JR is a very good player. My criticism of him has been that he is not in the physical shape that a top player should be, and that he is not mentally robust enough. In addition, football has developed to the point that everyone on the team must contribute when the ball is to be recovered. Most people think of tiki taka when they think of Guerdiola's Barcelona, but the most significant was the offensive marking and the way they pressed the opponent immediately after the ball loss. This is perhaps the foremost characteristic of modern football, and especially if you want to dominate the matches through ball possession. There is no doubt that JR is technically good enough, but it takes far more to be at the top of European football in 2021. A weak point, and the opponent will deliberately take advantage of it. We also saw this clearly last year. So it has to be included in the equation when you look at JR's statistical contributions.
I provided a player analysis on a player at my local club. Everyone said that this player was very good, and absolutely essential for the team. He plays defensive midfield. I found out that he won the ball from the opponent by far the most of all on the field, but I also found out that he had clearly the most passing errors, and that the sum of this was actually negative for the team. When I analyzed where on the field he lost the ball, this became even more critical. The opponent's tactic should simply be to lose the ball to this player, and then put pressure on the player. Then you will most likely produce many great goal chances. So statistics must always be considered in a larger context. Nevertheless, I was able to use this information to tell the coach that the player in question must develop his passing game, and when he regains the ball, it must be sent (most often) to the nearest teammate.
