#16 | Rodri - 2020/21 Performances

[samarasra]

Pep clearly doesn't rate Rodri

You clearly don't, Pep gave him more game time than any other player as we won 2 titles.

 

[samarasra]

Unpopular opinion time, i thought Fernandinho's performance at home to PSG was a bit over rated. I was very surprised that night that he started ahead of Rodri, and have found it very strange that the man who had played most minutes for us this season up until then suddenly was out of the picture.
I was a critic of his last season but was very impressed with him this season. I don't get why he was axed and would even have started him tonight ahead of Fern.
Thought he gave the team balance and control all season and had a good switch pass to Mahrez on the right that worked well this year.

That said, if him or Fernandinho had started ahead of Sterling ie we reverted back to our team that beat PSG and Dortmund, I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference, given how the other players performed tonight. Every one of them was flat, apart from Walker probably

"Balance and control", nowhere to be seen on Saturday !!! I think if we reverted to the team that beat Dortmund & PSG, every player would have performed much better. We were totally unsettled in the first half ,a shadow of our best. Brian Kerr noted that 1 change put 4/5 players out of place, difficult to disagree.

 

[samarasra]

If you watch back that game away against Chelsea he had a shocking first twenty minutes. Chelsea were up for it early doors and were pressing him in numbers, he was getting dispossessed easily and he actually set up Chelsea’s two best chances in the game by shitting himself turning round and passing it to them. If we’d gone behind in that game, he was the prime candidate for why it would have happened.

When we went 0-2 up he was brilliant. Chelsea’s heads’ dropped and they stopped pressing him. He’s the ideal player when we need to slow the game down when he’s not being pressed, he’s not then man we need from the outset of games (there have been multiple games for us where the opposition are energetic and pressing early doors and Rodri looks crap!) or when we’re chasing games.

Rodri wasn’t selected last night because of those reasons, and his lack of pace against the fastest midfielder around (although the selection of Gundo in that position is also baffling because he’s slow n’all).

Name a player who doesn't struggle when opponents are " pressing him in numbers", once he got support in that game the tide turned, it is a team game. "pressing him in numbers," leaves space for our more constructve players to operate in, once we have balance and control, which we didn't have on Saturday, because we didn't have a settled midfield team, all our players were pressed in numbers, look at the stats. for the game, look at the game again and the huge gaps in midfield. You seem obsessed with players "lack of pace" , do you think Usain Bolt or his current equivalent, would lead us to CL glory. When you build your team on a solid foundation, you are screwed when the foundation starts moving or as on Saturday disappears.

 

[samarasra]

Different Chelsea... This Tuchel Chelsea much better.

Different City... Rodri/Ferna missing,City much worse.

 

[Love_Each_Day]

For me he was unfortunate not to play. He was poor against Palace and Chelsea league game but in a weird setup with all our forwards on, rather than people coming close offering the pass it was asking Rodri to be more direct which isn't his strength. Bad mistake against Brighton but I think you have to factor in being a man down for most of the game, other than that he played quite well. From being something most were dreading to see on the team sheet last season the Rodri & Gundogan partnership has been a reliable option for us, it's not perfect but I think we'd have been far more comfortable with it in the final.

Overall a vast improvement from him over last season and no doubt more to come. Still think we need a more athletic option to help him out or rotate.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

Even if we had someone in the Kanté mold, we'd be playing them next to Rodri, not instead of. Kanté doesn't sit in front of the defence and control the tempo of the game. He's not a defensive midfielder in that sense. He roves all over the pitch putting out fires. At Leicester, Drinkwater was the deep-lying playmaker next to him. At Chelsea, it's Jorginho.

Our expectations for the role have just been thrown out by Fernandinho, who can do everything to a very high level. It's almost impossible to find someone good enough on the ball to play that role in a Pep team, who also has insane energy levels and defensive instincts. Rodri's good on the ball and his positioning is solid, he just needs legs around him. Someone like Kanté has the legs and the positioning, but needs a ball-player with him.

 

[BlueMoonz1977]

If Rodri had played he would have been closed down with speed by both mount and kante - that is why he wasnt picked

the biggest issue that hangs over rodri is his errors under pressure and lack of speed - he either loses possession or under pressure and panicking he releases the ball which is then turned over for a counter attack

These errors have shown themselves throughout the time he has been with us.

I am not slagging him off, he is a very good player but he is not at ferns level whatsoever, and he isnt even at a 36yrs old Ferns level which is telling

We actually need a a fern clone. Massive ask to find such a player but in order to play rodri in the DM mould he needs a chaprone to help him which then impacts on the team because we lose the threat of an additional player like bernardo etc etc

 

[Mike N]

I’m not the biggest fan of his but I appreciate he’s still a young player. He’s had an xcellent season and whilst I wanted Fernandinho to start on Saturday, I thought he’d play a part at some point.

When you consider the amount of time his been on the pitch this season, it’s absolutely amazing he didn’t play any part in the final. He looked gutted at the end.

 

[samarasra]

If Rodri had played he would have been closed down with speed by both mount and kante

Instead Mount and Kante had the freedom of the pitch against an empty City midfield which neither provided a shield for Stones/Dias or a base for our attack.

Even a traffic cone might have intercepted the pass to Havertz for Chelsea's goal.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Jorginho has a Champions League winner's medal, and Rodri is a much better player than he is

Spot on,individually most of Chelsea's players are inferior to ours.....and yet they walked away with the prize.