Dr Jinx

I remember last season as well, Joelinton had one of his first motm performances and was being interviewed alongside Longstaff and he totally stood up for him, saying every player loves being on his side in training because that means they win!

I thought he’d somewhat checked out while Bruce was there but didn’t realise it had affected him mentally so much. Great article and really puts that 2 years in perspective.

Also shows how Matt Ritchie was/is one of the leaders in that dressing room, especially before Tripps and Burn have come in.

That sounds like something imminent in the next week or so.

There could only be a handful of players who have had that interest going back a while too so be interesting to see which one it is.

4 minutes ago, madras said:

Do you mean dispossessed or giving the ball to someone else who gets dispossessed so he does ecactlty the same thing but his stats look different because of others ?

 

I'd be saying they were talking shite and we both know they regularly do.

 

 

 

Serious question, how often do you watch our games?

12 minutes ago, madras said:

You said the better season under Bruce thing was a myth because of those stats.

 

Re Messi is it purely the stats that dictate if he's had a better season than others he's had, could he play better in a season when he scores less ? Of course he could.

 

Him being g the best forward on the pitch without scoring g or assisting g does stand up to scrutiny from someone watching, but not by stats alone. 

 

Last paragraph 100%

 

Stats and data can be used as a guide but they don't tell the whole story.

What absolute twoddle. If Messi was scoring about 5 goals and getting 5 assists for 2 seasons in a row, but he was regularly having games where he was repeatedly beating 4 and 5 players with the ball before getting dispossessed, every pundit, journalist and supporter would be saying the same thing.

'Totally out of form'

Now don't think i'm saying ASM should be getting Messi stats, i'm not. But he should be doing better than he is. He should be aiming for 10-15 assists a season.

1 hour ago, madras said:

There's a bit of a difference between 30 odd goals a season and 4 or 5. 

 

You're saying a wide player who scores 5 goals a season has a better season than if he scores 3 or 4. I disagree and bringing a matter of a couple of assists is even sillier. An assist which could have been a miss kick and poor decision as opposed to not getting an assist if he takes on the entire team, plays a Zidane of a pass to a forward who misses from three inches out so no assist.

 

Callum Wilson had a better game V Arsenal in which he didn't score than in a good few games in which he scored. 

I didn't say he had a better season, i said it was a myth that he played better under Bruce. His end product is pretty much exactly the same.

And yes, there is a massive difference between Messi (even at the age he is now) and a 25 year old ASM. One has high end product, the other does not.

So saying that he's the best forward on the pitch in some games (which you did), doesn't really hold up to scrutiny.

He needs to do much much better, he has the ability but the question is does he feel like he needs to improve. If he thinks 5 assists a year is going to get him the Ballon d'Or he'll be left waiting.

5 minutes ago, madras said:

Do you never see games where the best forward player has neither scored nor made an assist ?

Would Messi still have been the world’s best player if he scored 5 goals and provided 5 assists a season?

7 minutes ago, madras said:

Yes it's silly. Do you rhinknits possible for a player to have a poor game and score, it may be a miss hit, it may be the only time he hit the ball cleanly in the entire game while on another day he can be brilliant but not score ?

We’re not just talking about goals through are we. Goals and more importantly, assists.

They are too low.

6 minutes ago, madras said:

Those stats mean sod all in reality. Not that he played better under o e or the other but to base it on those stats is silly.

Are you suggesting that judging a forward player on their goals or assists is silly?

It’s end product!

On 23/07/2022 at 19:12, Beth said:

Based on the fact he's been the only player to go backwards since we got shot of Bruce. Or do you disagree?

Well last season he scored 5 times and 5 assists, the season before 3 and 4.

So the better under Bruce thing is somewhat of a myth.

Whats consistent is that his end product vastly needs to improve, even for a team that struggled, those are poor numbers for someone with that talent. I don’t think I’m being overly critical with that.

There’s plenty of players who can beat a few and then give the ball away. Maxi just does it much much more stylishly so we tend to ignore it more than we should.

