Clrnc
That's just patently untrue, because my first two posts in November were defending him;
---Looks like my eyes didn't deceive me with respect to total duels won. Won the most contests for the team in a highly physical game. Exactly the kind of fight we needed in a game like this.
Sky had a statistic on show around the 60th min mark where he had the most pressures of any player on the pitch with the next 4 players all from Newscastle. I've not seen any statistic on most miles ran but I wouldn't be surprised if he was also one of the highest.
Newcastle tried to bully us and he was one of the reasons we stood firm and fought back. There's plenty of other games to have gone for him, but today wasn't that day.---
---His pass completion was poor yesterday but it was a consequence of him actually taking risks and playing with more bravery. It was a stark contrast to the cowardly 5-yard backward layoffs we had seen from him for most of the season.
From a creative perspective, it's still not good enough and we expect more, however he is clearly making improvements.---
---Given the way he just lashes at opportunities and doesn't seem to have any kind of finesse in the box, it makes you wonder how he ever managed to score 92 career goals. Which at least gives some hope that he does have some capability in that respect and it could come with time.---
That's in November alone. I'm not saying I have been completely optimistic about him, and I'm sure there were times I was critical, but claiming I was one of his biggest critics when the main narrative was that he was a complete waste of money just makes your claim patently false.
