Slowly but surely Jay Rodrigues has been making his mark at Southampton Football Club.
When Jay Rodrigues joined Saints from Burnley there was a feeling of disapointment from some supporters, on our return to the Premier they perhaps expected a big name signing, instead our first foray into the transfer market was to sign a striker who although had a reasonable reputation didnt have a great one.
Initially it was thought that he might struggle to get a game, after all surely Billy Sharpe or Tadanari Lee would partner Rickie Lambert up front, well the first shock in that scenario was that despite being top heavy on forwards, Saints now intended to play only one up front and from that point of view it was clear that Rodriguez being a target man, had been signed not as Lambert's partner but as his replacement, that was perhaps confirmed when it was Rodriguez who started at Man City but then again so did Guly.
There was only one flaw in the plan to replace Lambert with Rodriguez and that was that the man dubbed Super Rickie Lambert was out to prove he was a Premier class striker and he did so with some style, this sadly left some fans resenting Rodriguez, who often found himself being played out of position out wide rather than through the centre as is his favoured role, but what he did was get on with the job, not complain and the end result so far is that he has made a significant contribution to Saints season.
His goal against Liverpool was only his fourth, but it is a contender for the goal of the season and showed what he can do, but his game has more than that , only Lambert himself has more assists in the league with 8 as opposed to Jay Rod's 7.
If the stats on the Saints official site are to be believed (Im not sure they can be as they seem to imply that we have only had 8 shots off target all season) Rodriguez has had 31 shots, all on target not that many short of Lambert's 38 in total with 35 on.
But whatever the stats Rodriguez has played through a tough season and not really got the recognition, so why is he still an unknown pleasure to many ?
The simple answers are that firstly too many people cannot accept that he is there to replace Rickie Lambert, a large chunk of the supporter base will only accept Lambert playing in every game and wont even consider why that in some games Rodriguez is the better bet than Lambert as the lone striker, an example of that was the trip to Chelsea, Rodriguez offered pace and mobility up front that Lambert couldnt, as Chelsea took us to the cleaners in the first half, Rodriguez covered a lot of ground and stopped Chelsea playing from the back, in the second half when Chelsea had blown themselves out, swap him for Lambert and the rest as they say is history in that game, but what that was was good tactics rather than a poor selection, if Rickie had had to play that first half there is a good chance that he would have been too ttired in the second to get that yard ahead and score the goal, this is the premier league not the school playground, you cant keep playing players each and every week in the same pattern, you have to have some squad rotation, otherwise not only do other teams suss out your tactics and how to stop you playing too easily, but the squad players get restless and lack match sharpness.
Secondly so far Jay Rod hasnt had too many opportunities to shine, when he has played up front he has, like the Chelsea game had to play in a side under the cosh, had to use all his energy in chasing down the back four and more to the point has had little service, its a credit too him that he can play out of position and be so effective and thats shown in his assists.
So Saints fans have to get used to a couple of things, firstly they have to realise that Rickie cant go on for ever, its not Jay Rodriguez fault that he is the man bought to replace a legend, surely its good management to sign a players replacement before he gets over the top, after all there were many that wondered whether Rickie could cut it in the Championship, at the start of this season his ability in the Premier was an unknown quantity, we had to have that cover, secondly they have to get behind Rodriguez whatever position he is playing, recent games have shown he has undouted ability to play at this level and competition can only be good, it has certainly stirred on both players so far this season, there is only one thing certain in football for a player though and that is eventually age will catch up and your powers will wain.
That being the case Saints are only doing now what they have done throughout the past five decades starting with Ted Bates and that is making sure you have cover for your centre forward to replace him when neccessary, Saints could get top dollar for Martin Chivers back in the 60's and not suffer because of the loss because they had Mick Channon coming through and that conveyor belt has continued on since then.
So lets appreciate just what Jay Rod has done for this team this season, he more than anyone has had to play out of position, he has come on as sub the most times (10 jointly with Steven Davis) he hasnt had the luxury of making a position truly his own yet, but when he does he might just become a Saints legend as did Mick Channon and many of those other replacements over the years who suffered initially because of the man they were replacing.