#16 | Rodri - 2020/21 Performances

[Gordyola]

A player not suited to the Premier League unfortunately

 

[blue ranger]

I think Rodri was the wrong signing for us. We needed a replacement for Fernandinho who has energy, good pace and an excellent passer of the ball. Rodri has none of those things.

But you can probably get away with playing Rodri if he has players with legs around him. Think Foden and KDB would maybe work.

Having said all that id take what money we can get for him in the summer, let Fernandinho go and bring in 2 mobile midfielders.

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

I think Rodri was the wrong signing for us. We needed a replacement for Fernandinho who has energy, good pace and an excellent passer of the ball. Rodri has none of those things.

But you can probably get away with playing Rodri if he has players with legs around him. Think Foden and KDB would maybe work.

Having said all that id take what money we can get for him in the summer, let Fernandinho go and bring in 2 mobile midfielders.

Football doesn't work like that anymore. These days if you make a big money signing, you better pray it works out if not then you are stuck with a lump of human flesh, Pogba is a typical example. No one is going to sign Rodri so we better make this work even if that means playing him at CB.

PSG are wiser now, they have been signing players on loan for the last 2 seasons. Last season it was Chupo and Icardi and it got them to the UCL finals so right now it seems like a working policy for them so why change it? This season they have gone out to get Danilo and Fiorenzi on loan deals. Real madrid are mixing it up with the players from their academy while tapping up prospective talents from smaller spanish teams, Bayern are doing the same, Dortmund are trading footballers like stock commodities and Juve are stock piling on free transfers. The only teams splashing cash are Barcelona, Chelsea and City. We need to change our policy asap. These days its seems like the going rate for anyone we are interested in is 50m or more.

 

[Delphacito]

Is this guy unbenchanle or what?

Because he is bad and in all our games he gets outrun

How does he get outrun? Outside of the freak fluky goal that West Ham they weren’t threatening at all.

 

[Dr Jacoby]

I am completely confused now. Why is Rodri being blamed for yesterday?

He isn’t being blamed for yesterday.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Keep waiting for him to ignite but to be effective he needs legs around him and we just don’t have that at present...

This reminds me of the Javi Garcia scenario, we May pick up a few trophies with players like this but the very top end will be out of reach... I’d personally try Foden and Bernardo in a 3
with him, or something of that nature, as currently, even with all the positives with Gundogan, there is more juice in my fridge than in those twos legs!

 

[Saddleworth2]

Keep waiting for him to ignite but to be effective he needs legs around him and we just don’t have that at present...

This reminds me of the Javi Garcia scenario, we May pick up a few trophies with players like this but the very top end will be out of reach... I’d personally try Foden and Bernardo in a 3
with him, or something of that nature, as currently, even with all the positives with Gundogan, there is more juice in my fridge than in those twos legs!

We have been here before with Garcia and Fernando.
Surrounding him with energy would make us better but isn't really addressing the problem.

 

[Whether or not]

I think Rodri was the wrong signing for us. We needed a replacement for Fernandinho who has energy, good pace and an excellent passer of the ball. Rodri has none of those things.

But you can probably get away with playing Rodri if he has players with legs around him. Think Foden and KDB would maybe work.

Having said all that id take what money we can get for him in the summer, let Fernandinho go and bring in 2 mobile midfielders.

This is correct I think. I am pretty sure that Pep, Txixi etc. saw Rodri as our Busquets. The thing that has been missed is that Busquets would never have made the grade in England for the same mobility reason that sees Rodri struggle.

 

[simon23]

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.

Agreed - the conssitent shit performances of Mahrez yet he seem to becoming more and more regular are baffling - he does nothing.

Rodri has done ok but also looks very vulnerable - I questioned his purchase at the time saying he looked immobile and that he would struggle - he has. Dont get me wrong, he has some attributes but he needs other players around him....players who will put the yds in (He should never ever be paired with Gundogan)

Gundogan serves no purpose that is valuable to me - any other of out midfielders can do the role(s) that he does better

Defensively: Rodri KDB, Bernardo and ferna all better by a long long way

Creativity - - KDB, Bernardo and Foden all better by a long long way

Recycling the ball/keeping it moving - KDB, Bernardo, Foden all better and arguably rodri is at least as good

 

[Deleted member 77198]

No he really doesn't. In his position he should be making more passes than anyone else. Watch him next time closely. He is not available to many outball passes because of his positioning.

I’m going to do something really boring on Tuesday as I have to wait in the flat for a delivery all day... I’m going to watch the full 90mins back and note the times where he stands still or trots the other side of their player so he can’t be passed to.

I can’t believe people don’t see it with him, it’s driving me up the wall he does it so much!

In his recent games I’ve got up and shouted at him through the tele with my face a foot away from the screen knowing full well he can’t hear me.

Also, moving into space to be passed to isn’t just about being passed to. It’s about dragging an opposition player with you and opening up a passing lane.

Notice how Bernardo was so seldom involved yesterday? He was the furthest forward of the three midfielders and Rodri wasn’t doing enough to get him in the game neither through giving him quick enough ball or opening up gaps in midfield so the defenders/keeper could pass to him.

Rodri’s movement is atrocious when our defenders have the ball.