8 - Pedro Gonzalez "Pedri"

Messi983

Senior Member
Which system?

Half of our players are born to play classical Barca TikiTaka and the other half are good at chaotic, fast, direct football.

The coach can build a system only if he sells half of our team.
But which half to sell?
Barca DNA slow buildup boys?
Or guys who want a faster football?

This is Barca, we will never sell Barca DNA guys.

1. it worked in 2009 and 2011
2. socios need Catalans to be happy
3. Barca needs Catalan Barca DNA boys in the days of indenpendency turmoils

So, no, there won't be any system anytime soon.
If Xavi returns, we will probably see even bigger step back towards the past with 8 slow and weak La Masia kids paired with new signings like Olmo and similar.

Wins in 2009 and 2011 will remain the biggest burdain in a modern football history because we won't be able to move away from it for the next 50 years.

Younger players like FDJ, Pedri, Ansu, Dembele (not that I seriously count on him) can all adapt to play faster football. Most of them would also benefit from that. The ones who can't adapt are oldies like Busi (by far the biggest liability in current team) and Pique who should all be out of the team in two years. Ideally they would already be gone by now but it is what it is. It's them who are holding us back for years now not a kid like Pedri and other youngsters trying to establish themselves.

Still can't believe there are so many supposed Barca fans not valuing Pedri enough for what he's done so far in his short career. Not pointed directly at you because I know your general opinion about young players and Mavericky fan boys are also excluded (because they strangely see Pedri as someone who is preventing their boy from playing when in reality he's so far down the pecking order he wouldn't play much more even if Pedri wasn't here).

Another thing is you see the world in black and white. There isn't only a Barca DNA possession football on one side and fast counter attacking football on the other. There are a lot of systems in between those extremes. And if we want to ever be successfull again we should find the right mix between them. We should always be able to technically dominate worse teams than us not just with sterile possession but by creating multiple good goal scoring chances. We will never fully move away from a possession based football and we shouldn't sit back and try to hit teams like Levante or Alaves from counters. Don't think even you would like to see that.

OTOH we won't anytime soon (if ever again) be the most technically complete team in the world to dominate big teams so we should also be able to adapt and learn to defend better against them (one way is by lowering our back line not playing with all 10 outfield players on the opposition side being vulnerable from the counters when we can't even set up offside, lol) and be more dangerous in fast breaks against teams pressing us high and leaving open space behind their backline because they don't have to worry about our forwards punishing them. And for that we need more speed upfront. Even in current team we have some solutions for that if/when Ansu and Dembele will return but it's still a clear need that will need to be addressed in next few transfer windows.

There is no problem having Barca DNA players in the team if they have enough quality. And I'm sure FDJ and Pedri are good enough to stay around longterm. Ansu as well if he can fully recover. We'll see about some younger guys but I think one or two of them can also step up if given enough opportunities. Which they should get in a rebuilding phase we're currently in.

What we should do though is complement them with players of different profiles who can bring other things to the team - more speed upfront, more toughness/physicality in midfield and a better leadership in the backline (and in a whole team as well but if you have a good leader who can organize the back four everyone else will also look better). Those are attributes we've lacked for years now. But there are players out there who are realistically available even in our current situation who I believe can help us improve in those areas. And younger Barca DNA players would suddenly look better having those players alongside/in front of them instead of having to worry about covering for our beloved way past their prime captains.
 

vegitot

Senior Member
Younger players like FDJ, Pedri, Ansu, Dembele (not that I seriously count on him) can all adapt to play faster football. Most of them would also benefit from that. The ones who can't adapt are oldies like Busi (by far the biggest liability in current team) and Pique who should all be out of the team in two years. Ideally they would already be gone by now but it is what it is. It's them who are holding us back for years now not a kid like Pedri and other youngsters trying to establish themselves.

Still can't believe there are so many supposed Barca fans not valuing Pedri enough for what he's done so far in his short career. Not pointed directly at you because I know your general opinion about young players and Mavericky fan boys are also excluded (because they strangely see Pedri as someone who is preventing their boy from playing when in reality he's so far down the pecking order he wouldn't play much more even if Pedri wasn't here).

Another thing is you see the world in black and white. There isn't only a Barca DNA possession football on one side and fast counter attacking football on the other. There are a lot of systems in between those extremes. And if we want to ever be successfull again we should find the right mix between them. We should always be able to technically dominate worse teams than us not just with sterile possession but by creating multiple good goal scoring chances. We will never fully move away from a possession based football and we shouldn't sit back and try to hit teams like Levante or Alaves from counters. Don't think even you would like to see that.

