Rodrigo Moreno- Joins Al-Rayyan confirmed

[1964white]

I don't really know why the club signed a player whose natural position is as a false 9. A false 9 is not used to having another striker playing in front of him, and frankly we don't have the type of players who get in the box so as to allow a false 9 to play the killer passes from deep. We saw that against Newcastle. Surely part of the advantage of playing with a false 9 rather than a traditional 9 is to be able to pull CBs completely out of position - however if there is a true no 9 playing in front then this is not going to happen.

I know the aim was to convert Rodrigo to play as a no 10, but when you are nearly 30 and have played as a false 9 your whole career it's a big leap of faith and a big gamble for a club to be paying a club record fee and 100k in wages a week purely on the assumption that this will be guaranteed to work.

Bags of talent but a lazy footballer imo!

[mentalcase]

I think he's a class player, just don't suit our system and managerial asks.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Also, I don't think he has the pace or fitness to drive at defenders from deep.

[1964white]

Also, I don't think he has the pace or fitness to drive at defenders from deep.

He hasn't shown much pace, although his lack of fitness & covid maybe the reason for his laboured runs.

[YorkshireSquare]

[YorkshireSquare]

[The Subhuman]

2 assists for me, this is where the assist stat falls down badly and makes it completely meaningless. Good ball into the box, hits a defender before getting to James...

Outstanding last night imo, second MOTM in a row for me, 4th of the season. That was nearly as good and instrumental as Raph at his best I think we have our 10.

[YorkshireSquare]

2 assists for me, this is where the assist stat falls down badly and makes it completely meaningless. Good ball into the box, hits a defender before getting to James...

Outstanding last night imo, second MOTM in a row for me, 4th of the season. That was nearly as good and instrumental as Raph at his best I think we have our 10.

Definitely got the second assist for me, madness he isn’t given it

[danhirons]

2 assists for me, this is where the assist stat falls down badly and makes it completely meaningless. Good ball into the box, hits a defender before getting to James...

Outstanding last night imo, second MOTM in a row for me, 4th of the season. That was nearly as good and instrumental as Raph at his best I think we have our 10.

well...not really, because his cross wasn't going anywhere near James and got a lucky deflection taking it to him. ultimately it was a poor cross since it went straight to a villa player

same as if a shot is going comfortably wide and is deflected into the goal

had a good game but one game isn't good enough, needs to do it consistently - we've seen flashes of good performances from him before

to even put his performances in the same sentence as raphs...

[CHAPELALLMAN]

well...not really, because his cross wasn't going anywhere near James and got a lucky deflection taking it to him. ultimately it was a poor cross since it went straight to a villa player

same as if a shot is going comfortably wide and is deflected into the goal

had a good game but one game isn't good enough, needs to do it consistently - we've seen flashes of good performances from him before

to even put his performances in the same sentence as raphs...

Exactly - people are getting far too excited about one decent performance.

[Orange Box]

We’ll never know, but he still looks affected by his bout with covid to me. His tracking back looked laboured, I wouldn’t say half-hearted, he just looked to be towing.

[1964white]

We’ll never know, but he still looks affected by his bout with covid to me. His tracking back looked laboured, I wouldn’t say half-hearted, he just looked to be towing.

Rodrigo & Klich lack pace to track back!

At our corners, Raphinha was on the edge of our box last night, as was James v Newcastle. Bielsa knows he needs his runners in position as a safety net. Unfortunately, we can't cover every angle in certain situations, as was the case a few times when Villa caught us on the break!

[YorkshireSquare]

He had a good game, some people on here seem untilling to accept that though, like their minds area already made up

[YorkshireSquare]

well...not really, because his cross wasn't going anywhere near James and got a lucky deflection taking it to him. ultimately it was a poor cross since it went straight to a villa player

The ball was heading towards Jame's feet before the deflection

You say it was a lucky deflection but you don't get that luck unless you put a testing ball in

[The Subhuman]

We’ll never know, but he still looks affected by his bout with covid to me. His tracking back looked laboured, I wouldn’t say half-hearted, he just looked to be towing.

The 10 in MB's system doesn't need to track back, I think Marcelo prefers they don't.

[weasel]

The ball was heading towards Jame's feet before the deflection

You say it was a lucky deflection but you don't get that luck unless you put a testing ball in

See Bowen's goal for West Ham. A weak shot that the keeper is comfortably going to save. Takes a big defelction and goes in. Bowen is credited with the goal as his shot was on target even though without the deflection it was not going to be a goal (barring a keeper error).

Hard to say whether Rodrigo should get given an assist but equally a player is given an assist if they play the final pass to someone even if that player still has a lot of work to do before they put the ball in the net.

[The Subhuman]

The ball was heading towards Jame's feet before the deflection

You say it was a lucky deflection but you don't get that luck unless you put a testing ball in

It was an excellent pull back into a danger area.

[weasel]

The 10 in MB's system doesn't need to track back, I think Marcelo prefers they don't.

Indeed. I think that is why Bielsa likes his wingers so much as they are usually the ones having to leg it back at full pace. I don't really recall Pablo Hernandez or Saiz doing much tracking back. Same as with Bamford he does the chasing around in the opposition half rather than tracking back. When we win the ball in defence you want to know roughly where our no9 and no10 are to enable you to have the option to play a longer ball out of defence without simply giving away possession.

[danhirons]

The ball was heading towards Jame's feet before the deflection

You say it was a lucky deflection but you don't get that luck unless you put a testing ball in

there were two villa players in the way (hit the first one, mings was also right behind him and in front of James) - not sure if it was going to James or not since it was played behind his run. from that position if you don't put in a decent ball you've made a big mistake, saying that rodrigo had a good game as I've said before and it was a great run to get into this position

[The Subhuman]

Indeed. I think that is why Bielsa likes his wingers so much as they are usually the ones having to leg it back at full pace. I don't really recall Pablo Hernandez or Saiz doing much tracking back. Same as with Bamford he does the chasing around in the opposition half rather than tracking back. When we win the ball in defence you want to know roughly where our no9 and no10 are to enable you to have the option to play a longer ball out of defence without simply giving away possession.

Posted elsewhere that MB defends with 9 or 10 and the Engache stays available. Saiz IIRC didn't track back much, Pablo did at times but I don't think he was supposed to, a winger for us for the longest time he maybe found it natural to track back. Klich hardly tracked back from the 10 ..