Maybe he's the best of a bad bunch for that position.
I'm not sure I'd even go that far. He's just different. They're all different and have different strengths playing there, with some differences and similarities in terms of weaknesses. Neither are strong all round players in that role, but Pep tries to use their strengths so that their faults are less visible.
When we can pick and choose who plays when that works pretty well, but when there's injuries and they have to play games they'd otherwise be left out of, then it really shows.