He's nearly 30, man. His game was always about pace and fast feet, there's bound to be a significant decline when you compound those factors with lack of playing time.
he's f***ing MILES better than routledge for a start.
He was 3 years ago. There's not much between them these days. It's been a long, long time since i've seen SWP have a game like Routledge did against Chelsea a few weeks back.
For what's it worth, he doesn't quite look ready.
He's also a far, far better option than most of what we'll see on the bench and some of what we'll see in the starting Xl this season.
He didn't go downhill in his last few seasons at all. In his last season he was used fairly sparingly by Souness and still managed 4 goals and a good few assists. In the season before that he got 12 goals and an absolutely shitload of assists, yet was booed off by the thick arseholes at SJP during the last home game.