8 - Pedri

J

JamDav1982

Senior Member
De Jong was deep with the CBs far more than Pedri today.

Both of them were going forward a lot when it was all systems go at 3-1 down though.

Team more or less lost shape at that point and whoever was placed to get forward did.

But Pedri had plenty influence and got on it a lot. Wasnt hampered at all by FDJ.

Pedri himself says it.
 
BerkeleyBernie

BerkeleyBernie

Senior Member
I've been watching Pedri in isolation the past few games. Though he is among the best at handling the ball playing the game today, I've been pretty shocked at one aspect of his game— he's a ball-watcher. The lad barely scans the field at all when he doesn't have the ball. He *might* look over his shoulder when a pass is already on the way but he generally has NO idea what's going on outside his field of vision. Once he's turned to face and jog towards one side of the pitch, he has no idea what's going on behind him, the side he just left. And he's constantly demanding the ball, and somewhat petulant when he doesn't receive it (usually being ignored for good reason, as he's well-marked and his teammates with the ball see better options that he himself is unaware of).

In other words, he has absolutely no idea what he's going to do with the ball before he receives it. Chameleon Eyes, this boy is not. I don't believe you can be a truly great midfielder without scanning being part of your skillset. You need to know ALL your options before you receive the ball.

FdJ, on the other hand, has improved greatly in this regard, which has resulted in him releasing the ball more quickly than in the past, when he used to dwell on nearly every ball.
 
Last edited:
BusiTheKing

BusiTheKing

Senior Member
He has had a great season, but he still gets a bit too much credit for superficial things.

People loved him against Dortmund for giving us control of the game. He did improve the calma factor, but he also came on minutes after the own goal, which had clearly taken the steam out of Dortmund.

Then he proceeded to pass it around calmly when what we really should have done was to seize the opportunity to chase a second goal. Which became apparent when Dortmund scored again and we proceeded to lose control of the game, WITH Pedri on the pitch.

Also, not great game yesterday. Seems gassed.
 
J

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Said it before but he is brilliant at sniffing about the press and calculating where the ball will break.

Given a lot of freedom to do it also.

Does get dribbled past a fair bit also but thats impossible to avoid when being instructed to go and hunt it down.

The issue for Barca is they will win the ball back a lot but also when teams can get past it and the press can be on the defence very quickly but its working so far.
 
V

vegitot

Senior Member
BerkeleyBernie said:
I've been watching Pedri in isolation the past few games. Though he is among the best at handling the ball playing the game today, I've been pretty shocked at one aspect of his game— he's a ball-watcher. The lad barely scans the field at all when he doesn't have the ball. He *might* look over his shoulder when a pass is already on the way but he generally has NO idea what's going on outside his field of vision. Once he's turned to face and jog towards one side of the pitch, he has no idea what's going on behind him, the side he just left. And he's constantly demanding the ball, and somewhat petulant when he doesn't receive it (usually ignored for good reason, as he's well-marked and his teammates with the ball see better options that he himself is unaware of).

In other words, he has absolutely no idea what he's going to do with the ball before he receives it. Chameleon Eyes, this boy is not. I don't believe you can be a truly great midfielder without scanning being part of your skillset. You need to know ALL your options before you receive the ball.

FdJ, on the other hand, has improved greatly in this regard, which has resulted in him releasing the ball more quickly than in the past, when he used to dwell on nearly every ball.
Click to expand...
Pedri not scanning? Big L :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Home of Barca Fans

Top