2020/21 James Rodriguez

[marcus]

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

I agree entirely James struggles against teams that play with intensity...

He can still produce given time & space but he has no pace & his legs have gone imo...

 

[alphabet]

Played like crap. Still our only player that could beat Fulham's press tonight. And as someone here said it nicely, he is pressing, we just have no one to win the ball from them. At least not until Allan gets back.

 

[longers]

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

Our best performance was Spurs away when he started. Our best attacking performance was against WBA when he played.

Since then we've become a negative defensive side and thus he's not having as much impact

 

[Drico]

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.

Oh, he gets zero credit for tonight - and yes, I also subscribe to the idea that our best player should be leading by example and should be held to a higher standard. I'm not giving him a pass - but, truth be told, a player of his ability is not the place where I would start when looking to clear our deadwood and improve our squad. And that's where we are as far as I'm concerned. James is too good for us right now - but he's with us because he is in a career trough. We can accept that that has given us the chance to play a flawed diamond, or we can throw the diamond away because he's not perfect.

 

[Dave dawson]

Not sure why we play him, our tactics certainly don't suit his style and he ends up being a passenger. Either we change our tactics or we play him from the bench.

 

[Bristol Blue]

Our best performance was Spurs away when he started. Our best attacking performance was against WBA when he played.

Since then we've become a negative defensive side and thus he's not having as much impact

We’ve had to become defensive for that very reason! Apart from Spurs, were conceding 2 goals per game. Much better team performances all round when he was out injured

 

[dannyboy]

I think when we look at James we need to see it within the context of where he is in his career. He's at Everton for a reason. A player capable of brilliance but lacking in other areas that the top teams demand right now.

He's not Kanchelskis and he's not the 16 year old Rooney. He can't control a game or inspire a team. He's relying on the players around him to get a foothold in the match and we are really lacking in that department.

 

[number4.]

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

Fair - needs more looking at tonight

 

[Tommy.]

Today was a horror show, no doubt about that. No player stood out amongst that pile. Are we really going to start slamming the most naturally gifted player in our team?

 

[dannyboy]

Today was a horror show, no doubt about that. No player stood out amongst that pile. Are we really going to start slamming the most naturally gifted player in our team?

I think what today and other games have shown is that we need to look beyond James being our best player. He's someone who can't be relied upon in the mould we need to become a regular top 4 team.

 

[N0L1M1TK]

Passenger tonight. Not entirely his fault.

If you play James, you play runners around him. You do not play statues like Gomes and Sigurdsson.

Shocking line up, shocking in game management by CA.

 

[Ryu79]

I think what today and other games have shown is that we need to look beyond James being our best player. He's someone who can't be relied upon in the mould we need to become a regular top 4 team.

Conversely has scored or assisted against the top four teams Everton have faced so far this season. (Don't think he's seen Pep yet or maybe misremembering).

 

[MACCA75]

I don’t care how good you are on the ball, in this league you have to roll your sleeves up and work hard off it.

 

[dannyboy]

Conversely has scored or assisted against the top four teams Everton have faced so far this season. (Don't think he's seen Pep yet or maybe misremembering).

Very true. Unfortunately it's a delicate balance between him showing moments of brilliance and barely noticing him being on the pitch. In an ideal world James is accompanying your star man, not the person you look to for inspiration.

 

[paulbefc]

Today was a horror show, no doubt about that. No player stood out amongst that pile. Are we really going to start slamming the most naturally gifted player in our team?

It depends what you mean by "slamming". If you mean criticising what was a poor performance, then yes, he will be getting slammed for tonight.