FantasyIreland
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But not a surprise.....that reaction belongs to why we haven't recruited a player capable of emulating his presence.Rodri,while very good,has weaknesses that mean he can't.
16 | Rodri - 2021/22 Performances
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B\connellblue
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He'll be grand against Norwich.
Of course he will. We will have 70% possession in a 5-0 win and he won't get pinged by the NHS track and trace app as no one will come within 15 yards of him, but he will have a 98% pass success rate though.
It will be a prime Rodri game.
FantasyIreland
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An opportunity to be a flat track bully,much like 2 or 3 others in our squad.
I'm struggling to understand when people are saying that Rodri is a ''very good player'' even though they admit he lacks speed and mobility, and he clearly doesn't possess the positional awareness to negate the first two deficiencies.... just what are his qualities that make him a ''very good player'' especially as a DM?
If you asked Pep, what do you think he'd tell you? Because he's played him A LOT since he arrived, and we know from 16/17 especially that Pep won't play a player just for the sake of filling in a spot.
We know Pep rates both Fernandinho and Gundogan highly enough to play them there if needs be, so there must be something about Rodri that has seen him get so much game time.
On top of that, DM is the Pep position itself, so if there's one position he's not going to put some shit player in, it's DM.
FromPollockToSilva
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He's a great passer, much more reliable than anyone else we have for that role. His pass completion is significantly better, he plays more progressive passes than anyone else, and he plays far more long passes than either Fernandinho or Gündy. Given that's the primary role of a deep-lying playmaker, it's fairly easy to see why he's in the team so often
Fair points about his passing and playmaking abilities but aren't those attributes much more relevant to an AM rather than a DM?
A DM who doesn't have the ability to break up opposition attacks and win possession of the ball is surely pretty useless as a DM regardless of how good his passing ability is.
A DM who doesn't have the ability to break up opposition attacks and win possession of the ball is surely pretty useless as a DM regardless of how good his passing ability is.
Why does Pep play him then?
I understand you don't rate him but it's clear you (and many others tbf) don't really get what a DM in a Pep team does still. I'm sure there are plenty of articles out there on what they're supposed to do that can articulate it better than anyone on here has so far.
FromPollockToSilva
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There's a couple of different things happening here:
1) He's not primarily a ball-winning midfielder anymore than Pirlo or Xabi Alonso were. You're conflating deepest midfield player with most defensive midfield player. The deepest midfield player in a Pep team is there to facilitate our possession game, first and foremost. Similar to how we need a goalkeeper who's good with his feet, even if there are better pure shot-stoppers out there. We dominate the ball and need players comfortable doing that.
2) Rodri DOES break up opposition attacks and win possession of the ball. Here's a comparison of Rodri last season vs Fernandinho in 2017/18:
Dinho made more interceptions and won more headers, Rodri wins more tackles and makes more blocks. This also doesn't show the number of ball recoveries made, which is 285-207 in Rodri's favour.
I still think Fernandinho at his best was the better player, especially defensively, but the idea that Rodri isn't a good defensive player doesn't really stand up to scrutiny
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