It looked like at Sunderland, he was the man whom sat in the centre of the park and did it all. It looked like he was quite the pivotal axis of that side. As you come up the grades, unless you are a supreme talent like Ronaldo, sides generally are not built around you. You have to fit into a role and that may not necessarily be the role you want to play or you think you are best at (and in some cases a role that does not suit your skill set) but you have to play that role. In the case of the Phoenix and our 3 import midfielders, it looked like Roly would be the defensive one and A-Rod would be the attacking one. Its reversed and I don't think I want to know what it would have been like if it was reversed be cause at the moment, it works. We saw a bit of A-Rod higher up in the FU tour and he can play that higher position. Today, in this team, he is needed in the engine room and does a good job. Tomorrow, he may be needed to sit higher up.
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You have Pele and Maradonna up front. You drag one cause you need to make a sub. Does that mean they are shit footballers? A-Rod does get dragged early but in terms of the 3, Riera and Roly are producing more. That's not to say he is not producing (and the stats back it up to say far from it) but do you take those other 2 off over him? Some days, he may have a blinder and you drag Roly before him, but invariably, measured against the other 2, he is probably going to get pulled first. Looking around the team, do you drag your two CBs? e don;t have much FB cover. He seems to be the logical choice
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A-Rod is still 20 and his experience is youth football with massive raps about his potential and about to crack 1st team. So far, I have not seen anything to suggest that is inaccurate and he is doing a good job in there.
(Chrome really does not like paragraphing)