06Feb

One flash of high quality keeps the run going

by Jason H

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The signing of Vicente Rodriguez, a man listed by FourFourTwo magazine among the top 100 players of all time, was met by a mixture of disbelief and excitement among Albion fans. Valencia fans were visible on our chat sites for the first and no doubt last time, hailing the man who was a legend at the Mestalla. His appearances have been, to say the least, sporadic, as a series of minor injuries have conspired to keep him out of contention. ‘You’ve signed a crock’, we were told, by opponents’ support and by some Albion fans alike.

I don’t think anybody assumed we’d signed him while he was still at his majestic peak, but there was a danger that his list of niggles would assume laughable proportions and vindicate those doubters – he was being unfavourably compared, for example, to the ‘untouchable’ (Poyet’s words) Will Buckley, who’s overcome his own injury problems to become the most influential, highest-profile player in the side. Vicente had, though, already given us a moment of his class at Ipswich, with a sublime goal showing what he was capable of. Months later, he’s back in the first team reckoning, and that class was again evident in his cameo against Leicester.

He moves, passes and positions himself like an international player – his quality is blindingly obvious to anybody who’s ever watched any football. Extremely difficult to dispossess, he sees passes others do not, moves into space others have not thought to move into, and puts the ball pretty much exactly where he wants it. On Saturday, a frustrating and sligthly bizarre game, featuring long, flat periods of possession football but also, somehow, three red cards, that quality helped win us yet another home game right at the death. Moving into exactly the right place to receive the ball, he made a difficult cross look extremely easy, and put it right where Buckley was. Again. A brilliant talent for being in the right place at the death meant Buckley had only to finish a still difficult chance on the half volley. He gave Schmeichel no chance – the fourth time he’s won us a game this season with time running out. The cross and the finish were both of the very highest quality, and Buckley indeed ran straight to Vicente, pointing at him, aware of what a superb piece of play it had been.

If, and it remains a fairly large if, Vicente can stay fit and feature regularly for the rest of the campaign, what a player we’ll have. It’s an absolute joy to watch him, even at this stage of his career, and he may yet be absolutely pivotal for us. 2012 has been a very, very good year so far. With Buckley and Vicente in the side, and stiff competition for places all over the team now, let’s see how much better it can potentially get.

Posted by Brighton fan Jason Heaver