He’s already one of our best players! He’s genuinely above Bernardo now in the pecking order. In the central attacking positions he’s only behind KDB, and as a winger, there’s only Sterling above him for me. I prefer Foden to Mahrez and Torres still needs a settling in period.
Agree, but I meant consistently one of our best players. On current form (stretching from the restart) he is one of the best right now, but that could (and likely will) change. He’s young, we have a long, congested campaign ahead, his form will likely dip at some point, and he’ll temporarily move down the ranking for a time.
I am as excited as the next blue, as my posts illustrate, but I reckon we (and he) would benefit immensely by keeping our expectations reasonable and grounded in current frame of reference, giving him time to fully develop in to the consistently world class talent we all can see is possible. I think we need to avoid giving him the Michael Johnson treatment, building him up so far that the only real direction is down (it wasn’t the only thing that lead to Johnson’s struggles, of course, but the weight of expectation didn’t help). The media will do that enough without his own supporters aiding them. It’s been the downfall of many promising talents in the past and I want to avoid it with Phil.
We need to stay patient, even when the quality of his performances may degrade at times, and remain encouraging. Most of his future is on him, the club, and luck. But a tiny sliver is on us to do what we can to nurture and support, especially in a time of social media scrutiny and pressure (i.e. he’ll be even more aware of collective expectations than in generations past; the club and the media are no longer the great filter).
All I want is success and glory for the lad, and I am willing to remain calm and patient to see it happen.
And I have every reason to think it will.
