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We booed our best attacking players out of the club

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  • We booed our best attacking players out of the club

    We do this all the time, but I'm going to bring it up now, seeing as I have my own section to do so. I'm going to bring up 3 names where it's extremely obvious what happened and then a few others where it's less obvious...

    Matt Phillips, Leroy Fer, Esteban Granero

    3 players who left the club in recent years. 3 Players miles above what we had offensively at those times. 3 Players who fans booed regularly at the stadium, the first 2 in particular. We complain and complain and complain as a fanbase about how we lack attacking power, how we don't have that cutting edge, how we don't have that creative spark. Yet, here we have 3 players who did have all those things. Phillips got some horrid treatment last season by fans who didn't see the effort they wanted. Yet last season he managed 8 goals and 5 assists in what people considered a poor season from him. Now we don't have that and people complain about what we've got, yet when we had something better, we booed it out of the club.

    Fer was easily our best chance at creativity in a long time. The guy could move with the ball, when he had the ball at his feet, he was so intent on getting forward to create a chance and he could create something out of nothing with his long shots. Yet, the fanbase turned on him for a lack of effort. The same goes for Granero, who could pierce a defence with a through ball like very few players we've seen. Yet he gets criticised as being overrated, paid too much and not being good enough. As a result of leaving us, his career took a turn for the worse because of an injury sustained on loan away from us. If we'd kept him, we could have had a super talent on our hands, but - as is the case with a lot of talented players we've had that are subtle but get the job done - the fans in general turned on him.

    We only ever realise what we're missing when they're gone. That was what happened with these 3 players. I still recall the shock of hearing that fans booed Charlie Austin against Charlton on opening day last season. Have we really become this entitled?

    Now, I'm seeing the seeds of the same thing happening to players like Chery, who some (a very small some, but that's how it always starts) are saying isn't good enough. Why? Because the players ahead of him who he's trying to help aren't doing what they need to in order to finish the job he starts. You see, very few players in this league have played more key passes than Chery, yet people are criticising his creativity. Instead of doing that, criticise the finishing of those around him. He's doing his job fine, yet others are not. But who gets the blame? Tjaronn Chery.

    I hope to everything this club stands for that we don't boo him or anyone else out of this club. I really do. Look at Fer now at Swansea and notice that all it takes is a group of fans who aren't harassing you to get the best out of your performances.
    "What stats allow you to do is not take things at face value. The idea that I trust my eyes more than the stats, I just don't buy that because I've seen magicians pull rabbits out of hats and I know I just know that rabbit's not in there." - Billy Beane

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