When Luke Ayling gave Rodrigo both barrels for not tracking his man late in the first half he was summing up what many of us were watching.
Leeds United did not enjoy Saturday’s Premier League clash with Brighton & Hove Albion. The response to last weekend’s Crawley Town catastrophe was disjointed and unconvincing.
After the match, Marcelo Bielsa admitted his concerns were growing with how toothless his attack had become after three blanks in 2021.
If that is a concern around the bigger picture, there are smaller brushstrokes within that which still need refining, as Ayling expressed in the 41st minute on Saturday.
In short, Rodrigo looked tired and off the pace at Elland Road. As Brighton drove a coach and horses through the middle of the rutted pitch, he was swimming through lactic acid in its wake.
It was a surprise to those of us in the press box he was not brought off at the break, such was Brighton’s hold in the centre.
Pascal Struijk and Mateusz Klich did not enjoy their afternoons either, but Rodrigo’s struggles when United do not have the ball have stood out in recent matches.
We are talking about Spain’s number nine, one of Europe’s elite forwards on his day. He is learning and developing the Bielsa way and an absolute need to master your opposite number in and out of possession.
Tracking back and following an opponent well into his own half cannot be a natural trait for Rodrigo to pick up. It will take time, especially when you have been knocked back by the respiratory illness gripping the globe.
Evenings like those at The Hawthorns or at home to Newcastle United have provided light relief and treated us to the cut-above class Victor Orta has recruited.
On his day, Rodrigo has been central to the leaps forward by the Whites in the Premier League. This is the quality the club needs to establish themselves in the top flight for years to come.
However, it’s been tough going in recent weeks. The 29-year-old has completed a full 90 minutes twice since returning from his isolation spell and come off before the 70th minute in his last four consecutive starts.
Earlier this week, Rodrigo told BBC Leeds it was a tough and long road back from something as debilitating as coronavirus, but Bielsa said he had “recovered his physical level” after today’s loss.
The hope is he finds his feet in the long-term, but today’s match may represent his toughest moment in a Leeds shirt.
Time and time again he failed to lay a glove on any of the Brighton team as they steamed from their own third, through the centre and into the Whites third.
Bielsa even admitted one of the great problems with Saturday’s match was the inability of the team to recover the ball any further away from their goal than the edge of their own box.
That press starts with Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo. It was almost hard to watch Rodrigo putting everything into pressing one defender, for the ball to be clipped over his head in another direction as his eyes rolled and he turned tail to chase down the next cause.
Rodrigo’s second wind will come.
