8 - Pedri

[JamDav1982]

And they're all higher than Pedri's except for Wijnaldum who's not doing so hot himself.

Not significantly higher, no, but with the football we want to play, this matters.

Nope.. Pedri is playing how Xavi wants him to play and doesnt not want someone chasing ball for passes in middle of park.

 

[JamDav1982]

When Pedri made most passes in final third in Euro and Olympic, you ask how many assists/key passes. Now Pedri makes more key passes, you ask how many normal passes.

Exactly.

The argument was a week ago is that Pedri dwells on ball as wants 'genius moments' and doesnt open up game quickly enough.

Now it is the opposite.

If he chased ball all game and had 80+ passes and no chances created or goals etc that would be the moan.. not decisive enough.

 

[Andresito]

And they're all higher than Pedri's except for Wijnaldum who's not doing so hot himself.

Not significantly higher, no, but with the football we want to play, this matters.

It doesn't really matter. It's a near useless stat as it says nothing about what the player brings to the team.

Most CM's rack up their numbers passing the CB's. An incredibly easy way to inflate the stats.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Exactly.

The argument was a week ago is that Pedri dwells on ball as wants 'genius moments' and doesnt open up game quickly enough.

Now it is the opposite.

If he chased ball all game and had 80+ passes and no chances created or goals etc that would be the moan.. not decisive enough.

Well, it's both.

1) If he's not to help out more in the general flow of possession, then the demands for his offensive decisiveness are higher.

2) If he's not creating any real danger, then the demands for his contribution to the general flow of the game is higher.

Last game he made six key passes. That sounds very good but it fools you a bit because they were mostly crosses, set-pieces, simple passes out to the wing who took it in for a shot outside the box.

We created one good chance against Alaves, that was our goal. He wasn't involved. His attacking contribution was pretty good, nothing spectacular.

But that contribution doesn't excempt him from the normal possession duties of any other CM.

 

[BusiTheKing]

It doesn't really matter. It's a near useless stat as it says nothing about what the player brings to the team.

Most CM's rack up their numbers passing the CB's. An incredibly easy way to inflate the stats.

It's a fine barometer of how much a player is involved in the flow of the game.

Not every involvement is going to have a direct positive impact on the game, but you still need players around who you can pass to. Otherwise it's hard to play fluid football.

 

[JamDav1982]

Xavi is not playing in a way where he wants the two CMs to constantly move and dominate the ball with overloads as he used to.

He is playing in a way that he wants the CMs on front of Busi to hold position more in between the lines, help create/link with wide players/CF and get into the box.

In games like Alaves it is about getting ball wide and getting ball in more than any combinations and possession through middle.

The CBs, Busi and Pedri himself were looking to get ball wide early often.... even MATS was being asked to find wingers early..

Realise what Xavi is asking the players to do and judge them on that.

 

[BusiTheKing]

It baffles me sometime how people on here conceive of football. Do they look at a striker who falls deep to lay it off and think: "what a useless action, he's supposed to score goals, not play back passes to the midfield."

Football's a bit more complicated than that.

 

[mc_lovin]

It baffles me sometime how people on here conceive of football. Do they look at a striker who falls deep to lay it off and think: "what a useless action, he's supposed to score goals, not play back passes to the midfield."

Football's a bit more complicated than that.

That's why you try to reduce it to number of passes?

 

[JamDav1982]

It baffles me sometime how people on here conceive of football. Do they look at a striker who falls deep to lay it off and think: "what a useless action, he's supposed to score goals, not play back passes to the midfield."

Football's a bit more complicated than that.

You are the one that doesnt understand how 'Xavi of all people' is setting up the team.

Baffling is not understanding how Pedri impacted the game more than just about anyone else in Barca side and seeking things he didnt do.

 

[BusiTheKing]

That's why you try to reduce it to number of passes?

I used number of passes as a broad indicator of general involvement in the passing game. That was my argument.

I have specifically said a number of times that I don't think it's anything like a measure of overall performance.

Helps to read what I actually said.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Xavi is not playing in a way where he wants the two CMs to constantly move and dominate the ball with overloads as he used to.

He is playing in a way that he wants the CMs on front of Busi to hold position more in between the lines, help create/link with wide players/CF and get into the box.

In games like Alaves it is about getting ball wide and getting ball in more than any combinations and possession through middle.

The CBs, Busi and Pedri himself were looking to get ball wide early often.... even MATS was being asked to find wingers early..

Realise what Xavi is asking the players to do and judge them on that.

Right, and when it happens that there is an opponent on the field as well who is marking our players, do you think Xavi just instructs us to stand still and wait for them to move away?

You have to move around, sometimes explosively. Sometimes you have to do something else to get the ball flowing, to loosen their markings, to keep them disoriented.

 

[vegitot]

I used number of passes as a broad indicator of general involvement in the passing game. That was my argument.

I have specifically said a number of times that I don't think it's anything like a measure of overall performance.

Helps to read what I actually said.

You actually criticize his overall performance though.

 

[BusiTheKing]

You actually criticize his overall performance though.

I did not use his number of passes as a basis for criticizing his overall performance, no.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Right, I said my piece. If you want to spend the rest of your day searching for cracks or inconsistencies in my argument, be my guest.

 

[vegitot]

Right, I said my piece. If you want to spend the rest of your day searching for cracks or inconsistencies in my argument, be my guest.

Actually there are a lot but we probably don't need to discuss anymore.

Also thanks for confirm Pedri is better than pre Pep Iniesta