Rodri - 2019/20 Performances

[WestGorton]

Some very baffling comments on Rodri. He only just won us a cup. Not everyone is KDB like Dzeko wasn't Aguero. We miss Dzeko now....

 

[domalino]

Some very baffling comments on Rodri. He only just won us a cup. Not everyone is KDB like Dzeko wasn't Aguero. We miss Dzeko now....

People are struggling with the change from having a very mobile box to box player at #6 to a proper Busquets style Spanish #6.

They keep judging him based on what Fernandinho would do - sprinting backwards to bail out the defence - but that's not what Rodi has ever been about, and it's not what Pep wants him to do.

Many also seem to have not realised that Aguero, Silva and Bernardo are nowhere near the level they were physically last season so our pressing from the front is much worse, exposing the defence.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

People are struggling with the change from having a very mobile box to box player at #6 to a proper Busquets style Spanish #6.

none more so than the other 10 players in the team.

 

[domalino]

none more so than the other 10 players in the team.

Not really, they're just being pretty crap themselves. We changed to playing a bloody 442 for the first 6 months of the season because David Silva can't run any more. Mahrez doesn't do half the defensive work of Bernardo at his best last season and Aguero's legs are going.

So even before you remember Laporte has been injured and the other CB is a novice, Rodri's got half the support from up front that Fernandinho was getting back in the hey day of the two 8s system.

Christ, the kid's in his first season at a new club and half the time he's playing a midfield 2 with fucking Gundogan, trying to protect a CB pairing of 35 year old Fernandinho and Otamendi with help from a left back who's played 13 games in 3 years.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Not really, they're just being pretty crap themselves. We changed to playing a bloody 442 for the first 6 months of the season because David Silva can't run any more. Mahrez doesn't do half the defensive work of Bernardo at his best last season and Aguero's legs are going.

So even before you remember Laporte has been injured and the other CB is a novice, Rodri's got half the support from up front that Fernandinho was getting back in the hey day of the two 8s system.

Christ, the kid's in his first season at a new club and half the time he's playing a midfield 2 with fucking Gundogan, trying to protect a CB pairing of 35 year old Fernandinho and Otamendi with help from a left back who's played 13 games in 3 years.

yes, well I'm not Pep either but that's what he's picking. The further we get away from the simplicity of 17/18 the worse we get. Unless Pep gets back to basics and we make wholesale changes in the summer then we'll continue going backwards and Rodri will never achieve whatever grand plan we were supposed to have for him last summer.

 

[itisrising]

I know stats can be misleading at the best of times but I was having a look at the defensive stats between Rodri and Fernandinho of last season and the difference was quite staggering. Fernandinho had twice the interceptions and tackles won, and was significantly ahead in terms of clearances and, surprisingly, aerial battles won in a similar amount of games played. Of course there are a plethora of different variables at play here but it adds credence to the idea that Rodri isn't as defensively resolute as Fernandinho and partly responsible for the drop off.

 

[sir baconface]

I know stats can be misleading at the best of times but I was having a look at the defensive stats between Rodri and Fernandinho of last season and the difference was quite staggering. Fernandinho had twice the interceptions and tackles won, and was significantly ahead in terms of clearances and, surprisingly, aerial battles won in a similar amount of games played. Of course there are a plethora of different variables at play here but it adds credence to the idea that Rodri isn't as defensively resolute as Fernandinho and partly responsible for the drop off.

If you did a similar comparison for the whole team, the difference would be quite staggering.

 

[decmancity]

I know stats can be misleading at the best of times but I was having a look at the defensive stats between Rodri and Fernandinho of last season and the difference was quite staggering. Fernandinho had twice the interceptions and tackles won, and was significantly ahead in terms of clearances and, surprisingly, aerial battles won in a similar amount of games played. Of course there are a plethora of different variables at play here but it adds credence to the idea that Rodri isn't as defensively resolute as Fernandinho and partly responsible for the drop off.

How is he responsible for the drop off? I haven't seen him pulling out of challenges or deliberately letting passes/players past him.

The team as a whole is struggling, I am not sure what people want from Rodri. He is a defensive midfielder, his job is to balance the midfield and keep the ball moving, be a threat in both boxes from set pieces and maybe chip in with the odd goal. He is doing that for me.

 

[itisrising]

How is he responsible for the drop off? I haven't seen him pulling out of challenges or deliberately letting passes/players past him.

The team as a whole is struggling, I am not sure what people want from Rodri. He is a defensive midfielder, his job is to balance the midfield and keep the ball moving, be a threat in both boxes from set pieces and maybe chip in with the odd goal. He is doing that for me.

He's partly responsible for the drop off in the sense he has been a significant downgrade from Fernandinho. Not in terms of effort, I just think he's the wrong fit.

The whole team is struggling but even if you compared Rodri with Fernandinho from 2016/2017 (think there's much parallel between the two seasons), the numbers are equally as staggering. This is simply a case of Rodri not having the defensive nous of Fernandinho and it adversely affecting us. Whether he will grow into someone that is capable is a different matter but the early signs point to the experiment of trying to fit in a Busquets-style #6 was simply not the right move for the team. I want Rodri to succeed but you cannot ignore his glaring weaknesses and the need for energy and industry from the centre of the park.

 

[sir baconface]

Why do some people judge him as a Fernandinho clone?