Few players split opinion amongst Huddersfield Town fans quite like Rajiv Van La Parra does. To some, he's a waste of shirt, who can't cross, can't shoot and doesn't do enough in defence to warrant his continued inclusion. To others, he's a maverick, who does things with the ball that no other player in the Town squad can, and gives defences a headache regardless of his productivity. The truth of the matter, as always, lies somewhere in the middle.
Clearly a player who has good and bad days, the argument over his inclusion boils down to whether or not his unplayable performances come at a good enough rate to rely on him to start matches regularly, and if not, what else is he contributing to the side if not in attack?
With the ball, the biggest weapon in his arsenal is clearly the ability to skin his man with either speed or skill, using his undeniable dribbling skills to get in to dangerous positions. He beat his man over 58% of the time last, which was significantly better than either Tom Ince or Elias Kanchunga managed, although the former Derby man is currently leading that metric in the Premier League so far.
Often accused of being careless with the ball, he actually has the best pass completion of the three, having improved on his Championship figures this season. Passing the ball more than both Ince and Kachunga too, it shows that he's able to move the ball and retain possession in a more reliable manner than perhaps perception dictates. That said, however, with less assists than Ince and less chances created than Kachunga, there does appear to be an issue with his final ball, which does tally with the criticism usually aimed at him.
Defensively, however, there are far more impressive metrics than may be assumed. Posting the highest tackle-per-game statistics of any of Town's forward players from last season, it's only this term that Kachunga has overtaken him. He doesn't tend to give many fouls away, is the best of the three at winning the ball in the air and is neck-and-neck with the amount of interceptions and clearances he contributes.
That, perhaps, more than what he does going forwards, may be why David Wagner gives Van La Parra a chance in more games than he doesn't. While it's true goals have become increasingly hard to come by and his lack of delivery in the final third may be contributing to that, there's no denying that defence and winning the ball back quickly as part of Wagner's high press is just as important to this current system and ideology as being decisive in attack is, and that's obviously an area in which the Dutchman excels.
One suggestion has been that Scott Malone should play ahead of Christopher Lowe, using his attacking skill set and natural defensive ability to make Town a better side on both ends of the field. However, looking at his time at Fulham, that seems to built more on assumption, than fact - in truth, Van La Parra actually made more tackles per game last season than Malone did, looked after the ball better and was only marginally worse off going forwards. While it may be an experiment worth trying, it would be dishonest to suggest that it appears like a long term solution, or the key to suddenly get Town scoring again.
Where does Van La Parra go from here? Firstly, of course, concentrating on the quality of his final product should be a priority, and if that's something we in attendance can easily identify, the management team are likely aware as well. It may be that he has to sacrifice some of his defensive solidity to be a bigger threat going forwards, but that smacks of robbing Peter to go and pay Paul, which wouldn't be the smartest route forward.
Long term, the fix is likely going to be that Tom Ince will regularly play from the wide left, with Abdelhamid Sabiri (once settled) or Kasey Palmer (once fit) taking control behind the striker. For now, it's no small feat that Town have been as strong defensively as they have, and Van La Parra has clearly contributed to that - concentrating on the attack, however, he needs to be as clinical there as he is without the ball, or risk losing his place and becoming a bench player.
You can follow Raj Bains on Twitter over on @BainsXIII , and his Huddersfield Town book Underdog is being published later in 2017. It is available to order now, with the opportunity to have the name of your choice printed in a fans list at the back of the book. Please visit www.gnbooks.co.uk or call 01274 735056.
