HomeTeams - PLChelseaPedro vs West Bromwich Albion: Player Performance Analysis

Pedro vs West Bromwich Albion: Player Performance Analysis

After only one point from their first two games, Chelsea needed to get their act together in their third game.  To bolster their squad, the Blues bought Pedro Rodriguez from Barcelona.  They wrapped the deal up quickly by immediately agreeing to mach Barcelona’s asking price of £21m and just like that Jose Mourinho had a new player at his disposal.

pedroppa

While much was made of the fact that Chelsea stole him from under the nose of Manchester United, not too much was made of the quality of the player.  After his fantastic debut against West Brom, now all the talk about Pedro is about his quality as a footballer.

Stats

Pedro obviously got his goal, but he did so much more than just that.  He completed 88% of his passes overall and 80% of his passes in the final third.  He created three chances and, while he did not get credited with an assist, played the ball across for the team’s second goal.  Defensively, he made four ball recoveries, won both of his attempted tackles, and made an interception.

Tactical Impact

Some have said that the signing of the ex Barca man is a panic buy, but, panic buy or not, he does give the Blues a new element to their attack.  Last season, Jose Mourinho mainly played Eden Hazard and Willian as the wingers in his team.  Both Hazard and Willian like to cut inside a lot, where Pedro gives the team a bit more width in attack.

Pedro's (Rodriguez) position map vs West Brom on the left vs Willian's (Borges Da Silva) position map against Swansea on the right.
Pedro’s (Rodriguez) position map vs West Brom on the left vs Willian’s (Borges Da Silva) position map against Swansea on the right.

If you compare the average position of Pedro vs West Brom and Willian vs Swansea, you see that the Spaniard tends to stay wide and provide more width.  With Pedro keeping the width, that means there is less need for Ivanovic to bombard up and down the wing.  Along with that, like Willian, Pedro is willing to track back and cover his full-back, so those factors should help the struggling Ivanovic defend against wide players.

Flashpoint

Pedro may have scored the first goal, but the second goal was arguably more important and was a better representation of what he brings to Chelsea.  Azpilicueta initially plays a long ball out to Willian to start the break.  When the pass is played, the ex Barcelona man is nearly at the intersection of the halfway line and the touch line.  Since he is near the touch line when the ball is played, he makes a run inside.  But, while he is making a run inside, he makes sure to keep some width and stays in line with the edge of the penalty box.  The left-back, Chris Brunt, then tucks inside to track the run of Eden Hazard, leaving Pedro unmarked.  When the Spaniard receives the ball, there is no one within about a five yard radius of him, but he still has to pick out the correct ball.  He played a cross shot into the danger area and, while he was not credited with an assist, set up Diego Costa for the second goal.

Many people have been talking about this transfer for the fact that Chelsea stole a transfer target from Manchester United.  Pedro showed with his debut that they should be talking about what kind of player Chelsea have added to their squad.  He showed what he can do, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he just keeps on doing it for Jose Mourinho’s side.

thejerseyfitz
thejerseyfitz
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1 COMMENT

  1. I’m surprised that everyone is now talking about how Chelsea stole the player from ManU, but that wasn’t the earlier report that almost everyone read. The earlier news was Chelsea had met the buy out clause on Pedro’s new contract 22 million pounds, which he recently made Barca to change as it was initially 100 million euro, that was ever before ManU or Man city ever came into the picture, and it was before Barcelona (management) election took place, so what happened to that earlier news or was it all lies? Because if there was any atom of truth in that earlier report, then they didn’t stole him from any team they just went back to complete a deal they initially started!

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