 Wel, yn y toffi TV, we are going to have a chat about this fella. Hamers, Rod Rhaegers. In the news again, obviously back training now. Being out with the calf injury, back training again. Looks like fingers crossed he's going to be fit for evidence next game at home against Crystal Palace. But while he's being out there's been a lot of talk amongst editonians but also other people who've got involved. He's been on our show. Made a claim last week that everything is actually better with how Hamers, Rod Rhaegers in the team. So I thought we'd have a little chat and a little look at are everything really better with how Hamers, Rod Rhaegers in the team or how much better are we with him in the shed? Which straight off the top of my head is we're better with him in the team. That's my thing with my eyes. We're not looking any deeper than that. What about you? Considerably better. Which he must be watching matches through binochelers from Qatar if he can't see. I think some people have this impression of not only Hamers, Rod Rhaegers but people like Ham players like Hamers, Rod Rhaegers, that they are fake out now niggas, let's just say. Summer time players, as soon as they get a bit cold they go and disappear. That's been floating around the Premier League for 20 odd years that kind of thing. It's been dismissed so many times by so many players. It's ridiculous. What we have on our hands is a player who is an outstanding talent, probably one of the best players that Everton fans have ever seen on TV. I don't know whether we'll be able to fully appreciate him till we are back in the stadiums, but he certainly is one of the best talents that we've witnessed. So to even consider that, for people to say he's better, because people don't think he does things, people don't think he runs, people don't think he tackles, people don't think he does enough. So my fact is we've got a player that I believe, and I think probably you believe as well, that if he was anywhere near a level of consistent fitness that he would not be at a club like Heaven. And that's sometimes just the way it falls. It's sometimes there's a place you've got to get into the club to, you know, sometimes when you're trying to change things up, sometimes when you're trying to cause an evolution or even a revolution at your club, you have to buy into bringing a masonry to your club or someone who's maybe past their best, whether it be technically or just because of fitness. And that's what we have with Hamilton and Eagis and we have to... Not a masonry, somebody. Certainly not a masonry, you know, we know he's not a masonry. But you know, I think Batman City, when he bought, like, Rabinial, people like that, sometimes you have to... It's a name to pull people and go, oh, and we know we've done all this, we've been through all this. But I think what we've been through will show that he is, you know, certainly worth his weight in maybe not gold, but, you know, another precious, another precious metal. I think the thing as well just before we get into it is that we knew when we were getting him that his injuries, you know, he's played more this season than he's played in his last three seasons. So we know that injuries are a problem for him. You're absolutely right. Had he been fully fit, he'd probably still be playing for Real Madrid. That's the way it is. He wouldn't be at everything football club. And the other side to that is, you know, how is this fella ever going to be as good as he is on Call of Duty if he hasn't got just a little bit of downtime? Do you know what I mean? But that's one of the things that I was never seeing, like, fans, like, when we've done videos or we've spoken about him in our new shows or whatever people are like, I was deciding to come back from his holiday. And the lads got injured. Where would he have gone on holiday, by the way? I get that if I'd seen pictures of him, you know, on a beach somewhere. But this is a fella who can't even fly back to Colombia to play international games at the moment. So... It's his injuries that have been a problem, but we wouldn't have got him for nothing had he not had the injury. And listen, what I would say is that our question marks about his injuries in terms of does he look after himself? That's come from the culture. As he's got his diet, you know, does his diet play a part in recovery and all these kinds of things? We can't answer those questions. Simple as that. We can't answer those questions. Now, they could play a part in maybe his recovery, but it's not something new. And listen, the manager loves him. He loves the manager. He said it like a father and someone. He read that just this weekend. He said he's quite happy at Everton. Integrated really well. He fits in in the Premier League. For me, it's just a simple fact of... I think when you don't have a player who can step up and take the place of someone else, then that hole becomes more gaping. He's our biggest star, and I think it's noticeable when we haven't got him. Definitely. And he's back, hopefully, for the final second. And that means that they've got a better chance of finishing where they want to finish because he's in the side. Let's have a look at the games that he's played so far for Everton. He's played 21 times this season. He's got five goals and eight assists. Passing accuracy, 87%. He's got 21 key passes. Started 16. This is in the Premier League. Seven wins, four draws and five defeats in the games he started, with two clean sheets. And the Premier League goals in that time, 27 Premier League goals he hasn't scored in those games he hasn't started. He's scored five FA Cup goals with him and four Carabao Cup goals with him. And we're going to have a look now without him. So I haven't played ten Premier League games without him in the squad. One, seven, three defeats, no draws, but I've had five clean sheets in that time. He scored 13 goals without him so clearly we scored less when he's not on