Rodrygo: Patiently wait for the opportunity
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At Real Madrid – the team where Carlo Ancelotti is the head coach, Rodrygo Goes is suffering from one thing. There is almost no other solution to this problem than waiting patiently. And it is pushing the Brazilian player’s psychology into a state of confusion.
Rodrygo is having to endure patiently at Real Madrid
At the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium at the end of last May, Rodrygo became the brightest star of the match between Sevilla and Real Madrid. The 22-year-old player was assigned by Ancelotti to start as a center forward, instead of his natural position as a wing striker due to Karim Benzema’s injury.
As a result, Rodrygo shined with a double and directly helped Los Blancos win a close 2-1 victory. Witnessing the 10-point performance of his student wearing shirt number 21, the Italian coach immediately showed his excitement and excitement in the press conference room after the match.
“I think Rodrygo can absolutely play in the slot even though he has the skills to play in other positions. If you dribble in the middle, scoring will become easier than if you stick to the edge,” Ancelotti said.
“If you have a quality striker like Rodrygo, your team will have more chances to win. Obviously, he appears weak when competing for high balls (only 1m74 tall), but Rodrygo is completely capable of taking on this role.”
At that time, Real Madrid was preparing to say goodbye to both number 9s, Benzema and Mariano Diaz. With what he has shown, Rodrygo is one of the factors expected to be able to partly fill the huge void left by the superstar who has now moved to Al Ittihad.
The actual spearhead position is not too strange for players born in 2001. According to Transfermarkt, Rodrygo has played this position 30 times to date, scoring 8 goals and providing 2 assists.
When the 2023/24 season officially starts, Real Madrid’s new number 11 continues to be used by Ancelotti as a striker relatively regularly. Right in the opening round on August 13, Rodrygo got off to a pretty good start with one shot against Athletic Bilbao.
However, after 10 appearances (786 minutes of play), the player being valued at 100 million euros by Transfermarkt has only had 1 “shot” and 1 successful pass.
If considering only in La Liga, with 31 shots taken, Rodrygo and Luis Javier Suarez of Almeria are the two players with the most shots in the entire tournament. The conversion rate of opportunities into goals of former star Santos is extremely low, only 3.35%.
Jude Bellingham – who is leading the top scorer list – has only taken 21 shots, far less than Rodrygo’s 31. It can be easily seen that the player born in 2001 is playing very ineffectively and he does not feel comfortable at all when having to play in the spearhead position. That’s what Rodrygo admitted in a recent interview.
“As a player, being able to play in many different positions is a strong point. Now, when I join the national team, I have more freedom to move. This helps me express more,” the 22-year-old striker said. age of disclosure.
“Personally, I have always played best when used on the wing. I just don’t like having to play like a true striker, but this is the position I have to play at Real Madrid.”
In the last two matches in La Liga (defeating Osasuna 4-0 in round 9 and winning 3-0 against Girona at Montilivi away field in round 8), Ancelotti did not name Rodrygo in Real Madrid’s starting lineup. Instead, the Italian strategist placed his trust in Joselu and Vinicius Junior.
Responding to Ancelotti’s trust, the duo together scored 3 goals and had 1 assist. If the performance of the three players above does not change, it is likely that Rodrygo will have to sit on the bench more this season.
What is the cause?
In previous seasons, when Bellingham was still on Borussia Dortmund’s payroll, Ancelotti mainly used the 4-3-3 scheme for Real Madrid. This system has enough space for a player whose preferred position is wing striker like Rodrygo.
However, the 64-year-old captain changed to a 4-3-1-2 formation after the arrival of Bellingham and the departure of Benzema. This system does not have a wing striker position and Rodrygo is forced to play against his strengths if he wants to be put on the field by Ancelotti.
In fact, at least in theory, the former AC Milan coach can still maintain the 4-3-3 framework this season. Because in the last summer transfer window, in addition to buying Bellingham, Real Madrid also successfully borrowed Joselu.
Rodrygo will continue to suffer because there is no other way
In early July, the Brazilian football federation – CBF officially announced that the former Bayern Munich captain will sit in the hot seat of the country’s national team after the 2023/24 season ends.
President Florentino Perez’s club is also looking for replacements for Ancelotti. According to many sources, the list of candidates now includes: Xabi Alonso (considered the strongest candidate), Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Gonzalez.
All three coaches mentioned above prefer to use Rodrygo’s preferred wing position. According to Transfermarkt; Alonso often uses 3-4-3, 4-2-3-1 is Raul’s top choice and 4-3-3 is Arbeloa’s “closet” scheme.
However, this is a story of the future. At the present time, Rodrygo will likely have a season that is not really successful on a personal level. However, that is not a serious concern. Because the 22-year-old player is still very young and has a lot of time to regain his form.