I pointed out against Reading, that De Jong was mostly at fault for our slow build up. Folks wanted to eat my head off. It seems more are catching on to it. Sabster has been slated non stop here for pointing this out.
Why is it that most would rather argue fluff than examine the facts. I looked at the ratings thread, and 90% of the raters gave De Jong a higher rating than Barry. And I am thinking to myself how can that be.
1. Barry was everywhere today, had the best first half on the team. Found players in fantastic positions, tackled immaculately and put in a few dangerous passes to booth. De Jong mostly passed back.And NO!!! I am not talking about his passes after winning a tackle. I am talking about his passes after he receives a ball in an advantageous position, but because of his seemingly limited vision, chooses WITHOUT Pressure, to find Kompany or Lescott behind him, while others in better positions are clearly open. I saw 2 of those tonite. In which I actually could see the open guy from the camera angle.
2. Funny how no one mentions that De Jong is no faster than Barry. Funny how everyone ignores the fact that Barry averages more tackles a game. I like De Jong too. But is the bias truly not getting out of hand when the claims NEVER matches the Stats.
3. And please, please, please. Don't respond with more fluff claims it is annoying. The OP wrote that De Jong seems to pass backwards and sideways often. This is a question of fact. Either it is true he does, or it is false. Rather than engage the question, the OP gets insulted. But I redirect to the question, Does he or does he not mostly pass back and sideways?
It has become the norm on bluemoon to pick favorites, and defend them illogically. But worse still is to try to blame a problem we all see, on one of the players we don't like. Sadly, the facts and stats don't do this. They just record. You can draw whatever conclusion you want. With or without bias.
Personally, I stand with Sabtster and the guy who posted the stats! As to the issue of whether De Jong plays a role in why we build up slowly from the back? There is no doubt in my mind, the answer is absofukinglutely YES!!! And the stats and fact back it up.
