🇪🇸 Oriol Romeu

[Kojo 4,676]

Imagine if Romeu was from our youth, the amount of support and hype around him would be unreal.

Just because he's a barca product and the fact he might not be our player next season, we don't show im support.

If you're 19 years old and you put in the performences against Man City like he did, you just know he will one day end up a great player. He just needs to get back to himself, and i really hope Rafa can do it, he looked really good against City last game, only had a few minutes but made marked his man in the box twice and stopped the ball from getting to him, i think it was Aguero.

Something Mikel seriously lacks, Mikel has a very low concentration span, Romeu seems to be gifted at man marking sometimes, i really hope he puts in a good performance so we can see him back to his old self, like he was under AVB.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Imagine if Romeu was from our youth, the amount of support and hype around him would be unreal.

Just because he's a barca product and the fact he might not be our player next season, we don't show im support.

If you're 19 years old and you put in the performences against Man City like he did, you just know he will one day end up a great player. He just needs to get back to himself, and i really hope Rafa can do it, he looked really good against City last game, only had a few minutes but made marked his man in the box twice and stopped the ball from getting to him, i think it was Aguero.

Same problem as Sturridge at the moment, they lack match fitness. When you don't get a chance for months, obviously you're gonna struggle when shoved back out there.

Romeu will get back to the level he was last year with continuous starts. And obviously he can get better.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Not his best match yesterday. Too many misplaced passes that often led to dangerous counters. Reckon he just needs more playing time, but we really missed Mikel last night.

[DH1988 1,348]

Needs to buck up his ideas tbh, Mikel goes to ACON soon or we are simply going to dip into the market to get a sub.

[Clevemayer 764]

Imagine if Romeu was from our youth, the amount of support and hype around him would be unreal

...

If you're 19 years old and you put in the performences against Man City like he did, you just know he will one day end up a great player. He just needs to get back to himself, and i really hope Rafa can do it, he looked really good against City last game, only had a few minutes but made marked his man in the box twice and stopped the ball from getting to him, i think it was Aguero.

Something Mikel seriously lacks, Mikel has a very low concentration span, Romeu seems to be gifted at man marking sometimes, i really hope he puts in a good performance so we can see him back to his old self, like he was under AVB.

so this will be bad for Romeu, cause we're gonna play zonalmarking under Rafa for sure...

had a bad game yesterday, was a bit disappointed with him, thought he would do better, but he is below par for quite some time now, he is still young and can go to bigger success and grow into his role, right now, he isn't a replacement for Mikel while at ACON, get Vidal, I said this before he signed for juve, and now he has ripped us apart when we played them in CL

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Don't see why hes getting all this criticism, under AVB he looked 5 times the player Mikel did and I rate Mikel highly.... OK Robbie rated Mikel more and he's been a beast for us so far this season but still the boys a talent, if it hadn't been for Mascherano signing and Busquets not getting injured ever he would have played at Barca for sure. Personally I rate him more than that Jonathon Dos Santos guy, hes much better.

He didn't play bad yesterday, he was ok. Just a bit rusty, give him more game time and he'll get better.

[Clevemayer 764]

Don't see all the criticism, under AVB he looked 5 times the player Mikel did and I rate Mikel highly.... OK Robbie rated Mikel more and he's been a beast for us so far this season but still the boys a talent, if it hadn't been for Mascherano signing and Busquets not getting injured ever he would have played at Barca for sure. Personally I rate him more than that Jonathon Dos Santos guy, hes much better.

I only said he looks below par since that january under AVB where he did steal Mikel's place and I again said he can go to bigger success, he isn't a bad player, but neither the best DM since sliced Bread( or maka cause he is the Sliced Bread in the manner of DM's), but he can be a great player... I just couldn't belive all the ppl starting singing praises on him for his first 2 games...

and even later when he played nearly the same role as mikel did plus a bit mor aggresiveness in his tackles what I really liked about him but not that shielding quality of Mikel, so he has one plus attitude and one minus...

and all this he passes faster and more forward have been discussed and clearly withdrawn after looking at they're stats but still, he is very young and can be a very good player, maybe worldclass if handled right... but he was woefull yesterday...

[Milan 17,957]

What I like about him is how he can distribute long passes to both sides and with his both feet. Sorry but I think you can't see that very much with Mikel on the pitch.

[Muzchap 8,966]

Don't see why hes getting all this criticism, under AVB he looked 5 times the player Mikel did and I rate Mikel highly.... OK Robbie rated Mikel more and he's been a beast for us so far this season but still the boys a talent, if it hadn't been for Mascherano signing and Busquets not getting injured ever he would have played at Barca for sure. Personally I rate him more than that Jonathon Dos Santos guy, hes much better.

He didn't play bad yesterday, he was ok. Just a bit rusty, give him more game time and he'll get better.

Agree - we cant bench players for months and then expect them to perform - that's reserved for Hernandez + Solksjaer...

Our rotation policy has been shit - because of injuries and loans to all our other squad players...

I think the whole team looks deflated - really, really need to get JT + Lamps back on the pitch to boss these people about and provide some motivation...

