Personally I find it better to live in the present and found no purpose in repeatedly dragging up the past. That's my line and I'm sticking to it
True that Rutter needed to adjust to a new league and country etc but the best way to do that was to play him. Unless you think that hanging out with Summerville and Gnonto playing XBOX would do the trick better
No, he in football parlance issued a “come and get me” plea and more than fluttered his eye lashes at Chelsea but made comments about only going with the assurance of first team football. I think he stayed because no better clubs came in for him, probably on the back of a poor season for him.
Actually no one slated Rutter. What I believe happened was most fans expected more for the amount paid for him and as we were in a relegation battle thought he had been bought to make an immediate impact. Yes he is playing very well but that is in the championship and needs to be taken in that context. It is a much lesser standard of league as Burnley, who walked this division last season, are finding out.
Yeh my take LOL was what Meslier said was perfectly reasonable and probably truthful… (think he also said he might be better at a less glamorous club as a number 1) But although I don’t have a problem with them, these are not the comments that pro footballers typically make unless they’re shop windowing. Since then he’s made the right noises about staying to put right a wrong he contributed to etc. But that’s easier to say after no-one bid for you (or not bid enough according to Angus) Honestly - it seems like I’m on Meslier’s back… as I started highlighting his errors early last season and they were costing us points all season. We didn’t have the points wriggle room as a side for an out of form keeper. (All Jesse’s fault remember ). Reality is he was chucked into first team action very young… did well in the beginning but his form/confidence went and the hoped for improvements haven’t really happened. Doesn’t mean they won’t, playing in a winning side in a lower league will hopefully do him a world of good.
How could he have done more from the substitutes bench ? For example when he came on against Spurs in the final game virtually everything he did was top class. Few will have noticed that whilst enduring the pain of relegation.
Seems like 4 mangers who watched him in training lacked your insight Jammy. That’s why they lost their jobs and you should be first in the queue when Farke gets the sack
All fair comments regarding last season. Credit to Meslier though for starting this season well and confidence wise he now seems to be in a good place. Of course this is all with the caveat that the quality of finishing and strikers putting him under pressure in possession is much lower in the Championship
Those managers were under pressure and so went with the tried and tested. Big Sam stated that Georgino was a top talent but too raw at the moment yet still threw him on with 30 mins remaining against Spurs. Perhaps if he'd taken the chance and started Rutter against Newcastle it might all have been different.
… I guess it helps if your clangers come at 4-0 up at home to Huddersfield rather than say at 0-0 in a relegation battle at Everton. Hope that great save at Leicester that saved us 2 points is a bit of a catalyst for him.
The one against Everton was a shocker and totally down to positioning which hopefully he will have learned from. Huddersfield that shot had a hell of lot of movement on it, which you could clearly see from the padded seats in the West Stand and he did actually save it remember
All the scouting reports I saw in him when he signed said he was a raw talent, rough diamond etc… capable of brilliance but green and not the finished article. So maybe in the pressure cooker of the prem they felt he’d be a liability? I questioned the signing at the time, not because of him but because of the expectation around the fee being that he was coming in to be the final piece of the jigsaw - when really he was an investment. And maybe at that time the team needed the ‘here and now’ not ‘the future’. Whichever, great he’s starting to showcase his talent. Maybe the championship is the perfect place to do that. He’s really likeable too - great to see someone playing with a smile on his face.
