He’s become the player that people feel necessary to point out every time he bends over and ties his laces as a positive every match thread. Good pass Neil. Good tackle Neil. Good waving of your arms Neil.. Was O’nien last season. Making simple passes or tackles and receiving the ball and taking a player out of the game isn’t spectacular it’s what he’s there for. Calling out when he breaks up dangerous phases of play or instigates good pieces of play on our behalf then fair enough but making a 5 yard pass in your own half between a few opposition players isn’t really that. Every single 6 in football does it several times a game. He’s going to receive the ball probably 30+ times a match at a very minimum I’d expect him to beat the press more often than not. I don’t think he’s a bad player by any means he’s good at this level I just don’t think as good as some of our fans make out and I think he’d be easily replaced.
Yet some people jump on his back for one misplaced pass, I can guess which camp you are in