2020/21 James Rodriguez

[Pabbers]

Not sure which players you are thinking of, possibly Ferguson, but I can't think of many who missed games as frequently as James., and that is the key for me. He is simply not available often enough to make a difference to the team's progress, and despite flashes of brilliance he can also be anonymous in PL games. I wouldn't be too distressed to see him leave if it means we can strengthen other areas of the team.

Well for 1, im not sure Ferguson played in our trophy erea, mate.

And 2, if you are talking about that era, Arteta, Pienaar were injured often. It's why we player Anichebe / Osman / Kilbane out wide, even Beville played righ mid on occasion.

Also, James missed the same mount of games as Jack Grealish last season.....Villa fans love him, and its not put City off buying him.

Im not sure many people really understand playmakers, not many in world football dont miss games.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Well for 1, im not sure Ferguson played in our trophy erea, mate.

And 2, if you are talking about that era, Arteta, Pienaar were injured often. It's why we player Anichebe / Osman / Kilbane out wide, even Beville played righ mid on occasion.

Also, James missed the same mount of games as Jack Grealish last season.....Villa fans love him, and its not put City off buying him.

Im not sure many people really understand playmakers, not many in world football dont miss games.

The issue is having a squad to cope without certain players. We were so focused on getting the ball to James, that when he didn't play, we had no idea what to do. There's been nothing done so far this summer to change that either.

You can't play James every game unless you want him to pick up knocks and actually miss even more games. He's a luxury player and needs to be managed constantly to get the best out of him. That means signing alternatives to give us options.

 

[Pabbers]

The issue is having a squad to cope without certain players. We were so focused on getting the ball to James, that when he didn't play, we had no idea what to do. There's been nothing done so far this summer to change that either.

You can't play James every game unless you want him to pick up knocks and actually miss even more games. He's a luxury player and needs to be managed constantly to get the best out of him. That means signing alternatives to give us options.

We have signed 2 out and out wingers.

That looks like a good alternative plan to me, mate.

If we sign a right back, we have without doubt improved.

 

[little elfin]

Feel sorry for him had to play football with those donkeys who cannot pass the ball to him from 5-10 yards.
Donkeys often feared to make a short pass so they hit it long or tried to dribble stupidly.
Donkeys also tried to cross the ball as quick as they can without accuracy even when we have only one player in the box.
Donkeys did not know how to play possession football and relied on him to start counter attack but now he is not in their plan

 

[ToffeeTim]

We have signed 2 out and out wingers.

That looks like a good alternative plan to me, mate.

If we sign a right back, we have without doubt improved.

I wouldn't say they are the quality we require. We would really need a more central player as well for options.

Right back is key, and has been for years. If we can only get one then it has to be right back.

 

[BigDuncTributeBand]

There are some youngsters (my 2 sons included) who are desperate to see him play live and i do feel a bit sorry for them, however, he doesn't and never will fit into Benitez's way of playing. Only concern is that there isn't a massive queue of clubs wanting to sign him on, which also speaks volumes

How depressing, a truly talented player doesn’t fit into Benitez style of play but average journeymen like Gray and Townsend do.

 

[Pabbers]

I wouldn't say they are the quality we require. We would really need a more central player as well for options.

Right back is key, and has been for years. If we can only get one then it has to be right back.

Well wether we like them or not, the manager does and will use them.

That shows he has a clear idea that we need some fast width.

He has also has called them both squad options, which hints that they are not plan A.

I like this , infact its what we lacked completly last season imo.

If we get rid of James, then I worry that those 2 wingers are actually plan A.....but that would go against what Rafael has been saying.

Gbamin back, could be massive, and Allan and Doucs, you would hope are not as injurted as last season.

Add a right back, and keeping James, would actually make me feel good about the season.

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

Why isn't it true?, he did miss games last season due to fatigue - unfortunately, Ancelotti gave him free reign to do as he wished. I'm not doubting his talent, however, his career points to a very lazy player

No, I mean it’s not true that no other player would miss a game with fatigue. Or it certainly shouldn’t be true

 

[ToffeeM4n]

Are we really discussing if Hames is good enough for Everton? Give him No.10 and a new contract. Ez game.

