James Rodríguez

[Matt]

36 minutes ago, Hafnia said:

Whilst the virtues of prime Troy Deeney were discussed on here akin to what DCL does for us... It's James Rodriguez Keys is saying we should have got instead.    James is probably the most intelligent player I've seen play for us, his touch and technical ability and vision is ridiculous.

I didn't think he would be this good, I knew he would be good but not this good so quickly. 

Agreed. Can’t wait for him to get up to full speed

[markjazzbassist]

He’s a worldie, OUR worldie

[Bailey]

To think anyone would want to sign Troy Deeney. 

[Palfy]

1 hour ago, markjazzbassist said:

He’s a worldie, OUR worldie

Mark you’ve changed your profile again, you fallen out of love with Gylfi again. 
You are going to get yourself a  reputation of being right tart when it comes dumping players

[markjazzbassist]

29 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Mark you’ve changed your profile again, you fallen out of love with Gylfi again. 
You are going to get yourself a  reputation of being right tart when it comes dumping players

I like to play the field 

[FairWooney]

Think I fell in love watching him in the first half today!  (I didn't get to watch all of the second)

The vision and execution in his passing is second to none and the difference it makes to the team is  huge.  He doesn't need to run around or take people on as the his team mates know that when he gets the ball they can start making runs and he will pick them out.  Richarlison as someone that loves to make those kind of runs must love playing with him.  Even the likes of Seamus and Digne see the benefit as they can confidently make those runs up the flanks without feeling it'll be a wasted journey.

When the ball gets played to him it's like the game slows down as he plays at his own pace but around him everything is happening as opposition players try to deal with what is to come.

The way he controls things without dashing around is reminiscent of Pirlo who stroked the ball around like an artist with his brush.

[RuffRob]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54328590

Not that I hold Garth Crooks in any particular high regard, but Rodrigez has made it in to all three of his 'team of the week' picks so far this season. Not just us Evertonians drooling over his performances  

What is he going to be like when he actually gets use to his team mates and the cut and thrust of the Premier league!! 

[StevO]

22 minutes ago, RuffRob said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54328590

Not that I hold Garth Crooks in any particular high regard, but Rodrigez has made it in to all three of his 'team of the week' picks so far this season. Not just us Evertonians drooling over his performances  

What is he going to be like when he actually gets use to his team mates and the cut and thrust of the Premier league!! 

I’m not sure he needs to get used to anything. He looks to me like it doesn’t matter where he is playing football, he is just at a level that the game is easy and it’s all at his pace. If he does somehow get better, I don’t think I can handle that.

[Matt]

18 minutes ago, StevO said:

I’m not sure he needs to get used to anything. He looks to me like it doesn’t matter where he is playing football, he is just at a level that the game is easy and it’s all at his pace. If he does somehow get better, I don’t think I can handle that.

I’d like his pace to pick up a little, though that will come with time

[RuffRob]

4 minutes ago, StevO said:

I’m not sure he needs to get used to anything. He looks to me like it doesn’t matter where he is playing football, he is just at a level that the game is easy and it’s all at his pace. If he does somehow get better, I don’t think I can handle that.

I know, I just can't get my head around how a complete new midfield four of Allan, Dacoure, Gomes and Rodriquez with not one pairing ever having played together have just slotted in together and it works. It difficult enough bringing one or two player in to the heart of a team. I was expecting a few 'horror show' collective midfield performances to start with given the extent of the changes made - but it almost the opposite. As the 'luxury' player I was expecting Rodriguez to maybe suffer the most in a completely new midfield - but no that does not seem to be happening. 

I suppose we just not used to seeing real quality coming to the club - as you said a player of such ability, it doesn't really where he plays football - just give him the ball and he is just oozes quality with it. 

But less than a month in, this midfield is only going to get better once they get to know each others and the rest of the teams game.

Massive credit to Ancelotti and then the board for backing these transfers.  

[StevO]

14 minutes ago, Matt said:

I’d like his pace to pick up a little, though that will come with time

Pace? I’ve never seen him do anything other than walk with the ball! I move quicker playing golf.

He just seems to walk around the pitch doing magical things. I love the slow bastard!

[Matt]

4 hours ago, StevO said:

Pace? I’ve never seen him do anything other than walk with the ball! I move quicker playing golf.

He just seems to walk around the pitch doing magical things. I love the slow bastard!

You like him now, tell the missus that your #10 James sock is going to get a lot more of attention 

[abrigael]

James Rodríguez, a loose ten in the Premier League
 
 
 By Damian Didonato
 
 James says: "There are many children who do not want to be ten. They say 'I am extreme, I am nine, I am average'. Soccer has created that, because everyone plays 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. And the few who  there are, the technicians put it aside. They only want fast players, who win one on one, run, cross. That is hard for football. "
 
 James Rodríguez is a number ten.  Due to game characteristics and personal conviction.  Almost by ideology.  You can play a little to the right, further forward or further back.  It can split as a double five, as an internal or as an extreme.  But none of that matters.  When he plays, James is a number ten in his every move and touch.
 
"James plays for James. He is there to generate game, to pass-goal, to define," César Luis Menotti once said.  For ten, the tactical schemes do not matter.  They don't need the stiff, classic 4-3-1-2 to play their way.  Its function exceeds systems and numbers.  It has more to do with a way of thinking about the game, with an energy expenditure more related to the mental than to the physical.
 
