A lot has been said about Puyols good influence over the sometimes lazy Pique, and how he needs another partner who can make him do the more "silent" work and keep up his concentration.
I wonder if Alves influence hasn't been overseen - they both arrived at the same time, and even if Alves isn't zoomed in yelling as much as Puyol was, his presence surely makes the mates around him work a bit more intensely, too?
Pique played well yesterday. Another thing I have noticed and been irritated by has been how Pique regularly passes slowly to the left foot of the right back, and then doesn't show himself deep with full speed. With Alves, I've seen less of this, partly because of Alves initial position probably, and also because Alves will solve these situations so brilliantly even when he gets the ball on the wrong foot with no good options, so I wouldn't be as irritated as when Dest lose the ball or Araujo struggle to hoof it.