Things could’ve been so different for him and us if his first minute header had went in. Superb goalkeeping from Patterson.
I'm a great one for patterns in football as well as life in general. It's all very well analysing binary impulses and pie charts but the really clever people see beyond all that ... ... which sets them apart from dopes like me and most of the people who post on the internet. My current boss is a self made millionaire who does nothing more than study trends and patterns of business. There are many, like him, but he just has that knack of being a second's thought ahead of the next person who really really would've spotted that opportunity if he'd had just one more glance. Someone clever, a mate of Dave Ashfield and a lecturer on sport at Loughborough Uni, mentioned Sunderland to me during the play-off campaign. He was saying that there's a theory that applies to football whereby a sequence of events is triggered and accelerates up to a certain point. In this current context a player, let's say Lucumi, has considered a move to Sunderland which he's so far resisted. In the meantime Sunderland sign Xhaka which tempts Lucumi more than he previously was. Sunderland then sign Guiu which further enhances the look of the club. Sunderland then go for their other target, a CB, of which they have a choice. Lucumi is really interested, at this point, and Sunderland equally. Sadly for Lucumi Sunderland now sign two quality full backs and believe they need someone slightly better than Lucumi. Oops! He's now thinking he really should've taken the deal when it was offered and hopes Sunderland are still interested. Sunderland infer that they could be interested but now some of the personal terms have to be cut back ... normal as they've just signed two expensive full backs. The point of all this is that Lucumi remains exactly the same player but, through other changes, the whole club has moved up to a level whereby we may leave some players behind, In a nutshell, thank f*ck we have Ghisolfi doing all this when we used to have Stewart Donald
He's a good player mind. I like him. I just think he'll need to be in a pretty decent side for him to show. And will they chance it? He's 24 I think? Time for him to find out. £15m would be a good deal I'd say, he's done a lot of learning. Would depend on his contract I suppose.
Exactly. Good deals rarely come along and sensible people realise this. Others don’t and think better deals are always just around the corner. Huge gamble to wait and see. Lucumi has the chance to vastly improve his salary and at the same time put himself in the spotlight to enable an even better move. Or he could wait and possibly end up at an average Spanish club on a slightly improved contract.
No offence mate, but you arent half coming across as a bit obsessed with undermining Neil. Your view on his captaincy is well trodden. You have been a regular doubter of him from a very early stage it seems to me. That is all fair. But here you are, digging him out as a poor captain, whilst at the same time hosting a thread about the next captain. The suggestion of Xhaka ruling the roost seems nonsense to me. He seems quite humble and discreet. But I have seen comments about Rigg being shy, Ballard being in awe, Luke looking awestruck. None of that looks real to me. But I am not trying to forensically interrogate these things, I have no reason to do so, nor am I qualified to make such judgements. Folk seem to be looking for things and seeing them. Xhaka is not the sort that would want the pedastal some are putting him on in my opinion. He isnt like a Keane character who would want it all about him. The keenness to link Dan Neil to Xhaka is bonkers. Unless we know Dan was willfully ignoring him, or he hasnt already said his hellos, or hasnt already been told he isnt captain etc etc all you are doing is guessing and making stuff up. Bringing up Hurley, a captain 60 odd years ago, is odd. By some media suggestion KLD promised Xhaka captaincy if he came, if true it seems naieve to think Dan should be fulfilling the role you seem to expect. The bare reality is Neil seems likely to leave. He certainly doesnt seem to the first team at this stage. He hasnt been part of the so called starting 11. We appear to have moved on from him, or outgrown him. With everything in front of our noses expecting him to be doing what you expect seems plain daft to be honest. It is this sort of post that makes me hope he goes to be honest. We dont need to be so divided over players in the prem.
I’ll say it for the 100th time - if Amad was to be sold (he won’t be), he’d have many European sides after him He won’t be returning to Sunderland, yet…
The best thing about this is it means that his last competitive contribution in a Sheffield United jersey was setting up the goal that put Granit Xhaka move here into motion
