual goalscorer Alex Gallar is unmarked, but he doesn’t move to close him down; so when Moi Gomez improbably sticks a cross in, Roberto is powerless to stop Gallar from scoring. 75% his fault; Umtiti defended Moi Gomez poorly but if Roberto was in the right spot he’d have cleared the cross with ease.

@ Leganés (2-1 loss)

1-1: Roberto does a horrendous job marking Jonathan Silva out on the right, standing too far back and letting the Uruguayan cross for an unmarked Nabil El Zhar to head home at the back-post. 75% his fault; Vermaelen was out of position at left-back, but if he stops the cross then he stops the goal.

2-1: Leganés break down the right and Roberto is a million miles out of position, but you can’t hold him accountable for Piqué literally passing the ball to Oscar Rodriguez. 0% his fault; yes, he was out of position but c’mon, Piqué passed it to the guy!

vs. Real Madrid (5-1 win)

2-1: Roberto is getting absolutely rinsed by Marcelo as Real Madrid start the second half in fantastic rhythm. But when the cross comes in from the Barcelona left, it looks like Roberto has learned his lesson as he follows Gareth Bale’s run and stops the Welshman getting a look. 0% his fault; Marcelo scores but not because of Roberto, who defended well.

@ Rayo Vallecano (2-3 win)

1-1: When José Pozo got the ball on the edge of the Barcelona box, Roberto barely even saunters forward to confront him. Pozo gets the shot off unmolested and pulls Rayo level. 100% his fault; how can a player known for his work-rate be so lethargic?

2-1: Raul de Tomas’ near-post header dings off the post and skips by Roberto to Alvaro Garcia, who confidently taps home the rebound. 50% his fault; the bounce off the post was cruel, but after the Clásico, Roberto had reverted to his old ways. He had no idea where Garcia – and thus the danger – was.

@ Inter (1-1 draw)

1-1: The ball deflects around the box and finds itself at Mauro Icardi’s feet. The Argentine takes two touches, shrugs off Roberto, and slots home. 100% his fault; Roberto was way too loose marking Icardi and as a result, Barça missed out on a huge victory.

vs. Real Betis (3-4 loss)

0-1: Junior Firpo has the ball inside the Barcelona box running at Sergi Roberto. One step-over later and Roberto is flailing at thin air whilst Junior slams home. 100% his fault; Roberto was square to Junior and gave him far too much space.

0-2: Roberto was nowhere near Junior Firpo again and allowed the Brazilian to fizz in a cross that eventually got worked back in for Joaquin to score. 25% his fault; Alba and the midfield were more to blame but yet again he had no idea where his man was.

1-3: A shot flies straight at Ter Stegen and the German lets the ball balloon out of his hands and into the back of the net. 0% his fault.

2-4: The ball goes out to Junior Firpo on the left and with Roberto standing off him, the Brazilian has room to to fizz a cross into the box to kill Barcelona’s comeback once and for all. 75% his fault; the centre-backs could have defended the cross better but if Roberto had any idea where Junior Firpo was, or had made a better effort to close him down, the goal could have been avoided.

Verdict

Of the 12 goals Barcelona conceded with Sergi Roberto at right-back, there were just three that he bore no responsibility for: the freak defensive errors from Piqué and Ter Stegen and Real Madrid’s effort. Otherwise, he was always at least mostly culpable (and to be honest he was getting ripped apart by Real Madrid, which is why Valverde brought Nelson Semedo on to play right-back; a decision that helped win them that game in spectacular fashion).

Ultimately there are nine goals where Sergi Roberto was directly to blame, and most of these goals ended up costing the club points. Hell, even in the Rayo game Barcelona barely won it by the skin of their teeth although in typical fashion it was Roberto who got the winning assist with a hopeful left-footed cross (having gifted Rayo two goals it was the least he could do).

All this to say: Sergi Roberto can’t defend. And moreover, he costs Barcelona goals. Usually goals that matter. With a top of the table clash against Atlético Madrid coming up this weekend, Roberto should be left out if Ernesto Valverde truly wants to keep his side defensively solid. The Catalan contributes in attack but that doesn’t outweigh the problems he presents in defence.

 

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