2020/21 James Rodriguez

[kenada_blue]

Ok so lets look at some stats, rather tha opinions or perceptions.

Tackles won per game this season;
James: 1.4
Salah: 0.6
Vardy: 0.5

Interceptions:
James: 0.9
Salah: 0
Vardy: 0

The reality is, that James is tackling back 2-3 times more than Vardy/Salah and is intercepting the ball infinitely more. Combined he's about 4-5 times the amount of tackles and intercepts than the above two players.

Yet nobody in their right mind would consider dropping Salah or Vardy, for their relatively (compared to James) poor defensive contribution. I would have no idea, why would would drop someone for lack of defensive contribution who does substantially more defensive work than other players with similar roles for other teams.

James's defensive contribution looks worse, because his attacking work is so good.

It's cos he's not bombing around like a headless chicken or doing a Hendo so the likes of Martin Keown can say "he needs to work defensively"

 

[catcherintherye]

It's cos he's not bombing around like a headless chicken or doing a Hendo so the likes of Martin Keown can say "he needs to work defensively"

And anyone will tell you, charging around recklessly doesn't do much for a side defensively. Winning the bal back, via a tackle or an intercept does. The point of defending is to win the ball from your opponent.

 

[kenada_blue]

James tracking back against Leeds was way too late though. He should have been back in position much earlier. Our midfield gets sucked out to the left flank because of Ancelotti's man orientated press and James is just watching on as Leeds have a ridiculous amount of space.

View attachment 110397

Firstly....the main issue is how can 4 players allow the Leeds player to make a pass from there? They're not closing down quickly or effectively. There doesn't need to be that many players engaging the ball there. It's school boy chase the ball stuff. Allan needs to be in the middle of the pitch simply.

When it reaches the Leeds player, his option is a speculative long range shot. If the defender closes down quicker...the shot doesn't happen.

Out of all the attacks Leeds had, that one was probably the least worrying...but scored from it.

Rodriguez has no fault on that goal.

 

[kenada_blue]

And anyone will tell you, charging around recklessly doesn't do much for a side defensively. Winning the bal back, via a tackle or an intercept does. The point of defending is to win the ball from your opponent.

And it's a problem we have too. Allan and Doucoure allow more balls splitting through the lines but will probably still look good on ground covered.

I'm sure one game, Rodriguez attempted and as successful in more tackles than either of them.

 

[Eggs]

....judging by some comments, it’s looking like the honeymoon is over.

Personally, I think he’s terrific as he’s positively influencing games (the pass to Sigurdsson was worth his selection). Players who compliment each other is so important & daft as it seems (because they play on opposite sides) his partnership with Digne has been so productive.

Digne exploits space behind the opposition RB whilst Rodriguez’s stock ball is cross-field into that space. If Digne is out we lose real threat if he’s not replaced by another player willing to exploit that area.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

“Hound him out of the club”? Some fans are telling the truth, we’re you happy with his performance on Saturday and the week before, and the week before that? He made a marvellous pass and had a good shot saved, he also passed the ball out of play twice, was caught in possession too often, gave up the ball too easy and his attempted tackles were an embarrassment, it’s Carlo’s job to fit him into this team, squad, he brought him here, at the moment he is a luxury this poor team can’t afford, his very poor moments far outweigh his good ones.

Oh come the hell on now lol

Our fans, mate. Absolute drama queens.

 

[kenada_blue]

....judging by some comments, it’s looking like the honeymoon is over.

Personally, I think he’s terrific as he’s positively influencing games (the pass to Sigurdsson was worth his selection). Players who compliment each other is so important & daft as it seems (because they play on opposite sides) his partnership with Digne has been so productive.

Digne exploits space behind the opposition RB whilst Rodriguez’s stock ball is cross-field into that space. If Digne is out we lose real threat if he’s not replaced by another player willing to exploit that area.

It's people who don't appreciate class but would rather a bunch of workhorses run about the pitch.

 

[riddick]

Ffs people, he's a luxury player. And I don't mean that as an insult, but when you have a luxury player every OTHER player should know damn well what their job is and what to do when we don't have the ball. James is capable of things I've never seen at Everton before, maybe to a much lesser extent to when Deulofeu was just spraying balls to Lukaku but nothing anywhere near James.

And @gwladysnight is correct in a sense that when we don't have the ball we are unbalanced because James doesn't run around like a chicken covering his side. But Carlo has said, repeatedly, that's not James' job. The fact we are still so wide open really speaks to the other players either not knowing what their jobs are when we don't have the ball (that would be on Carlo) or not listening to what their roles are really supposed to be.

 

[DanB90]

The amount of cloggers we’ve had to put up with in the recent past and people actually think having James is a big problem?

 

[LocalNative]

“Hound him out of the club”? Some fans are telling the truth, we’re you happy with his performance on Saturday and the week before, and the week before that? He made a marvellous pass and had a good shot saved, he also passed the ball out of play twice, was caught in possession too often, gave up the ball too easy and his attempted tackles were an embarrassment, it’s Carlo’s job to fit him into this team, squad, he brought him here, at the moment he is a luxury this poor team can’t afford, his very poor moments far outweigh his good ones.

 

[ToffeeTim]

It's pretty simple as far as I see. It's not James' job to track back with runners and protect the back 4. It is the job of Doucoure and Allan and they are failing miserably. There are never in the right position defensively and you could drive a bus between the lines of our defensive set up.

If the midfield does it's job then James will do his job better too.

The only criticism of James is failing to arrive in the box enough. It's nothing to do with defensive work. It's like blaming Pickford for not playing enough defence splitting through balls.

 

[zombiemedia]

The absolute state of this thread

 

[DanB90]

I think what we need to do is only sign crap footballers.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Being slow with no stamina well thats what you need in the premier league. He is Özil mach2.

Arsenal have been consistently worse since they stopped using Ozil

 

[TheBigIguana]

“Hound him out of the club”? Some fans are telling the truth, we’re you happy with his performance on Saturday and the week before, and the week before that? He made a marvellous pass and had a good shot saved, he also passed the ball out of play twice, was caught in possession too often, gave up the ball too easy and his attempted tackles were an embarrassment, it’s Carlo’s job to fit him into this team, squad, he brought him here, at the moment he is a luxury this poor team can’t afford, his very poor moments far outweigh his good ones.

He's not a luxury as the moment he goes out of the team we would score less and still concede the same. If you're familiar with football you'll find that is not how you win more matches.