I agree to some extent. He always works hard but when I said useless I meant in an attacking sense - that IS his primary role so I think his contribution offensively should really be what he's judged on. If he's not contributing significantly in an attacking sense then he's not really doing his job. He certainly CAN be very threatening and he should and will get longer to improve but he definitely needs to improve his consistency. The difference in our team when he's attacking well and when he's not is quite marked and if we can find a player who can work hard defensively AND contribute more consistently to our attacking threat (obviously that's much easier said than done) then Rodriguez may struggle to keep his place.
I think you have to take his contribution as a whole. It's great when he contributes offensively, but when he isn't the argument over whether to drop him really revolves around the question: who can play the hardworking, defensive winger role better than he can? The main requirement of that role is to be able to run up and down the wing for 90 minutes and he's probably the fittest member of the entire squad. Even without the requirement to be offensively dangerous, I'm not sure we have a better candidate.
I get the impression that confidence matters more to him than to any other player I can recall. I kept telling my son that we needed him to score to regain his self-belief then rashly predicted "loads more from him" even before the celebrations for his goal on Saturday had finished. Vin
Rodriguez plays out wide quite a bit where he isn't as comfortable, and he doesn't get to play to his strengths much. In a different scheme, he'd be allowed to drift about, always looking to make a run to get behind defenders. But with Saints if the ball is not in our possession he uses up a ton of effort and gets in less attacking positions because he has to press. So it was nice to see Jay Rodriguez get a nice, juicy start in his favored central role against a team that let Saints have their way. And sure enough, he played an excellent game. I think his defense is improving a bit. And I personally thought his positioning and awareness was improved as well, you just don't get to see it as much when he plays wide. All that training and playing different roles appears to be paying off for him. That said, he's nowhere even close to Osvaldo or Lambert. There's no way I would start him in the center over those two. Which means it's him or JWP. I think that right now JWP brings more to the table.
Couldn't agree more. He has pace to burn, skill and certainly puts himself about, pity his finishing is woeful at times? When he weaved his way through on Saturday, it would surely have been easier to score rather than fumble the ball to keeper left?
I'd play the same team again. No need to make any changes after our best performance of the season. Osvaldo on the bench if he is fit.
Jay has now been faced with only a keeper to beat, after weaving his through a defence, several times. I think it is telling on him. He desperately wants to finish the move beautifully, whereas I think he should let himself blast it occasionally. What tends to happen is that he has too much time to make up his mind, and then suddenly the options disappear, as he closes in on the keeper. Shoot from a little further out, Jay. And get your frustrations out by putting some venom into it.
Got to agree with this. He's not the best finisher. His run against Fulham really left him with the easy part to do but he fluffed it. As TSS says, he does this a bit too often. Also, I'm worried that he plays with his head down and isn't always aware whats going on around him. Hence, his best moments are when he is weaving at pace through a very worried defence. But its the, "at pace" bit that I think is important right now. He is really our only genuinely quick forward and he can be a very useful and unsettling (for the opposition) outlet. Keep him in, let him run himself into the ground and replace him with super-sub Osvaldo after 70 minutes (i.e., the way Lallana was used for the first few games).
There are times when Rodriguez reminds me of a bloke we used to have at Saints years ago. Fans whinged about inconsistency. One great game was often followed by 3 mediocre ones. But in these he would run himself ragged for the cause and was one of the few forwards at the time who could tackle. He loved Saints, and we loved him. Oh and he won 45 England caps. Now what was his name?
Yes, but Micky would have liked nothing better than being left with only the keeper to beat. What inconsistency. .?
Saints 0 Wrexham 1 FA Cup 5th round 1974. Round the keeper goes our Mick, ball into the stands - twice! The result that started the run that led to relegation. I don't blame Channon - in my view still the greatest player in our history - but to quote the great man himself "you 'as to miss 'em to score 'em". And I've seen him miss a few. What Mick did was "roast 'em" (to quote fans of the time!) and Jay can do the same thing. Defenders hate attackers who run at them with pace, and Jay does this better than anyone in the team currently. Mauricio has three strikers to choose from, and they can each offer something different. Nice problem to have.
I knew he was going to go low far post. I'm guessing most of us would have called it. It's definitely his go-to move.
I just want to see Wanyama put Nzonzi on his a*se a dozen or so times. Ooh, and a cheeky 1-0 win would be lovely.
Stoke and Hull are big tests for us - they put men behind the ball and stifle play: our Kryptonite. Is telling that even Spurs only managed a lucky 1-0 with a staunch Hull away unit. No Cameron Jerome - whoever his replacement is - wonder goals please this time.
It's a good policy in general, and despite how weak the shot was the keeper only just got to it. I'm not really sure what he was trying to achieve by playing the ball so slowly.
