Might see Targett...said to be a target of big teams (pardon the pun). Wonder what he's like as a player...he was interviewed on OS so must be considered an instrumental player.
Think Shaw just a little less mature but better at crosses.
Might see Targett...said to be a target of big teams (pardon the pun). Wonder what he's like as a player...he was interviewed on OS so must be considered an instrumental player.
Think Shaw just a little less mature but better at crosses.
Can we sort out a formation with two left backs?
You can try to rationalise it all you like, but the treatment they get is out of order regardless of their ability. Your opinion is that De Ridder and Martin aren't good enough, other people think that about Boruc and Rodriguez. It all seems very subjective to me. No-one ever says Jack Stephens or Ben Reeves are **** but they're clearly not good enough for the first-team either (yet).
No-one is suggesting Martin should be first choice, but if somehow he gets picked he needs to be given support like any other young player breaking into the side. Imagine if Shaw had been booed when breaking into the team, I don't imagine it would have helped his development.
Every player at the club needs support, and frankly someone like De Ridder could run past 11 players and backheel the ball into the net and he'd still be described as hopeless.
My characterisation of your position is as accurate as it could possibly be - you've yet to point out one example of "out of order" conduct, besides possibly saying "Booing might happen!" Yeah, that hypothetical situation is hypothetically unacceptable. What do you want? Do you want everybody on here to all play along by pretending he's really good and excited for the possibility of pitch time?
De Ridder played regularly last season and was terrible. He must have played over thirty times for us by now, and has had maybe one or two reasonable performances. Lee has only scored one but at least played reasonably well in other performances.
I'm really struggling to understand what you're taking issue with. A few people (maybe three or four) on here have said they either hope he won't play for us again, or don't think he will, and you're saying it's out of order?! Sure, there are more negative comments about De Ridder on here, but all of them justified, and I've never heard booing when he comes on. I don't know what you're trying to make a point of.
Well you clearly haven't read what you are responding to. I'll say it again, you're talking about booing like it doesn't regularly happen. That is "out of order".
I don't expect anyone to pretend he's really good but I don't think Palace gave him a fair crack of the whip, he made a couple of errors early on and was written off. A bit like Hooiveld has for us this season, is he a bad player now because of that?
I disagree. He was inconsistent, but he had games where he was a real threat, and if his final ball was better (or the other players were better at reading them) he'd have provided a lot more assists.
I don't think he's ever going to be a regular first-team player for us again, but that doesn't mean he's ****. I think Ramirez has played as much as De Ridder has for us and people are still (correctly) saying he will improve, well how do you know De Ridder wouldn't improve if he was given more regular games?
And no, I'm not suggesting he is either as good as Ramirez or should be given more regular games. I wish I didn't have to point out something so blindingly obvious but I know you'll pick up on that if I don't.
There is undeniably a section of fans who abuse certain players, whether it's by booing them at games (which, newsflash, does happen) or by being overly critical on here. I don't think that helps anyone and I think it demeans all of us to have people on here who seem to revel in slagging off our own players. Again I probably have to point out I'm not talking about all criticism, but those who make unwarranted negative comments.
By the way I've never levelled this charge at you, so the degree to which you have taken these general observations to heart is bewildering.
I'm in then as it's charity.

Not good enough and some of them are greedy ****ers as well like Dickson who is happy to go out on loan knowing full well we will have to still pay his high wages.
True 100% agree, but more often than not 17 year olds aren't ready for the PremierLeague. You get the odd exception (Shaw, Sterling etc) but it's not exactly common.
I don't criticise players for seeing their contracts out. They have families and mortgages and a short career (which could be stopped by injury at any point). Would anyone halve their wages if they still had a year or two to go. Players move their homes and families because they have a contract. Saints are a business...so the players aren't cheating a charity. Contracts work both ways...they stop a player moving on a whim and in exchange they get a guaranteed wage for a fixed period.
