Pedro Rodriguez
- Thread starter M.L. King
- Start date
lessthanjake
New member
Play Pedro to get him back in form for the important part of the season. Don't play Villa in order to ensure he doesn't get re-injured before the important part of the season.
GiantKiller
New member
We suffered against Chelsea because of defensive mistakes that could've and should've been prevented. Drogbas' goal in the 1st leg was a result of a loss in possession and a couple of silly errors from the defenders. Ramires' goal, as brilliant as it was, should never have been allowed as we had a clear man advantage and Torres' goal was just
. Add to that the element of bad luck resulting in us missing sitters.My point is, you should play by the rule that 'If you don't score, you don't concede'. Also, I'll only start to worry once we come up against buses like those of Inters' and Chelseas' that completely neutralize our play, stopping us from creating any opportunities. This wasn't the case at all in the SF game against Chelsea, though.
Pedro has been playing consistently since the season started and yet he is crap. Non-goal streak on like 22 games now? What makes you think more games will turn it around if it has been the same crap for 5-6 months now? He deserves the bench while other players (Villa, Tello) deserve more playing time. They actually do more than just press the opponent.
Villa is fit to play more games than just "meaningless" CDR games with youths. In the league, if he is lucky he will get to play the last 10-15 minutes every 3rd game and he clearly deserves better.
When Fabregas returns, there is no room for Pedro. Hell, there is no room even now.
We suffered against Chelsea because of defensive mistakes that could've and should've been prevented. Drogbas' goal in the 1st leg was a result of a loss in possession and a couple of silly errors from the defenders. Ramires' goal, as brilliant as it was, should never have been allowed as we had a clear man advantage and Torres' goal was just
My point is, you should play by the rule that 'If you don't score, you don't concede'. Also, I'll only start to worry once we come up against buses like those of Inters' and Chelseas' that completely neutralize our play, stopping us from creating any opportunities. This wasn't the case at all in the SF game against Chelsea, though.
Apart from the misstakes you mentioned, imo the blame could also be placed on Guardiola who was just incapable of adjusting tactics and game plan to the situation. When you have a lead, you just dont go all-in on attack against a parked bus. Instead, he should have ordered the team to step down a lil, the backline shouldnt have been so high, the ball should be kept safe till the bus splits up etc etc.
diegomessi
Anxiously waiting for the next match
what if I told you that just because you do not score goles... does not mean you are playing badly....
What if I answered you that it is not just about the goals, but how he is playing in general?
abual3bed1
New member
He's doing his job perfectly apart from scoring goals. He opens spaces, does his defensive duty and doesn't lose the ball easily.
so apart from scoring goals, Pedrito is awesome.
so apart from scoring goals, Pedrito is awesome.
psychotsek
Member
Pedro is a better fit the team than Villa,Sanchez,Tello,Cuenca.
He doesn't slow down our game,his first touches are on par with Xavi-Messi-Iniesta-Alves and he works his @$$ on field.
That's why Tito uses him in the starting line up even though he has almost 3 months(?) to score.The goals will eventually come.
GiantKiller
New member
That was the point I was trying to make earlier as well. Pedro is so familiar with the system that even when he's not scoring he does many things right.
Irish_Cules
New member
Despite the lack of goals, I think that up until the last couple of games Pedro has been performing at a consistently high level. His work rate is phenomenal, and this along with his link up play and directness in attack are really important to the team. Last season he was very poor but I really do think he has rediscovered close to his best form this season, except in front of goal obviously. He will start scoring again soon, I'm sure of it.
raskolnikov
Well-known member
I love Pedrito as well bit its important our other forwards get some confidence as well, we need everyone to be sharp abd deadly in the spring, especially our forwards beside Leo.
pedro and Alexis just need goals but Villa needs minutes thats why its more fair to play him more often for a while and rotate the others.
pedro and Alexis just need goals but Villa needs minutes thats why its more fair to play him more often for a while and rotate the others.
Irish_Cules
New member
The thing is you can't really rotate Pedro with Villa. Villa can only play on the left or through the centre if you want to get the best out of him. I know our forwards interchange positions during the game but for the most part he would be on the right if he replaced Pedro directly. His position is on the left which also happens to have Tello, Alexis and Iniesta. I do think that Alexis could rotate with Pedro more often though. He has barely played on the right at all this season and I think he's a better direct replacement for Pedro in terms of his pace and work rate. This would also give Villa more chances on the left.
lessthanjake
New member
Saying he hasn't scored in 22 matches makes it sound worse than it is. In reality, he simply hasn't scored out of his last 32 shots. Now, that's certainly a long drought, but Pedro mostly just doesn't get goals because he doesn't take shots. Just for some reference, Messi himself went 34 straight shots without a goal for Argentina in 2010. He has streaks of 15-20 straight misses a few times a season. Ronaldo had over 31 straight misses for Portugal earlier this year. Like Messi, he regularly has streaks of 15-20 misses. He also had a streak of at least 38 straight misses for Real to start the 2010-2011 season. That streak was at least 50 straight in competitive matches counting with Portugal too. He had another 28 miss streak later that season.
footyfan
Calma, calma
We should be more worried about absolute goal counts than accuracy ratios. If Villa scores more because he takes more shots, that should be totally fine. The fact that Pedro has taken only 32 shots is pretty illuminating. Either he's not putting himself in the scoring positions like he used to or the system dictates that most of the shots should come through another player.
It's a psychological game though. If a player hasn't scored in a long time (notice how minutes and games played are actually important), will he able to take chances with the same confidence and panache as he would were he taking more shots (hence in case of a good player scoring more goals) in general? In your example, those 38 shots for Ronaldo probably came in 2-3 games and with shots that come from all over the place and from free-kicks. They wouldn't affect his confidence in the same way. Hardly comparable to Pedro.
In addition, he isn't making those dangerous runs that would drag defenders like he used to, nor is he attacking his man like he used to.
I'm not complaining right now - because our results are close to perfection - but I wonder how we would react in the latter stages of say CL, when things are different.
It's a psychological game though. If a player hasn't scored in a long time (notice how minutes and games played are actually important), will he able to take chances with the same confidence and panache as he would were he taking more shots (hence in case of a good player scoring more goals) in general? In your example, those 38 shots for Ronaldo probably came in 2-3 games and with shots that come from all over the place and from free-kicks. They wouldn't affect his confidence in the same way. Hardly comparable to Pedro.
In addition, he isn't making those dangerous runs that would drag defenders like he used to, nor is he attacking his man like he used to.
I'm not complaining right now - because our results are close to perfection - but I wonder how we would react in the latter stages of say CL, when things are different.
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