the side. Same amount in the FA Cup 10 and eight in the Carabao Cup. Basically they were the first two games against Salford. So just straight off the numbers when you look there. Seven wins with him, seven wins with Aram. More clean sheets without him but that also coincided with Eius having to stop letting goals in for fun and be a time when he was injured and the man had decided obviously we lost Leucadine as well so we went to having four centre backs playing at the back so naturally we became tighter. And he's come back and he played up front with Guilfee at Wolves when we played that system. He was instrumental at Amfield in playing the last game he actually played for us was at Amfield. When he got us going with that really assist for the challenge and so when you look at it that way for me, the creativity side, the goals side you're all for me, 27 with him in the side and just 30 without him and we have found it difficult to score goals when he's not in the side. It's a definite, you can see by the numbers there's a definite lack of goals but also there's a defence, we looked at better defence of him but I just think that's more of a mentality thing of when he's not in the team we shift to having a more defensive unit straight away. Because we know what kind of game we're going to be playing and don't forget we played games like Leeds where we purposely left them on the side because we knew we were going to play a system like that and you can understand that. That's tactical. That's where the manager makes the tactical decision to say you know what tonight isn't your game. We play Saturday, we play Wednesday, we play Saturday, whatever it is and we know what we're up against tonight and we can do with leaving you on the bench. So I can fully understand that. You have that but that's not his fault as a player. That's to do with the tactics of how we work as a team and how we haven't got other players around them. We've said from day one, literally day one when we watched them and we've seen how important Seamus Cormor was going on the outside of them. We've not had that and we know we sort of seen it and we've seen it and we've seen it and we know we sort of seen the dwindle and sort of seeing the pressure that was putting on Seamus Cormor because he wasn't coming back. I remember Liverpool exploited that straight away when we played them in the derby. They were the first real team to exploit that and then when we played Southampton and he clearly wasn't fit because of what had happened in the derby there was no Seamus Cormor and they were attacking Ben Goffley straight away so you can understand that if you've got better players, if you've got more mobile midfielders, if you've got a right back that's putting pressure on the opposition but certainly on the offensive side of things it's clear as day we don't create the kind of opportunities that we create when he's in the side because I think when he's in the side and he's fit because you can definitely tell the difference when he's not on it is that people pay attention to him people look at him as a major threat and the way he drifts around the pitch he gives the opposition a real problem they don't know where to track him they don't know who's going to follow him into the centre because really he's been playing off the right but he's a number 10 and that does cause a problem if you haven't got a right back who's going to keep going forward and a midfielder who's going to come over we did the Decorey video when we looked at how much Decorey was having to go over to the right hand side if you have good players and you put them in the team and the more good players the better your team is going to be obviously I think that's what that shows anyway yeah definitely scoring goals, creating goals there's been a huge drop off in some games we've looked all over the place he played at United and Liverpool which is two tough places we've got five goals in those two games we wasn't on the pitch and he scored the third at United and the second at Liverpool but he'd scored an old track and created a ramp field I think a game full of my way shows the kind of influence he can have on a game where he doesn't directly assist but he's pulling the strings in the middle of the park and he's getting the full backs wide the wobby did really well that day on the right hand side Dean did really well on the left hand side and the way he manipulated and drew people in he would really clip you look at some of the passes he played that day over the top some of those balls that he can create go back to the West Brom game the ball he played over the top with Charleston Squares at Dominic Armelun got a tapping and we've seen Dominic Armelun doesn't look as effective when he's not in the side because I think it allows us to get the ball into areas where he likes them creating the crosses and things like that so I think that's been for me pretty of it we create more chances when he's in the team it's as simple as that people have level things he doesn't work hard he doesn't tackle or do this but his tackle is actually at 1.4 a game which is what some defensive material players I know it's about pressing but he does put the tackles in when he's in it it's a heat map for people who don't think he works hard it's a heat map he just pops up all over the pitch predominantly over on the right hand side because that's where he started but you can see there he's everywhere he's literally everywhere all over the pitch and that's been really important and going on to what you were just saying he does play off the right but he goes in to that pocket there that's the shaded area that he likes to drop into and what we found when he goes in today like you said before it's been really difficult for teams to stop him and we're hindered we're hindered like you said because we haven't had a shame as Coleman and this is what ideally Hamis Rodriguez would want is dropping into that pocket