#16 | Rodri - 2020/21 Performances

[jimmygrimblesboots]

I’m not sure what your expectations are for forward passing, but Rodri breaks the lines more than any player in the league. That is statistical fact from this season so far.

watch the game with my eyes , i dont need stats that can be twisted to suit an argument , he is a negative player who invariably will play a backward pass before considering a forward pass , i would like him to improve and play positively , he's training with the master Fernandinho , perhaps he will learn.

 

[wolviedinho]

I have nothing against Rodders. He was never bought as a Fern replacement. I see Rodri in the mould of a Barry/Garcia for example.He does have a role in the squad but we need to buy a new player that has similar attributes to dinho once he leaves. If we don’t replace fern then we will have learned nothing from our mistakes with komps and silva.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

Contrary to popular belief, Rodri is the most progressive, forward-playing player in the entire league.

Most line-breaking passes per 90 and firmly in quadrant 1 on the second image as being not just an active defender but also actively progressing the ball up the pitch. Also note he is better than the current version of Fernandinho at successful defensive actions per 90. Prime Dinho would be another matter, but for those saying Ferna is still our best DM, he isn’t. And that’s why Rodri plays so much.

Nice.

A similar progressive stat is xGBuildup. Laporte had the best numbers in the leaguie for 18/19 and one of the reasons why Pep loved him (then). This year Rodri is in top position for the league.

Also this season he is 2nd behind Roberston for completed passes and would be 1st on a p90 basis. No surprise really with that considering the way we play and his position in a possession based team. The intriguing stat though is that he has the most long* passes by an absolute mile AND by far the best completion percentage for a long ball from the top 20 on the list.

Yes, he plays loads sideways and my theory is supporters generally get blinded by that because it's so common. Yet if you look at the numbers in any 90 minutes he is supremely effective when he does go for progression.

Another reason Pep loves him is his press resistance - his ability to get a pass off when under pressure. He has had 1 or 2 probs in his last couple of games but his numbers were off the scale at Atletico and with us last season - top in the PL and 2nd in the Big 5 Euro leagues.

* Long is > 30 yards.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

I have nothing against Rodders. He was never bought as a Fern replacement. I see Rodri in the mould of a Barry/Garcia for example.He does have a role in the squad but we need to buy a new player that has similar attributes to dinho once he leaves. If we don’t replace fern then we will have learned nothing from our mistakes with komps and silva.

I never really understand this argument. Not a pop at you in any way because it is a widely held view and I'll be in a minority.

YaYa, David, Fern, Komps, Aguero etc are all unique and irreplaceable.

Our Pep1 team was the best the league has ever seen with the 198 points and cups.

The Pep2 team without these players ( or limited only for Fern and Kun) is evolving nicely as far as I'm concerned.
We are already the best team in the league and barring disaster we will win the league again. A great chance for the CL as well - probably only Bayern better and even they have issues.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

I love posts like this that completely dispel the myths spouted as fact by his detractors.

Except it doesn't because there is no context or evidence provided and common sense will tell you that 11 line breaking passes every game is bollocks.

Someone has to show an example of one game of Rodri getting anywhere near 11 line breaking passes before anyone can even start to take these seriously. If the Athletic could give us the stats per game (which they no doubt have) then we'd be able to see a breakdown, watch an individual game and see exactly what they are classing as a 'line breaking' pass, but there's no chance of that because they know that people can look into it and point out that these stats are complete bollocks and the Athletic has published another load of shit

Quick check on YouTube and I can't find any vids from this season where it focuses on Rodris every touch in one game, so I watched one that came up, which is this vs spurs in 2019. How many line breaking passes do you count? I count 1, 25 second in.



If that was the case then he'd need to provide 21 (TWENTY ONE) line breaking passes in another game to make up for that one game.

