How highly do you rate Pique?

Recently he has been inconsistent. Eithher top or bottom performances.
He has great but also bad qualities.

So overall how do you assess him as a player? What do you like and don't like about him? Would you have him in your team?

P.S. I made this into clean debate section in order to get some serious answers.
Thanks in advance

He was a great defender no doubt and probably excelled the most around 09-11. He flopped last season but almost everyu Barca player did except Messi... During the 09-11 peroid as mentioned he was the best centreback ball distributors.

In my opinion he was never in top 5. He was just good for his age, and had 'lots of potential', unfortunately he hasn't improved since. Hopefully younger CB's, like Hummels and Jones will keep learning from their mistakes and not turn out like Pique. What a waste that would be!

Thread was posted here so people can discuss and explain their opinions towards the topic.

Any other 1 liner posts is getting it.

Talent wise, nobody can name 5 better that covinces me.

It hard to judge him, 2 years ago he was playing extremly well. One of the very best in the world

Last season he was playing inconsistent, sloppy and almost bored with the game.

So this season we can get a better take. So far he has been pretty damn good again.

If we judge him in big games only, he is still one of the very best.

I remember his first games at barca, everytime he got the ball he would pass it back to the goalkeeper, now hes called piquenbauer, funny that. His ball skills are overrated imo, but i guess they are better than what most CBs today are capable of

The Franchise wrote:Talent wise, nobody can name 5 better that covinces me.

It hard to judge him, 2 years ago he was playing extremly well. One of the very best in the world

Last season he was playing inconsistent, sloppy and almost bored with the game.

So this season we can get a better take. So far he has been pretty damn good again.

If we judge him in big games only, he is still one of the very best.

Varane, Ramos, Kompany, Silva, Hummels

hope the Varane bit was a joke lol

Who the hell is Varane?

VIdic, CHiellini, Puyol, Barzagli, Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng, Rio Ferdinand, Pepe, Ramos, Terry, Kompany

He said talent wise.

I laughed hard at Varane

Kizu wrote:He said talent wise.

Mbiwa and Sakho both have more talent than him in France alone

RealGunner wrote:

Kizu wrote:He said talent wise.

Mbiwa and Sakho both have more talent than him in France alone

I differ here. Everyone in France thinks Varane is going to the best CB in the country, which is why he gets all the hype and got called to the senior team without even playing at Madrid. Problem is.... he's not playing at Madrid. I would be shocked if he weren't available for either loan or sell/buyback this winter. He looks rusty.

He has every attribute you'd want in a CB and he is going to turn 19 in September.

sportsczy wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

Kizu wrote:He said talent wise.

Mbiwa and Sakho both have more talent than him in France alone

I differ here. Everyone in France thinks Varane is going to the best CB in the country, which is why he gets all the hype and got called to the senior team without even playing at Madrid. Problem is.... he's not playing at Madrid. I would be shocked if he weren't available for either loan or sell/buyback this winter. He looks rusty.

He has every attribute you'd want in a CB and he is going to turn 19 in September.

Except for experience

Luca wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

Kizu wrote:He said talent wise.

Mbiwa and Sakho both have more talent than him in France alone

I differ here. Everyone in France thinks Varane is going to the best CB in the country, which is why he gets all the hype and got called to the senior team without even playing at Madrid. Problem is.... he's not playing at Madrid. I would be shocked if he weren't available for either loan or sell/buyback this winter. He looks rusty.

He has every attribute you'd want in a CB and he is going to turn 19 in September.

Except for experience

Yeah, but the crazy thing is that he plays "old". Tactical awareness and reading the game are his strengths... he was quasi-perfect last year every time he had a chance, including a couple of CL starts.

He's very rusty this year though. He needs to play.

They call him "The Phenom" in France.

Ramos and Varane based on what?

Ramos is quicker and......I think thats about it?


I will also stick my arm the in air at Hummels. He a tad mroe silky with the ball, but his defending is unimpressive in my view. Not tough enough despite his size.

hummels isnt even top 10 imo,people rate him by hype.I would take boateng over him

sportsczy wrote:

Luca wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

Kizu wrote:He said talent wise.

Mbiwa and Sakho both have more talent than him in France alone

I differ here. Everyone in France thinks Varane is going to the best CB in the country, which is why he gets all the hype and got called to the senior team without even playing at Madrid. Problem is.... he's not playing at Madrid. I would be shocked if he weren't available for either loan or sell/buyback this winter. He looks rusty.

He has every attribute you'd want in a CB and he is going to turn 19 in September.

Except for experience

Yeah, but the crazy thing is that he plays "old". Tactical awareness and reading the game are his strengths... he was quasi-perfect last year every time he had a chance, including a couple of CL starts.

He's very rusty this year though. He needs to play.

They call him "The Phenom" in France.

Fair enough, but I think he needs to consistently play before anyone can really judge

Although he obviously has time on his side

Giggity5313 wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Ramos and Varane based on what?

Ramos is quicker and......I think thats about it?


I will also stick my arm the in air at Hummels. He a tad mroe silky with the ball, but his defending is unimpressive in my view. Not tough enough despite his size.

He's stronger and not just quicker, faster. Better in the air as well

Pique>>>>>>>>>>>>Varane and Ramos in terms of aerial presence. Ramos may be better than Pique in terms of strength and speed though apart from that, nothing else.

Quicker and faster, yes. Stronger no. He isnt better in the air either. He jumps higher and thatsit. It is evened out by the fact that Pique is taller. Also add Ramos proneless to slack marking and falling asleep.

He is quicker and faster so his 1v1defence is probably better against most opponents, but other than that i seen no real advantage and quite a few negatives.

In my opinion i thought Pique lacked a bit of that natural defensive skills. Which is why i think Sir Alex allowed him to go. ( thats just speculation on my part noting to be taken seriously)

My view of his lack of natural defensive skills could be down to the fact that other facets of his game are so tidy and well rounded. He isn't particularly slow, nor is he poor in the air, he is a masterful passer as well, yet there is always this niggling feeling that he is vulnerable. It just seems to me that his defensive side of his game isn't as far ahead of his other secondary skills.

I'm on the mind that it wasn't his defensive skills only that made him a success at barca but his ability with the ball and his compatibility with Puyol. Last season i thought he was exposed not only due to his lack of concentration of overall interest but tactically as well. Pep's change to a 3 back system bereft him of the leisure to stay centrally and not have to defend/cover at the byline. His size and physics make him a poor match against the type of players he got paired off against in the counter attack in la liga most notably against Sevilla where Navas took full adavantage of the 3 back system.

Like most centre backs, he is very uncomfortable defending the byline and due to Barca's excessive pressuring tactics there is usually lots of space in behind him, however due to his lack lustre style and nonchalance approach he positioned himself poorly or too slowly. Which ever was the case i thought Pep system was only compounding his poor form. What seems a bit concerning also is that i think he has added a bit more weight and is losing a bit of speed.

His greatest attribute i believe is his when he comes into a game with the right mentality and drive his focus is incredible to witness. Which he is in most big matches, he is rarely seen making an error on defense nor with the ball. It could be described as a perfect performance in truth.

I think he is a fantastic player in truth but i fear he isn't such a great defender not just because i think he lacks the skill ( defensively ) but because he doesn't uphold himself to the same standard of defending/performance throughout a season as he does in big games.