8 - Pedri

[JamDav1982]

Good goal.

Apart from that not much and looked too slow defensively as has done a lot this season when ball break open in middle of park.

Team improved in midfield when he went off really.

 

[Windhook]

The goal was a genius play.

But he's clearly jaded at this point. Overplayed for Barca and Spain.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Reacting to the result, Pedri admitted Barcelona were not very dominant against Girona and that he was not satisfied with the team’s performance.


“I think we never played our best match, we need to improve a lot of things, and I’m not satisfied with the team’s performance, but in the end, we came away with the three points, and that’s the most important thing,” he said.

“It wasn’t a good match from the team, but we came away with 3 points, and that’s what matters most,” he added.

The Spanish international went on to highlight the importance of securing three points, even though Barcelona were far from their usual best.

“I think these are the most important matches, because when you play well and win because you were the best and dominated the entire match, that’s natural.

“But on the days when you’re not at your level, and you don’t do things as they should be done, if you come out of them with the 3 points, that’s very important in your path towards the title at the end of the league,” he said.

Finally, Pedri talked about Barcelona’s road ahead and how the focus should now shift to the upcoming Champions League game against Olympiacos.

“We need to analyse what we did poorly, try to improve it, and now we must think about the Champions League,” he concluded.

 

[jormatar]

Rare mistakes by him tonight in bad situtations. Great goal though.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

MLS defending on his goal

 

[malvolio]

Way too relaxed at times, lost the ball at least twice and resulted into 1v1s.

 

[JamDav1982]

Not a massive fan of xG but for what it is worth.

Girona had a better xG than Barca before Pedri went off.

After he went off they barely created a chance and Barca created more chances in that 30 mins than previous 60 mins.

 

[Masetro10]

Pedri whether he likes it or not will need to be the most forward 8 or basically the 10 at some point. He has too much skill to be used as just a conductor.

Bernal needs to grow into that roll with Frenkie.

 

[JamDav1982]

Nah he doent need to move forward he is better when can get the ball from defenders and facing game.

There is a reason both Flick and Spain have moved him back and he is playing best football of his career.

Higher up park and getting ball with back to goal more often and being asked to hold postion more often wouldnt suit him as much.

They need to tweak something at Barca though as far too often yesterday and in Sevilla game Pedri was chasing ball to close it down and if didnt win it left huge gaps in centre of park.

While Casado was often standing in defensive line and not covering the middle of park either. Dont really blame Casado for that as looks like instruction as Frenkie was same v PSG and Sevilla too often.

It is just all leaving acres of room in middle of park for teams to break through.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Often get the impression that players are less likely to try things on their own when he's on. There's a tendency to always look for Pedri, let him find the right option. Similar to Messi's effect on the team.

When he came off the feeling was more chaotic but also more free. Sometimes that is what you need to score goals.

 

[jamrock]

The way he plays, he's a central midfielder, as his heat map will show, so he gets in and around the box enough to use his creativity, but has enough touches to stay connected; he's in a good spot.

As long as he's not playing deep like some Pirlo or being the one to take the ball off the defense like Busquets, he's good.

Yesterday he should have been the furthest midfielder forward, though, because de Jong has 0 creativity, but he also can't control the game like Pedri, so Flick didn't know which poison to pick, so it's kind of understandable.

 

[jamrock]

Two games now In a row he was off his level but came up with a world class assist & goal.

He's too good, but needs rest

 

[JamDav1982]

At his best when deep and can get ball from defence as an option and not wait for it through others.

Folk who claimed he had to be most advanced midfielder and worse in a two than Gundo/Gavi proven to have no clue as ever.

Same folk who claimed Spain would not put him deeper also.

Not a clue.

Frenkie with 'zero creativity' comes up with winning assist for 2nd time in four games.

Not bad.

 

[serghei]

You can't move Pedri up except if you sign some top DM-CM. What we need to do is stop chasing players and vacate positions when there is very low chance of forcing a turnover.

Keep position more, conserve energy, so that when you press it has more bite and intensity. That's the flaw this season for me. It is very detrimental to make pressing your sole approach, when it is sloppy and slow. Flick has two options. Fix the fitness issue if possible, or adapt to play a more positional system for the moments in the game where we need to conserve energy.

It is not possible to go every game with full on pressing for 120-130 games in a row like he dreams. It's all a bit utopic. He should learn from other top teams, the way they do pressing is more strategic, and the switches from positional to press approach are far more often and better timed.

At the moment it seems we don't take into consideration the fitness and energy resources of the players at all. We just assume they are top and then moan when they aren't.

 

[vegitot]

The way he plays, he's a central midfielder, as his heat map will show, so he gets in and around the box enough to use his creativity, but has enough touches to stay connected; he's in a good spot.

As long as he's not playing deep like some Pirlo or being the one to take the ball off the defense like Busquets, he's good.

Yesterday he should have been the furthest midfielder forward, though, because de Jong has 0 creativity, but he also can't control the game like Pedri, so Flick didn't know which poison to pick, so it's kind of understandable.

With current squad, Flick can try Pedri as advanced role but also deeper in the 1st and 2nd phase. Mostly to reduce his big defensive duty.

But since Flick sticks with double pivot so he always needs Pedri there cause without him the team would likely to fall apart.