There is no doubting that Cairney has natural talent when on the ball. His movement off it is also very good. Thing is SB saw flaws in his game and they were evident again last night. When he loses the ball in a tackle or misplaces a pass, he never tries to retrieve the ball by fighting to get it back. I saw at least 3 times where he went for a 50-50 ball and bottled it. That is a major flaw in his game and one that SB couldnt accept. To be a Premier class midfielder you need to be able to tackle and be fearless about it. Im afraid Cairney isn't like that. He has undoubted talent but the reasons why he was allowed to leave are still there for all to see.
I'm not sure if you've noticed but we regularly play with 3 central midfielders. I'm afraid that simply isn't true.
Exactly this a good player but was ponderous on the ball and in the EPL will get cause out. Though to be fair I agree with OLM he just didn't fit in with SB vision, and he is definitely improving the more games he gets. Good luck to him, and I am sure he will make the premier league at some stage.
Anyone watching the game last night, I got distracted b a 2 year old numerous times through the game so could have missed some occasions, but I didn't see Cairney waste/give away the ball once until the 86th minute, where he only gave it away because he tried another shot from the edge of the box which went over. Every pass, short and long, went directly to intended dead target, I'm sure he had a 100% pass completion last night! and he was the one constantly dropping off and making things happen and tick over in midfield. It's been mentioned a few times over the summer that we need a player in central midfield exactly like Tom.
I am surprised no one has said that TC only has a left foot - heard it mentioned loads of times when he was with us. Load of rubbish when people say that about a player. When do you ever hear the term " he only has a right foot " hardly ever at all. Just saying like
If we still had Cairney he would be fighting for the same few chances that Boyd and Quinn will get thrown this season. Surplus to requirements.
If we had the central midfield competition of Cairney, Huddlestone, Livermore and Meyler then I think that would be a very healthy position to be in. Should either Huddlestone or Livermore get injured then Cairney would have been a great replacement. Not to mention he was largely developed by us as a club. If he had been brought through by Blackburn then we would be sniffing around for double what we paid for MaGuire.
All things that he could have been coached and developed on. Already showed potential at Premiership level. We are now speculatively signing unknown young players from the non league who are all way behind the development of Cairney. Also since when was been one footed and slow a bad thing. Huddlestone and Livermore a hardly have pace in abundance.
Cairney is / was our most overrated player since Stuart Green. Each of them always miraculously improved when they weren't in the team. And theyre each a massive bellend too.
Not to mention he'd be able to be in our Europa squad as a home grown player, not that Bruce could have forseen it when he got rid
He didn't convince Phil Brown. He didn't convince Ian Dowie. He didn't convince Nigel Pearson. He didn't convince Nick Barmby. He didn't convince Steve Bruce. Are we seeing a pattern here?
He played regularly under the majority of those you mentioned as was given the opportunity to play in the premiership. Where he impressed many and was one of the bright things of our a premiership seasons and his performances had Everton interested in him. (Admittedly never materialised). He made 70 appearances for us.
