I don't think any of us who are praising Hanley for his performances this season are claiming that he is without his limitations - for example, he seems to have difficulty adjusting his position quickly when he is facing his own goal - but to deny the contribution he has made to our team this year is bizarre. In the handful of games where we have taken points this season, Hanley's contribution has been a major factor. As recently as last Saturday, he and Krul were the main reason we earned the point that we did. I don't know how many times he has been MOTM this season, but he's been in the running on many occasions, and without him I feel sure we would probably have even fewer points than we have so far. Personally, I will probably give him my vote as POTS, even though I didn't rate him very highly before the start of the season. If he is not 'Premier League quality', then God help the rest of our squad. In any case, I have problems with this concept of players or managers being 'Premier League quality'. Of course, there are obviously exceptionally good players who were always going to end up in a top league, but most of those play for top six sides. Other clubs tend to have one or two of these players (e.g. Zaha at Palace). But IMO whether the majority of players in the Premier League are 'Premier League quality' depends on the team they are in. If they are in a good side that is well managed, they are; if they are in a failing team which is being badly managed, they aren't. For example, were Sheffield United full of Premier League quality players in their first season, who suddenly became not of the required standard in the second? The concept isn't a useful one. As for players not improving past the age of 26, I would give Pukki as an example of the falsity of this idea. Perhaps the innate talent was always there, but he found his niche with us and he blossomed. This seems even more likely for defenders, whose skill is as much to do with reading the game than with their basic technical ability.
I generally agree with the last 2 comments in relation to Hanley. But rather than looking at his performance when he plays, perhaps the strength of his contribution is better undrstood by how the team generally performs when he isn't available.
A certain Grant Holt comes to mind as a player who blossomed later in his career And at a higher level as well.
Have you guys nothing better to do than spend your time fighting straw men? Nobody, to my knowledge, has said on here, either that football players can't improve beyond age 26, or denied Grant Hanley's contribution to our performances this season.
Well you are backtracking on that now, but you did specifically say that you did not think Grant Hanley has improved since he was about 25, which is just manifestly wrong based on all the facts and all comments made by third parties and others. You are the only person who seems to maintain this view (I suspect, in reality, because you have decided you have to hold it if you are going to sustain your criticisms of him, even though that is not true either because the rest of us are quite happy to discuss his shortcomings).
If I specifically said what you say I said, it should be easy enough for you find the post in which I said it. Then we can all refer to it. I'd rather be taken to task for what I actually said, than for what you say I said. Particularly since you're not averse to gratuitously adding offensive personal comments. Thanks.
I know how much you value statistics, Robbie, so I felt sure you would appreciate this. The boy done good for someone who isn't Premier League quality, didn't he? Not the first time this season, either. please log in to view this image
I can’t be bothered to trawl through all historic posts on Grant Hanley, sorry. I’m unconvinced. We definitely specifically discussed this topic before and the overriding takeaway was that you believed there was no way Hanley had improved since he joined us, despite all evidence to the contrary. The issue is usually that you are very dogmatic and declare things to be facts, only them subsequently saying it’s not what you meant. And you accuse me of making gratuitous personal insults - happy to apologise for those as it’s not my intention. When did I do that?
Not only is he our Premier League class CB, he's also quite handy with a golf club. Robbie, anything to critique about his swing there?
