Pedrinho is one of the many Brazilian players that have impressed the world with their talent in the Pre-Olympics tournament that is taking place in Colombia right now. The Brazilian right-winger, who can also play as an attacking midfielder, is heavily linked with a move to Benfica and will most likely move to Lisbon next summer.
The right-winger from Brazil had played for several youth teams in Brazil before signing a contract for Corinthians. After playing in the B-team of Corinthians for a while, he got promoted to their first team in January 2017 and until now, he has played 91 matches for the Brazilian giants.
This scout report will perform a tactical analysis on the role that Pedrinho performs for both Brazil U23 and Corinthians.
Positioning
The 21-year-old has played as an attacking midfielder lately, after playing as a right-winger for almost his whole career. In the past, there was some criticism about him lacking vision and playing as an attacking midfielder has improved in this regard massively. In the heatmap, it can be seen that he predominantly has played as a right-winger during his career but that, he as already mentioned, also has played as an attacking midfielder.
This tactical analysis will take a look at both positions and what his strengths and weaknesses are in both positions.
Playing as an attacking midfielder, Pedrinho likes to drift out wide whenever a winger decides to tuck inside. As he has played as a winger previously, he can form a threat down the wing as defenders have to choose between following the winger or staying in position to defend Pedrinho or another player that drifts wide.
Passing
In both positions, Pedrinho has different tactics and when an analysis is being made about his simple passes, it can be seen in the career distribution graph that he plays more simple passes as an attacking midfielder than as a right-winger. This is quite logical, as an attacking midfielder will be more involved in the play than a right-winger normally would.
At Brazil under 23, Pedrinho played as an attacking midfielder and he liked to get involved in the build-up. He played in front of Bruno Guimarães and Matheus Henrique who both possess a lot of qualities on the ball and are able to find Pedrinho between the lines. We must also note that the statistics of Pedrinho at the Pre-Olympics are not taken into account during this tactical analysis.
As an attacking midfielder, Pedrinho shifts sides easily and likes to get involved in the play on both sides. When on the ball, he likes to play short passes and combinations in order to create a promising attack. Pedrinho is not that much involved in the build-up playing as a right-winger. He likes to come short and receive the ball on his feet, but he can also make runs in behind, profiting from his acceleration and timing of his runs.
Per 90 minutes, the Brazilian youngster gives 37.66 simple passes, of which more than half of them are forward passes and roughly two-thirds of the passes are on the opponent’s half. 87.6% of his forward passes are accurate, while 89.8% of the passes on the opponent’s half are accurate. It’s also worth pointing out that 80.5% of his passes to the box are accurate.
When taking a look at both smart passes and long passes, there is a significant difference as well between both positions. Per 90 minutes, Pedrinho averages 1.5 smart passes and 2.11 long passes. Comparing the last two quarters, he played the first quarter as a right-winger and the second quarter as an attacking midfielder, the following can be seen.
In the first quarter we take a look at, Pedrinho roughly played 1 smart pass per 90 minutes with a success rate of nearly 50%. Besides that, he played roughly 2.6 long passes per 90 minutes and around 85% of those passes were accurate. In the second quarter we take a look at, Pedrinho roughly played 2.8 smart passes per 90 minutes and the number of inaccurate passes stayed nearly the same which means that Pedrinho’s accuracy went up as there was a bigger sample size. In terms of long passes, he gave fewer long passes and he had more inaccurate long passes.
He plays more smart passes as an attacking midfielder because he touches the ball in danger zones more often and is tasked with providing creativity down the middle. As a right-winger, he plays more long passes as he has to defend more as a right-winger and he will be more likely to play long passes to the other side of the pitch.
Shooting
Playing as a right-winger, Pedrinho likes to cut inside and shoot. 45.7% of his shots are in the area where he would come if he cuts inside. He tends to shoot from distance often as only 22.6% of his shots have taken place in the opponent’s box. 55.4% of his shots are not on target which makes him not that effective. During his career, Pedrinho has only scored 12 goals and last season he scored 5 goals for Corinthians in the Série A.
Dribbling and runs in-behind
The Brazilian 21-year-old is very quick on the turn, is very fast in the first metres and can time his runs to perfection. This is his main quality, and while playing as an attacking midfielder has improved his vision, he is better as a right-winger as he can use his main qualities better on the right-wing than as an attacking midfielder.
In the image down below, Pedrinho made a dummy run at first before using his acceleration to make a run in behind the defender. He does this quite often in a game and he times the run well nearly every time. Per 90 minutes, Pedrinho averages 6.16 dribbles and he has a completion rate of 70.4%.
Pedrinho has good ball control and first touch and is able to pass by a defender with a good first touch as well. During his dribbles, the Brazilian keeps calm and stays aware of his surroundings at all times. This is something that has improved massively thanks to playing as an attacking midfielder.
Defensive contribution
Pedrinho is not that keen on defending all the time, but he has proved that he can be very sharp and aggressive when he sees a chance to intercept the ball. In the image down below, it can be seen that the defender of Independiente del Valle has made a bad touch and that Pedrinho gets alerted to put pressure on the opponent.
When his opponent runs down the left-wing, Pedrinho tends to follow him but he is not trying his hardest to challenge for the ball. Per 90 minutes, he averages 1.53 1v1 duels and he loses 73.5% of them. In terms of defensive duels, Pedrinho averages 3.82 duels and he loses 56.5% of them.
Conclusion
Playing as an attacking midfielder has helped Pedrinho to improve his vision and awareness and will certainly make him a better right-winger than he has before. His pace, agility and skills make him a danger for every defence and a move to Europe would certainly help the development of his career.
Rating: A1