I think (hope) he can improve but he has to want to work on those other aspects of his game, if he doesn’t want to, nothing will change and things will fizzle out until we get a better replacement.

Time will tell, not too far away now either. He’s had a full pre season under Howe so should be fitter and we’ll see if his game has adapted.

I’m warming to him.

He does my head in at times but I wouldn’t ever want to sell him.

He’s essentially a wild card, something you can’t plan for, either for the team he plays for or when trying to plan tactics when playing against us.

The top 6 teams will all hate playing against him for those reasons, just the pure unpredictability.. which version of him will show up, there’s the one that will repeatedly lose the ball in the middle of the pitch and looking like a sulk is nearby, or there’s the one that’s basically unplayable, beating 3/4 players with ease etc.

You’d be mistaken for thinking this was Bez playing in a charity match.

1 hour ago, The Butcher said:

 

 

“Ah yeah fuck it, stick on a relegation clause and we’re on the gravy train”

If Steve Bruce was still a footballer.

1 hour ago, Kimbo said:

I think the top clubs are convinced the ESL is coming in the next few years. Same reason Chelsea went for so much.

Oh they’ll try again, more like LIV next time. An offer so good they just do it regardless of what anyone thinks.

I think Ritchie staying is a shocking indictment of what Howe thinks of Lewis as a footballer.

Back to Red Dwarf you go.

What is the fucking point of FFP if clubs are just going to do that?

And why are we seemingly the only club with money willing to play by those rules? There has to be a point when a massive heel turn comes along.

Or maybe it’s just as simple that we can’t attract those players yet until we reach Europe.

7 minutes ago, toon25 said:

Still looking very much like a serial killer 

He was heavily linked with us at one point in time iirc?

27 minutes ago, cubaricho said:

Why would he do that? He’s the club captain of the best club on the planet and will see plenty of minutes this season during our deep cup runs (and maybe even in the league).

 

 

 

He will get minutes for sure, but he’s not first choice anymore, he knows it, we know it.

It’s about self respect, yes this is probably the biggest club he’ll ever play for but the version of it that he led was a shadow of what it’s quickly becoming. The version he led was no better than Norwich or Forest or Burnley. He’s the one who came on the radio to defend Mike Ashley.. “he’s a good guy”.. remember that?

As we grow into what we should have been all along we’re quickly seeing who’s out of their depth. Some players will improve and become more, but it won’t be Lascelles.

Can he do a job coming off the bench?, yeah sure.. but he could be captaining and starting for one of those lower down sides. The fact he seems content to settle for a bit part role is an indication that he’s accepted defeat already in terms of his career here.

If he was a few years older I’d get him settling for a bench role but he should be in his prime, he should want a move away for that reason alone.

Christ that’s scary but i suppose in a sense he’s very lucky he’s in the profession he is, they’ll be getting checked like that at least once a year, maybe even twice so hopefully this has been caught really early.

2 minutes ago, Ikon said:

 

Maybe. But the closer to the end of the window we get the more we will have to pay. (If really close to the end) 

 

 

 

Isn’t that why the selling clubs are fucking about so much.

You have to admire how City go about their business. Virtually no public haggling they never lowball with their offers but aside from Grealish, don’t seem to overpay much.

I thought Sterling at 50 million all those years ago was mental money but it was astute. They knew it was going that way so they just paid what seemed at the time a massive fee that Liverpool couldn’t turn down, but it was actually buttons on what he’d be worth at the same age now.

2 minutes ago, BeloEmre said:

Lyon willing to sell Paqueta for £35m must be bullshit. No reason to do that and with a World Cup coming up for him too.

They're under pressure financially though? Maybe some loans are being called in etc, info line that doesn’t just come out unless they want it to.

1 minute ago, WillingtonMag said:

We going off one game in a pre season friendly like?

What Maxi showed was fairly standard for him, yes some games he can run the show but not often enough for his ability.

We haven’t seen much of Anderson but let’s assume that his level, he can more than stake a claim to be in this side. The team we were playing today finished 8th in the Bundesliga last season, comparable to what we managed. So they were no slouches like.

4 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

You think Maxi played better?