6 - Gavi

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
Gavi and Pedri have no real comparison or parallels. Pedri demonstrated world-class creativity and technical ability from the off.

Gavi's game awareness isn't even close and he is much worse on the ball. The problem is, he isn't athletically better either, or defensively.

At this point its hard to see Gavi's benefit for the team unless he starts to do better with the ball at his feet. He is not a physically dominant or defensively dominant midfielder and not particularly good at defending either, so if he doesn't add things in the offensive phase, he is not very useful.

There are much better ball winning midfielders to put in his place if that is what is needed. Frankly, I think we'd have been far better off without him in the side and its hard not to notice that the side seems to be much better with him out of it.

He is much more comparable to Pablo Torre and Fermin than any of the other midfielders, though, I don't think he is better than either of them at this point. Fermin is improving quickly and has shown goalscoring instincts as well as technical and athletic improvement. Pablo Torre is technical and can put a good ball in.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Gavi is not even in the same realm as Pedri and never has been.

Lazy point to try and score some cheap points.

Folk argued over Pedri but is was generally about him being amongst the best in world or not... Gavi.. the argument is if he is better than Fermin and what position he even plays for Barca.

It was argued Pedri was slow.. he is an athlete compared to Gavi.
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
He's not even a good cardio merchant because of how slow and immobile he is.
Something is messed up with his running mechanics, they are really inefficient. Only using quads basically and really short steps which is a very tiring way to run and limits his top speed.

On the surface he looks like he would be a decent enough athlete but despite being in good shape he's so immobile for someone of his age and size. For a guy as small as he is, and being only 20, it is concerning to see him struggling to sprint or turn.

If you watch him walk, he is almost bouncing off the floor? His pelvic tilt is bad and his running style seems to lack dorsiflexion, so I wonder if there is a underlying mechanical problem there.
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
Gavi is not even in the same realm as Pedri and never has been.

Lazy point to try and score some cheap points.

Folk argued over Pedri but is was generally about him being amongst the best in world or not... Gavi.. the argument is if he is better than Fermin and what position he even plays for Barca.
Not really sure that he plays over Fermin either. Fermin seems to have a clear role and you can see what you get out of him. Good player who tries to stick to his strengths.

Gavi right now doesn't look like he has any position where he is adding to the team. He is trying to play in a way that is completely unsuitable to what he is athletically and as a player.

Currently he lacks strength and is really slow, and his strengths should really be on the ball rather than trying to be some kind of defensive hard man. His defending is pretty poor in general, as well as lacking recovery speed he positions badly and doesn't tackle well.

The way for him to be productive here is to stick to working on the ball and to try and add some quality to his game, as he has technical ability, but his brain is programmed in a certain way right now.
 

mc_lovin

Senior Member
Just remember what people wrote about Pedri when he was played as a 10 :lol:

Don’t even have to think back a long time either… just remember the comments about his Euro campaign.

It’s eerily similar.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Pedri as a 10 had a good Euros and as AM from left was best midfielder at previous Euros.

Gavi has done nothing close.

Was clear as day to get the most out of Pedri and for his skill set he needed to play deeper even if a very good AM although too limited by way Xavi played him to high up so often.

With Gavi.. again there is nothing similar as hasnt shown he could be a top player deeper and certainly is not at AM.
 

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
Don't let the people who were hailing Frankie better than Pedri tell you Gavi is now useless.

Midfield is packed now and there is way more competition with Casado, Olmo and fully established Fermin.
Let's not forget Gavi had a year long injury. Many players never returned the same.

He had few great games and will continue to be used in rotation. Hope he finds even more minutes although I do t mind if it's him or Olmo or Fermin in those attacking midfielder roles.
 

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