I don't think he has had a great season, but I also do not think he has had as poor a season as some make out because the stats say he has not had a poor season. I also do not think he has regressed, he has been surpassed by a once in a generation talent. What I admire though about him is he has not moaned, he has kept working hard even when things do not go his way, you can not fault his work ethic and he is a leader as shown by him donning the armband.
He had an exceptional season where he scored all those goals, he is being judged against that, I thought at the time he had a purple patch, his confidence was sky high and everything he seemed to hit went in, but he still missed chances because forwards miss chances. His misses become more high profile because of who he is, remember this is the lad who appeared in the media for buying breakfast and some parts of the media will never forgive him for leaving their darlings.
The debate has become too polarised and I fear that because the debate has become polarised it gives licence to fucking idiots to tweet things like "fucking monkey" in his direction. I was ashamed to see that tweeted about one of our players because it denies our roots and we have always welcomed players of colour such as Alex Williams, The Goat and seeing that tweet really disturbed me. So I ask people be rational about him, if he has a poor game then OK he has a poor game, every footballer that has ever lived has poor games and poor spells, that though is when they need our backing not our opprobrium. Raheem is quality, he has had a season where he didn't hit the heights he previously has, but to think he will not again is a huge leap and whilst it is possible he may never hit those heights again, he is still a player who would get in any other team in the country.
And calling me a dickhead is fine mate, I reap what I sow and I am well aware I can be a dickhead and to be honest I can be a proper **** as well, but I am cuddly :))
A good reply, even if I don't necessarily agree as taking stats at face value can open paint any picture you choose.
However, how do you know he hasn't moaned? because we haven't seen or read anything doesn't mean he hasn't.
Again, we will no doubt differ, but that could be on expectations, but yes, he sometimes gets the armband, but that doesn't make him a leader. Have you ever seen him rallying the troops when the chips were down, trying to motivate the team to raise individual and collective performances, I know I haven't. As you say, he never goes hiding himself, but that doesn't make him a leader
He is being measured by most I believe against the standard he set, as that is what he is capable of doing, but its been far too long (relatively speaking), since we had witnessed those levels on a consistent basis. Compounding that criticism is him believing he should be remunerated to the same, or similar levels as our top earners whilst not delivering what he did a couple of Seasons back.
Will he regain those levels again? neither side of the argument know for sure and only time will show us.
Totally agree that him receiving racial abuse is totally out of order, but twitter is a hotbed for bile and sadly, this will always exist, but I have not seen anything on BM directly abusing him racially.
I personally don't rate him as a top footballer and never have, but that's just my opinion. When he plays, he gets my support as they all do, and my feedback on here as I see it.
Finally, I am cuddly too :)
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