#16 | Rodri - 2020/21 Performances

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Ric said:
Don’t think he’s anywhere near as bad as some make out. Just not sure our system suits him either, but that’s not really his fault.
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He wasn't bad at all today and looked tidy when we were on top. And for the first time today, I saw a bit of passion in him when he got angry at the backline for being out of position.

That's what we need, a lot of our starting 11 are far too timid, nobody will hold each other to account for messing up.

Hopefully Dias' vocal personality will rub off on the 20-25 year old age group and we can have a group of young hungry footballers coming through again, as it does seem we've lost the hunger to improve.

Back to Rodri - he's not bad, he's had moments granted - but he's certainly better than what is perpetuated on echo chambers such as here and on twitter.

By no means am I saying he's perfect, he's not - but it seems at this point he could play great for 85 mins and make one lapse in concentration and suddenly - the previous 85 mins is but a memory.
 
Ric said:
Don’t think he’s anywhere near as bad as some make out. Just not sure our system suits him either, but that’s not really his fault.
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agreed but its more worrying about how many players we can say that about

Rodri
Gundogan
Marhez

you could argue that Walker (as good as he has been ) isnt really a Pep type full back as well
 
Ric said:
Don’t think he’s anywhere near as bad as some make out. Just not sure our system suits him either, but that’s not really his fault.
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Neither him nor gundogan are but it’s compounded when they both play. We lose so much impetus for the sake of ‘control’. The control is passing aimlessly across the halfway line for 75% of the game. Pep has a proper blind spot and it’s costing us valuable points.
 
We have seen, a veritable cavalcade of players come to us and improve beyond anyone's estimation.
Yaya, David, Vincent, Zabs, Sergio, Fernandinho, Raheem, Ederson, Joe, Laporte, al of these players gave been top 50 in the world for most of their time with us. Rodders seems an honest player, if he isn't as good as De Jong, Arthur, Goreztca, Rabiot, or Kimmich, that's not his fault. The issue is with the people who deal with our recruitment. We can't buy everyone, but the DOB's of our key players haven't changed.
 
simon23 said:
agreed but its more worrying about how many players we can say that about

Rodri
Gundogan
Marhez

you could argue that Walker (as good as he has been ) isnt really a Pep type full back as well
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Agreed. And they have all been acquired by our recruiters (Mahrez and Rodri our 2 highest transfer fees?) knowing what system we play and what Manager we have.

So if we acknowledge that there was a failure at the recruitment stage - should Pep change the way he sets up the team to get the best out of the players available or stick to his system and shoehorn these players into it?

Unfortunately for us (current results) Pep seems to favour the latter (similar to his first season with us when we really didn’t have the players) when he stuck to his philosophy) rather than take a pragmatic approach.
 
samarasra said:
My position is read the sequence of posts. You now accept that a lot of City's play goes through Rodri, that makes him a prime target not an "easy target", close the supplier down and the now starved skillful players become easy targets. Did you ever give a thought to the possibility that stopping Rodri from passing forward is a credit to the opposition rather than a failure by Rodri, you seem to now agree that closing him down is a good thing, but it is always his fault not good tactical play by the opponent, which is what Vardy stated in plain English. If you think City buy rubbish you might find it less "hostile" to follow a team who don't buy rubbish, failing that join the "Pep" out group and when he goes apply for the job, don't forget to mention how you would clear the "rubbish", it would almost guarantee the job.
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I will not credit the opposition for our record signing(at the time of purchase) for not passing forward quickly, particularly when the opposition is West Ham and Porto. If he can’t figure it out against average teams he’s no business being in our midfield. No business at all

Then you use the old trope why don’t I apply for the job. City’s stayed aim is to win everything. We are miles off winning the league and will not be anywhere near the business end of the Champs League.

I’m by no means calling for Pep out. However he earns 15million a year and the management team won’t be too far behind and it cannot be reasonably argued that the team has improved over the past 18 months or so - we’ve spent 240mil on Rodders, Marhez, Dias and Cancelo. Dias is the only one who looks anywhere near good value.

We have strikers that aren’t fit, wingers that can’t score and still no real left back. The criticisms of the activity in the transfer market are genuine

If we are not careful we will be turning into the new Arsenal
 
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