It is fair to point out that Maxi Rodriguez hasn’t had a great deal of game time over the last month. With the return to fitness of Andy Carroll, and King Kenny’s decision to pair him up front with Luis Suarez in a 4-4-2 formation, it has left Maxi kicking his heels on the bench. Raul Meireles was picked ahead of him on the left hand side in recent matches, but with the injury to Carroll, Maxi was afforded another opportunity from the start, and he duly delivered with his three goal display on Saturday.
Without wanting to rain on his parade, I can’t be the only thinking why we don’t get performances like this from Maxi on a regular basis. Of course, over the last month, he hasn’t had the opportunity to show what he is capable of, but during his 15 months on Merseyside, what has become very apparent it that he can be very inconsistent. Former Red Gary Gillespie somes up my feelings about the Argentine winger quite well:
“He’s a talented individual but sometimes he’s a bit negative and doesn’t use his ability to hurt teams. He’s one of the players who’s established in the squad, but if you’re going to challenge right at the top you need a bit more quality, the likes of Luis Suarez.”
Although a very talented player, Maxi does tend to go hiding in some matches. While in some games he plays very directly and gets into threatening positions in the opposition penalty area, in others, he lacks any real purpose on the ball and doesn’t make the runs into space where he can be hard to mark for opposition defences. I’m not trying to criticise Maxi too harshly here, I am only expressing a frustration that he can’t keep up to his best levels on a consistent basis.
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Maxi is an average player at best. His hattrick should be judged against the fact that Birmingham were thinking of their summer holidays and were not bothered about the result.
Rubbish…. if he was an average player he wouldn’t have become an important part of the Argentine team…hullo.. it’s the Argentine team.. not a Bolivia or a England!!!! What is said by David is right… he’s inconsistent.. that’s why he on the fringes here.
I second you Roy, fans seem to be growing a tendency of finding a player to blame but easily ignore the underlying reasons.
Could it be Maxi is now flourishing like the rest of the team that has picked up in form because of new tactics. If team tactics do not suit the personnel, they will struggle.
Its easy to see that with our new passing game, players like Lucas and Maxi who come from a background that’s more technical than the British hit and run are now flourishing.
The previous managers tended to be rigid and had no place for free flowing football in favour of a determined defence minded approach hoping to hit teams on the break.
A case in point is the struggle of Torres who thrived in this system finding it difficult at a team with a different mindset.
All the other players who had other qualities that did not complement Torres suppressed because the team was built around the former striker. Quite simply put, Suarez is the making of many players in the new look liverpool. He brings everyone into the game because of his skillfull and hardworking game which is why he has always had a great goal assist record. Anyone only need see how freer and complimentary Maxi was with Suarez in the side.
The outlook is certainly exciting and hopefully Barcelona doesnt come sniffing around for Suarez
the king is back and will reform everybody in liverpool including cole
I agree with Gary but Maxi still deserves praise for his hattrick against Birmingham. Maxi is good in possession and is a very good passer of the ball but too often he either passes the ball sideways or backwards. I’m not expecting him to run down the wing and cross the ball as I know he’s not that sort of player but the guy does not offer much to the team. As a winger, he lacks pace, guile and penetration and has nothing to make up for that and I just feel that his best days are behind him. He can be a reliable squad player but if Livepool are going to challenge at the top then you’re going to need more exciting players than Maxi.
Opta, Maxi Rodriguez has created 31 scoring opportunities for team-mates this term, without any of them being netted – the highest such figure in the top flight imagine if we had Suarez
and Carroll at the start of the season if half of them have gone we could be top.
He’s a good player to have in the squad. Versatile and capable of doing a job. I’d have him over Cole. He still has the ability, but the effort needs to be forthcoming from his side.
well said m8
Maxi’s underated he can do a good job as a squad player for us, when Torres was at the club he had a good understanding with him from their time as Ath madrid players. He’s struggled abit since hes left and also with injuries and being played sometimes on the right n sometimes left wings, for me hes better in the middle but obviously we have players in that position, but he can do a decent job out wide and can score goals be it tap ins or world class as he has with Argentina and hes working well with both Suarez and Kuyt so he shouldn’t be given a hard time……YNWA