Carlo Ancelotti hails James Rodriguez’s quality after Everton beat West Brom

Posted Saturday, September 19, 2020 by PA

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti hailed the quality of James Rodriguez after his high-profile summer signing played a key role in the 5-2 win over 10-man West Brom.

The Colombia international scored his first goal – and the crucial one in Ancelotti’s opinion – in English football and played a big role in most of their best football as Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored a hat-trick to take his tally to four for the season.

But it was Rodriguez who caught the eye on his home debut.

“He scored his first goal in the Premier League, this is the most important part,” said Ancelotti.

⭐️ | First goal. First assist. A fine home debut from @jamesdrodriguez!
James *just* beats DCL to be your @eToro MotM. We''re sure the match ball makes up for it, @CalvertLewin14! 😄#EVEWBA pic.twitter.com/ydEexht9vA
— Everton (@Everton) September 19, 2020

“It was the key goal of the game. He scored a fantastic goal and a fantastic assist in the second half.

“He is comfortable with the team and everything is OK. In this moment he is using his quality.

“This is the quality I saw at Madrid and the same quality I saw at Bayern.

“The quality of James makes him play easy. His football is not so complicated because when he gets space he likes to use his quality on passes and when he has no space and is under pressure he tries to play simple.

“This is what every player has to do: use quality when there is space and play simple when there is no space.”