Player Focus: Was Del Bosque Right to Leave Pique Out of Spain Squad?

Gerard Pique apparently being dropped by Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque last week fit perfectly with a widely believed narrative about the Barcelona defender at this stage of his career.

Del Bosque decided he could do without Pique for Thursday’s friendly against France and Monday’s Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Macedonia, taking the opportunity to have a look at younger options in his own clubmate Marc Bartra and Athletic Bilbao’s Mikel San Jose.

The announcement was seen as a surprise, but only a mild one. This was due to a common feeling that a player who, by the age of 25 had won the World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 with his country, as well as four league titles and three Champions League medals with Barcelona and Manchester United, had allowed his level to drop in recent years. That Del Bosque mentioned continuing “discomfort” from a hip injury sustained last season was taken to be a cover story to mask the fact that a previous mainstay of the La Roja XI had been left out.

This news fit with the popular perception about Pique that so much success so early has taken an edge off his focus and his performances. His pop-star partner Shakira, fondness for pro-poker tournaments, and starting of a video games business had all been taken as evidence that - although still just 27 - he has lost the desire and intensity required to be a top level centre-half. Stories that the prankster let off a stink bomb on a plane heading for a pre-season Barca friendly in Finland last month were widely believed. Even many Barca fans and pundits have questioned whether he deserves his place in the blaugrana XI.

This is an assumption that deserves to be challenged however, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the thrower of the stink bomb was never officially confirmed. And secondly a look at Pique’s defensive statistics through recent seasons suggests that his performance level has not dipped nearly as much as many seem to think.

Through the 2013/14 La Liga campaign the Catalan played 26 times, with 2.1 tackles per game, 2 interceptions and 5.5 clearances. In 2012/13 Liga the averages were 1.8 tackles, 2.2 interceptions and 4.5 clearances. Back another year and the figures were 1.5 tackles, 1.3 interceptions and 2.4 clearances. In 2010/11 the tackle count was 1.7 per game, with interceptions at 1.9 and clearances at 3.7.

While there are some inevitable fluctuations here, the trend is not that Pique’s stats have dropped off, but that he is making more tackles, interceptions and clearances per game as the years go by. Last term was actually the season when he was busiest at the back, presumably as he had much more work to do as Barca’s defence came under more pressure from opponents.

Despite not being in the Spain squad, Pique was Barca’s best defender during the 1-0 win at Villarreal on Sunday evening. The blaugrana defence did rock at times, Villarreal hit the woodwork on three occasions, but it was Pique’s central defensive colleague Jeremy Mathieu who had by far the poorer game.

Pique made just one tackle, one interception, one clearance and one blocked shot on his way to an average enough looking 7.03 rating. His partner Mathieu was more active, with two tackles, one interception and four effective clearances - however the Frenchman was directly involved in Villarreal’s three best chances, and received an overall score of 6.81.

The senior member of Barca’s defence, although he is still three years younger than Mathieu, was also much better on the ball. Pique made 63 passes at 95% success rate - the highest of any of the game’s starting players. Meanwhile a more shaky Mathieu made 44 passes with 80% completion. Given the amount of possession Barca had throughout [72%], and Villarreal taking the same approach as pretty much all opponents now in sitting deep and looking to counter, Pique’s ball-playing from the back remains important to Luis Enrique's plans for the team.

Given this was just Mathieu’s second game for Barca since his €20 million summer move from Valencia, it would be unfair to jump to any judgements. A Pique-Mathieu partnership will need time to settle, and could still work out. But this points to an issue that perhaps goes some way to explaining the assumptions outlined above.

As knee problems curtailed Carles Puyol’s contributions through recent seasons, Pique has had a succession of partners at centre-back, all of whom he has had to nurse through games. Javier Mascherano was a converted midfielder, Marc Bartra an inexperienced newbie and Adriano Correia an emergency measure. Mathieu - and also maybe ex-Arsenal man Thomas Vermaelen over the coming months - will now need guiding through their first season as they get used to Barca’s more or less unique style of play.

This explanation still does not cover the dip in form with his country. Pique played just one game at the World Cup, Spain’s shock 5-1 hammering by the Netherlands - and was dribbled three times on his way to a poor 5.93 rating. Del Bosque reacted to that performance by bringing in Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez, and the previous automatic first choice watched the rest of the tournament from the bench.

But this brings us back to the injury mentioned by Del Bosque above. Pique fractured his hip in an aerial challenge with then Atletico Madrid centre-forward Diego Costa in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Camp Nou in early April. He then rushed back to take part in the La Liga final day decider, again against Atletico, which in turn meant he was not properly ready for the World Cup.  

Playing while not 100% fit was nothing new for Pique - who has also had niggling hamstring and ankle problems through recent seasons, and who has missed a third of Barca’s La Liga games through injury during the last three years. The latest injury being to his hip has lead to further jokes about his lifestyle and partner. But the underlying idea that he has lost his motivation seems unfair.

So in a way the sensible thing to do was not to play with Spain this week, to concentrate on getting fully fit for the first time in a long time. And after Sunday's game Pique himself was clear about how grateful he was to Del Bosque for understanding this. Possibly as both men know that, to paraphrase one of Shakira's most famous hits, the stats don't lie.

Has Pique's form dipped enough to see him left out of the Spain squad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below