When the current Everton player says that he suffers when he sees that children do not want to play ten, he actually regrets because he fears the disappearance of a way of feeling football.  These days, vertigo and speed are praised above all else.  When a footballer jogs when he loses the ball, he is first criticized.  It does not matter if that trot is to save the energy that will allow him in the next play to decide with the best possible criteria and leave the center-forward face to face with the goal.  No, it is imperative to run a lot.
 
James run, sure.  But think first.  That, added to technique and talent, is what makes a number ten.  To an irreplaceable, irresistible type of footballer.  Everton fans and English analysts doubted the present of the Colombian, who came from hard times at Real Madrid.  Most of those doubts were extinguished when he touched the first balls in the debut and showed his hierarchy.  However, some kept to his idea even after the victory against Tottenham and said he should "commit more to the brand".
 
That requirement is another defect of that idea that despises the specialists and ponders the polyfunctional.  It is not necessary for everyone to do everything in a soccer outfit.  Yes, each one does his part well.  In his role, there are few better than James.  That is why almost all the critics changed their minds the next game, seeing that his influence on the team's game was so great that nothing more was needed than his vision, his passing and his creative ability.  Because soccer is played like James plays.
 
"The Premier is very difficult, very physical," says the common place.  It may be true, although that doesn't mean that a number ten raised and trained in South America won't be able to make a difference.  James has been the player who made the most risky plays in these first three days.  He shone in three very different games: against Tottenham his team handled the ball and played in the rival field for 90 minutes;  against WBA he suffered at the beginning and took advantage of his opportunities to turn the result and against Crystal Palace he had to defend a good part of the game.  In each encounter, a touch from James was enough to give flight to the attack.
 
 "Right now, he's not playing like a number 10, but he has the quality to play there ... he's playing on the right side, but not as a winger because he likes to come in to use his skill in the middle of the field,"  Carlo Ancelotti said and with his explanation he denied himself. James is playing ten because he is a ten. He will always play that way and Carletto knows it and values it. As the whole Premier League values him.

[Shukes]

Poetry.

[Romey 1878]

James does what he wants, and I'm fine with that because James doing what he wants gets us what we want - points.

[Hafnia]

Very few players have intelligence, vision and technical ability with the ability to not run round like a mad man in order to impact their team..... He's one of the very few. 

[MC11]

Absolutely superb in the second half. One special special player 

[Hafnia]

10 hours ago, MC11 said:

Absolutely superb in the second half. One special special player 

Amazing to have a player who doesn't react to a press by panicking and unloading to the nearest player. His composure on the ball is outrageous, like Iniesta... Opponents seem in awe of him, they squeeze him and he finds a teammate in space and then they are out of shape.  The look on their faces.

It will get to the stage where they don't press him, retain shape and mark the passing options. 

 

[FairWooney]

I was panicking that last 20 minutes whenever he had the ball and had players snapping around him.  just wanted him to get rid so they'd keep away from him!

ran the game brilliantly, hopefully Richarilson isn't out long because he is such a good outlet for James with his running down the wing

[London Blue]

Ritchie should be fit for the Brighton game according to Carlo.

[badaids]

2 hours ago, Hafnia said:

Amazing to have a player who doesn't react to a press by panicking and unloading to the nearest player. His composure on the ball is outrageous, like Iniesta... Opponents seem in awe of him, they squeeze him and he finds a teammate in space and then they are out of shape.  The look on their faces.

It will get to the stage where they don't press him, retain shape and mark the passing options. 

 

He reminds me of the old PlayStation games when you’d have the ball and just dribble over the pitch with the ball stuck to your feet easing around the opposition. He just flows like water round whatever is in the way. Gomes can do that too but James is menacing with it.

[Aidan]

15 hours ago, Hafnia said:

It will get to the stage where they don't press him, retain shape and mark the passing options.

It's a lose, lose for them then. Time on the ball for him is equally as dangerous! 

[Romey 1878]

 

 

[Hafnia]

28 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

 

 

I can't think of anyone else ... DCL Ings mane

[Drs1972]

36 minutes ago, Hafnia said:

I can't think of anyone else ... DCL Ings mane

I really CANNOT decide between James & DCL hmmmmm!?!?!??!

[Aidan]

1 hour ago, Hafnia said:

I can't think of anyone else ... DCL Ings mane

Its got to be Dom!

[barryj]

Been really impressed with his leadership qualities, just watch him at full time against West Ham. I’ve run out of superlatives to talk about his game but it appears he’s contributing even more than than that. 

[Aidan]

 

 

[dunlopp9987]

7 minutes ago, Aidan said:

 

 

It's the free part that still gets me. An unbelievable bit of business done by Brands and the entire team that got this one done. Quickly building a reputation and legacy that will hopefully last for a very long time. And the JOY that is on his face when the team scores. You can just tell this is the first time he's really enjoyed playing in quite some time. 

[markjazzbassist]

3 hours ago, dunlopp9987 said:

It's the free part that still gets me. An unbelievable bit of business done by Brands and the entire team that got this one done. Quickly building a reputation and legacy that will hopefully last for a very long time. And the JOY that is on his face when the team scores. You can just tell this is the first time he's really enjoyed playing in quite some time. 

yeah i was gonna say this too, you can tell he is enjoying being with a manager that appreciates him, and being the top dog here. he doesn't back down from it, he's calling players out, telling them where he wants them, and he always wants the ball.  sometimes he can act like a spoiled child (throws up hands when someone makes a bad run) but on the whole very impressed with him.