Maria
New member
Nothing strange about it. Teams don't defend Barca the same way they did when he broke out. That's all there is to it.
Once upon a time, the space between the lines that top teams like Real Madrid and Manchester United would offer Barcelona:
Even Granada doesn't defend like that anymore. What worked well in 2009 doesn't have to work in 2013. Of course Pedro himself hasn't lost any ability at 26 years of age. Teams have simply adapted to his skillset.
Which is also why in general people shouldn't judge Barca on 2008 / 2009 standards. If teams played this current Barca like they used to play Barca in the past, Messi alone would score 150 goals in a season.
This would make some sense if Pedro's best season would have been 2008/2009, but then Pedro played very little. His best seasons were the next 2, when team were already parking the bus against us, yet Pedro still made a difference. Then in 2011-2012 he had some injuries problems and appart from the goal against RM in CDR I really can't remember much about him.
And another thing: do you think that Ajax(in both of their games against us) didn't played like teams used to play against Barca in 2008/2009?
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