Welcome to 93.20, a blogspot where I can record my thoughts regarding Manchester City and football in general. It will not be for everyone's liking, with emphasis on stats and figures, but hopefully it will provide an alternative view point compared to most mainstream football blogs/articles.
Most City fans will realise immediately why I have chosen 'Ninety Three Twenty' as the name for the blogspot. If you need reminding, take a look at this..
For my first entry, I have done some research into
Rodwell, in the aim of trying to explain why I think City have signed him.
City have raised a few eyebrows with this signing, nobody saw it coming as both clubs kept it under wraps until everything was finalised.
But was it that surprising? Mancini's first signing at the club was Patrick Viera, at the time that transfer also raised a few eyebrows. For two seasons Bobby used Viera in a holding midfield role, often bringing him on in place of a more attack minded player in the last 20/25 minutes of a match. His role was to slow down the game, retain possession in the middle of the park and generally see the game out.
When Viera retired Mancini again looked for a replacement. In the past 5 or 6 years there has been a real lack of young top-class midfielders, on the market, in the mould of a Makelele/Viera. It became apparent Mancini approached several players such as Van Bommel but a deal was not agreed. Daniel De Rossi's name has constantly been mentioned but again nothing came to fruition. Mancini had to wait until January to address the problem when he signed David Pizzaro on a 6 month loan deal.
Its no wonder Mancini hasn't signed a big name to fill this role as it is obvious this type of player will only be a 'bit-part' player and not a first team regular. Ageing mid-fielders Viera and Pizzaro were short term solutions, but signing Rodwell on a permanent deal has certainly addressed the problem for the long term.
I haven't seen that much of him but the stats are impressive. In terms of the Premier League as a whole, his 'successful tackle rate' is above average (83%), and his 'pass completion' rate (87%) was the highest of all Everton players last season. Last season Rodwell made 43% of passes inside his own half and 65% of his passes were sideways or backwards.
City have raised a few eyebrows with this signing, nobody saw it coming as both clubs kept it under wraps until everything was finalised.
But was it that surprising? Mancini's first signing at the club was Patrick Viera, at the time that transfer also raised a few eyebrows. For two seasons Bobby used Viera in a holding midfield role, often bringing him on in place of a more attack minded player in the last 20/25 minutes of a match. His role was to slow down the game, retain possession in the middle of the park and generally see the game out.
When Viera retired Mancini again looked for a replacement. In the past 5 or 6 years there has been a real lack of young top-class midfielders, on the market, in the mould of a Makelele/Viera. It became apparent Mancini approached several players such as Van Bommel but a deal was not agreed. Daniel De Rossi's name has constantly been mentioned but again nothing came to fruition. Mancini had to wait until January to address the problem when he signed David Pizzaro on a 6 month loan deal.
Its no wonder Mancini hasn't signed a big name to fill this role as it is obvious this type of player will only be a 'bit-part' player and not a first team regular. Ageing mid-fielders Viera and Pizzaro were short term solutions, but signing Rodwell on a permanent deal has certainly addressed the problem for the long term.
I haven't seen that much of him but the stats are impressive. In terms of the Premier League as a whole, his 'successful tackle rate' is above average (83%), and his 'pass completion' rate (87%) was the highest of all Everton players last season. Last season Rodwell made 43% of passes inside his own half and 65% of his passes were sideways or backwards.
A lot have people have Rodwell down as an eventual replacement to Gareth
Barry. I don't think this is the case, Gareth Barry is arguably a deep-lying playmaker,
providing a surprisingly high percentage of 'forward' and
'final-third' passes. Barry created 35 goal scoring chances last season,
Rodwell only 4, although admittedly, his season was plagued by
injury. A lot of fans refer to Barry as a 'crab', these stats prove that this is not the case. I do not believe Rodwell is a replacement for Gareth Barry. Rodwell is a defensive, combative midfielder.
Also Rodwell can play CB, so can provide cover for us at the back too. I
think he is a great signing and when you look into it, not that 'surprising' at
all.
Don't be surprised to see us sign another player before the end of the
transfer window.
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