I like to think I know enough about football to confidentially say that Jack Rodwell is not and will never show himself being a premier league footballer or in other words, I think he's ****. Yes he might make a couple of tackes or make a pass or win a header. I'd also hazard a guess that if we plucked say Leyton Orients first choice centre mid that he'd also make a couple of passes and make a tackle here and there, doesn't mean he's any good. Rodwell doesn't impact games, everything just passes him by IMO. It's frustrating, because he had the potential to be probably an England international, but never kicked on. Why? I don't know. Irrelevant to the here and now I suppose. Needs a move away IMO as I think he's done here.
This is what I'm getting at but I think its very relevant. Some footballers, you can see why they never achieve their potential- they have 'outside interests' for example- but that doesn't seem to be the case with Rodwell. After todays comments it highlights Lens again- a big investment on a talented player who barely made an impact here and who now wants to leave. The club keeps investing big (ish) money in players that don't make an impact but everyone, club and fans, seem happy to just write them off. No one appears to question it. Seems odd to me.
Something I have posted before. When we survived in the Arsenal game a couple of seasons ago my Gooner contact said that Corzone was screened all the game by Rodwell, forcing him out of his natural game so he contributed nothing and Rodwell did his job without a mention.
Fair enough but if the sole highlight of Rodwell's time here is that in one game he kept a single good player quiet then that is exactly what the problem is with him. He can sometimes achieve very modest goals but that's nowhere remotely close to what's required at this level.
My point was that people can go through a game and get a job done without appearing to be outstanding yet their contribution is huge within the strategy devised by the manager.
That's true and a lot of teams have unsung heroes who they don't realise they miss until they're gone but that doesn't describe Rodwell for me. I think he probably does a little more than he gets credit for but only a little. If we sold him tomorrow we wouldn't miss him in the slightest.
That's very true. We have players who are much more effective than Rodwell. Nos' comment does bring me back to something I've said before though- Rodwell goes about his job largely unnoticed. It also shows that he does have the ability to be a good player but, like you say, doing it once isn't sufficient. If he had Cattermole's drive and determination he'd be the far better player.
That's it in a nutshell really, he is just about good enough on a technical level for this league but he doesn't have the guts for it unfortunately.
He missed 3 league games earlier this season too though - don't thinnk we won them. Pure coincidence - as Bri says, our midfield was poor against Bournemouth and their finishing and that little luck we've been missing the entire season won us the game. Some determination and spirit too mind. Spurs went something like 23 games with Gareth Bale in the side without winning - pure coincidence and no different in situation - Bale looked an average left back at best.
That's the managers job, but some patients are worse off than others. I'm sure Sam said Rodders was eating boiled chicken heads for some ailment, which maybe why he's a bit headless on the pitch - sure is a sign he has some challenges.
