soccer
Szczęsny: "What Pedri has done this season, I’ve never seen a season like that from any player. How he controls the game both defensively and offensively, it’s unbelievable. He’s the most impressive player I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know what his secret is, but he never loses the ball."
Discussion
That coming from a man who played with Nicklas Bendtner and Yaya Sanogo means a lot
God's Arsenal was strong then.
God's Arsenal was fourth then
- Death
- Taxes
- (???)
- Arsenal
God, it was like a preselectable answer in the comment section.
Spoken like a true Baratheon
Do not take the Lord's name in vain.
and got a fresh contract renewel no less.;)
Don’t do my man Yaya like this. Poor dude should have had a better career if only he had less injuries when he was so young :(
[deleted]
Wrong
yeah i am wrong
Rare win👍
Literal whos.
He played with fabregas who would be the more apt comparison
Nothing gets past you, mate.
He’s like the Pascal Cygan of the Reddit comment section.
Senderos would be the more apt comparison
Nothing gets past you, mate.
My nickname is Almunia
Fair point. I must have missed him
He was our best player overall last season in my opinion and that's an incredibly achievement considering the season Yamal and Raphinha had
Yeah everytime I watched Barca it was extremely clear that Pedri is the most important player. You can tell they would play fine without Raphina or Yamal~ but if they were missing Pedri the team would probably instantly collapse
Agree that Pedri was our best player but we definitely wouldn't be fine without Lamine. Our season really hinged on Lamine and Pedri running the show and platforming Raphinha to be a killer in the final 3rd.
Go watch the matches yamal didn't play then
Agreed. Absolute revisionism. Their banter fall/winter stretch was pretty much 1:1 to the time Yamal was out.
When Yamal doesn’t play, it’s Raphinha who plays on the right where he isn’t very good there (he’s good but not like on the left). And there’s no otger great LW so the whole attack becomes too static. it’s not all because Yamal is dominating the attack
So you agree with me that Barcelona doesn't play fine without Yamal right? They had a very bad record without him last season
The 2nd champions league leg vs dortmund comes to mind, they were running like headless chickens that game when pedri was out
I watched mostly barcas big matches and some of them were pretty much the Yamal show. I don’t think it’s as clear cut as many make it out to be.
As someone who watched the matches Lamine didn't play, this is absolutely not true. There's a reason we wanted to buy Nico.
If Yamal didn’t play, you guys didn’t have much of an attack.
If pedri didn’t play, you didn’t have a team.
Imo it’s hard to overstate pedri’s influence on that team, legitimately everything that happens flows through him.
Glue on his boot innit
People underrate him defensively because of how good he’s with the ball but his defensive work is almost as impressive as his work with the ball, he’s so complete. Best midfielder in the world right now.
He said in an interview that his dad used to tell him to always work hard in defense, because then, even if he had a bad game, he would have helped the team.
Yeah, agree He has that Busquets ability of being in the right place, and he is quick, and reads the opponent really well to be able to wrestle them off the ball without being the strongest player out there.
He honestly feels like Busquets + Xavi in one player and even being like one of those two would be more than impressive.
So he was an iniesta regen and now xavi+busi. FFS
I personally never saw the Iniesta comparisons, he plays too far back for that IMO.
that happens a lot for mids on teams with tons of possession. you don’t see them do a ton of defending bc their team as a whole defends for such a little period of time.
Nop vitinha by far
Vitinha isn't fit to lick Pedri's toe
im sorry but Vitinha, Bellingham, and Valverde are all above him.
10ham and stamina powershot merchant above pedri una...
maybe he's talking about 77ham
better than the madrid guy ibr
Starting off with Vitinha to not seem biased LMAO
Bellingham and Valverde lmao, showing just a bit of bias there.
i was talking about Jobe. no bias here.
No brain cells, either.
Valverde😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Kroos himself said he is the best midfielder in the world 😂
Bellingham?? Lol
he pocketed bellingham and valverde not one, not two, not three, but four times in the span of this season😭develop shame!!!!
He said develop shame, bitch!
im sorry but Paredes, Kokcu and Renato Sanches are all above those.
What a pointless argument. They're all wayyyyy below João Neves
You wish lol.
He is indeed incredible and a joy to watch
He was the best midfielder ITW last season and anyone who says otherwise has an agenda. Absolutely incredible every single time I watched him play. His brilliance was sometimes not discussed due to raphina and yamal but Pedri’s play making, control, and defensive ability this season was unreal.
Pedri has same xA as Salah but few assist....that shows how bad we were at finishing ...we scored so much cz we are creating too much...
All of underlying stats for pedri are crazy good for this season....
That’s an absurd stat when u compare their positions.
Is that not bad for pedri? He should have more xA
A winger should have more assist than a b2b midfielder
Not necessarily. Goals for sure, but assists it’s fair game between midfielders and wingers
No
Great argument
no, higher position should get more assists
Lots of creative midfielders get high levels of assists. Are you guys focusing too much of fifa type of stats. Traditionally midfielders have more assists than wingers. Although, well, wingers are essentially a new position in the game. If you check some all time assists leaders you will see plenty of midfielders names at the top.
Most Assists In All-time | StatMuse Lol, wingers and strikers are most of the lists. Even for unofficial all time lists, it's all attackers at the top. Unless you want to count Cruyff as a "midfielder" in the same sense of Xavi or Pedri
Lol in the top 5 it’s all midfielders and Messi dude.
