8 - Pedro Gonzalez "Pedri"

te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
I think he is overrated by fans in general. The classic "he is 18 and plays like that, just IMAGINE what he'll do when he's 25"
He is also overrated by Koeman. In the EC he found a nice role and played very well in a well balanced midfield. Thiago is much superior to me, but that's not how you pick a good team... Of course a player that's starting for Barcelona and Spain A will play in the olympics team too, just based on that...

Silva is a nice comparison tbh. I don't remember him from Eibar or Celta when he was 18/19, but he at least played full seasons at that age, and was instantly a starter for a very good Valencia when he arrived at 20. I think there are a few similarities in style, and comparing stats between them gives somewhat similar numbers:
https://fbref.com/en/stathead/playe...big_5&player_id1=e2716bd0&player_id2=0d9b2d31

Silva was a final third player/CAM-winger hybrid before his thirties. Not really comparable to Pedri.
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
Silva was a final third player/CAM-winger hybrid before his thirties. Not really comparable to Pedri.
That's the way I still see Pedri, despite his willingness to slowly jog back into the first space to recieve and pass it sideways now and again.
In the euros, he played more advanced, and he looked better.

Weren't you at one point of the opinion Puig is better than Pedri?
Yeah I still think so, but Puig played less than 600mins last season, spread out as you know. When he plays 600 or even 300 minutes in a row, he will maybe make me change my mind.
 

Fati_Future_BallonDor

Well-known member
Imagine twerking for Puig and calling Pedri's highlights piss poor.

:lol:

Atm Pedri is clearly above Puig but we need to see puig in many matches in a row before finishing his chapter, thats why i want a loan of him to another smaller club in which he will get safe minutes to prove if he could be able to play for a big club.
 

te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
That's the way I still see Pedri, despite his willingness to slowly jog back into the first space to recieve and pass it sideways now and again.
In the euros, he played more advanced, and he looked better.


Yeah I still think so, but Puig played less than 600mins last season, spread out as you know. When he plays 600 or even 300 minutes in a row, he will maybe make me change my mind.

Every player passes it sideways at some point in possession-oriented play. That's what recycling possession is called. He plays plenty of progressive balls, which the stats show. Also runs the most for his team in every game, yet he is always "tired" and "exhausted" according to you. Regarding his position, it doesn't matter what you see, he became a CM as the season progressed. Played CM in a 3-4-3/3-5-2, played Xavi-like CM for Spain at the EUROs.
 

vegitot

Senior Member
Every player passes it sideways at some point in possession-oriented play. That's what recycling possession is called. He plays plenty of progressive balls, which the stats show. Also runs the most for his team in every game, yet he is always "tired" and "exhausted" according to you. Regarding his position, it doesn't matter what you see, he became a CM as the season progressed. Played CM in a 3-4-3/3-5-2, played Xavi-like CM for Spain at the EUROs.

If you look at Olympic now then Pedri is indeed much more tire compare to Euro (he had like 2 weeks rest before playing). He also played a more offensive role and a ball carrier as well.
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
Every player passes it sideways at some point in possession-oriented play. That's what recycling possession is called. He plays plenty of progressive balls, which the stats show. Also runs the most for his team in every game, yet he is always "tired" and "exhausted" according to you. Regarding his position, it doesn't matter what you see, he became a CM as the season progressed. Played CM in a 3-4-3/3-5-2, played Xavi-like CM for Spain at the EUROs.

A sideways pass can be very different to another sideways pass. It is crucial to pass it sideways. I think he misses opportunities to progress too often (then sometimes he tries too early too). I am often disappointed in his choices, but he is young and this can be improved.
He runs many meters, but if you went out for a jog for 90 minutes you'd run more meters than he does in a game. It's not about meters but about running or sprinting in the right moment.

No he doesn't play at all like Xavi (who by the way himself played as a sort of #10 for Spain under Del Bosque, with both Busi and Xabi behind). Pedri is more often expecteded to be in "space 2" rather than "space 1", and he is more suited to be even more in that space than he is.
 

te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
No he doesn't play at all like Xavi (who by the way himself played as a sort of #10 for Spain under Del Bosque, with both Busi and Xabi behind). Pedri is more often expecteded to be in "space 2" rather than "space 1", and he is more suited to be even more in that space than he is.

You literally said that Xavi played higher up the pitch for Spain, which he did. Pedri fulfills the same function for this Spain. For Spain, Xavi was also in "space 2".
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
You literally said that Xavi played higher up the pitch for Spain, which he did. Pedri fulfills the same function for this Spain. For Spain, Xavi was also in "space 2".

I misinterpreted that sentence then. Ok, in Spain in the euros he had a similar although not equal position as Xavi had in del Bosques Spain (LE played 4-1-2-3 just as Barcelona, VdB played 4-2-3-1)
I think Xavi was certain to play the central position of these three AM:s, whereas Pedri would prefer to be in one of the flank ones just like Silva or Iniesta. Maybe this will change with time.
 

BusiTheKing

Senior Member
How do the people claiming he's a top midfielder in Europe reconcile the two notions that

1) our midfield consists of two of the best midfielders in Europe (Frenkie and Pedri) + Busquets who also played for Spain NT, which in Pedri's case is an unquestionable stamp of a world class player for some people right now.
2) our midfield was pretty underwhelming during the last season and was dominated repeatedly by lower teams

There is some serious cognitive dissonance in work there.

Either our players are great and our midfield is great. Or our players are mediocre and our midfield is mediocre. The margin accounted for by 'balance' in the setup is only so big.
 

mc_lovin

Senior Member
How do the people claiming he's a top midfielder in Europe reconcile the two notions that

1) our midfield consists of two of the best midfielders in Europe (Frenkie and Pedri) + Busquets who also played for Spain NT, which in Pedri's case is an unquestionable stamp of a world class player for some people right now.
2) our midfield was pretty underwhelming during the last season and was dominated repeatedly by lower teams

There is some serious cognitive dissonance in work there.

Either our players are great and our midfield is great. Or our players are mediocre and our midfield is mediocre. The margin accounted for by 'balance' in the setup is only so big.

For one it's a team sport. Defence, midfield and offense aren't independent from each other.
--> Our forwards created zero space for our midfield.. all ball to feet players with no threat behind or physicality
--> the less we talk about our defenders the better

Then again, I don't think Pedri specifically was a world class midfielder last season, and I doubt anyone here would claim that. But he's shown a damn nice progression resulting in a fantastic Euro. I thought his performances for Spain were even better than the ones for us.
 

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