of space off Dominic Alvelew and if we had I know we've got Mason Holgate there because he's been there but if we had Max Arans we've been linked with he would attack that space Luca Dean likes to attack that shaded area on the other side which means that the whole pitch would be out it opens up the pitch and then like you just said if you've got mobile you've got mobile centre back centre midfielders you can get around the pitch and this is something we saw we've been used to for years when we had Dean on the left Bains on the left sorry and we had James Coleman on the right and how same when we had Roberto Mane and you had the midfielders dropping in and taking the space because if they know if you know a fullback is going to go it does open that space and I just think how much space would Hamis Rodriguez have in the pitch if suddenly he's got someone who can get up and down that right hand side all day do you know what I mean? Definitely he's in there he drops into that pocket he's looking around for that pass on behind him it's just not that area in the pitch but also you need a decoy run you need a player who can go wide for him so that takes the defenders with him opens up that space and he's got an option I think you can say that about a Wobie as well a Wobie likes to just get into that pocket of space not having a mobile right back it can't be overstated and another centre midfield I think with the midfielders we've got we actually could get away with it that right back position I just can't it's just so crucial we can't go forward having a static right back it's not going to work and we've seen that how it's hinders us with everybody playing the right hand side and I think if you've got someone like him you've got to get pace around them you've got to because you know he slows it down to what he wants it to be but if you've got pace around them it's crucial we're not exploiting it this game would go up another level for us if suddenly you've got pace around them and run us isn't it? another option we're going to look at now the games where he's played we just talked about coming off the right table there's the 21 games 13 times he's been in that right forward position he's played 4 at number 10 2 attack on my field has been sub and from that assists and the majority of his assists have come off that right position and that is the key because you know 17 goals you've been involved in there with front stepping in so if you've got him drifting in and you've got those runners going right and left that's the key for him that is the key it's alright expecting him to do everything because he's been this well class football he's still a well class footballer but if you don't put the right part around them then you know when you're getting 40-50% of them when if you actually have people moving and people bombing on that on the wing and like I said another midfielder who wants to join in all of a sudden they're taking players that making space for him to exploit whether that be a shot at goal a through ball, a ball in behind right and left we've seen that switch early on when he's coming so I haven't bend it into space for Luca Dean well that space comes because of movement whereas what we've seen lately when like a bairnly have come and just sat I think we saw that in the Mayside Derby as well and you know on other occasions you know at times at Old Trafford when he's playing when he's playing as the genuine number 10 and he's got someone on the right and it's not it's not impacting him at all I mean that day we played effectively through right box but it didn't impact him on the field at all he's playing out no one knows where to go and you've seen him with the pass for Richard it's just instantly killed and passed at the same time Old Trafford we tried to set up a diamond and it didn't work quite as well but you see near the second half when he scores the goals in the right position because he's got that ability it's about having him in the right position to exploit what he does well not everyone, we all want every player now to do everything in a way and we've lost sight of some people just have raw talent where you're playing a certain position and you have to manage around them and it's a little thing that's gone out of the game I think where your best player can sort of do what he wants and I know it shouldn't always be like that but you've got to build a team around your best player and I think once the manager maybe gets a couple more plays and to do that and it can't be for the short aim as in well it's all to suit him because he's not going to be around for everything but if you bring the kind of right players in it shouldn't really matter you just have Max Arans you've got a top class right back who can get up and down all day and that's what their job is to put a shift in all day for you it doesn't really matter if he's on the pitch or not that'll work but it'll work great for him because he'll suddenly just be able to go well I don't have any responsibility and ultimately that's what we want you don't want him to have any responsibility no because it's about you've got components and you want to get the best out of each one you said that before a wobi not everyone's cup of tea, I get it but if you actually put runners in with a wobi it'd make his game better because he's someone who likes to carry it and just pop it off he's not going to do what we kind of think he's going to do which is be a right winger he's going to dribble pass players, whip crosses in he's not that type of player he's a link player a wobi and that's what you need I mean if you look at just this one there's 21 key passes he's had one assist from that Guilfee Sigarton's had 13 key passes he's also had one assist a wobi 15 key passes has had two assists, Luca Dean 20 key passes and has had five assists but they're coming from back just explain to me what a key pass is well a key pass is something that opens