So your happy for people like Dickson and Chaplow etc to just sit and do nothing for their wages? Even tho they are way down the pecking order?. I'm not ,Dickson was even moaning about not being given a free transfer a few months back. He is ok for Saints to pay his contract up , but not happy to just walk?. That in my book is greedy.
Well we agree on plenty here, though I would go further and say that any booing of a player who is just coming on is unacceptable. Frankly it's unacceptable in almost all scenarios.Booing doesn't happen that regularly. For Guly it happens to astonishing extent, same for Fox, but other than that booing isn't particularly rife - that said, of course it's an issue and I feel very strongly about it. I regularly get offended whenever the fans treat our players as laughing stocks - an example I pointed out earlier, ironically cheering Boruc whenever he catches the ball really angers me. However, as much of an issue as I see it, in this specific situation I have no problem, because it's reasoned criticism rather than the personal hatred some people seem to have for Guly and Fox.
Having to look up stats to prove my point here, but De Ridder has played 32 times (in the league, not counting cup games) and Ramirez 13, so it's not close.
Again, I haven't denied booing happens, and have pointed it out myself. Let's stop pretending that I don't think it's an issue because I feel it is more than most, and of course it doesn't help.
And just because you've never aimed it at me, it doesn't mean I'm not allowed to dislike where you're coming from. I fear it'll get to the stage that people like gmi think we're at already - where you're not allowed to criticise anybody and everybody must be, to use his loathsome phrase, a "happy clapper". As it happens, I disagreed with your original post (not particularly taking it to heart) and you replied, therefore I'll show you respect by continuing the discussion rather than ignoring you.
So your happy for people like Dickson and Chaplow etc to just sit and do nothing for their wages? Even tho they are way down the pecking order?. I'm not ,Dickson was even moaning about not being given a free transfer a few months back. He is ok for Saints to pay his contract up , but not happy to just walk?. That in my book is greedy.
Agree with Fran totally.
Happy about the situation is not the right word but i'm not disappointed. Teams have to legislate for these situations when signing players. They agree whats needed for both parties to get a deal. When our circumstances change fore the better, we cant just dump them off when it suits us and expect them to just accept it.
If you were made redundant would you happily walk away with nothing?
Well we agree on plenty here, though I would go further and say that any booing of a player who is just coming on is unacceptable. Frankly it's unacceptable in almost all scenarios.
I accept Martin hasn't received that kind of treatment, but the way he is talked about on here is reminiscent of the way the others are/were talked about. De Ridder hasn't really been booed but there is a lot of muttering when he plays and I'm sure the players hear that and it has a negative effect on them. That's the kind of thing I can imagine undermining a young player's confidence.
De Ridder played 27 of those games as a substitute, he played 1023 minutes in the league last season, Ramirez has started all but 2 of his games and has played 1013 minutes so far this season, so actually it's incredibly close. Clearly playing longer in each game will benefit Ramirez also.
Their minutes per goal ratio is also astonishingly close actually, 338 for Ramirez and 341 for De Ridder. I'll say again I don't believe De Ridder is anywhere near as good as Ramirez, but the comparison has clearly has some merit.
Well you did appear to downplay the prevalence and significance of booing, but now you've clarified your position I'll gladly clarify I'm not accusing you of denying it!
I'd suggest you guard against worrying what GMI might call you by the way!
I'm not on about the team dumping them, i'm on about players that moan they aren't playing etc but aren't willing to do anything about it. If I was Dickson I would have asked to leave(mutual consent if need be) so I could get to actually play then just moan about not playing. The only reason he isn't willing to just cancel his contract is because of the cash he is earning, so imo a greedy bastard.
He could well be a greedy bastard, but he may have had chances to move on loan much earlier but may be we refused to pay some of his wage or such like. I agree moaning in the press while on full pay is a bit pathetic. But i do agree with Fran that contracts work both ways and all parties must be prepared for that. How much do you reckon he's on any way, it cant be mega bucks (in footy terms) surely?