Backwards and sideways passing. A hallmark in Guardiola's teams from the pivot position. Busquets was as master of it. Not about long 30 or 40 yard passes, but finding the playmakers like Iniesta and Xavi to play make. Passing it back to the CB's to move the opponent to find the opening when they are marked. Rodri's not prime Busquets yet, but he's improving and doing what Pep wants from that position.Same old "backwards or sideways" cliches when every stat. shows otherwise and every game he plays proves that perception to be wrong. If you want to separate the wheat from the chaff try watching without the bias.
I agree with almost all you said except your opinion of what his first thought might be. I have often seen him make first time passes forward, without hesitation, which go unmentioned by commentators, so maybe they go under the radar with viewers. I think that rather than his first thought being a sideways or back pass, that he is not as big a risk taker as the others, his job is to retain and recycle possession and that is why he doesn't try the "killer pass" unless he is very sure that we won't lose possession. It will be interesting to see how his game evolves.He's a big unit with the turning circle of an oil tanker but you will not win trophies without a physical presence in midfield , he will never be near Dinho's level and not many will , but Rodri does a job for Pep and allows the likes of KDB , Gundo, Foden to play. A classic water carrier type of player who will never get the credit of the creative players will recieve , but he's been a big part of our unbeaten run and played virtually every game.
He does get crtiticism , me included , because his first thought is always a sideways or reverse pass just occasionally it would be nice to see him drive the team forward like Dinho does , if he added this to his game he would be world class.
Not hard to pass it backwards or sideways 4 yards.
Bit like the chicken crossing the road. If the road is only 4 yards wide he'll likely make it everytime. On the other hand if it's 30 or 40 yards wide? that's what separates the wheat from the chaff.
He's an ok player, A bit below the level we should have there.
I mean he played against Chelsea instead of Fernandinho and we were brilliant in that game.You may like him, but today showed yet again we are a different team when he’s not in the team.
he needs to learn what Dinho does to allow others to thrive.
You may like him, but today showed yet again we are a different team when he’s not in the team.
he needs to learn what Dinho does to allow others to thrive.
I thought Fernandinho was our worst player today, gave the ball away a couple of times and his passing wasn't up to standard.
What does Fernandinho do that makes us a much better team?
I thought we were clinical tonight but actually created a lot more against Brighton, there were only a couple of chances from open play tonight. At Brighton we could have scored 5 from open play.
Seems a strange time to champion Fernandinho as our saviour IMO.
No, I think we are altogether a better team when FFS doesn't play!You may like him, but today showed yet again we are a different team when he’s not in the team.
he needs to learn what Dinho does to allow others to thrive.
I just don’t see it unfortunately. He doesn’t have the pace to recover and he thinks too slowly for this team.No, I think we are altogether a better team when FFS doesn't play!
I agree Rodri still has much to do to become integral to our team but he is smart enough to be constantly learning from Ferna and others. People forget he's still young and relatively inexperienced. For now I don't see him shirking tackles and he still wants to receive the ball - I don't see him hiding and whereas he's no whippet, his reading of the game is getting better all the time - Ferna is a past master of that so it's good for Rodri to see it.
Last year it was probably wrong to judge him as many of our defenders made mistakes in big games and we didn't have the solidity of Dias and Stones as a backbone so there was a lot of pressure on the holding midfielder. I am hopeful he will be fine especially with the likes of Bernardo and Phil in great form and being more mobile legs alongside him.
For example, tonight I saw every single player working for each other. All four players that played wide - Phil,Bernardo, Ferran and Raheem worked back to help the team - that makes a tremendous difference to the way we play and the pressure on the centre mids. I don't think that will change when Rodri plays in Ferna's place on Wednesday. We'd all love Ferna to be 28 again but time moves on and I for one think Rodri is capable of succeeding him.