Premier League - Our ex players

[Tommy Fresh]

16 minutes ago, Sampson said:

But what he actually said was so inoffensive, he didn’t “dig out” anyone. thats my point, I cannot genuinely believe there are actual grown adults literally turning on one player and not another for something so small.

You think this wasn't digging Rob Tanner out?

"Rubbish. Watch and analyse the game properly and stop writing headlines like that which you know makes fans pile on with negativity.

Play like that and we’ll be absolutely fine. Created numerous brilliant chances and win comfortably on another day.” 

Like I said I don't care either way, both great players, I like both of them and hope they both go on to be successful. But what he's said is hardly cliche, especially when his opinion wasn't asked for

Edited 13 August 2023 by Tommy Fresh

[Cincinnati Fox]

Maddison has played well, picks the right ball 8/10. We saw several times yesterday when we had space and players made the wrong decisions.

championship standard far below the top

half of the PL.

but lower half of the PL really ain’t all that.

Edited 13 August 2023 by Cincinnati Fox

[HighPeakFox]

15 minutes ago, weller54 said:

What else was that option he decided on if it wasn't arrogance? 

Just asking. 

Maybe, just maybe, he figured the keeper would not get it right, or that he might execute it better.

 

I do find it illuminating that you cannot imagine any other explanation than arrogance.

Edited 13 August 2023 by HighPeakFox

[sm1]

Madison and Barnes creating and scoring goals and Youri chasing shadows. Seems a continuation of last season.

[StanSP]

34 minutes ago, weller54 said:

Of course penalties are missed.. Occasional mishit, good save by the keeper... Fair enough. 

But THAT penalty (which was absolutely crucial) showed his arrogance!!!! 

How can a penalty be arrogant?

[moore_94]

The backpass against Bournemouth by Maddison annoyed me more than the penalty miss

[weller54]

Maybe he thought he was more clever/capable of outwitting Pickford? 

Edited 13 August 2023 by weller54

[StanSP]

4 minutes ago, weller54 said:

Maybe he thought he was more clever/capable of outwitting Pickford? 

How can you tell that from a penalty though? Like, how can taking a penalty show arrogance? 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, weller54 said:

Maybe he thought he was more clever/capable of outwitting Pickford? 

Quite a lot of football is about trying to outwit your opponent. Doing a stepover is trying to outwit the defender, that doesn't mean doing a stepover is arrogant does it?

[eblair]

Wonder what result maddison started last season with?

 

He always looks quite good in a crap / mid table side. So will look okay at spurs. Maddison never our best player when we were actually a decent side

[blaaklint]

32 minutes ago, StanSP said:

How can you tell that from a penalty though? Like, how can taking a penalty show arrogance? 

i find the arrogance claim odd tbh. he hit it down the middle, which is a very standard and widely-accepted tactic for penalties. the goalkeeper moves 97% of the time, so penalties down the middle are . i suspect he meant to hit it higher, but at worst its an okay penalty which he slightly mishit. if he'd gone for a panenka then maybe i could buy an adgument for arrogance.

[South Shire Fox]

15 minutes ago, blaaklint said:

i find the arrogance claim odd tbh. he hit it down the middle, which is a very standard and widely-accepted tactic for penalties. the goalkeeper moves 97% of the time, so penalties down the middle are . i suspect he meant to hit it higher, but at worst its an okay penalty which he slightly mishit. if he'd gone for a panenka then maybe i could buy an adgument for arrogance.

It was an awful penalty lets be honest and i think we all knew he was going to miss as soon as he took it. However no one else had the bottle to step up and take it. We saw how shit Vardys penalty was the game after at Fulham which everyone seems to conveniently forget

[HighPeakFox]

Just now, South Shire Fox said:

It was an awful penalty lets be honest and i think we all knew he was going to miss as soon as he took it. However no one else had the bottle to step up and take it. We saw how shit Vardys penalty was the game after at Fulham which everyone seems to conveniently forget

I agree, I was in the ground and was certain he would miss. 

 

However, that does not make it arrogant - just crap. 

[inckley fox]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

The completely different reaction to Barnes and Maddison here is utterly baffling to me.

 

Maddison was the better player for us. Barnes had the worse work rate and by all accounts worse work rate off the field.

 

Yet go to the Barnes thread and people say how much they want him to do well and then you see talk about Maddison and our fams are slaughtering him.
 

I really really don’t get it. it’s even more bizarre than the completely different reactions some of our fans give Mahrez in comparison to Kante

There's a lot to unpack in your various posts!

 

Of course, you're right that it's a bit childish. But isn't it also childish to get as upset or excited as we do about football games, or to chant 'e i e i e i o', or to jeer opposition players? The whole thing is tribal, infantile, absurd - but we all play our part in it. I do, anyway. I'm not sure mischievously wishing to see Maddison fall flat on his face is a great deal more childish than any of the above.

 

I fully agree that Maddison was one of our better performers last year, and is one of the most technically-gifted players to have worn the shirt. We should indeed be over the moon to have had players of that calibre, or of that of Barnes, Mahrez, Kante.

