The ONLY thing I expect from Pelle is effort across 90 minutes. If that's expecting too much from our best paid player, and one of our most senior players, then I apologise. I met FLT for the first time yesterday and he did nothing but praise Pelle for his effort and performance over the first 45 minutes. There really is no agenda there. I'm not looking for excuses to bash him - he's probably my second favourite player in the side behind Mane (though VVD has the potential to usurp him on that front), but scoring two goals doesn't mean he should be allowed to get away with not trying for a big, important part of the game. He was SO good for the first half it's frustrating when he doesn't apply himself because he is a game-changer.
I did see the game i just wasn't at the game. I saw his intensity drop in the second half but i didn't see gim give up like you are saying. The guy plays upfront on his own and is a massive out let so hardly gets a rest, if he was lacking intensity in the first half when fresh i would be worried, but i fully understand him tiring as the game goes on. Its not just this game FLT you don't rate the guy which is fair enough i'm not sure what you expect he's not a world class striker, in 6 premier league games he's scored 4 goals, he for me has had a great start to the season and i think there are are a dozen other areas we could be criticising (if we were that way inclined) before we got anywhere near taking shots at Pelle.
The guy never gets a rest, during the match he's the outlet point so has to be alert if he's fit he plays 90 minutes i think we should be praising him for the fact that he's always available always plays 90 minutes and is a reliable goal scorer. I only pop in and out of here so don't read each thread from start to finish so miss alot however i do see a lot of Pelle bashing on here and to me its not even 1% justfied.
I kind of agree Kitch, but you're (along with a lot of people it seems) misreading what is being said here as far as I can see. Fats does rate him (as do I), but gets frustrated when he drops his level. The tiredness thing is.....well it wasn't tiredness, that's the point. There's this HUGE disconnect between people at the game yesterday and people watching television. It was really, really obvious if you were at the game that he'd let his head go. Now that does happen with players, we all know that, but if you compared the effort put in throughout the game between Mane and Pelle, it was so, so marked. He's done really well to get the goals this season, and he absolutely should be one of the first names on the teamsheet. I just think we ALL would like to see him become the player he could be, rather than the player he sometimes decides to be. Hence the frustration. The player he could be, was the player in the first half. The frustrating one was for 40 minutes in the second half. If he could get his head right and cut that element out, he could pretty much be world class.
That's the point though. He wasn't available for 40 minutes of the second half, which caused problems for us. Honestly. I'm not making this up because there's some kind of agenda, it was what was happening and it was really, really obvious.
I thought Vic was angling to be paid the same as J-Rod and Pelle? Either way, he's one of the senior players and should feel some responsibility. Actually, tell you what, I think he does feel responsibility, which is why he took it upon himself to castigate what he thought was mistakes etc from other players. For me that's the wrong approach. He needs to lead through his play (like in first half) not through bollocking the likes of JWP. I said whilst at the game that very often MLT used to do the same, and you know what, it was frustrating back then with him too, but he was such a brilliant player that he got away with it. Thing is, I'd criticise him too. He could do bugger all in a game then score a 35 yard volley. That, even for MLT, shouldn't mean he should be immune from criticism though, or told he "had a great game". It's kind of the same thing (except Pelle was brilliant first half).
Probably his agent selling him short a little. I've moved past debating about Pelle now. I'm ready for the next game. On a positive note Targett played well, you didn't hear Mata's name first half. Shame he came off injured.
Yeah, Targett did really well. I thought Vic and Romeu looked really good together too. Romeu and VVD add some real calmness and poise to proceedings.
Oh and 100%effort Well if its as bad as what you say it was then Koeman or Fonte or any other saint should have given him a rollicking there and then, if he really was that bad why was he allowed to do it for 40 minutes? Like i said only watched on the box which i agree is completley different to being there but all i saw was a brilliant performance by Pelle in the first half and a tired one in the second. I never saw any encouragement from players or staff in his direction and i never heard the commentators mention his lack of effort.
Which is fair enough - as I said, there's a real disconnect between those that saw it on TV and the people there. I'd honestly be very surprised if RK didn't have a quiet word about his application second half. Thing is, by criticising, we're oddly enough supporting the guy - I REALLY want him to be the player he could be which would be amazing for us. It's just a very small change in mental approach that's required.
Its a fair point, although we don't want him getting too good otherwise we will end up selling him. Then what would FLT have to moan about
To clarify, as I pointed out earlier, I'm not blind to his limitations. I just think that he was our biggest asset yesterday.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/southampton-2-3-manchester-united-6480986 This article is disgusting.