OTOH we won't anytime soon (if ever again) be the most technically complete team in the world to dominate big teams so we should also be able to adapt and learn to defend better against them (one way is by lowering our back line not playing with all 10 outfield players on the opposition side being vulnerable from the counters when we can't even set up offside, lol) and be more dangerous in fast breaks against teams pressing us high and leaving open space behind their backline because they don't have to worry about our forwards punishing them. And for that we need more speed upfront. Even in current team we have some solutions for that if/when Ansu and Dembele will return but it's still a clear need that will need to be addressed in next few transfer windows.

There is no problem having Barca DNA players in the team if they have enough quality. And I'm sure FDJ and Pedri are good enough to stay around longterm. Ansu as well if he can fully recover. We'll see about some younger guys but I think one or two of them can also step up if given enough opportunities. Which they should get in a rebuilding phase we're currently in.

What we should do though is complement them with players of different profiles who can bring other things to the team - more speed upfront, more toughness/physicality in midfield and a better leadership in the backline (and in a whole team as well but if you have a good leader who can organize the back four everyone else will also look better). Those are attributes we've lacked for years now. But there are players out there who are realistically available even in our current situation who I believe can help us improve in those areas. And younger Barca DNA players would suddenly look better having those players alongside/in front of them instead of having to worry about covering for our beloved way past their prime captains.

Great post, though i think Busquest really get some unfair treatments. He surely is weaker than his partners now which makes it harder for them to play around him but you don't have a better replacement. And i'm not talking about a DM with Busi profile, even a good DM with different profile is not available.

I can see Pedri will stay for more years as he is only 18 (people really forget his age) but De Jong is 24, in his prime age and i don't think Barca can keep him long enough.
 

akaranzo

Member
That's why Tuchel beat Pep, three times last season. Not one, but three.

New direction is needed.

Not a new direction, just some adjustments. Mourinho also beat Pep in 2010 and everyone thought it's all over for ''tiki-taka''. But Pep came back stronger from that next season, same style but just some adjustments to make it work against Mourinho's tactics too. He can and will do the same for Tuchel.
 

vegitot

Senior Member
Not a new direction, just some adjustments. Mourinho also beat Pep in 2010 and everyone thought it's all over for ''tiki-taka''. But Pep came back stronger from that next season, same style but just some adjustments to make it work against Mourinho's tactics too. He can and will do the same for Tuchel.

Tuchel complete outclassed Pep last season, three times in three different competition. Mou didn't do it vs Pep in 2010. Of course Pep may beat Tuchel this season. My point is you don't need Pep's style (which requires a lot of things) to be successful.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Tuchel complete outclassed Pep last season, three times in three different competition. Mou didn't do it vs Pep in 2010. Of course Pep may beat Tuchel this season. My point is you don't need Pep's style (which requires a lot of things) to be successful.

Tuchel didnt outclass Pep in those 3 games.

All three were even and could have gone either way.

Cup game was nothing in it . League game it was not City strongest line up and Aguero misses pen to make it 2-0. The CL final was very even game with few chances for either side.

Tuchel did well and stopped a lot of Citys football but was not outclassing them at all.
 

vegitot

Senior Member
Tuchel didnt outclass Pep in those 3 games.

All three were even and could have gone either way.

Cup game was nothing in it . League game it was not City strongest line up and Aguero misses pen to make it 2-0. The CL final was very even game with few chances for either side.

Tuchel did well and stopped a lot of Citys football but was not outclassing them at all.

Tuchel pretty outclassed him. League cup and PL game may not really important for City at that time but in CL final, Chelsea played better, way better. For example, the final score is 1-0 but Chelsea had 2.1 xG to City 0.4
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Tuchel pretty outclassed him. League cup and PL game may not really important for City at that time but in CL final, Chelsea played better, way better. For example, the final score is 1-0 but Chelsea had 2.1 xG to City 0.4

That final was always going to be about the first goal and from there teams would have huge advantage.

City missed chances to go 1-0 up and had couple of fuck ups later but they were not outclassed at all.

If basing on one game.. can say Tuchel was outclassed by Sam Allardyce etc last season.
 

snowy

New member
It's crazy how Pedri is underrated over here. Guys go technical skills up the gazoo

The problem is that Koe pairs him with slow-mo players and backpassers. Put him in a fast team like this Vegas Trixie lineup and he'd smash

Balde - Memphis - Yusuf
. . Pedri - Gavi - Puig
. . . . . . . Frenkie
Araujo - Garcia - Mingu​

And then add Ansu, Bouze, maybe Aguero when fit, Colgate why not and you got a fast team with a good bag of goals.