 

However it'd be a bit stubborn not to understand why people as childish as us football fans might react differently to some of those players. We never got to see Kante regularly underperform, as we did with Riyad in 2016/17, and then push for a move to such an extent that he wasn't even available for selection at a time when we could have mounted a push for a UEFA place if he'd stuck to the task. The terms of Kante's departure were defined by the contract he signed on the day he joined. He also moved on to a club which many fans, rightly or wrongly, might consider to be more bearable than Mahrez's next employer. So there's a difference there, even though a Leicester fan should really be wishing both of them well.

 

As for Maddison, it's a horrible oversimplification to say that our defence cost us relegation. We played two separate defences' worth of players during our decline, and none of them were any good. No matter whether it was Bertrand, Thomas, Kristiansen or Justin at left back. Amartey, Vestergard, Fofana, Souttar, Evans or Faes at CB. Pereira or Castagne or whoever on the right. We were defending awfully as a team and Maddison, like Barnes, were among those who weren't always doing their bit. They, and Youri, were probably the 'first names on the teamsheet', so their contribution is always going to be questioned when something as unthinkable as our relegation occurs.

 

Youri was hopeless during that period, so it's easy to grasp why people won't be itching for him to succeed at a club with which we have some historical rivalry. But I can also see why Maddison might get some stick. He's a player who repeatedly suffered slumps at the 'business end' of things, to the extent that he wasn't even picked for the line-up that won the Cup, and was a notable underperformer on the two occasions that we fell short of the top four. Yes, he played an important role in getting us there in the first place, but I'd argue that the much-talked-of complacency which plagued us last season - and which Maddison often seemed to embody - was a huge factor in our relegation. So those responses to Tanner, his poor form once again when it mattered - to the degree that he, like Barnes, was actually dropped for a crucial game - is inevitably going to count against him. The squad-wide attitude problem that he personified more than anyone else, and his poor form late in the campaign, were both absolutely fatal for us. Why was Barnes given a pass? Perhaps, moreso even than being a local lad, it's the fact that we weren't sure of his departure until the summer, whereas we all knew that Maddison was off before we slipped into the drop zone.

 

So I wouldn't advocate for being rabidly disdainful towards Maddison, and I hope people can allow the good to outweigh the bad over time - but it's easy to see why he (having gone, like Youri, to historical rivals) is going to get a tough time of it.

[Big_Nige]

2 hours ago, weller54 said:

Of course penalties are missed.. Occasional mishit, good save by the keeper... Fair enough. 

But THAT penalty (which was absolutely crucial) showed his arrogance!!!! 

Kermorgants penalty was arrogance. Maddisons was just a poor penalty that was read well by Pickford. It was absolutely crucial and arguably if that goes in we stay up,  but people miss crucial penalties, it doesn’t make them the devil incarnate 

[SystonFox]

Maddison is the devil incarnate that’s my opinion on the matter

[weller54]

10 minutes ago, SystonFox said:

Maddison is the devil incarnate that’s my opinion on the matter

... Especially now he's a Spud! 😂

[MrsJohnMurphy]

4 hours ago, weller54 said:

Barnes will flourish at Newcastle.. 

Maddison on the other hand will struggle at Tottenham!! 

Nope

[Bazly]

Apparently Spudsy fans see Maddison as a downgrade on their last #10.

[Corky]

Barnes is a local lad who it appears didn't really want to leave. That will put somebody higher in the popularity stakes regardless of legacy.

 

Maddison did well for the club but his time with us is done. I'm not sure Barnes' is. I think most don't wish ill on Maddison.

[Chrysalis]

5 hours ago, Cincinnati Fox said:

Maddison has played well, picks the right ball 8/10. We saw several times yesterday when we had space and players made the wrong decisions.

championship standard far below the top

half of the PL.

but lower half of the PL really ain’t all that.

What I noticed on the clips I seen of the spurs game, is he had lots of space, when playing for us last season he was closed down really aggressively and usually man marked, I think spurs with having more quality players has given him more freedom.  But it also could be a superior system he is playing under creating that space as well.

[Chrysalis]

3 hours ago, South Shire Fox said:

It was an awful penalty lets be honest and i think we all knew he was going to miss as soon as he took it. However no one else had the bottle to step up and take it. We saw how shit Vardys penalty was the game after at Fulham which everyone seems to conveniently forget

I dont like blaming individual players for a result, was a poor penalty but it doesnt mean we would have won the game either.

 

But on penalties I notice when they aimed at the upper part of the goal (with pace) they are very rarely saved, as keeper nearly always dives.  However most takers aim low for some reason.

Edited 13 August 2023 by Chrysalis

[harpendenfox]

4 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

I agree, I was in the ground and was certain he would miss. 

 

However, that does not make it arrogant - just crap. 

Me too. It was like the culmination of 18 months of decline.

[weller54]

1 hour ago, Bazly said:

Apparently Spudsy fans see Maddison as a downgrade on their last #10.

He's nowhere near as good as Eriksen was! 

[CosbehFox]

Youri’s got too many miles on the clock hasnt he?