8 - Pedri

[KingLeo10]

The discussion can never be mostly about raw goals and assists...context matters.

Ozil and Di Maria were putting up eye popping numbers of assists under Mourinho and Ancelotti and ain't nobody in their right mind is picking them ahead of Iniesta for any game in any stadium in the world.

Another example is Modric. He saves his best for the big games (in his prime and even some these days).

 

[serghei]

The context was in terms of raw goals and assists. That's what we talk about when we mean "end prpduct".

Key passes, final ball and all are generally grouped in the "all round game" part.

The man had 3 assists and a goal in 3 CL finals and a World Cup final. Had a goal or an assist in each of the 4. You base your metric on quantity over quality.

Probably named man of the match in some of those as a result.

 

[vegitot]

Iniesta is the only one in history to be named man of the match in World Cup final, Euro final, UCL final and even Copa del rey final. He had 3 assists in UCL final which is the most in history, scored 1 World Cup final goal.

He is probably among the best player in biggest games. But overall he is not a good goal scorer/assiter. Xavi, for example, was better at that.

Pedri will be a better goal/assist provider but let's see if he can match Ini big game performances.

 

[Temptation]

iniesta is the only one in history to be named man of the match in world cup final, euro final, ucl final and even copa del rey final. He had 3 assists in ucl final which is the most in history, scored 1 world cup final goal.

He is probably among the best player in biggest games. But overall he is not a good goal scorer/assiter. Xavi, for example, was better at that.

Pedri will be a better goal/assist provider but let's see if he can match ini big game performances.

spot.on.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Best comp from Sevilla match. It's amazing how much influence he has on the team. People splitting hairs about muh goals/assists can't see forest behind the trees. Goal is a cherry on top.

 

[Bobo32]

Best comp from Sevilla match. It's amazing how much influence he has on the team. People splitting hairs about muh goals/assists can't see forest behind the trees. Goal is a cherry on top.

Hope it is not the best comp - I got motion sick by watching that ultra zoomed in video, and it is tough to judge the choices when you only see 1/8th of the pitch... I guess it is because of copyright issues they zoom their videos like that.

Pedri had a very good game, one of his best for the club. The pass to Busquets somewhere in the middle of the video is another example of a better decision than I am used to by Pedri.

 

[Gnidrologist]

What i'm most impressed is how he almost never gets confused or overwhelmed by opposition despite being so young and physically unimposing. Gets out of very tight situations with ease and grace and his passing mostly red carpet. And he also makes these unique magical moments that will be remembered for decades. Even that pass to Dembele towards the right wing is something i never espected. He's always full of these kind of surprises, where i silently moan "wow". And on top of that he is so stern in pressing and tackling. Even though Gavi is our Gattuso now, his tackling technique and strength that goes along is underrated (same as with Iniesta). If he keeps that up he will be worthy of "complete midfielder" title. And that at this age. Hope he doesn't burn out too quick. But i feel not. He also seems to have strong and frugal mentality. Perfect combination.

/fapping off

 

[Bobo32]

What i'm most impressed is how he almost never gets confused or overwhelmed by opposition despite being so young and physically unimposing. Gets out of very tight situations with ease and grace and his passing mostly red carpet. And he also makes these unique magical moments that will be remembered for decades. Even that pass to Dembele towards the right wing is something i never espected. He's always full of these kind of surprises, where i silently moan "wow". And on top of that he is so stern in pressing and tackling. Even though Gavi is our Gattuso now, his tackling technique and strength that goes along is underrated (same as with Iniesta). If he keeps that up he will be worthy of "complete midfielder" title. And that at this age. Hope he doesn't burn out too quick. But i feel not. He also seems to have strong and frugal mentality. Perfect combination.

/fapping off

This has at the same time been one of his main weaknesses: as he is so technically able to get out of tight situations, he has too often been caught up in them, with the only way out being a backwards pass that do not progress play (there are great back passes, but these have mostly been to just keep the ball in the team)

I see him improving this part of his game, and it is rarer now to see him with his back towards the goal with nowhere to go. He is still a bit slow and undaring when he gets the ball, but as he has a stroke of genius to him he still finds unexpected solutions here and there. Very far from Xavi, Iniesta or Busquets in his ability to constantly make great choices still.

 

[messi2140]

Iniesta was just built different when it came to those big matches. The man was known for having noodle shots but show managed to score absolute canons on big occasions (Chelsea , Real Madrid 2x, WC final etc..)

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

I was watching a number of Iniesta replays of matches in the '09-'12 years last night and I was very surprised to find he would make considerably more turnovers/mistakes than Pedri. But the number of significant playmaking Iniesta would provide was a much bigger gap to Pedri's contributions. Lesson here is to become a goat you have to be ok with making errors and having trust your teammates and defenders can cover for them in order to make great plays at all with a fraction of them converting to goals.

 

[eaman]

I was watching a number of Iniesta replays of matches in the '09-'12 years last night and I was very surprised to find he would make considerably more turnovers/mistakes than Pedri. But the number of significant playmaking Iniesta would provide was a much bigger gap to Pedri's contributions. Lesson here is to become a goat you have to be ok with making errors and having trust your teammates and defenders can cover for them in order to make great plays at all with a fraction of them converting to goals.

Exactly just like messi or de bruyne. They constantly try to be creative and that means plenty of passes or runs are going to cut out or stopped. But the ones they succeed with usually end up changing games

 

[Sorin]

It also needs to be said that Iniesta had amazing dribbling aided by a burst of pace in the first 5 meters. Also underrated speed in open space.

Pedri has all the quality in the world but I'm afraid these aspects he won't be able to match Iniesta in. He can compensate with more goals ans assists though. Brilliant player.

 

[vegitot]

I was watching a number of Iniesta replays of matches in the '09-'12 years last night and I was very surprised to find he would make considerably more turnovers/mistakes than Pedri. But the number of significant playmaking Iniesta would provide was a much bigger gap to Pedri's contributions. Lesson here is to become a goat you have to be ok with making errors and having trust your teammates and defenders can cover for them in order to make great plays at all with a fraction of them converting to goals.

Younger Iniesta was even worse as he used to attempt to dribble too much sometime and lost the ball quite often.

 

[Joan]

As in many such comparisons of modern players to all time greats, people ignore factors that don't concern players themselves and their inner talents and qualities. Football (like any other sport) is not static, it's the opposite - very dynamic and plenty of factors change. From sport science (as someone mentioned here) to advancements in medicine, thorough work with youth products, professional lifestyles etc. It's really not a coincidence all old records are being broken or new goats emerging in all sports; and it can hardly be explained by younger generations being more gifted or talented. In analogy with fruit, they ripe sooner and stay fresh longer. There's no guarantee their peaks are as high though. So I think the arguments suggesting Pedri/de Jong/Gavi/xyz is better at age 17/20/13/ijk than Iniesta/Messi/Maradona/Xavi/mnl suggesting they'll grow into better players have next to no value.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

It also needs to be said that Iniesta had amazing dribbling aided by a burst of pace in the first 5 meters. Also underrated speed in the open space.

Pedri has all the quality in the world but I'm afraid these aspects he won't be able to match Iniesta in. He can compensate with more goals ans assists though. Brilliant player.

Puig has those qualities.