I play a lot of Poker. Sometimes you know you probably have the winning hand. It's a monster hand BUT others betting may well force a bold decision. Many top players lay down these good hands. That is how they get to the money. I see this situation pretty similar. Sometimes you have to lay down that good hand because it isn't worth the gamble
He played ok I thought. Not great. Not £12 million quality. He has shown us on occasions what he is capable of- Aston Villa and Arsenal at home he was immense in. Players like him can often be quite inconsistent but when they produce quality it can be world beating. Personally, I can only think he will get better and with a decent pre season with the team should be ready to hit the ground running next year!
For those of you arriving late to this thread, just a reminder that the result today was Reading 0 Southampton 2.
Poor Fran when she logs on to find out the score when she gets back from work. She'll see all the grumblings and think the worst. WE WON. We've won 3 in a row and are climbing the league. We are playing fantastic football. We have good options from the bench and decisions to make about the starting 11. I see no reason to find something or someone to complain about after today.
If we sell Gaston, you just know he'll excel with that club. Sometimes players just don't play as well as they could do with other club (Mayuka) and I hope Ramirez, as well as Mayuka, don't turn out to be those types of players. Whether Ramirez shows his true quality or not next season, I think he'll be gone; either because he's outgrown the team or he hasn't lived up to his potential, whilst given plenty of opportunities and we'll want to cash in on him and get a nice profit.
Yes he's obviously a very very good skilled player. That doesn't mean that he should have indefinite time to show that. Some great players have had bad spells in certain teams then back to greatness when they move on. Sometimes a player just doesn't fit into a certain team. Thats just life Personally I think we are giving him more time than Cortese or Poch will. Cortese wants to get to the top and quick. He won't be worrying about the price tag. He will be looking at timescale
I used to play quite a bit of poker. I actually played it as a primary source of income, in fact. Laying down a monster hand should be entirely a product of the odds...both the expected value of the hand vs. pot size and the projected value of your stack vs. the field. In Ramirez, we'd be laying down top two pair because someone put in a small post-flop bet; it may not be a sure thing, but there's just not that much gamble in letting it play out for a bit longer to see what happens.
I will support any team that Poch selects...in 2 years' time we will look back on these posts and laugh, Gaston has the ability to become World class.
Everyone just relax. There is plenty of time to decide the look of next season's squad and Ramirez's place in it.
He might do. He might not. If he doesn't it won't be because he isn't good enough, or performing well enough. It'll be because Pochettino want's to approach the game with personnel that exhibit different qualities.
That's what I mean but having got to 3/4 of the season I compare it to laying down QQ after the flop as thrown up a K or A