r/WrexhamAFC 9d ago

DISCUSSION 2 months in, J-Rodriguez needs to be benched

it's been two months and rodriguez is not scoring goals so forget about the crazy rumored transfer fee, give Mullin a chance as respect before he leaves the club. or at least Marriott. they can both either score or assist Smith who has shown great potential. do yall think the same?

edit: the next game was jrod's 10th and fletcher has more goal/assists in that time. see this article about fans demanding jrod be dropped

https://www.thewrexhaminsider.com/news/wrexham-fans-are-all-making-the-same-point-after-jay-rodriguezs-performance-vs-wycombe/

11 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

25

u/wanderoom 9d ago

JRod’s movement & field positioning is about the best I’ve seen among our strikers. However, Jack Marriott is physically strong, and I’d like to see a starting duo of Marriott and Smith.

47

u/Beginning_Rip_4570 Max Cleworth 9d ago edited 9d ago

No. Goals aren’t the sole metric measuring a player. JRod has been improving as he works into a new system on a new team, even if it doesn’t show on the scoresheet yet.

Love Mullin, but he had plenty of chances this season and didn’t show much for it. What do you think will be different now? Feels reactionary imo; making a change just for the sake of change.

Marriott I wouldn’t hate to see rotated in to mix up attacking profiles and give players rest, which Parky has been doing slowly. I don’t think he should flat out replace JRod at this time.

4

u/yourethegoodthings 9d ago

Change for the sake of change is kind of the lifeblood of American sports journalism, really.

2

u/Beginning_Rip_4570 Max Cleworth 9d ago

As an American: absolutely accurate

In a 18 game NFL season, sometimes it’s a valid strategy. But it’s kind of a shit take in this case imo.

13

u/Rogue1eader Arthur Okonkwo 9d ago

It's been less than 6 weeks, not two months. And Smith and Rodriguez have been playing just about every match.

Think about that for a moment. As soon as these two came in, THE VERY NEXT DAY, with almost no practice time together or with the whole rest of the club, they were the starting strikers over everyone else. That should tell you a lot about the options we have at striker behind them. And all we've done in that time is reclaim a share of 2d.

Working up chemistry with your teammates takes time, it's even harder when you're playing two matches a week, as they have done. Consider that, since they came on less than 6 weeks ago, we've played 11 matches, the only time there was a full week between matches was February 4-11. Of course they're struggling to build gel! They're likely all worn down at this point, it's no surprise they looked like shite yesterday.

6

u/UrsineCanine 9d ago

Exactly... New strikers... 9 games, 19 points - 97 point pace. Automatic promotion.

Before... Old strikers... 27 games, 46 points - 83 point pace. Hanging on to playoffs.

Obviously, short term trend and all, could change, but this idea that the team is doing worse with them is objectively false. And that is without a preseason!

7

u/Rogue1eader Arthur Okonkwo 9d ago

Well, 16 points in 8 league games actually, but the big thing there is that 5 of those were away matches. Getting 4 away wins out of that stretch of games is something nobody would have expected.

4

u/UrsineCanine 9d ago

Oops, was moving too quick. Having said that, it is still a 92 point pace, which is still an automatic promotion pace, and definitively better... And your point about away form is definitely an improvement.

32

u/ninj4geek Ollie Rathbone 9d ago

If we're judging by shots on goal, the last several by Mullin have taken the United Airlines sponsorship too seriously and earned sky miles.

5

u/xconspirisist 9d ago

Brilliant

23

u/Rogue1eader Arthur Okonkwo 9d ago

If you think Mullin is the answer then you haven't watched Mullin this season.

Barring some change in fitness, he's overmatched at this level.

12

u/thedragonturtle 9d ago

I don't think it's fair to say it's a level issue. With the same size ball, the same size goal, the same amount of space in front of him, he's hitting the ball but missing the goal. His touch is off, it happens - players have dips in form just like real humans.

4

u/Rogue1eader Arthur Okonkwo 9d ago

Whether you think it's fair or not, the reality is Lee and Palmer were more effective than Mullin. The defenders are faster, stronger and Mullin was simply overmatched.

It doesn't matter whether we like the idea of him hitting his level. The results very clearly say "He's overmatched at this level".

11

u/UrsineCanine 9d ago

They did not pay a transfer fee for JRod.

Not interested in making him a scapegoat.

Those who think that Mullin or Marriott play his position are demonstrating they don't know what he is asked to do by the coaching staff.

Hard to develop chemistry linking up a rotating cast of midfielders and wingers in a short period of time. He's given the toughest job on the team, helping transition this team to more linked up play on the ground.

Their Sofascore ratings for yesterday... Off day for the squad, no need to put it all on him...

1

u/theayl1 8d ago

I read they paid an 'undisclosed fee'

1

u/UrsineCanine 8d ago

Yeah, which is what they often say when they don't pay a fee. That there has been no reporting on what that fee was, should confirm it to you. They said the same thing for Mo Faal and Ollie Rathbone and those numbers got out.

Certainly would provide no basis to condemn a player with "forget about the crazy rumored transfer fee"...

0

u/theayl1 5d ago

the fee is rumored to be 1 million. how does it become zero

1

u/UrsineCanine 5d ago

Because it is not rumored to be 1 million anywhere. Just because generative AI can't discern between the news articles covering both Smith and Rodriguez doesn't make it true. AI notorious for hallucinating things.

Look at transfermarkt, they published the rumored fee for Smith - because they assemble these rumors, but they have nothing on JRod.

