After starting the season in the best possible way, Everton, with James Rodríguez as the great star of the team, entered a bad sporting streak that now has him in the ninth box of the Premier League with 17 units, after fighting the leadership in the first games.
After drawing 1-1 with Burnley on the eleventh date of the championship, Ancelotti’s team, diminished by injuries, was criticized for his poor performance, in which some of them point directly to the Colombian midfielder, who for several matches (since the match against Liverpool), has no major influence on the field of play.
One of the coffee grower’s critics was the former Irish footballer, David Connolly, who accused the creative of being a ‘defensive ballast’, who could become one of those players who started out as stars and who with the passing of the matches left stalling, taking as an example the case of Mesut Özil, an Arsenal player who went from more to less and ended up being relegated from the team.
“The question I have is whether Everton can continue to play with a point guard like James Rodriguez. He has tremendous quality, no one doubts it, but without the ball he doesn’t contribute. There was an article where at the beginning of the season his ability to see the game even while standing was jeopardized, but now I think he’s too stopped and I really think that if I were his right-back I would ask him to do a little more. “Explained the former forward West Ham on ‘GameDay’.
Connolly went on to say, “There is a time when you have to evaluate what a player gives you on offense and defense. You have to know if what a footballer gives you forward is enough so that he does not do anything behind. Right now I have no doubts that the whole team is working for him (James) on defense. “
“He is a player who almost never loses the ball and when he does this happens because thanks to his vision he wants to try impossible passes. I don’t doubt he’s gifted and even though he hasn’t scored or assisted in these games he does a great job leading up to Everton’s goals. “
“He’s standing next to Calvert-Lewin instead of running backwards, that’s where the problem lies. He is not in Real Madrid where he had 60% of the ball and he hardly had to defend, here you have to run the 90 minutes “, he specified.
Finally, the former player threw a strong dart at the Colombian after comparing him with the German Özil, who was losing ground in the ‘gunner’ team due to his little defensive contribution and commitment on the field, among other factors.
“He (James) could probably become Everton’s Mesut Özil. He has undoubted ability, but he’s never going to run backwards, he will only sit down and wait for the ball to return, “he concluded.
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