So another bout of illness for maxi. With all this muscular injuries too he’s literally a walking sick bay. Eddie told a slight fib when he said maxi was under the weather. Watch it back.. the pause the blink and then the ‘pre agreed line’. Good man management still. Maxi is gone. Probs to Spurs. We can they use that money to replace him with a harder working tougher player.
We obviously don’t ‘know’ exactly what is going on but if I was Max and being played after Murphy I know I would be pretty sick fed up as well.
As a fan you trust that Howe knows what he is doing (see league table) and therefore if Howe thinks Murphy is better than maxi you benefit because we are likely to get a better result to make you feel better (see league table again).
Hence the reason why Maxi should be sold. No point in having an asset worth 30m and not playing him. Murphys statistics are ****ing shocking.
I can't resist but how exactly is the wider team benefiting in playing a headless chicken ahead of Max? A headless chicken who runs around a lot but can't pass, can't tackle and definitely can't shoot.
I've heard Howe talking about him before and I think I gathered there is something a bit more complex going on with Maxi. I get the feeling if he doesn't feel right he's maybe quick to say he's not good to play. Who really knows though. If Howe can get him to track back he'd be an automatic starter. It might be that mentally he can't get him to work back that way to the levels needed because he's worried about injuring himself doing the dirty work. Obvs when he's got the ball at his feet all of that goes out the window. From my perspective considering we are all bemoaning lack of squad depth there are quite a few others I'd prefer we moved on before him. Really he played a huge part in keeping the club in a position where we could attract the Saudi investment.
Think people are reading to much into it at the weekend - Maxi seems like a bit of a conundrum - easily our best technical footballer but a bit light weight - if he has a slight strain he's out, a bit under the weather, he's out. Don't think there was anything in it at the weekend other than he was genuinely a bit ill and Howe probably recognizes unless he's 100% fit he's not worth taking on the bench. If he is fit he's automatically in the squad, maybe not starting XI but at least on the bench. Maxi loves it here, Howe seems to love him, fans have for the majority of the time here and his recent new years message of "wait and see what happens" doesn't sound like a player who's planning on moving away from the biggest project in football atm.
I have plenty of time for St Maximin. He gives us something different. I wouldn't have him as an automatic starter in every game but I think there are games where we know the opposition will be defending in depth, where the ability to beat men is essential. There is no point trying to turn him into something he is not - a midfielder who tracks back like Almiron. Play to his strengths and you will see the benefits. Its unfortunate that, the way we set up at the moment, its hard to see where he starts. If he was consistently available and playing well you could start to build a team round him but its difficult when he is injured so much or not on his game.
I agree. I want him to stay and do well but he needs to stay fit otherwise we'll find his involvement with the side just fizzles out until the club will decide to cut their losses. It feels like we are half way there already unless he can pull himself together.
