toffee balls
Well-Known Member
Kippaxstreetheadache said:Joe's problem is he made the grade at a young age and began to believe his own hype after receiving plaudits from every corner of the game. He allowed complacency, and I believe, arrogance to creep into his game.
Same thing happened with Micah after his breakthrough season under Sven, he was regarded as the best young English centre half in the country, with the versality to play fullback. He was receiving regular England call ups, Chelsea were rumoured to be after him. The only question mark seemed to be how would he grow as a player, which position would he make his own.
We all recall how he appeared to be regularly propping up in nightclubs surrounded by hangers on, making appearances in music videos - seemingly enjoying the limelight and lifestyle a little too much. He believed he had already made it, and the graft was no longer required. His form suffered terribly, he suffered from injuries and was subsequently mismanaged by Hughes, the England call ups dried up and his game and confidence were reduced to a shadow of what they once were.
It took him a couple of years to recover, and a lot of us had doubts that he would. But he ended speculation over his position and worked tirelessly on his game as a fullback. He got his head down, and with some guidance from Mancini became a reliable and consistent fullback.
He deserves a lot of credit for that.
Joe is in a similar, albeit not identical, place to the one Micah once was. The greatest similarities are the complacency and overconfidence/arrogance.
Joe is on a pedestal now, he has no direct competition at club level or international level. He's England's number one. He has gigs in advertising, everybody knows his name. He plays in the Champions League at a high profile club. He's made it.
He isn't the young lad with everything to prove, trying to fight off competition from Issakson and Kasper Schmeichel to play regularly at club level. Nor is he the promising young goalkeeper trying to impress enough to get an England call up. He is no longer the young goalkeeper trying to prove he deserves to start ahead of Shay Given, nor is he the same player that was once trying to dislodge the old guard at international level and establish himself as the undisputed number 1.
He has made it.
But now the foundations are wobbling, and they are of his own making. He must take responsibility for his game over the last 18 months. This not a recent development, it has only received wider public
acknowledgement recently, but make no mistake, his game has regressed.
How he addresses this period of his career will determine what kind of keeper he becomes. He could become a Paul Robinson figure, or he could overcome it all and remove all doubts about his credentials for years to come.
Personally, I have very real doubts. Then again, I once said the same about Micah.
Ultimately though, Micah has not lived up to his initial promise. As it stands, Joe is going the same way.
This .
Hunger is what sets apart the good from the great.