This was absolutely ridiculous wasnât it.
One of my favourite Sawyers moments has to be against Chelsea when he single handedly pirouettes Loic Remy, puts John Obi Mikel on his arse with a dummy and then picks out Mantom with a reverse outside of the foot pass.
Itâs a shame that some people couldnât appreciate how you donât need to run round like a headless chicken to be âcommittedâ.
I remember sitting there thinking
âWow did he really just do that to some of the best in the country, if not the world (at the time)â
Great Player
We really had everything going for us that season!
Even the cup draws
The daysâŚ
This and the Blackpool away performance are my two best memories of Sawyers. Absolute class act.
âŚand so forth
Tremendous player, especially when the team was set up to attack more.
Too good for some of our fans who would rather clap a donkey who looks like heâs getting stuck in.
Never hid either. Even when it wasnât going his way.
One of my favourite Sawyers performances had to be just after he signed permanently in the summer and we had Stoke in the League Cup. We lost 3-1 due to Kenwyne Jones clinical finishing but we dominated possession with Sawyers absolutely running the show. He was immense.
Absolute class player , and for those who doubt his talents and ability ⌠footballs not for you!
What a fabulous clip. Thanks for that reminder.
Nice to see a big crowd too, for a change. Mourinho had some high praise for us that night in his interview if memory serves me correctly.
Seems Celtic are in for him aswell.
Absolutely class player one of the best of the past 25 years for me in terms of midfield players the likes of Dobson couldnt lace his boots.
Best player weâve had for years⌠FACT
Great memories of those couple of seasons, itâs all coming back to me reading this thread
Hopefully more good times to come under Clarke
I think I may have shared this before but worth repeating.
A lot of people used to say Sawyers was lazy and sometimes I thought myself that he didnât do enough tackling or tracking back, especially when heâd lost the ball.
One such game was the Johnstoneâs Paint Trophy game against Sheff Utd that was televised on Sky. When he was announced as the punditâs MotM I couldnât believe my ears as, to my mind, heâd hardly been involved and Chambers had been carrying him.
When I got home and watched the game back it was unbelievable how many times they mentioned his name and you saw exactly just how much work heâd actually got through, especially off the ball. The reason it looked like he wasnât involved was because SU were avoiding going anywhere near where he was on the pitch - he basically marked opponents out of the game and closed down space so that even without touching the ball he was still dictating the game. And when he did get on the ball they put 2 blokes on him yet he mostly still hurt them with his vision and passing.
When he was interviewed at the end of the game there was steam coming off him!
Lazy? No, thatâs what the thinking of his critics is. Heâs so good that he makes it look easy and fools those that donât know what theyâre looking at.
Remember when he was signed on loan initially and hardly kicked a ball. Was then released by Albion and we snapped him up - one of our best signings in many a year. Bradshaw wouldnât have scored half as many goals as he did without Romaine. I think the comparisons between him and Oztumer are unjust - he was a much better player for me, Erhun just scored many more goals in a much poorer squad. I think he wouldnât have stood out half as much if he played in the same team Sawyers did.
If any post sums up Sawyers, it is Andy Taylors above.
The amount of times he took possession from the defence, and found a pass to relieve pressure.
The lazy tag was given just because of his style rather than with any real substance. The only ones I saw saying it seemed to be old, and often racist.
The understanding between him and Bradshaw looked almost telepathic at times. It was a bit like Zigor and Pedro, in that neither were as good on their own as with each other, but Sawyers at least, has gone on from that. Not so clear that Bradshaw has.
Sawyers was class, and vastly under appreciated by some. He did however, go missing/down tools in the play offs, cant really forgive him for that.
Absolutely correct , but you forgot clueless and bigoted !
And on that day Jose said at the press conference Sawyers was the best player on the park.
Donât forget that
Yes he got dominated by Hourihane who was playing as box to box midfielder for Barnsley. They had a pretty good team in fairness and not actually the loan players they got at xmas, Alfie Mawson been in premier league last few seasons, he played at CB for Barnsley that day.
Structure behind him wasnât right, Kieron Morris as a CM alongside Chambers in a play off away leg is an astounding decision when you look back and shows how naive Whitney was with his selections at key points. He shouldâve played safe and started Mantom (and possibly Taylor).