Ian Royal wrote:muirinho wrote:
You've used this argument before. Garath McCleary's record must be virtually identical, but you've never made the same case about him. I wonder why!
It's probably because it's transparently evident in McCleary's game that timidity and caution aren't an issue. There are clear differences to their careers too. McCleary started in non-league and successfully stepped up several tiers, that takes a winning mentality. Gunter's always been Championship, except when he was failing in the PL. McCleary was at Forest longer, but started less than a quarter of the games. He was far from a mainstay of their side. He's also spent a lot of time out injured here. Gunter's been ever present except when dropped for being not good enough in the PL. McCleary made significantly more impressive impression for us in the PL than Gunter despite being signed as back up for Kebe rather than first choice.
So - you're not blaming McCleary for Nottingham Forest's promotion failures, because he
wasn't a key part of the team.
But in the PL season, relegation wasn't McCleary's fault because he
was a key part of the team.
Hmmm!
You included a season and a half at Cardiff, when Gunter was 17, just starting out, and only playing a smattering of games in your list of "times he failed to get a team promoted"
You're saying that when Nottingham Forest had him for a couple of months on loan, that was what caused them not to be promoted?
This makes as much sense as a Donald Trump on a bad day.
What sort of ju-ju bad-vibe aura do you think he has, that he can cause a team to fail over the course of 46 games, when he was present in the club for 8 of them? He played nearly as many games for Spurs in Europe as he did for Forest that season, how on earth did they manage to get out of the group stages with that kind of black magic swirling around?
So don't talk to me about crap comparisons. That entire argument is complete hogwash.
You're saying you like him as a person, but when you spout rubbish like this, to try to explain why you don't want him at the club, either you're incredibly stupid, or you're trying to disguise the fact that you loath him for some irrational reason you don't even want to admit to. It must be stupidity then, since you're denying some personal vendetta.
It's "transparently evident" that you'd blame him for the rain if you could.
Which means you cannot ever judge him as a player, because you clearly can't be objective.
Just as some further examples. Take Nicky Shorey and that first game against Middlesbrough in the PL. The team came out and froze in the headlights. We got punished. From the off, Shorey spooned a ball down the line up and into the crowd from the kick off. But, Shorey was a winner, his game was positive. About 20 - 30 minutes in, he relaxed and just got on with his game, because it couldn't get much worse. He dropped his shoulder, beat his man and did a trade mark run up field. It lifted the entire team and we came out of our starting blocks, late, but effectively. Going on to win the game.
Are you comparing every player with Nicky Shorey in that game?
Or is it only Chris Gunter, that has to match that?
You will never, ever, see Gunter do something like that. Because he's safety first. He's not positive.
No,
you won't. Because when he does put in a captain's performance, you wouldn't be capable of acknowledging it had anything to do with him.
It was somebody else who put in the perfect cross for the goal voted best of the season
It was somebody else who weighed in with a key pass and an assist, in the comeback at Bristol city
It was somebody else who was captain for the back-to-the wall, must win performances at Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa
It was somebody else who defended so well for all three play-off games that he's the only Reading player to make the EFL team of the playoffs.
This team has shown itself to be incredibly resilient throughout the season. And he has been a key part of that.
It's all very well saying "We need better". You could say that about
every single player on this team.
None of them have done it consistently at PL.
But if you're looking to boost the squad, you get rid of the players that haven't been good enough to play lots of games this season. You look at the fringes, not the spine. You look at the ones that haven't got any better, and don't fit the style. You look at the ones that are regularly dropped. Not the one that is first on the team sheet every game, and has definitely improved this season.
Unless you aren't rational, when it comes to that player.