 

[Frenk]

Are we paying him £200k per week?

 

[catcherintherye]

Not really comparable is it?

Brands is a Director of Football with a decade of experience in the role. And he was hired with that tough job being a big part of the remit.

You have never attempted to vault the grand canyon or any other canyon for that matter.

The issue is though, it's almost impossible for where we are now to sell our caste offs anywhere. They are on huge wages, and we have just finished 10th, so sides are going to look at our reserves and think "if he can't get into Everton's team, why would he get into ours". They will then see they often have wages at the top end of their scale and just wonder why would they bother?

Brands can't help that, but there is a question whether he and/or the club have made the changes to account for this? Or whether he has really won an argument within the organisation of what needs to happen. I still see people talking about selling to the championship. As of last week, the championship had spent 5m on transfers this summer. Last year the spend was 70m, about 3m per club on average.

There is sympathy to be had about players he inherited, but there is no doubt some questions that he has added to the list, with the likes of Gomes, Iwobi and Delph (amongst others). Iwobi is still young enough that he might come good this season, but the other 2 are just liabilities.

Unfortunately, given our relative positioning our best way to make money is to make "big" sales to "top" teams. People won't want to hear this, but there should be a plan to sell Richarlison, Kean and DCL over the next 3 summers for fees of 50m-90m similar to what Villa are doing with Grealish. If we are not going to essentially disregard FFP/STCC rules I can't see much sense around any other plans. The idea of selling caste offs to championship teams isn't going to work.

 

[blueconverse]

Like many of us I have often threatened to be done with this club. If we let him go for no reason that he wasnt in the managers plan I would struggle to still show any interest.

 

[ToffeeM4n]

Are we paying him £200k per week?

90k or 140k depending on the source

 

[ForeverBlue92]

The issue is though, it's almost impossible for where we are now to sell our caste offs anywhere. They are on huge wages, and we have just finished 10th, so sides are going to look at our reserves and think "if he can't get into Everton's team, why would he get into ours". They will then see they often have wages at the top end of their scale and just wonder why would they bother?

Brands can't help that, but there is a question whether he and/or the club have made the changes to account for this? Or whether he has really won an argument within the organisation of what needs to happen. I still see people talking about selling to the championship. As of last week, the championship had spent 5m on transfers this summer. Last year the spend was 70m, about 3m per club on average.

There is sympathy to be had about players he inherited, but there is no doubt some questions that he has added to the list, with the likes of Gomes, Iwobi and Delph (amongst others). Iwobi is still young enough that he might come good this season, but the other 2 are just liabilities.

Unfortunately, given our relative positioning our best way to make money is to make "big" sales to "top" teams. People won't want to hear this, but there should be a plan to sell Richarlison, Kean and DCL over the next 3 summers for fees of 50m-90m similar to what Villa are doing with Grealish. If we are not going to essentially disregard FFP/STCC rules I can't see much sense around any other plans. The idea of selling caste offs to championship teams isn't going to work.

People always bang on about us needing to sign young players with sell on value but then moan when one of those players gets linked with a move away.

Ultimately I agree next summer if someone offers £75-85 million for Richarlison or DCL you simply have to cash in and reinvest in 3-4 top quality players.

You dont sell both at once but you slowly build for the future. Liverpool did this well up until recently but have left themselves with all their best players pushing 29/30 with none of them having much sell on value.

 

[catcherintherye]

People always bang on about us needing to sign young players with sell on value but then moan when one of those players gets linked with a move away.

Ultimately I agree next summer if someone offers £75-85 million for Richarlison or DCL you simply have to cash in and reinvest in 3-4 top quality players.

You dont sell both at once but you slowly build for the future. Liverpool did this well up until recently but have left themselves with all their best players pushing 29/30 with none of them having much sell on value.

Yes Liverpool are in a spot of bother really.

As for us, if the right offer came in, I'm not sure we could turn it down this summer either. If we moved each of those 3 on (ideally Kean last with him getting a run to improve) it would allow us to invest very heavily, like 500m+ heavily.