Stephenhakin said:NQCitizen said:Did he actually do much worse than Milner last night?
Our of all the options it was the worst central midfield we could have fielded, wouldn't have minded seeing Nasri in there and Navas on the wing over that.
I am with you. He didnt stand out as the worst player he was equally as bad as everyone else. Plus does not help him playing in a 2 man mid.
I am putting that one in the realm of 'what was there before the Big Bang'. That is also something I can't get my head around.chris85mcfc said:Can anyone actually tell me what he brings to the team? Or if that one isn't answerable, how about what is he meant to bring to the team?
I'm actually lost as to why he was selected last night. He got no where near any of their players and gave the back four no protection what so ever
I seriously would love to know the reasoning behind playing him last night. Fernandinho is light years ahead of Fernando and Milner as a central midfielder, and just how he didn't get a start last night is something that I don't think ill ever get my head around
I know it's incredible but this happened a good few times, I had turned the air blue so much watching him that my missus started just watching him to see what was so frustrating and after 5 minutes was convinced he was a supporter that had sneaked on the pitch he was that out of his depthManchester_lalala said:pudge said:I remember watching this as it happened and thought "Fucking hell, he doesn't even know what day of the week it is"Shaelumstash said:I'm trying to remember the last central midfielder we had that was worse than Fernando. Dabo wasn't a bad shout from an earlier poster, I was thinking Jeff Whitley, but I think he'd have been more use tonight. At least he had some energy and would have closed players down. Fernando is Ged Brannan / Nigel Clough bad.
No wonder he has high ball retention stats, how many forward passes does he make in a game? 2 or 3 at best.
I'm still trying to figure out what he's meant to be good at. It's the cliché with this type of midfielder to say he "does the dirty work" "Breaks up play" and "wins the ball back" only he doesn't actually do any of those things. He's extraordinary limited in possession which even his biggest fan would probably admit, but this idea that he is a defensive midfielder is just a strange non truth that has become accepted as a given. Rather like the idea that David Brightwell played against The Shite in the Kanchelskis 5-0.
He doesn't tackle, he doesn't read the game well, he's deceptively slow, he's not aggressive, his "tackling" involves him putting out a stray leg when his man has already waltzed around him. The only thing he breaks up is our momentum. I don't know whether he is ill or experiencing some mental health issues or something, but this guy does not even look like a professional footballer at the moment. I fail to see how he could possibly have been this bad for Porto. How on earth have we scouted this guy for 18 months and paid 12 million for him. Absolutely bizarre.
It's as if he's never seen a football before
[video]https://vine.co/v/OQLKKK7I6uQ[/video]
Funny thing is that wasn't the only time I noticed him doing this. I couldn't believe what I was watching, a player at that level shouldn't be looking clueless like that.
kp789 said:He is a good player, just not at our level and does not fit into our system. He never presses the ball and on the rare occasion that he does, he doesnt make a tackle or any attempt to win the ball. Last night and against boro, I felt like he was just a traffic cone wearing a city shirt.