The only reason I started to notice was I put him in all my fantasy football teams as I thought he would have a cracking season along with your team yet he seems to always miss games!.....but yeah its a fair point you make, we have Dawson who has always picked up injuries, never fully furfilled his potential, still a good defender (apart from today) yet it must be a worry for Shaw if he is already being viewed as injury prone. As for your cover, maybe you can go easy on Fox for a week as sounds like hes earned some praise!
I feel quite bad for Fox. Normally when he has to fill in, he isn't that bad. He was really terrible at the start of last season, but since then hasn't been awful backup - for example, he was certainly solid against City last season.
On the subject of Shaw, although I think he missed the game through illness, I think the reason he gets injured a lot is because he's overplayed. Although saying that, I don't want Fox to start over Shaw to give him a rest!
It's something of a concern, but one gets the sense that they've held him out of some games out of an abundance of caution where others might have played. He blocked a cross. That was nice. If we're to manage Shaw's game time, though, we probably need someone of a higher standard.
These games that Shaw keeps on kissing are annoying as hell, but when you're asking a teenager to play 90 mins of PL every week it's only to be expected I guess. And there's not a whole lot we can about it, save for maybe trying a find someone looking for one last payday, considering that anyone we attempted to sign would know that they'd be second choice. It's why I don't believe these stories about Utd spending £25m for Shaw. They wouldn't yet get 45+ games a season out of him. They'd have no choice but to keep hold of Evra.
Kissing? That's probably how he picked up tonsillitis which is what took him out of the equation this week so it is said, should be OK for a start at Manure.
He's cut out the absolute howlers for the most part, but for me when up against any wingers with a healthy turn of pace he is about as much use as a blow-up training dummy. I find it hard to put into words exactly how I feel about him, it's not that I think he's an outright liability but I was just sitting there watching him face Dyer thinking it's not even like he can step it up a level to combat Dyer, there's just nothing he can do (And indeed he did pretty much nothing haha!). I believe you missed the game, no? I think if you'd watched it today you'd understand my dismay, particularly in the first half, it was just relentless.
I did, so I can't and won't comment on his performance today! He was decent against Dyer last season, though - but hey, hopefully he won't see the field tooooo often anyway.
I think he's being protected - older players would probably have played, but as he's still so young he's rested for the slightest niggle. If I'm right, it'll extend his career years.
Smart kid!...Look what happened to Micah Richards, was at one point the next big thing then makes the mistake of playing for England.All downhill from there!
Shaw was sat in one of the boxes with Yoshida & Gazzaniga and a few of the players wives and their toddlers. So he can't have anything too contagious like the flu etc.
I think they are being protective. Not good to do strenuous exercise when recovering from an infection. Mauricio also said that saints didn't really want him to go on u21 duty although they would assess him.
After going to the game yesterday think the comments and criticism of Fox is slightly harsh. Countless times he was left out numbered with Davis not getting across quick enough. Neither Fox nor Davis wanted to get tight to Dyer as he has legs on both of them. The one time Fox did go tight in the 1st half Dyer nipped behind him and created one of Swansea's clear cut chances. 2nd half after Poch bought on JWP as an obvious tactic to help Fox out on the left, again neither JWP or Fox wanted to get tight to Dyer as he has such pace. However, when JWP got across quicker and they doubled up on Dyer, they more often than not won the ball successfully or ushered him wide and made him play the ball backwards, which is considered good defending in my opinion. I am not saying by any means that Fox is cut out for this level as a first 11 player, he isnt. BUT... people have to stop comparing him to Shaw, they're completely different players, Fox is not the worst LB in the league, nowhere near. He lacks pace and has a tendancy to get caught out of position (against wingers like Dyer,Walcott, Moses this WILL happen) a lot of the time i personally think the midfielder infront of him does not help him enough and he is therefore made to look like the scapegoat for some of our defensive frailties as he doesnt know whether to get tight or to give the winger space to hopefully give his midfielder time to get back and double up. But he is a decent back up to Shaw and has always given 100% and i was quite dissapointed by the stick and ironic cheers he recieved yesterday. We should back our players, ALL of them, Fox played worse against Norwich @ Carrow Road (Granted the team didnt perform particuarly well that day) and got nowhere near as much grief as he did yesterday. He may not be everyone's fav player, but he's still a Saint and we should support him. That aside, i enjoyed the game yesterday and the atmosphere was fantastic. And thanks to Boruc, a good clean sheet against a very good side who i think deserved a point in all honesty. Thats football sometimes and i'll happily take that and move on to the next one, Utd away. Easy 3 points then!
"We should back our players, ALL of them, Fox played worse against Norwich @ Carrow Road (Granted the team didnt perform particuarly well that day) and got nowhere near as much grief as he did yesterday. He may not be everyone's fav player, but he's still a Saint and we should support him."Totally agree!
He doesn't deserve stick firstly because he is a Saints player, secondly because he was involved in our promotion, and thirdly because Mauricio regards him as our best option if Shaw is unfit (so he must have something going for him or do we all think we know the players better than the manager). I don't boo players anyway, but have no problem if a player does the best to his ability. They can't all be the best players in the world....hardly Fox's fault he gets selected.
Were you watching the same game as me? Fox always being out of position kept dragging Lovren left, over to cover for him. This left a gap in the middle that Fonte struggled to cover alone, causing Wanayama to drop back, so Davis kept having to drift into the middle - he pulled the whole team out of position. We actually had to bring a player and change formation just to cover Fox. I really rate JWP, but having to bring him on just to cover Fox shows just what a liability fox was this game - he's had a couple of reasonable outings recently; but yesterday he was very, very poor. The bloke's a good Championship player, but shouldn't be near the starting line-up of a premiership team aiming top half.
Protecting him from being tapped up on international duty. Its where it all happens and the club are concerned. Rightly so.
