in 16/17 his form definitely did drop and there was many instances where he held onto the ball for way too long, that is without question. However during 14/15 he was incredible and that period of 15/16 when Messi was out he reached an incredible level that I'd only seen from Messi, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo in an attacking sense during my time following Barca.
Still completely idiotic to want a 'Pedro type' ahead of him, complete moronic takes in this forum somtimes.
Also, him slowing the game down was just him taking responsibilities and taking pressure off MEssi. Ask Messi fi he wants a bunch of backwards passing wingers