How would you assess Rodri's season?

Stoned Rose said:
So the record signing can only be any good if Bernardo holds his hand?

Have you texted Pep so he knows for next season?

If this was the dippers making excuses upon excuses for why their record signing isnt much good, we'd be laughing our bollocks off at them.
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Couldn't care less what the dippers think. You can't play Rodri and Gundogan in the same role and expect to see the best of any of them. It's either one or the other.

Get him alongside runners/ball players and we'd see a different player. That's my theory.

You're a Man City fan who's writing your own players off early. Get behind him.
He's 24, still young and he's still learning. He was bought as Fernandinho's understoody and not his direct replacement. It's not his fault we never had a contingency plan for Laporte being injured.
 
Think he has shown he is a very good player but believe at times his lack of pace has been exposed with our team selections and tactical setup. Maybe you could argue he could position himself better to account for this but I feel its more a fundamental flaw with having a slower midfielder in a world full of athletic teams nowadays.

Reminds me in a way of Javi Garcia in that he also couldnt keep up with the pace of opposition sides despite being tidy on the ball and a strong presence in the side. Rodri is a far better player but the same problem arises from his lack of pace / mobility for a team who want to press high up the pitch and are exposed to counters as we commit so many players forward.

I think when he plays he needs some athletic CMs around him to keep the pressing ability in the side, say Kev, B.Silva or Foden, not Gundo and Silva. My only issue with that is it always feels like you are potentially compromising the side to cover a weakness, is there not a player who can do what Rodri does while also being highly mobile? Basically someone more like Fern.
 
I've really liked what I've seen of Rodri by and large. Think he reads the game really well and his distribution is excellent. Lots of players take a season to fully adapt to the tempo of the English game and I think that has been the case to some extent with Rodri - possibly not helped by the long break in the season. He does that in his second season and I think we'll have a genuinely top class player. If he doesn't adapt then he'll go back to Spain where the pace of the game suits him better and develop into the best in that role in La Liga.
 
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He add big boots to fill and maybe the injury to Leporte hasn't helped Im sure Pep planned to ease him in but Ferdy was required to become the full time CB coupled with not having Leporte behind him made life doubly difficult. The PL is like no other and lots of players take awhile to adjust and no role is more difficult than playing pivot in a Pep team Overall he was OK but still has a lot to learn about the PL however what was encouraging is he was more consistent in the second part of the season It really depends upon who he has around him Pep choose the slow team and Rodri suffers Overall Needs to continue to improve
 
Good player shows promise. Most seem to need time to settle in & adjust & think he has done just that.

It is going to be difficult for any creative player to shine in a team with Walker & Gundog ambling around midfield, aimlessly punting the ball backwards all the time. Hope those two paid to watch last Saturday.
 
JoshH7611 said:
Couldn't care less what the dippers think. You can't play Rodri and Gundogan in the same role and expect to see the best of any of them. It's either one or the other.

Get him alongside runners/ball players and we'd see a different player. That's my theory.

You're a Man City fan who's writing your own players off early. Get behind him.
He's 24, still young and he's still learning. He was bought as Fernandinho's understoody and not his direct replacement. It's not his fault we never had a contingency plan for Laporte being injured.
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Ans you're a city fan making excuses for a mediocre player who was a poor buy.
 
The fee wasn't his fault, compared to Fernandinho he isn't half the player but then who is.
I think there's a player in there but this season he's just been a bit so so, a bit average in most of what he does, he's also pretty slow.
Maybe next season we'll see him step up, i hope so as we need him to.
 
inconsistent but I expect him to step up as most players do in their second season under Pep
 
He's obviously a very good footballer but he isn't the right fit. This signing has Pep written all over it ala Stones, it just isn't the right profile for what we need. His defensive output is terrible, he wins less duels than Dinho did last season and lacks the pace and athleticism to stop counter attacks. Genuinely, just a pointless signing, I don't see how we came to the conclusion that Rodri was the guy for us and not Saul.
 
For me his best games have come against sides with very pedestrian midfields (Burnley, West Ham) and when he was deployed in a back 3 which is worrying. Lack of pace when teams are countering through the middle is a problem but it seems like he's also not sure where to run, how to cut off passing angles or slow the player on the ball like Fernandinho did so well. Hopefully he is intelligent enough to improve this area of his game, Fernandinho also struggled with the decision making side of the position in Guardiola's first season. He could do with being more aggressive and showing better urgency to help the defence too.

On the ball I don't think it's a question that he'll improve working with Pep, at times he could move it on faster or be more forward thinking but he is composed and can play crisp passes off either foot.
 
I see plenty of potential. I thought his first 1/3 to 1/2 of the season was great. Then his form dipped and he had glimpses of before but not got it totally back. Plus he was then paired with Gundogan most of the time and the odd game apart its been a disastrous pairing.

He'll be a great asset if hes played with more mobile players.
 
Rodri looks like most Pep signings - nothing special - but it can’t be easy finding players to replace the likes of Sergio Zab Vinny Merlin Fernandinho - ironically I think we lost the best one in Sane
 
His lack of speed has been the biggest knock on him this season. Became more obvious as the season progressed and for a £62 million outlay he wasn't the solution I was hoping for. Some good aspects to his play but hopefully he really kicks on next season.
 
JoshH7611 said:
Couldn't care less what the dippers think. You can't play Rodri and Gundogan in the same role and expect to see the best of any of them. It's either one or the other.

Get him alongside runners/ball players and we'd see a different player. That's my theory.

You're a Man City fan who's writing your own players off early. Get behind him.
He's 24, still young and he's still learning. He was bought as Fernandinho's understoody and not his direct replacement. It's not his fault we never had a contingency plan for Laporte being injured.
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You don't learn pace. he has none .
 
One of our better players this season IMO. No idea why he's getting so much stick.

The midfield 3 of Dinho - Silva - KDB is unique. You can't replace them like for like. Fernandinho was an athletic sweeper, Silva dictated the game from the left of midfield and De Bruyne (or Bernardo) provided the direct attacking threat and legs to support David.

I think a midfield of Rodri Foden/Bernardo De Bruyne is just as balanced. The two 8s both have the legs to help counter Rodri's lack of pace, and Rodri starts attacks from deep. With a more functional and pacy defence, we won't be as exposed to the counter.

I think the reason Pep has played Rodri and Gundo against decent teams is to maximise posession of the ball, and therefore minimise the amount of defending that we have to do. Sometimes it's worked (Madrid games, Liverpool), others it hasn't. It's obviously not the long term solution.
 
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