Are serious right now? It’s fairly balanced between midfielders, attacking midfielders and wingers
no?
Pedri played the entire season as one of the 2 pivots for Barca...
That's not how xA works how many times do we have to talk about this 😭
how not?
I don’t think it’s an agenda to say Vitinha was on the same level as Pedri last season.
Be careful now, they’ll come for you because of your flair
Vitinha was as good if not better than Pedri. I have no agenda.
I was agreeing with the other guy. I was just pointing out that ppl might think he’s being bias because of his Real Madrid fair.
hate to admit it as a chelsea fan but pedri is the best cm in the world
Aye caicedo is really solid as well
This is a great interview.
High praise considering Szczesny played with Cesc during his prime.
Just wait until Bernal comes back. A real number 6 behind him will make his offense explode. People will finally grasp his talent and realize that he’s an all timer.
Pedri and Vitinha are so far away from everyone right now.
they really are miles clear of everyone else in their position. Not surprising PSG and Barce were the best teams in the worlds last season. (I think thats fair to say despite Inter knocking out Barca)
1A. Pedri 1B. Vitinha
Also, I was a Frenkie hater but he turned it tf on and was a perfect duo to Pedri.
Bro really saved his career by steadfastly rejecting Man U.
best midfielder itw imo (vitinha is pretty close)
I realise Vitinha is very hyped right now which is fine, but Pedri has been this ridiculously good for 3-4 years now, at the absolute highest level, being in team of the season every year since 2021. He's 22.
No one is near Pedri really.
The problem before this season, especially 2021/2022, were the injuries. This is Pedri’s first season of world class consistency.
People used to claim Veratti is the best in the world and sure he had his moments, but I want to see Pedri at this level for many more years because it’s pure joy to watch, so effortless.
As a PSG fan, i can tell you that Vitinha has been THIS good since we signed him 3 seasons ago. Only difference is that we’re a much better team now and are winning a lot. But, that guy has been brilliant since the first day.
By far the best midfielder itw (the only one's that are kinda close are Bellingham, Neves and Vitinha). And btw I'm not a Barca fan, Pedri is just on a different level
He must not have seen it because there is always a lot of smoke in front of him. 🚬
- I think he overstated a bit because Pedri is his current teammate.
- Pedri is crazy good. They keep compare him to members of the legendary trio (Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets) for a reason. Thing is, his skill set is not the same as any of those 3 legends, and he needs to play/actually plays in a different system. His team mates in the same era are not in the same level (I'm talking about de Jong, Gavi, Fermín López, Marc Casadó, I don't count Olmo as MF), but he clearly is. In Spanish NT, he is on the same level as Rodri and maybe Fabián Ruiz as far as I'm concerned.
https://youtube.com/shorts/kUwzTDM7Bzs?si=Bvm0Hd4y0OTWkw8x
When he started doing this kind of thing it got quite clear he was having an all time season. Pedri had so many games in which he dominated the entire pitch. I'd also argue he is the first one since Messi left who could produce things that barely looked real.
Pedri has been outstanding but I think Vitinha has been even better.
Pedri is better offensively and defensively
Ever in your life? Really Wojciech?
Should win the ballon do’r. Will probably not make top 5
Aside from Kimmich and Vitinha, he might be the best midfielder CM right now. Like a mini Thiago in some ways
Pedri is currently better than both of them, especially Kimmich
Kimmich does not belong in that conversation
Definitely does.
With the way he plays currently?
Never seen a 6 who cannot receive the ball on the half turn, isn't press resistant and wants to be involved in the attack so much. Defensively, he is pretty slow and bad. His set pieces are not good enough either. Just leaves a gaping hole behind him. All he can really do at a high level anymore is pass the ball.
He may have been one of the best midfielders in the world once, but that day is not today. Players like FdJ, Neves, Pedri, Vitinha, Barella and Rice for example are much better.
“Cannot receive the ball on the half turn” lmao
are we in 2019?
I hate when ppl talk like this. Yes you have, mate. It robs us of actually having any accurate conception of how good this kid is. He surely isn’t the best midfielder of all time so why don’t you just speak a little bit with some nuance instead of jsut saying you’ve never seen a player perform like this. Xavi, Busquets, Pirlo, Modric, Alonso, none?
I mean i think its obvious hes saying from people hes played with
Sad how he’ll never play in a Champions League final
Bruh, are you manifesting a career-ending injury for him?
No i’m saying he’s playing for FC Barcelona
This Barcelona feels different from the than the last 8 years or so. What they also got going for them is that Pedri and Yamal play in the same national team, that has won stuff already. But the competition at the top is tough.
So different that they got memed out of the tournament AGAIN
You think after today's loss madrid dogs would be more tame
As if they somehow magically lost their ability to play in the finals. Give it time, blud. Pedri will make at least one UCL final.
Lmao.
You’re active in Anime Titties sub. What you say has absolutely no merit lmao
Who is the best midfielder Szczesny has played with before ?
Fabregas ? Not exactly a holding midfielder.
Lol
Brother ffs just stop it with all the dickriding. You're done as soon as MATS is back. It's all ogre for you.
Who pissed on your cereal mate?
Pedri did, four times this season.
Funny enough Tek was renewed and MatS is being pushed out
“It’s all ogre for you”
Shrek?
ter stegen is done at the club, he will either leave or rot in the stands
settle down madrid just got crushed
Delusional.
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