up it's fed in which leads to a shot on goal so essentially create it's like a big chance created almost so it's not just a pass popping it off it's the pass that leads to the shot it's an assist if you score but the thing is even on the pre-assists which is another thing you can look at Hames is in the top it's like a thought assist well a pre-assist is what he had the ffulum which is twice when he's thrifted it wide and Dean put it in exactly so he's in the top 3-4% for that as well this season and that isn't necessarily haven't put it down there or recorded it but it shows that but those key passes is showing that he, him and Luca Dean are by far a true creator players I put a wobi in there because that's what we hope he is gilfee's in there because that's what we hope he is but they've all got one assist from a key pass where because Luca Dean is crossing the ball into the area with Do you know what's quite funny about this though right? Luca Dean is a really good example and I'll tell you why about Hames Rodriguez right? Are we defensively better without Luca Dean? Defensively we are Yes we are, of course we are If you put 4% of backs across the line you put Ben Gaffey in there we are more solid so the same argument no no exactly the same argument can be made same argument you could just go you could pick up the stats and go look how better everything went when Luca Dean wasn't in the side defensively and everyone goes oh yeah yeah yeah and then you go but look how many chances he created and nobody, nobody I would imagine leaves Luca Dean out It's a trade off isn't it? It's always a trade off with what you're doing you want to be more attacking you've got to have creative plays you want to be more defend You've got to find and we've been saying this from about 6, 7 weeks into the season it's the balance everything don't have the balance and we know that because when we play the early part of the season it would all look great your best team was out there and the minute it started the thread started coming then the balance was lost so we've either had to be attacking like we were early part of the season or then we got to November and the manager suddenly realised this wasn't going to work so we just went right I've only got these kind of players it's funny because it was when we lost Dean we're going to play ultra defensive four centre backs, get wins and it got us wins we lose games, at home it doesn't work it's why we lose games at home it's why we win games away and it's that balance that we are striving for now and it requires new players it won't come with the players we've got but certainly player like Hamas Radigus will add to the offensive side but you have to find that player who's the flip of them who's going to do, not his hard work but who's going to do that hard work to allow Hamas Radigus to go up the pitch and get them out you've got a player that runs up in that box that's great and does the dirty work that's brilliant but then it was not creative we'll put someone in who's creative and that's what it is so to answer Richard Keys' question Everton are not better without Hamas Radigus on the side we are a better team with them he's a well class footballer the answer to me is we have to simply buy better players to accentuate what he brings to Everton football defensively we might look better but defensively only gets you so far defensively you go to somewhere like Chelsea and it doesn't work so what else have you got so often and that's the problem it can only take you so far man sits here on in the cup but it's great for 83 minutes it's over isn't it because you don't have that creativity we don't have a player we've got two we've got Dominic Arvill doing and we've got Richard Allison and we know they can both score goals but if someone isn't providing then it's as simple as that the other thing for me is the third top scorer which is another thing five goals no one Gilvie's got four couple of penalties on the open play it didn't show up with set plays obviously he's got to assist off set pieces as well because he puts in such a great delivery so he's key and you're right get better players around him get mobile players around him and he will get even better and everything will be a better side more offensive because you're right defend and defend and defend will only get you so far you're playing on the edge every time you're playing to score the first goal and if you don't score the first goal and they do all the games we've gone behind them we've not really come back in most of them have we so it was particularly a good one we've lost that one goal not to be in it hard thing we had him most of the time and other runners we'd have probably won the game so yeah that's it I think it's quite a very unanimous thing here Everton are a better side I'd say much better when Hermes is in the side that's for us anyway let us know what you think are Everton better with him in the side or are Everton better with Aramis are you frustrated with his injuries maybe you are but like Peds said sometimes you just have to accept that with them we didn't pay a penny for them so on good wages we got him while he's still a well class player but he's not a fit well class player and that's maybe the way it is sadly when you buy we'll have seen with all of our players you bought in the summer that would have obviously a certain age we'll miss we've missed Alan for a large period of season we're missing gonna miss the Corey for the run in the season and we've missed him during the season so that's the problem when you buy more experienced players and that's why Everton Everton have to go down buy young up and coming players as we've seen with Ben Goffrey with Ben Goffrey he hasn't really missed too many games so that's there you go let us know what you think in the comments section below give it a thumbs up, subscribe if you haven't and if you want more videos join us over on Patreon see you later