Now obviously for this without watching games individually we're reliant on whoever made that youtube vid, and I know it's from last season (because I can't find any vids online from this season, but note that there is another vid from 2019 on YouTube of him vs West ham where he looked to make 2 line breaking passes in that game) but some context and examples need to be provided to back those stats up and just pointing to them as gospel (which a lot of you are doing) is a very weak argument, if an argument at all. If you think this video is a poor example then no problem you're probably right, but provide a better one for people to look at

Get the breakdown from Sam Lee or the Athletic and I'll have a look (it is lockdown after all) but there's no way they'll show their hand with this because it's very obviously bullshit

For the record, I thought rodri did fine today and it was a very good tackle in the area he made on their forward in the first half after they'd beaten cancelo, but people need to cut out referring to those Athletic stats unless someone backs them up with some (any) sort of evidence because if you actually watch the game and not the stats, there is little evidence there to back them up (although I do think he's improving and I'm hopeful he could turn out alright yet)

 

[wolviedinho]

I never really understand this argument. Not a pop at you in any way because it is a widely held view and I'll be in a minority.

YaYa, David, Fern, Komps, Aguero etc are all unique and irreplaceable.

Our Pep1 team was the best the league has ever seen with the 198 points and cups.

The Pep2 team without these players ( or limited only for Fern and Kun) is evolving nicely as far as I'm concerned.
We are already the best team in the league and barring disaster we will win the league again. A great chance for the CL as well - probably only Bayern better and even they have issues.

It is interesting how we see things differently. I used to be annoyed with Rodri but I was comparing him to a completely different player in fern and expecting the outcome to be the same.

I agree the team is evolving and we might not see another silva, Yaya, Kun anytime soon. The reason why we need another fern is due to our lack of mobility in the midfield both in attack and defence. If Dias had not made such an impact we would be seeing rodders failing to fill the fern void and we would be dropping points and getting caught on the counter.

Rodders is not fern and comparing the 2 players just because they play the same position is unfair on Rodri. He is still too slow for what we need to dominate in the future.

 

[Dax777]

I have nothing against Rodders. He was never bought as a Fern replacement. I see Rodri in the mould of a Barry/Garcia for example.He does have a role in the squad but we need to buy a new player that has similar attributes to dinho once he leaves. If we don’t replace fern then we will have learned nothing from our mistakes with komps and silva.

Actually, he was bought as a Fernandihno replacement. They are not similar bin style, but he was bought specifically to replace Dihno.

As for replacing Dihno with a similar player, when would people learn? We don't replace players, we just get a new fit and adjust.

We didn't replace Yaya, we just adjusted with Kev Debryune who is different but as effective if not more so. We didn't replace Dave, we just adjusted with Gundogan and probably Foden. Who are also differentin what they do. Same will be the case with Dihno. His replacement is already here, it's Rodri.

People forget now, our #1 choice to replace Dihno was Jorghino. Who is nothing like Dihno, but we missed out. Rodri is not like Dihno either, But he is the replacement

 

[Blue Coop]

I personally really rate Rodri. He’s deceptively effective in our setup and I’ve always found the stick he gets bizarre. You can’t keep the number of clean sheets that we are doing at the minute without a strong DM.

 

[Project]

This idea he is ultra press resistant is ludicrous, where has it come from?

As far as pressing goes he’s our weakest link and used as a trigger by pretty much every opposition we face as he is slow on the ball, isn’t yet up to par with body orientation & lacks vision.

this may change over time and I am rooting for him but he has a long, long way to go.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

This idea he is ultra press resistant is ludicrous, where has it come from?

As far as pressing goes he’s our weakest link and used as a trigger by pretty much every opposition we face as he is slow on the ball, isn’t yet up to par with body orientation & lacks vision.

this may change over time and I am rooting for him but he has a long, long way to go.

Literally anyone would look press resistant at CDM in our side. 90% of the teams we face in the Prem don't have the quality to effectively press us. The worry is the other 10% and against the better sides in the CL.

I think Rodri has improved over his 1st season and I think a lot of fans had come to accept the way he plays and his limitations. What doesn't do him any favours is the return of a 35 year old Fern, coming in and dominating games against the likes of United. Until Rodri gets to a point where he is consistently running the show (against sides other than Burnley) the way Fern does, there will always be question marks over him and fans will hanker for the days of his predecessor.