2020/21 James Rodriguez

[BlueToff]

I am fed up of seeing our best players leave. It gets us nowhere. We've won nowt in 26 years and wonder why. I was 2 months old ffs.

Yeah, I'm mad at James, he should have been there the other night, 100%. I'm mad that Carlo didn't put him in the squad and avoid all of this.

It's why I have an issue when people - including CA - blame effort, or attitude, when that's only half of the issue. A big half is a distinct lack of quality, power, athleticism, buying players that don't suit the league and spending massive on them in the process with no discernable plan.

We've got a player who, for what he lacks, makes up for in abundance with genuine world class quality, and we need better players to come in and compliment that.

 

[BlueToff]

I would disagree with the Europe comment. In the past couple of years we tied with a team from cyprus, got pummeled by atalanta, Lyon did the double over us, and of course the dynamo latvian farmers from kyev debacle. I strongly disagree more so because the squad lacks European football as a whole. If you look at the squad how many combined Champions League apps are there?

I do agree that we need to add quality players which will in turn make the team collectively better but i just dont see how we can start a project with a 30 year old injury prone player, i just dont see it but i hope i can be proven wrong.

But we got our 2017 campaign so wrong because Koeman thought it best to play exactly the same team pretty much every game, rather than use the squad in the right way. He had a load of new players that he chose to throw in at every opportunity, when he could have rotated the team properly. He didn't and we ended up where we did.

And if James did play in Europe, then the point of buying other players is that he wouldn't then have to play from the off on the Sunday because we have another way of playing.

It would have taken one good quality forward last summer to give us that this year, genuinely that's all it would have taken, and we didn't get it.

 

[BlueToff]

For reference, here is how his game time stacks up season-by-season since his move to Porto, all comps.

Keep in mind Bayern and Madrid play a lot more games than Everton. Here's how it stacks up when ordered by games played.

Games started...

And finally, minutes played

 

[Kever10]

For reference, here is how his game time stacks up season-by-season since his move to Porto, all comps.

View attachment 127900

Keep in mind Bayern and Madrid play a lot more games than Everton. Here's how it stacks up when ordered by games played.

View attachment 127901

Games started...
View attachment 127902

And finally, minutes played

View attachment 127903

So slightly above average across the board.

Colombia is obviously hugely important to him, and hes received a lot of stick from press over there as well recently. Can you imagine the uproar if he didn't play for them in a major competition his country is hosting?

If he was ready to play for us, I believe he would. But why risk aggregating an existing problem? Who does it really help in the long run? Maybe we should start the same players every week, even when they are injured. Maybe Gbamin should start on Sunday. Maybe he won't be able to run, but at least it shows he cares.

Unfortunately for him, James is that good, that the hopes and dreams of everyone rests on his shoulders. That's a lot of weight to carry on his own.

 

[BlueToff]

So slightly above average across the board.

Colombia is obviously hugely important to him, and hes received a lot of stick from press over there as well recently. Can you imagine the uproar if he didn't play for them in a major competition his country is hosting?

If he was ready to play for us, I believe he would. But why risk aggregating an existing problem? Who does it really help in the long run? Maybe we should start the same players every week, even when they are injured. Maybe Gbamin should start on Sunday. Maybe he won't be able to run, but at least it shows he cares.

Unfortunately for him, James is that good, that the hopes and dreams of everyone rests on his shoulders. That's a lot of weight to carry on his own.

I think he should have been involved the other day. I don't want him treating us as some second-rate thing. That is frustrating.

But, I also don't want to 'bin him off' for it either. I want to add to the genuine world class player we've got, one of only two world class players we've had in the last 15 years or so, with other quality players that have the physical attributes to make the team better and able to play in other ways than the choice of rely on James or sit on our 18-yard box.

 

[The binman chronicles]

He's a worldie and therefore is always going to be treated differently. I have no problems with that as long as the effort is shown when he is on the pitch. He's probably said I can't work with the tools that I'm playing with and without much incentive would rather keep fresh for Colombia - again understandable. We need a better team to keep him interested, I would hate to have to play in this team and if lucky grind out a 1-0 win.

 

[roydo]

He's a worldie and therefore is always going to be treated differently. I have no problems with that as long as the effort is shown when he is on the pitch. He's probably said I can't work with the tools that I'm playing with and without much incentive would rather keep fresh for Colombia - again understandable. We need a better team to keep him interested, I would hate to have to play in this team and if lucky grind out a 1-0 win.

When he is on the pitch, he does work hard to be fair. Relative to what he is asked to provide.

I just love him as a player, cant help that.

 

[Caolam]

I am fed up of seeing our best players leave. It gets us nowhere. We've won nowt in 26 years and wonder why. I was 2 months old ffs.

Yeah, I'm mad at James, he should have been there the other night, 100%. I'm mad that Carlo didn't put him in the squad and avoid all of this.

It's why I have an issue when people - including CA - blame effort, or attitude, when that's only half of the issue. A big half is a distinct lack of quality, power, athleticism, buying players that don't suit the league and spending massive on them in the process with no discernable plan.

We've got a player who, for what he lacks, makes up for in abundance with genuine world class quality, and we need better players to come in and compliment that.

I think you will find that if we have a big half and a small half then the balance of the team is our problem.

 

[big nev lookalike]

Maybe there’s a clause in his contract?

 

[roydo]

Maybe there’s a clause in his contract?

Crossed my mind that. Which could work both ways.

But we will never know.

 

[Goat]

Maybe there’s a clause in his contract?

Saying what?

He can play when he wants? There are no clauses in his contract.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

To be fair I just corrected that for you

FFS! Where is spell checker when you need it! lol

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

Careful with statements like that.
I got dog's abuse for even hinting St James was a fair weather player. I would have loved to have seen him just turn out with our Sunday League team when our pitch was yards from the Mersey in New Ferry in a November gale.

Yeah it’s out of order when having an opinion gets slated mate.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

FFS! Where is spell checker when you need it! lol

I would actually blame spell checker for your error. It does it to me all the time, it changes Colombia for Columbia. Drives me nuts.

 

[Curtis]

I wonder if the strife in Colombia has affected his headspace? I know he's very committed to his homeland. Fatigue can be mental too. As an American the upheaval here has affected me.