2020/21 James Rodriguez

[TheBigIguana]

Funny thing is I actually missed that good stretch because I hadn't paid my subscription! So yeah maybe I haven't really had the benefit of seeing what he's all about! I do worry about his fitness and all these injuries though!

The fitness and injuries are problematic, to me his play is not.

 

[Del-boy]

Surrounded by absolute dross meaning he has to come deeper and deeper for the ball. He needs the ball into his feet in the final third to then release the killer pass to forward players into the box.

Problem we have is he hardly ever gets in the final third to get the pass due to the garbage around him.

When he does finally get in a decent position he has nobody running into space for him to play in on goal.. again due to the garbage around him...

 

[ToffeeTim]

The fitness and injuries are problematic, to me his play is not.

In a scrappy game he is an asset to our opponent because we defend with 10 players and they overload his flank.

Are we good enough for a luxury player? Debateable

He has to perform or we are probably going to lose.

 

[Wolf8312]

The fitness and injuries are problematic, to me his play is not.

You think that performance today was good enough? There are others I could mention too which were pretty much identical as well tbh...

 

[TheBigIguana]

In a scrappy game he is an asset to our opponent because we defend with 10 players and they overload his flank.

Are we good enough for a luxury player? Debateable

He has to perform or we are probably going to lose.

I'd put this down as the issue myself.

 

[ToffeeTim]

I'd put this down as the issue myself.

No one in Peps team is allowed to walk and not press or track.

We are a far worse team and can't afford a passenger. I'm trying not to go overboard but I will never accept that level of lack of effort. Its unacceptable and the manager should be telling him.

 

[number4.]

Difficult given the talent - but better off without him next two games. He will benefit from rest as well

 

[gianthogweed]

Average players around him freezing weather getting booted every time he gets the ball
welcome to Everton & the prem league

 

[longers]

Difficult given the talent - but better off without him next two games. He will benefit from rest as well

He's literally just had a rest prior to this lol

 

[TheBigIguana]

No one in Peps team is allowed to walk and not press or track.

We are a far worse team and can't afford a passenger. I'm trying not to go overboard but I will never accept that level of lack of effort. Its unacceptable and the manager should be telling him.

The thing is James does press. We as a team don't. If you put him in City's team he would be more than adequate because he'd help them win the ball up the field and wouldn't have to run 70 yards tracking a fullback.

Our problem is we don't have ball winners in midfield to exploit any of the pressure he might create. He's not a ball winner himself but that shouldn't be a problem.

Again the bad players are the issue. Doucoure and Gomes not doing their job is why we struggle.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Difficult given the talent - but better off without him next two games. He will benefit from rest as well

We very easily could lose both games to nil this way. Leicester is a good example to look at for how that might work out.

 

[Bristol Blue]

As good a player that he is, our best team performances have been better when he’s not playing.

 

[Ryu79]

There were two moments first half - one where he fed a ball into Gomes expertly and the Portuguese idiot turned and fired the worst shot in the world wide. And another where he jinked past two, laid off for Doucoure and received it straight back - you saw him screaming at the fool to make a forward run and he just stood still.

He wasn't great - obviously - but my word you could be Messi tonight and with the statues around him he'd struggle to do something.

He's not going to run and chase back. He's not going to be involved every minute. That's not his game. But if you give him something to work with he makes the most of it more often than not, and tonight he had absolutely nothing to work with.

Add to that the tackle to recover the ball in the Fulham half that released Coleman for Everton's best chance in the first half. Another great move on the by line with a backheel to Doucoure that I think ended with Davies kicking the ball out if bounds or to Fulham.

I can understand people being frustrated that he's gone off again with a knock - but he did put in a shift in the first half and was coming deep to try and get things moving because the ball wasn't crossing midfield. If he has a knock he's only going to look slower and hurt the team more, so it's the right thing to do for Carlo to take him off.

 

[paulbefc]

The team is broken. For a combination of reasons - poor players, poor set-up - we tend to break every so often, especially against sides we are "supposed" to beat at home. Tonight was so bad that it's pointless fingering any of the players. The whole thing completely malfunctioned. This one is on Carlo, for me. We have better players than teams that are regularly beating us at home. He needs to find a solution to that.

I am 100% behind the notion that this result was down to Carlo, but James is supposed to be our best player. Some would say he's world class. I'm looking to him in these situations. He offered next to nothing, got clipped by a stud and went off.

He was as bad as anyone there and unfortunately usually is when the rest of the team aren't bang on it. He's been pocketed and then kicked out of games by Newcastle and Fulham recently. I'm not buying the idea that it's always his team mates' fault as the ideas I'm reading here don't really seem to have much to do with what's going on on the pitch to the point I feel like they could have been written before the game in preparation.

 

[hktoffee]

It’s he or Siggy on the same pitch not both. So James plays.