We agree on this.
It's not as much pay and value - it is expectation of outcome in a league such as this, divided by what we see as performance on the pitch.
And I don't as much put this against most players. Some, however, like Lunstram, don't appear to be motivated enough to leave everything out on the pitch. Norwood is also poor on recovery and in the tackle. Against Liverpool and Aston Villa however we did see a marginal improvement on this failing.
With both Ramsdale and Norwood, individual inconsistencies have definitely, provenly cost us games and points. You cite that fans 'jumping up and down criticising' but the stadiums are empty. Oliver Norwood cannot hear me shout "Fucking hell, Norwood!" every time he fucks something up, gives the ball away, tries on a predictable 'ping' or basically waves opposition midfields through his area. Ramsdale can't hear me either. But fill Bramall Lane with at least 27-30000 Unitedites watching a collapse in form and defeats week after week and then they'll hear every comment streaming off the terraces. And I guarantee, much of them will be less charitable than me.
I am a bit grimly amused you think that one football fan projecting his ire at a series of disappointing performances and characterising player performances via use of 'nicknames'. Yet, at opposition ground we hear a vast array of songs concocted specifically targeting players backgrounds (Shelvey), sexual orientation (take your pick), ethnicity (again, back many decades) and physique (I'll give you Billy on that, and have you ever addressed Kevin Pressman as 'fatty' before? I have) So there's a selective case of 'standards' over 'emotive connections' here, isn't there? It's okay to call Peter Crouch 'Freeeeak!' (done that as well at Loftus Road, while everyone laughed) and West Ham players 'Cockney Cunts' (when in fact, none of them are either) but when it comes down to one person labelling a player a pub player (seen that done on here) it's offside.
For the record, I'd take Bannan tomorrow over Norwood. I think he has a bit of Duffy about him and has a far better footballing brain than our central pivot. But also, look at your paragraph Geordie. It's full of 'labels'. 'Snortbeast' and 'Pig Fan'. Add to that, 'fucking deluded piggy shitheads' and 'that load of fucking woeful bastards from S6'. I don't doubt they have a wide ranging set of insults stacked up for us as well. With McBurnie, I am not calling him as a person, 'McPub'. During the minutes he plays on the pitch however, he has been sequentially alehouse with his output, particularly with the unsavoury leaving in of summat on opposition players. There's being tough and competitive, and then there's being a prick. You expect that in Div One, you don't in the Premier League where your kit and badge are on display across the planet. Other uncompromising, committed centre forwards at the top are 'difficult' for defences to deal with - look at recent years with Ings, Drogba, Crouch, Wood, Murray and a few more, they all get stuck in, but they don't leave opposition players sprawling. (And they actually score goals, too) It's pub football, and the sort of shit I used to do playing for Eastney Lions and the Fort Cumberland Arms on muddy, rain swept pitches across the Portsea peninsula back in the 1980s. I recognise it as 'Pub Football'. It's not what I expect from a £20m signing with supposed Premier League capability. It's shoddy, spiteful and counterproductive.
Finally, when you mention the alabaster, flower covered effigy that is Saint Christopher Wilder, you'll also note I have been pretty critical of his signings but more critical (for some months now) of his broken 5-3-2 system which he professes is flawless. Note, when Warnock was similarly under such pressure and our failure started to manifest itself as a relegation threat, out came the 'big nosed cunt' and 'Colin' nicknames, despite him steering the team to a rollercoaster of highs and lows over an eight year term as team manager. There were even personal attacks, which even manifest themselves to this day, even though he has been gone from the Lane for 13 years, had a range of other management positions and his wife has been seriously ill. Is he still deserved of all that stuff?
pommpey
), so they're fully entitled to say so if they don't think they're getting value. However, the criticism can be broken into three categories:
