2021/22 James Rodriguez

[tommytowne]

I haven't had a season ticket in ages because I left the area for work. Pre-Covid I was still coming over for about half of our home games and would catch a couple of aways but during Covid I got into the habit of going to see my local non-league club (they were allowing fans in and social distancing is not a problem with crowds of 300!) and, all in all, I prefer it now. The footie is terrible but the atmosphere is great, there's no VAR, no diving, all the players are really committed and you know the money you are spending goes into the club and not to a bunch of millionaire man children and their agents. Oh, and you can drink in the stands! I'm not sure what Everton are to me now, I'm still delighted when we win and moody AF when we lose but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. Benitez arriving didn't help but I had started to feel this way before his appointment, I'm just not sure who top flight footie is for anymore but it's definitely not the match going fan.

I reckon you speak for a great many fans if only they stopped and thought about it.
Moody as hell is an understatement with regards me when we're beaten. Party time on the coaches back home Saturday evening. I'd be spewing bile and expletives every one of those miles back home.
Of course I'm happy that those fans are happy but something a bit askew.

 

[windymiller]

I'm sure that this has already been raised previously, but this stat from BBC is pretty wild:

"To illustrate the point, new wingers Demarai Gray and Andros Townsend are - after three league games - respectively just one and two sprints short of Rodriguez's total of 37 for the whole of last season." https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58520473

While he doesn't need to run around to impact the game (clearly) our playing style is very different this season. It's probably for the best. I don't think it works to tell every other player they need to sprint and apply high pressure except for one. We'll be able to better plan our spending for the next year with this going through. Biggest issue is the timing, obviously. Should have been sorted two months ago because our depth is already shocking as is.

This is a very sensible post. I agree that if a player isn't suited to a system that a manager wants to play then they should be moved on. In James case it's a shame because he is a talented lad, but it is what it is. All of the, frankly over the top, posturing from some posters on the subject is weird. The more worrying thing for me is that the mob will move on to someone else next, calling them this and that, rewriting their history, all in the service of what exactly? I hope I'm wrong about this but certain posters appear to have been chased out of here as a consequence of all of this, and not posters who have been one of the antagonists on either side but posters who just happened to have a differing opinion to the mob (some of the personal insults lobbed at them were in poor taste at best and openly misogynistic at worst). 14 goals were contributed in goals and assists by James last season, that's what I'll remember when he inevitably goes.

 

[LeeCarsley]

Well I'd argue throwing £500m into the hands of Walsh, Koeman, Allardyce, Brands, Silva is actually the real reason.

Yeah, they didn't care about the club beyond watching their bank balances rise every week.

 

[everton1953]

Hopefully James will be gone very soon and we move on with players who are interested in playing for us.

 

[f.t.r.s]

You shouldn't have to 'force your way' into a team that starts Andros Townsend and an unfit Rondon though.

He could score 80 goals in training and he still wouldn't be picked.

If a manager doesn't want you then you can force him to play you by being professional and

Are you happy with benitez and rondon who did exactly the same except to China?

Not really no, but at least they want to be here

 

[LeeCarsley]

This is a very sensible post. I agree that if a player isn't suited to a system that a manager wants to play then they should be moved on. In James case it's a shame because he is a talented lad, but it is what it is. All of the, frankly over the top, posturing from some posters on the subject is weird. The more worrying thing for me is that the mob will move on to someone else next, calling them this and that, rewriting their history, all in the service of what exactly? I hope I'm wrong about this but certain posters appear to have been chased out of here as a consequence of all of this, and not posters who have been one of the antagonists on either side but posters who just happened to have a differing opinion to the mob (some of the personal insults lobbed at them were in poor taste at best and openly misogynistic at worst). 14 goals were contributed in goals and assists by James last season, that's what I'll remember when he inevitably goes.

Completely agree with this, Everton seems to be in a very bad place at the moment with all of us at each other's throats. Hopefully we get back to winning so all of these problems fall to the wayside!

 

[Bkk Andy]

Sorry yeah, I forgot we've had 20-21 season already (it's merged into one).

Again, I know that, don't disagree. It's his wages. You can't look and say it's a lack of quality. That's pure revisionism. He was brilliant for us in a fair few games last season, produced quality nobody else could. I was happy enough if he'd have gone and we got a replacement in but we haven't. And right now, our squad is massively short and we're only 4 weeks into the season. We're going to run the lads we have into the ground and Everton being Everton, by the time Richarlison and DCL get fit, we'll be looking at Townsend and Gray having picked up knocks or being knackered.

No European team outside of the PL can afford his wages due to covid bar, maybe, three teams. Madrid (not happening), PSG (they don't need him) and Bayern (not happening).

Realistically every other club would want Everton to pay his wages, so him being on a free transfer would not help Everton at all, unless he decided to take a wage cut (which he has no obligation to do, just like Delph, Tosun etc don't either).

It's just all a mess. I look at how hard we've tried to shift him out, literally agreeing to pay half of his salary to Basaksehir, and Porto (when we went in for the Diaz deal), and wonder, where the hell is that impetus with genuine wasters we have in the squad who don't offer anywhere close to the quality James offers.

I'm sick of Everton giving up on things straight away. Fed up of us making a huge deal of signings or appointments and then it all having to be brushed under the carpet. This time last year we were making a song and dance of James and now all it will be is a 3-par statement on the site.

I'm not saying James is blameless. He clearly doesn't want to be here (though he wasn't arsed enough not to go Turkey on his full wage, btw). I imagine the Qatar WC is a big pull in this deal and that's all well and good. Probably means we can get a good deal in terms of us not having to pay his wage and FIFA will be all over Colombia to pick him for their squad. Good for all concerned. Other than our squad is now even shorter than it was before the injuries, and we're 4 weeks into the season.

I don't trust the people at the top of the club. There's no structure, no accountability. Just give the current manager what he wants but then scrap it all again 18 months later when they leave or are sacked. Until that changes, then I'm going to continue to give nothing to the club in terms of respect or thinking they have a clue what they're doing - because they absolutely do not.

The world cup is full of genuine and current stars. Why would FIFA bully Colombia to take him?

 

[Marius57]

Really can't understand why you all hate him so much. There are much bigger wasters on our team.

Delph on his 100k a week he is reported to be on has played 31 games (only 1891 mins) for the club. Signed for 8.5m (rising to 10m) and so far been here for around 114 weeks with a minimum of 15 more weeks to come. No goals or assists.

So 21.4m (and that's if we get rid of him in Jan and not next summer)

James has played 26 (but 2046 mins). Scored 6, assisted 8 (9 according to transfermarkt but don't want to upset some of you more than you already are). Was signed on a free. So even if he is on the 200k a week some of you claim for 54 weeks.

10.8m.

Yet you are in here chasing him out the club while delph continues to rake it in and you aren't all on his thread spouting the same nonsense in there about him draining our funds etc.

Edit: I am aware there will.have been signing on fees for both, but we don't know what they were so can't exactly use them in the calculations. It was reported James signed for a cost of 20m which looks like 2 years at 200k. Still less than delph.

 

[Drico]

It's a real pity how this has turned out, but James is a luxury in an era of austerity.

I'll remember him as the catalyst that prompted the scales to fall from our eyes, the footballing equivalent of the drawn curtain in the Wizard of Oz that revealed not the mythical Usmanov but Marcel Brands trying on his latest pair of skinny jeans.

 

[tommye]

How can you can look at our bench on Saturday and think he's better off elsewhere??

Agenda.


All about the agenda

 

[Anthony Lim]

looking forward to the day we can close this thread, hopefully next month or earlier.... then we just all shift to fat waiter's thread.

 

[ToffeeM4n]

I can't believe we are discussing whether James is good enough for us, while a few days back many of us were hoping the unfit Rondon would come off the bench at half time... vs Burnley, at home. And I won't even comment on our bench against Villa.

 

[Marius57]

If a manager doesn't want you then you can force him to play you by being professional and
Not really no, but at least they want to be here

Do they? Or were the offered loads of money?

 

[Thomasc]

I don’t think anybody has an agenda. They just see a player who doesn’t want to be here, is earning a fortune for doing nothing and think a reasonable compromise is that he leaves without fuss.

If that’s not going to happen and he actually wanted to play here then it’s nuts not to use him, but it seems he’s not arsed either way.

 

[Frenk]

I think he made it known that he wanted to move on after Ancelotti left, and the club then decided they wanted him gone. Whatever happened behind the scenes I guess we will never truly know. In the end it’s a shame because I think he could have had a significant impact.