The garage has a lot of parking spaces for cars. Even in the individual sports like tennis and golf, a player that performs at a very high level for part of the year earns more than a grinder that finishes in the bottom third of the money list. It's about total points earned over 38 games, and there's a place for players who singlehandedly win points that would otherwise be lost but struggle with fitness. See: Iniesta. It does have to be at the right price, but we got that.
I think you're much more on point with your criticism of Rodriguez as a a defensive liability. It's probably why Zidane never rated him, and it tends to explain why the Bavarians got good use out of him when he was fit, as they were very solid otherwise through midfield and the back.
It's why we'll have to prioritize a top midfielder in the summer. We can't depend on Gbamin ever being the player we bought, and it's pretty clear at this point that we're dependent on having both Doucoure and Allan to have the fight in midfield that we started the season with. The other midfielders look OK when out there with both, but get exposed when only one is out there with them.
A little midfield depth would go a long way towards covering for Rodriguez's shortcomings and would enable us to give him more opportunities to unlock the lesser sides we've struggled against.
I do not completely disagree. Still, Iniesta played at Barcelona, and was part of some legendary teams. The best Barcelona teams had an intense pressure game. In addition, Xavi, Busquets, Inestia, etc., were brought up and educated in positional football. This provides a completely different context.
Everton do not dominate domestic series or European football like Barcelona, nor do we have the world-class players like Barcelona. Barcelona usually had a ball possession of 60-80 percent in their matches. Nor do we have the philosophical framework like Barcelona. They were therefore less vulnerable to injury.
We, on the other hand, are a club that has ambitions to become a top club. At present, we do not have a squad that can match that ambition, nor do we have a philosophical framework. We are therefore very dependent on the players who have been bought in to make us better, to play the majority of the matches. To get continuity and form psychosocial relationships on the field, we need players who can play together over time.
Therefore, I think signings like JR and Allan are the wrong strategy. They play too few games and the perspective is too short. As for JR, we are not a team that dominates ball possession, and are often in the last third of the field. Where JR's strengths are.