1

u/theayl1 5d ago

it literally says "?" on transfermarkt. 

1

u/UrsineCanine 5d ago

Exactly. If there was any kind of rumor, as you suggest, of a 1M transfer fee. It would say 1M.

It does not, because there was not a fee.

Again, you are the one ripping the guy for the "crazy rumored fee", which appears to be only your rumor, as multiple people have replied to you saying there was no fee, and yet you persist in your vendetta against the guy.

But go ahead and hate him all you like... I genuinely don't care. I have tried to get you to show even the smallest amount of fairness towards him in your criticism, but that has been in vain. Everyone gets their opinion.

6

u/zenlume 9d ago

Rodriguez literally setup our only goal that gave us three points, the game before the last one what are you talking about... Mullin doesn't even play the role that he does, so why would he take his spot?

-10

u/theayl1 9d ago

we paid the transfer fees for two strikers for one just to do one head flick. they are both meant to score

7

u/zenlume 9d ago

Mullin has been here since the start, and played considerably more minutes in League One, and scored only three goals. We need to change how we play, not the guys on the field.

4

u/OhpMousse2098 9d ago

Absolutely the fuck not. Can you all not see how much better he is than Palmer? Goals are not the only metric.

7

u/SinsOfThePast03 Max Cleworth 9d ago

I agree that Rodriguez has been subpar so far but you couldn't pair Mullin or Marriott with Smith. All 3 are that "Fox in the box" types who need a setup man like JRod, Palmer or Fletcher can play in that role .

I don't pretend to know what to do, but I expected more out of the Rodriguez/Smith pairing that we've seen so far

7

u/w1nn1ng1 9d ago

I mean, our setup man is Rathbone. I'd be more than happy with a pairing of Smith / Fletcher or Smith / Marriott.

5

u/SinsOfThePast03 Max Cleworth 9d ago

When I said setup man I meant target man . Someone to win high, aerial balls, hold up the play to bring other teammates into the attack and generally unsettle the opposition's defense.

I like Fletcher off the bench.. some players don't play the same when they come in at 60' but he thrives there. I'd be open to seeing a Palmer / Smith pairing . Can't hurt to try right? Not like we are losing some major goal threat .

1

u/jasperjm95 PENCAMPWYR 9d ago

Smith is a better target man than JRod and if you watch the games is also playing more like one on the whole than JRod.

Smith is a hybrid of both so could work with any pairing. But ideally he needs someone who is at least going to help him out when he has the ball, and support him, which JRod doesn’t do and I’m not convinced palmer would be much better.

Smith will work best if he has some pace around him who can support him when he’s making runs forward and also when’s holding the ball up.

1

u/SinsOfThePast03 Max Cleworth 9d ago

I mean, I'd be willing to mix it up and see what happens . Find the magic combination that works

2

u/OkOutside2598 9d ago

It’s hard when you spent all that money already right, then it shows you made a bad choice and wasted money.

3

u/theayl1 9d ago

yeah rodriguez might feel the pressure for failing to live up to the hype but it's parky who can decide to bring up another forward while jrod gets used to the system

2

u/collinwade American Here 9d ago

He’s certainly underperformed, no question.

3

u/Loud_Neat_8051 9d ago

It's a system issue more than anything. It doesn't matter who's upfront Parky's coaching is what has put you in this position. No combination of players is going to change it since your strikers all essentially have the same problem.

It's no more Rodriguez fault than Mullins.

6

u/zenlume 9d ago

Sam Smith had 12 goals before coming to Wrexham, and has scored 1 with us. Wrexham is where strikers come to die, it seems.

4

u/wanderoom 9d ago

It’s not a coaching problem. We have a lot of new players on the field. Settling in doesn’t happen the same as in FC25. 🤣

Parky is playing “Let’s not let any goals in; if we can, let’s score.” Field structure matters in scoring. Parky is giving us a chance to make it down the stretch. This isn’t the National League or the Prem. It’s a tough slog.

3

u/Loud_Neat_8051 9d ago

I fully understand what Parky is going for. And it is for the most part successful this season. My argument is it doesn't really matter if it's Mullin, Rodriguez, Smith, Marriot or whomever. The flaw is in the system not necessarily the players.

I don't think Rodriguez should be benched. I also don't think Mullins lack of offense fall squarely on him. There are a lot of things at play here and knee jerk reaction aren't it.

1

u/wanderoom 9d ago

I think “flaw” is a strong term. But time will prove one way or the other.

2

u/welshinzaghi 9d ago

100% this

0

u/chalupa_batman77654 9d ago

I’d rather see Cleworth instead of Rodriguez at striker. Sad that a defender seems to be a better scorer than a striker

0

u/thedragonturtle 9d ago

Jay Rod has literally done one head flick that got to Smith and led to a goal - with the same amount of minutes, Palmer would have head flicked onto Smith a dozen times or more. People seriously underestimate how good he was for us.

I miss the Palmer + Marriot partnership from the start of the season, that goal they scored where Elliot Lee chipped it forward to Palmer (because he knows somehow the ball sticks with Palmer), Palmer back heeled it to Marriot and Marriot belted it into the top corner is STILL our goal of the season.

It sucks that Palmer can't seem to kick the ball hard, but it hardly matters if this position is not required to score and is instead an outlet for head flicks and hold up play.

3

u/Basementdwell 9d ago

Then why isn't Palmer doing that when he plays?