Carlo Ancelotti has given his verdict on summer signing James Rodriguez following the player’s recent struggles on and off the pitch for Everton.
Carlo Ancelotti insists James Rodriguez would come good after the player has been more or less ‘quiet’ over the past month.
The Colombian international was off to a flying start in the Premier League and already had three goals to his name in no time.
However, the goals seemingly dried up for Rodriguez with the player going on a run of six games with no goal contributions. It got worse for the midfielder after he was hit with injury and he spent a bit on the sidelines.
In Everton’s last match, the 29-year-old came off the bench to replace Bernard in the 64th minute but didn’t make much of an impression on the game. The Toffees went on to lose that game 1-0 and see their four-game winning streak come to an end.
Regardless, Ancelotti says he is happy to have Rodriguez back and he believes the player could be integral for Everton this term.
“It’s important to have James back…he didn’t train much and only played 30 minutes against West Ham,” Ancelotti said to the club’s website.
“He needs to improve his condition and he will be better in the coming matches.”
Everton’s loss to West Ham at Goodison Park continues their poor home form this season. Ancelotti believes it is because of the lack of fans in stadiums.
“This season we are very strong away from home, we’re great,” he added.
“We’ve had more trouble at home.”With fans we wouldn’t have lost the three games against Manchester United, Leeds and West Ham, but perhaps we wouldn’t have won five away.”
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