Pedro Rodriguez

Maria

Maria

New member
The Observer said:
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:

rm1.jpg


Screenshot-8-1024x576.png


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.
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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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BerkeleyBernie

BerkeleyBernie

Senior Member
Pedro rarely plays "poorly." His goal production (a different thing than "playing poorly") is largely a matter of how the opponent is playing and Barça's tactics on the day. He's the most conservative of the forwards, and usually reads the game well and makes good decisions on when to take on defenders and when to cycle the ball back (usually depends on how isolated he is from his teammates and how many defenders are marking him).
 
Chainsaw

Chainsaw

Killahead
I think the main problem with Pedro now is that he couldn't evolve his game much by the years, which made him more and more predictable to the opponents. He still shows some skills here and there but that's far from the consistency level which is needed for the players who play at this level and for this club.
 
The Observer

The Observer

New member
Maria said:
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?
Click to expand...

It's not only about "parking the bus" and "not parking the bus". Football tactics are a bit more complex than that. In Pedro's peak form (first half of 10/11), he and Villa mostly scored from throughballs inbetween fullback and centerback. Villa's second goal after Messi's throughball in the 5-0 Clasico is an extreme example of what I mean. This happened in 10/11, not 08/09. Another example: Espanyol-Barca 1-5 where Espanyol played a suicidal high line. Again: 10/11, not 08/09. Pedro's main attribute has always been to sneak behind the defensive line, receive a throughball that puts him 1 on 1 with the keeper and score. He rarely scored "individual" goals. Neither Villa nor Pedro ever had to dribble or provide any kind of wingplay. They'd pass it back to the middle and make runs behind the defense. In 2013, this doesn't cut it anymore. We need more from our wingers. Partly because teams block the passing angles and press the most dangerous passers very early (I've seen Ajax pressing Xavi with 3 men in Barca's own half, Messi gets fouled when he's on the ball for longer than 2 seconds). There is a correlation between Xavi's decline of throughballs and Pedro's decline of goals. Partly because of the decline of our possession play (or simply put: Xavi's decline). Partly because teams are now aware of runners from the wings and block the channels. Or in short: Teams don't play Barca in 2013 like they played Barca in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 or 2012.


Also people overrate "the old Pedrito". He became important in the second half of 09/10 and formed a deadly duo in the first half of 10/11 with Villa. In the second half of 10/11 he already stopped playing well, until the CL final. Ever since he hasn't been the same. He had a 10 month period at consistent world class level at most and only glimpses here and there ever since. We remember him more fondly because of his many big game goals. But overall he looks like a hardworking, average system player who had a nice run of form. Bit like Ji-Sung Park at Manchester United.

No, I don't think Ajax played like those teams in 08/09. Not even remotely close. Which team in 08/09 would be so brave and put so much pressure on Barca as Ajax did? In the entire Pep era I only remember Real Betis playing like that and we never did well against them, especially not away from home. In a similar scenario like yesterday where we missed 5 or 6 starters, Betis beat us 3-1.
 
K

kostasgtc

New member
The Observer said:
It's not only about "parking the bus" and "not parking the bus". Football tactics are a bit more complex than that. In Pedro's peak form (first half of 10/11), he and Villa mostly scored from throughballs inbetween fullback and centerback. Villa's second goal after Messi's throughball in the 5-0 Clasico is an extreme example of what I mean. This happened in 10/11, not 08/09. Another example: Espanyol-Barca 1-5 where Espanyol played a suicidal high line. Again: 10/11, not 08/09. Pedro's main attribute has always been to sneak behind the defensive line, receive a throughball that puts him 1 on 1 with the keeper and score. He rarely scored "individual" goals. Neither Villa nor Pedro ever had to dribble or provide any kind of wingplay. They'd pass it back to the middle and make runs behind the defense. In 2013, this doesn't cut it anymore. We need more from our wingers. Partly because teams block the passing angles and press the most dangerous passers very early (I've seen Ajax pressing Xavi with 3 men in Barca's own half, Messi gets fouled when he's on the ball for longer than 2 seconds). There is a correlation between Xavi's decline of throughballs and Pedro's decline of goals. Partly because of the decline of our possession play (or simply put: Xavi's decline). Partly because teams are now aware of runners from the wings and block the channels. Or in short: Teams don't play Barca in 2013 like they played Barca in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 or 2012.


Also people overrate "the old Pedrito". He became important in the second half of 09/10 and formed a deadly duo in the first half of 10/11 with Villa. In the second half of 10/11 he already stopped playing well, until the CL final. Ever since he hasn't been the same. He had a 10 month period at consistent world class level at most and only glimpses here and there ever since. We remember him more fondly because of his many big game goals. But overall he looks like a hardworking, average system player who had a nice run of form. Bit like Ji-Sung Park at Manchester United.

No, I don't think Ajax played like those teams in 08/09. Not even remotely close. Which team in 08/09 would be so brave and put so much pressure on Barca as Ajax did? In the entire Pep era I only remember Real Betis playing like that and we never did well against them, especially not away from home. In a similar scenario like yesterday where we missed 5 or 6 starters, Betis beat us 3-1.
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good post,nice analysis but pedrito is ok for a bench player IMO.
 
M

Meitux

Active member
Pedro was never a world class player, he had 2 very good seasons in 2009-2010 2010-2011 and that made a signature to people that he's world class and with the result of overrating him. It has been like 3 almost years that he's been tottaly average without providing something that is enough to compare it with what he did back then or what is needed to be called as good performance.

But yeah let's call him a good player just because he's helping defensively :lol:. Helping at the back is something good but you can't use it as excuse of that he shows good performances...
 
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BerkeleyBernie

BerkeleyBernie

Senior Member
Ever hear the phrase "a musician's musician?" Pedro is a player's player. A lot of what Pedro does on the field his detractors here don't even see, but coaches and other players do.

When I hear his detractors, to me it sounds like "Bass player? Why do we need a useless bass player? Let's get another lead guitarist, man!! Turn it up to eleven!!"

You have his critics here in the forum, then you have Neymar:

http://www.*********/en/news/12/spain/2013/08/10/4177483/neymar-pedro-has-surprised-me-the-most

http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20130810/fc-barcelona/neymar-barca-entrevista-pedro_54379319839.html

Ahead of Barca's warm-up match against a Malaysia XI on Saturday, Neymar revealed to El Mundo Deportivo: "I really like Pedro a lot. He is capable of doing everything on the pitch.

"He scores, he runs without the ball, he attacks, he defends, he does it all. He is perhaps the player who has surprised me the most."​
 
K

KhaledBarca

New member
Why would we sell Pedro?! We need an extra Forward, and then we sell play who accepts to be rotated and is doing fine this season?!
 
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