Football is as much about confidence/desire as skill - look at the supposed 'weak' teams in the league - no name players - but they fight and work hard for each other and grind out results - we need a bit more of that in our team...

Hopefully RB can do this - otherwise we are well and truly fucked this season

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Don't see why hes getting all this criticism, under AVB he looked 5 times the player Mikel did and I rate Mikel highly.... OK Robbie rated Mikel more and he's been a beast for us so far this season but still the boys a talent, if it hadn't been for Mascherano signing and Busquets not getting injured ever he would have played at Barca for sure. Personally I rate him more than that Jonathon Dos Santos guy, hes much better.

He didn't play bad yesterday, he was ok. Just a bit rusty, give him more game time and he'll get better.

He didn't look five times better than Mikel. He had a very good run of games where he started 8 times in two months and he generally played quite well but people always exaggerated how good he was (as they will do with any new player), don't appreciate how small the sample size was, and ignore the fact that he's mostly been mediocre to bad since then . He is a young player with promise and deserves to get into games to see what he can do and I like him as the backup to Mikel, He's a good passer for a defensive midfielder, but his positioning is still pretty poor. I like him and think that he has a good future, but the people thinking he was a world-class player were always being ridiculous.

[Buffalo talks Blue 85]

Is a douche bag!

[Styles 9,790]

This guy is too slow and everyone just runs by him like he isn't even there. So easily beaten it's laughable. He isn't fit to lace Mikel's boots.

[BlueSunshine 672]

This guy is too slow and everyone just runs by him like he isn't even there. So easily beaten it's laughable. He isn't fit to lace Mikel's boots.

Romeu is miles closer to the type of the midfielder that we need for our pivot than Mikel. I am not saying that Mikel isn't good but i am afraid that he won't get any better than this,he is pretty one-dimensional. On the other hand Romeu has the potential to become much more complete as a player.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Romeu is miles closer to the type of the midfielder that we need for our pivot than Mikel. I am not saying that Mikel isn't good but i am afraid that he won't get any better than this,he is pretty one-dimensional. On the other hand Romeu has the potential to become much more complete as a player.

Why do people keep saying Mikel won't get any better? He's improved steadily for years now, and is only 25...DMs usually peak around 29.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Why do people keep saying Mikel won't get any better? He's improved steadily for years now, and is only 25...DMs usually peak around 29.

So if he eliminates 1 touch from each possession every year, he could be a 2 touch footballer by the age of 29?

Personally, I'm hoping that Nathanial Chalobah can continue his improvement and become that holding midfielder we need.

[Kieran. 6,317]

So if he eliminates 1 touch from each possession every year, he could be a 2 touch footballer by the age of 29.

Yeah, okay guy.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Romeu definitely has to be sucking Benitez off to be getting in the line-up ahead of Mikel. Disgrace.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Romeu definitely has to be sucking Benitez off to be getting in the line-up ahead of Mikel. Disgrace.

Or....when Rafa took the job it was made clear to him that Mikel wouldn't be available during the African Nations so he's decided that he should probably see if other players are capable of playing that position before the transfer window opens.

Or he simply likes what Romeu offers to the team. You never know how players perform in training and Romeu does have a lot of things going for him, primarily his distribution. It's one of the most important positions in the team and Mikel does make the odd costly mistake.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I see what you're saying, but this team simply cannot operate without Mikel. Our worst offensive performances happen when he is absent. Not only does he has the necessary positional discipline to cover for players when they go forward, but his style enables the likes of Hazard, Mata and Oscar to bomb forward in the same way he used to cover for Essien and Lampard when they went marauding. There is a reason Mikel has been picked for every big game by seven different managers, and that is because he is the engine room of the team. His best work is off the ball, yet at the same time he is one of the focal points of the attack in the way he recycles the play with short, simple passes. With Romeu you have more a dynamic "Hollywood" type in the engine room, but it doesn't work from a defensive point. We were ridiculously exposed at times last night because of Romeu's indiscipline.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I see what you're saying, but this team simply cannot operate without Mikel. Our worst offensive performances happen when he is absent. Not only does he has the necessary positional discipline to cover for players when they go forward, but his style enables the likes of Hazard, Mata and Oscar to bomb forward in the same way he used to cover for Essien and Lampard when they went marauding. There is a reason Mikel has been picked for every big game by seven different managers, and that is because he is the engine room of the team. His best work is off the ball, yet at the same time he is one of the focal points of the attack in the way he recycles the play with short, simple passes. With Romeu you have more a dynamic "Hollywood" type in the engine room, but it doesn't work from a defensive point. We were ridiculously exposed at times last night because of Romeu's indiscipline.

I agree that he is important, because he can drop into the back three and distribute short passes. I simply don't know if he does it that well.

Last night Ramires seemed to bomb forward a lot more than against Man City, whilst players like Azpi were roaming across midfield which is what led to the Risse chance. Even if Mikel was playing, the amount of players going forward would've caused us problems.

I like Mikel, but I'd like to see if someone like Romeu or Chalobah couldn't do his job better. Let's not ignore the fact that Mikel can have moments where he simply switches off - in that position you can't ever do that.