Good point. That's why dribbling is of no use in this position, you need someone to evade the press by one-touch passing, almost without moving at all. The ability to see a solution quickly and make a progressive pass is far more important than the talent to move up the pitch with the ball. What's needed is Busquets/Jorginho/Weigl (in his best form), not Kovacic/Ndombele/prime Gundogan.
Dribbling is an incredibly useful skill in the #6 actually, in the same way it's very useful for the CB's. If you can have a deep player who can carry the ball past a defender than it creates a free man further up the pitch.
Also there's more than one way to avoid the press. First touch passing to get the ball away quickly is one of them, but Kovacic's ability to shield the ball, ride challenges and get out of tight corners means he can evade the press as well.
Teams like Liverpool don't throw 3 players at the person in possession, they almost always have 1, occasionally 2 defenders close down the player in possession while another 2 block off passing lanes. That's why if you have a dribbler like Kovacic, or Mousa Dembele is another example, they can beat 1 person and get you in behind the press.
They are 2 different methods to do the same thing. Pep wouldn't be looking at him if he didn't suit the role.
I would also say that YouTube compilations massively exaggerate how much he dribbles. He might go on 2 or 3 little runs per game, the rest of the time he's going to pass - he averages 75 passes per 90. Fernandinho averages 80, so there's not that great a difference.
Kovacic isn't like Jorginho, but he's not a million miles away from Fred, and he's pretty much got the agression and tackling Gundogan lacks in the position.
I reckon he might be a target for next summer that we're looking at early because of the Jorginho standoff.
