The in-form midfielder returned from a long-term hamstring injury during the 2-2 home draw with Brighton last month and has been influential in recent away victories over Wolves and Aston Villa.
Following a difficult stretch that saw him sidelined for 16 games across all competitions, Rodrigo’s timely comeback to start the last three league games has helped the team at a time of need and he feels our recent resurgence has lifted the mood around the club.
“After a long injury again, I feel really good,” said the Uruguay international. “I worked a lot for this but now the most important thing is the team are back to winning and we are out the relegation zone for now.
“We understand the situation and now, after you get back to winning games, the energy changes a lot and we feel really good.
“Roberto has tried to work in a positive mentality and positive aspects. He said, ‘you guys play really good, now we need to start to play again’, so we work like this.
“He works really good in the tactical aspect and then, with the ball, he is amazing. We try to take what we work on in the week to do the same in the game and I think the last game against Villa we showed how we want to play. We want to continue with this.”
When asked about the most pleasing aspects of our impressive 2-1 victory at Villa Park, our number 30 – who orchestrated the tempo and could be seen telling team-mates to be calm in possession throughout his 67 minutes – explained: “We enjoyed the ball and also the tactical aspect without the ball.
“We (have) started to work really good and you can see that in the last game against Villa. We pressed in high positions, we want to win the ball fast and then with the ball Roberto wants to play calm. When we can go fast, we go fast, otherwise we play, enjoy and move. I think the team felt really good.”
Rodrigo also praised our Head Coach’s man-management and attention to detail, highlighting the balance the Italian has struck between intensity and freedom in his first month in charge.
“When Roberto came in, he tried to change the energy, the mentality, just to feel again these positive things and he work a lot on this,” he added.
“He is a passionate boss. If he needs to push, he pushes. But, otherwise, he said, ‘with the ball, please guys, play, enjoy’. I think we have changed.”
The 28-year-old missed over three months of action from his injury at Bournemouth on 7 January and was grateful to our fans for the love you showed him when he returned against Brighton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Back home under the lights on Monday night, he also underlined the amazing atmosphere in the stadium that afternoon which can play a big part in our remaining home games, starting with Leeds.
“You know, when I'm back against Brighton, they show me a lot of love,” he said. “Also the atmosphere is really, really good. It's amazing. We need to work really hard these four days and to win these three finals.”