Rodwell

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I thought individually he was pretty good with some solid moves. But he was completely lost in our style of play and was constantly on someones way. That will improve over time though.

[mr_nool]

He looks perfect as an understudy to Barry. He's got more pace, though, so if he learns to read the game as well as his (possible) mentor, he has every chance to become an even better player. It's a big if, though, since Barry is fantastic at reading the game and positioning himself right.

[Offerton blue]

He looks perfect as an understudy to Barry. He's got more pace, though, so if he learns to read the game as well as his (possible) mentor, he has every chance to become an even better player. It's a big if, though, since Barry is fantastic at reading the game and positioning himself right.

De Jong is better and would of broke play up better

[ashton287]

Did he set them on their way for their second?

Problem is everyone else especially silva and yaya were pretty shit so he looked like he fit right in.

[Dameerto]

Did he set them on their way for their second?

Problem is everyone else especially silva and yaya were pretty shit so he looked like he fit right in.

Yep, misstimed his attempted pass and their player nipped in for an interception. Probably a product of his lack of matchtime in recent months.

[Moonchesteri]

I thought individually he was pretty good with some solid moves. But he was completely lost in our style of play and was constantly on someones way. That will improve over time though.

I mentioned in the match day thread tthat I was surprised to see him in the line-up and that was possibly the biggest reason, knowing how determined Bobby is to make sure our team's shape is spot on all the time and all. The QPR home game would've imo been the perfect game for him to make his debut. (apart from possible cameo in this game and/or at Liverpool). That way he would've had few weeks to train with the lads, get to know our playing system AND it would have been an 'easy' game to bed him in.

I said earlier that I'll reserve my judgement until the end of the game. not fair but I would've given him more shit had we not won. this time he got away with that but at this level you can't afford to do those.
apart from the mistake, or actually until the mistake, I thought he did really well. kept it simple, spread it around and didn't panic with the ball. if he starts against QPR in couple of weeks time I'm expecting even better performance from him already as he's more used to the lads and our system and hopefully he'l have more confidence.
he will benefit so much for having to opportunity to play and train with the likes of Barry, Yaya and de Jong if he stays.

[PeterParker]

I am sorry but you can"t make that type of mistake at this level in front of fucking Southampton. His first half was ok, but the second was horrible. He had only one duty, to stop them in the middle and he failed. He should had been confident, not so afraid.

He is young, i am not judging, but we are not Everton.

[Moonchesteri]

I am sorry but you can"t make that type of mistake at this level in front of fucking Southampton. His first half was ok, but the second was horrible. He had only one duty, to stop them in the middle and he failed. He should had been confident, not so afraid.

He is young, i am not judging, but we are not Everton.

Of course he shoudn't. but World Champion and European Champion David Silva shouldn't missplace countless of simple passes either should he? same goes for Yaya who is possibly our most important player.
it was a bad mistake in a bad place, allowing them to counterattack and score but I seem to remember certain Vincent Kompany making the mess of an 'easy' ball in last season's Community shield match. similar comeback from silly mistake would be fine by me.

[PeterParker]

I am sorry but you can"t make that type of mistake at this level in front of fucking Southampton. His first half was ok, but the second was horrible. He had only one duty, to stop them in the middle and he failed. He should had been confident, not so afraid.

He is young, i am not judging, but we are not Everton.

Of course he shoudn't. but World Champion and European Champion David Silva shouldn't missplace countless of simple passes either should he? same goes for Yaya who is possibly our most important player.
it was a bad mistake in a bad place, allowing them to counterattack and score but I seem to remember certain Vincent Kompany making the mess of an 'easy' ball in last season's Community shield match. similar comeback from silly mistake would be fine by me.

I won't judge him for their goal, that happens, Vinnie cost us a Community shield, Lesco almost a title. I would judge him on his duty and that is stopping them. Nige or Paddy wouldn't have done that, but hei, he is young, he should deliver sooner or later.

My worries are on Bobby. Imagine a player you didn't want will do a mistake like this when it really mathers. On the positive side, this performance will increase the pressure that Bob will put on the board for bringing de Rossi.

[Mase]

Yaya had the worst game of his City career.
Now is not the time to judge Rodwell.
Today he showed for the ball and didn't shy away like some of them.

[Nickyboy]

He had a decent game, the misplaced pass was almost in the final third, that happens. There were at least 4 chances to stop their goal after that bad pass. We defended awfully all second half.

I think when Barry is fit he will be his understudy and I saw enough today to suggest that he will improve and be Barry's eventual replacement.

I like the way we are thinking about the future.

[Spurge]

I am sorry but you can"t make that type of mistake at this level in front of fucking Southampton. His first half was ok, but the second was horrible. He had only one duty, to stop them in the middle and he failed. He should had been confident, not so afraid.

He is young, i am not judging, but we are not Everton.

Ok, how many players in any game give the ball away at some stage? Answer - everyone

How many midfielders give the ball away deep in the oppo's half? Answer - plenty

How many are punished in the same manners as Rodwell's? Answer - hardly any

On this rare occassion we were punished, but why had we comitted so many players forward? We were naive defensively today, not just by over comitting on this particular play but defended like strangers for much of the match, but particulalry once we had gone 3-2 up.

To be honest winning in this fashion so early may hold us in better stead than if we had have won 5-0, as we will learn from this and have to pay all treams respect and can iron out any creases asap.

[Feed The Goat]

I thought he only made 1 mistake not a bad debut

[Nigels Tackle]

zabba's attempt to track back after the rodwell mistake was horrible. an insult to a jog. wasn't impressed

[Swales4ever]

zabba's attempt to track back after the rodwell mistake was horrible. an insult to a jog. wasn't impressed

Yeah, I too saw Zabba as the main "culprit" / less reactive in both the actions of conceded goals.

I stand by my comment on the Match thread at HF: Rodwell is a (raw) champion in the making.
a giveaway may happen to everyone in a moment.

[mr_nool]

He looks perfect as an understudy to Barry. He's got more pace, though, so if he learns to read the game as well as his (possible) mentor, he has every chance to become an even better player. It's a big if, though, since Barry is fantastic at reading the game and positioning himself right.

De Jong is better and would of broke play up better

Better than Barry or Rodwell? I think de Jong is a fabulous player, but Rodwell has the potential to become more of a two way player like Barry (or perhaps like Barry used to be).

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Leave Rodders alone. He's young and talented and today made a mistake that just happened to lead to a goal soon after.

He didn't do any better or worse than Nigel would have done imo.He will need a little time to settle,get used the way we play,the movements of the class players around him and what is expected of him from the manager.Not a problem.

[Grob]

Did well for his debut I thought. Has far more to his game than De Jong and he's a powerfull pressence.

Clearly he's very new to this kind of football so it will take him a while to get fully up to speed.

Whilst his poor pass for their second goal was a clanger, i thought the half hearted tackle from Clichy in the build up was as much of an issue. Infact their were half hearted tackles from all the back 4 today.

I did think some of our defensive nervousness may have had something to do with him but on reflection, I think the defensive issues were all down to Vinny being uncharacteristically awful.

Decent start for Rodwell though, hopefully he'll grow into a fine all round midfield player in the coming months.

[ronk]

Rodwell could easily end up on the pitch at the same time as Barry and/or de Jong.

I think we'll see a little more rotation this year to keep players fresh, especially as we have the CL too.

[Lev Bronstein]

It isn't so much the mistake he made, it's does he keep making the same mistake (Savic)? Plus. does his head drop afterwards?

If the answer to both is no, then we might have a good un.