2012 - 2013 Football Thread! - Page 475

On June 10 2013 20:24 WillyWanker wrote:
Why keep Pedro would be a bad idea? The best player of our squad with this profile... Sure if you like flashy players like Neymar, you probably don't like Pedro...
Selling Tello would just be the consequence of Neymar's transfer, we'll have too many players at this position... We should just loan him and Deulofeu, and get them back when we can get rid of Villa (next year probably) and Cesc (please go to United :D).

On June 10 2013 21:13 Tazza wrote:

Well i don't think pedro has been the same year two years ago when barca won the champs league. He had 20+ goals that season and was a real threat. Nowadays, he doesn't score as many important goals and seems to be only there to make space for messi. I guess it could be a tactical thing, but to me, it seems like he has lost some of his shot.

Tello, on the other hand is younger, more direct, and has a good shot. You could say pedro fits into the barca system more, as he keeps posession and passes well, but barca seriously lacked the directness that tello could have provided later in the season.

if it were me, i would rather keep tello over pedro.

On June 10 2013 21:23 sharkie wrote:


Dortmund are willing to sell Lewa for the right money except to Bayern.

Bayern can offer all the money they want, but they wont get him this year 100%

On June 10 2013 21:40 WillyWanker wrote:

But look at the goals scored from Villa, Alexis and Tello this season... The whole attacking line has been 'bad' this season. And the 'bad' is because of the tactical changes of the last two years. Most of the goal attempts come from the midfield, just look at Xavi's and Iniesta's statistics, it's their best scoring year! Same goes for Cesc... The wings have been far less used the last two years than before that.
Look at Spain national team. Who's the best goalscorer for the last season? Pedro... And he's not a 9.
Tello is an awesome player, but he has yet to prove he can perform well when starting a game. He's been very good at giving the impulse to the team around the 60th minute of the games, but he hasn't played big games yet. Pedro is World Champion, Euro Champion, CL Champion etc... The crisis isn't only hitting Pedro, it's hitting the whole attacking line, and selling Pedro because he's 'not flashy enough' would be a big mistake. Him and Alexis are the only players willing to sacrify their game to help the team. Let's try a Messi-Neymar-Tello/Villa/Deulofeu trio and cry after 2 games because they don't defend, execute high pressure, etc... For me Pedro is the same as Busquets, dirty work and 0 recognition...

imo we should: loan Deulofeu, sell Villa + Cesc or Thiago. We would have Alexis/Pedro/Neymar/Tello/Messi; promote Rafinha (Thiago's brother, better than him imo) and maybe Sergi Roberto (or loan this one too).
Thiago is good but I don't see him progress that much... Big injury this year but still...

On June 10 2013 21:56 WillyWanker wrote:
He scored when Messi was injured, yeah, exactly what I was saying I also believe Alexis is a very talented player, but spanish medias...
With Messi + Pedro/Alexis + Neymar/Tello we could have a very balanced attacking front, but if we just stack flashy players, it's going to be a disaster. Pedro and Alexis are vital for this team!

On June 10 2013 23:46 sharkie wrote:
the problem with the barca system seems to be very few players outside the academy are able to adapt to it?

I have no inside knowledge of barca so I am only guessing that

On June 10 2013 23:40 Tazza wrote:

idk about iniesta, but xavi actually had twice as less goals than last season. This year he had 6 and last year he had 14, which was quite an anomaly. And for the spain team, pedro has played as cf, and takes more of the messi role. He scores for spain a lot, but it's to be seen whether he can replicate his form for barca.

and I agree that pedro not being flashy enough is not a good reason to sell him. But my point is, I think he's lost form. He doesn't get in the scoring positions from two seasons ago, and doesn't score them when he is there.

and the reason why i would take tello over pedro is that they both know the barca system well, which means tello knows and will press the ball. Its just that tello is more talented imo. has more pace, better finisher, etc.

in the barca 4-1-2-2-1, the wingers have to press, but they're not expected to track back as much. this isn't a 4-1-4-1 where the wingers are in line with the central midfielders, they play higher up the pitch than they do. Idk, pedro might track back more and do more "dirty work" but i think wingers in the barca system aren't really supposed to be defensive wingers. Wingers in general aren't supposed to do as much dirty work as a defensive mid(busquets).

to me all that tracking back and "dirty work" is a added bonus to a player, but it's not what makes him a starter in barca. Pedro, two seasons ago started because he was in blistering form. Then the past season, guardiola dropped him because he lost form and tbh, idk why vilanova used him so much this year.

Oh, and did you know that deulofeu has been having some attitude problems at barca? Barca aren't so high on him as a result.

On June 11 2013 00:01 WillyWanker wrote:

When they played with Pedro Villa Messi, Alves was the one doing the winger job, Pedro gave him space and offered him another solution than just a cross in the middle where we have never had anybody tall enough to score with a headkick (except for Ibra obviously). His dedication is what makes him truly amazing, and way better than Tello. Pedro is a better finisher than Tello, it's just that Tello tries his chance a lot more, if we could have the stats I'm pretty sure Pedro's ratio goal/shot would be a lot higher than Tello's.
Tello is just a very different kind of attacking player, and if I was the one choosing players for the squad, I would bet on a team with Pedro/Alexis + Messi + Tello/Deulofeu and a different kind of 9 (tall, or at least strong) to give solutions in the box. And we need Alexis because we cannot just have 4 players for 3 positions...

The dirty work part is essential in Barcelona, and I feel like it's what has been missing this last season. Xavi getting older, Alba+Alves lack of defensive work (which would be good if the rest of the team did the dirty part), Iniesta defending less, Messi running less, ... Pedro/Alexis are the kind of players we need to have a balanced team and to make the Barça playstyle work. Pedro may seem like he's out of form, but who on the Barça team has been looking very good physically this year after February?

Concerning Guardiola giving him less playing time, well it has to do with Cesc's transfer...

And about 'adapting to Barça's style', I don't think it has been so bad with the offensive recruits of the last years. Giuly, Eto'o, Villa were not Canteranos but they still performed really well. Ibra was not the kind of personality Guardiola wanted to deal with, and Alexis has been really good despite what everybody says about him... at least in my opinion he's done well