Stay with me on this one. I’m not saying that Pedro Neto won Chelsea the Club World Cup. But what I am saying is that he is the kind of player who can win you a trophy.
Chelsea’s success over recent years is based around players who are game changers; the mavericks, work horse physical players, and work horse stamina players who will run all day and also provide quality.
During some of Chelsea’s most successful times, you would always find a player like Pedro. And by Pedro I do not mean Pedro Neto or Joao Pedro, I mean Pedro….
This Pedro…
You would have remembered me comparing Pedro to Pedro Neto not long ago, and this comparison has only grown for me.
A successful team needs a good mix of players. You cannot have just all mavericks. You need to have those physical players who do the dirty work, as well as those players who will just put in the hard yards all game long. Pedro, the original Pedro, used to just run all game and in fact, I swear he used to just continue running after the game and probably used to run home too!
Neto is the same. He runs all game, he puts in the hard yards, his work rate is incredible, and he does the defensive side as well as the attacking. He is a managers dream. Managers love hard working and energetic wingers who will hassle, press, get back and make a tackle, and also come up with goals and assists and be a threat in attack. Almost a perfect kind of player, right?
They will not often be named Man of the Match or be the best player on the pitch, but they do an unsung role that is VITAL to winning titles and trophies.
Neto might not be our best player in our starting 11, but at the moment and during the Club World Cup at least, he has been one of the most important players in our starting 11. His influence, work rate, and overall contributions literally won us the Club World Cup. Not singlehandedly of course, I mean we needed the whole team and everyone was great in this competition. But without the work rate of players like Neto, we would not be Champions of the World.
Players like Ryan Bertrand, Jose Bosingwa, and Salomon Kalou all started our Champions League final in 2012 and were on the winning team. Not the best ever players we have had, but on that night they put everything into it, ran all game, and left it all out there – these are the kind of unsung heroes who win you trophies. Neto is one of them, but just with way more quality as well.
I think you all understand what I’m saying now… Up the Pedro Neto! Let’s hope his form and strong mentality and work rate continues into next season.