Fault is on Koe for playing slow, conservative players against the Bavarian high tide. All that space to exploit and nada.

And not just on Koe but also all the Yes dudes behind him. Luuke is a cool guy and he was trying but he's way too slow for the job. Schreuder, Larson et co shoulda spoken up
 

vegitot

Senior Member
That final was always going to be about the first goal and from there teams would have huge advantage.

City missed chances to go 1-0 up and had couple of fuck ups later but they were not outclassed at all.

If basing on one game.. can say Tuchel was outclassed by Sam Allardyce etc last season.

And Chelsea missed way more chances later. It is not based on only one game (which is the most important one btw), Tuchel won 3 times, which tells a lot. He was better than Pep last season.
 

vegitot

Senior Member
It's crazy how Pedri is underrated over here. Guys go technical skills up the gazoo

The problem is that Koe pairs him with slow-mo players and backpassers. Put him in a fast team like this Vegas Trixie lineup and he'd smash

Balde - Memphis - Yusuf
. . Pedri - Gavi - Puig
. . . . . . . Frenkie
Araujo - Garcia - Mingu​

And then add Ansu, Bouze, maybe Aguero when fit, Colgate why not and you got a fast team with a good bag of goals.


Fault is on Koe for playing slow, conservative players against the Bavarian high tide. All that space to exploit and nada.

And not just on Koe but also all the Yes dudes behind him. Luuke is a cool guy and he was trying but he's way too slow for the job. Schreuder, Larson et co shoulda spoken up

Nice squad for pre season game.
 

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
It's crazy how Pedri is underrated over here. Guys go technical skills up the gazoo

The problem is that Koe pairs him with slow-mo players and backpassers. Put him in a fast team like this Vegas Trixie lineup and he'd smash

Balde - Memphis - Yusuf
. . Pedri - Gavi - Puig
. . . . . . . Frenkie
Araujo - Garcia - Mingu​

And then add Ansu, Bouze, maybe Aguero when fit, Colgate why not and you got a fast team with a good bag of goals.


Fault is on Koe for playing slow, conservative players against the Bavarian high tide. All that space to exploit and nada.

And not just on Koe but also all the Yes dudes behind him. Luuke is a cool guy and he was trying but he's way too slow for the job. Schreuder, Larson et co shoulda spoken up

Too much wild west broski.
 

akaranzo

Member
Tuchel complete outclassed Pep last season, three times in three different competition. Mou didn't do it vs Pep in 2010. Of course Pep may beat Tuchel this season. My point is you don't need Pep's style (which requires a lot of things) to be successful.

And my point is that we as Barca do need that style. It is at the very core of our identity. I brought out Pep as an example to show that it can still work in modern football. If we don't at least try to play this type of football, we lose all sense of identity and become just another mediocre club. And although Tuchel's style is definitely effective, god is it ugly and boring. If I had to watch a whole season of Chelsea's matches, I'd rather stop watching football entirely.
 

Messi983

Senior Member
I can see Pedri will stay for more years as he is only 18 (people really forget his age) but De Jong is 24, in his prime age and i don't think Barca can keep him long enough.

As I've said in his thread yesterday Frenkie has just signed a 6-year extension two months after 2-8 against Bayern. I think he's still happy to stay and will be around for 2-3 more years at least (unless the club will decide to cash on him). But if we won't be more competitive by 2023-24 then I could see him making a fuss about leaving. In that case we'll have bigger problems than just Frenkie wanting to leave though. Any other good/promising player we might have at that time could be looking for a way out as well and not many good players will be likely to join us if we won't get through this early rebuilding phase in 2-3 years.
 
Anyone who thinks pedri is gonna be some really good player is an idiot. He's basically an Arthur that can play 90 except he's as skinny as puig just a little taller. 0 muscle 0 speed 0 attacking skill or instinct. Another player that can just pass sideways. Someone like kovacic is 10x better than he will ever be. Stop playing this fucking twig and lock him in the fucking gym.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Anyone who thinks pedri is gonna be some really good player is an idiot. He's basically an Arthur that can play 90 except he's as skinny as puig just a little taller. 0 muscle 0 speed 0 attacking skill or instinct. Another player that can just pass sideways. Someone like kovacic is 10x better than he will ever be. Stop playing this fucking twig and lock him in the fucking gym.

Pedri is not even remotely like Arthur.

Terrible comparison.
 

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