Behave, the team as a whole weâre rubbish. To single Sawyers out is unfair.
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Agreed, no-one covered themselves in glory in those games. Sawyers was class and is better than the championship, and certainly better than the Scottish premiership which is lower championship top league one for the large part.
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His main problem was that most of our fans perceive that someone making things look effortless is the same as someone lacking effort
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Indeed, and if you play that way and happen to be black, then to some people the two tend to become linked.
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Cant disagree with that point either.
Probably one of the best posts on here for many a year. Well said MS
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No, my main issue with Romaine was that he didnât deliver when it really mattered. And the thing that really frustrated me was that the play-offs and Wembley final should have been HIS stage.
Yep, thatâs your main issue. That doesnât mean to say that it aligns with everyone elseâs though. Many perceived him to not be trying, but that was just his languid style of play.
Yaya Toure was exactly the same for Man City. I know the two are worlds apart but itâs a very similar style of play that makes them look uninterested. Donât forget, Sawyers was officially the second best player in the league that season
Youâre right in the sense that he didnât turn up in some of the bigger games, but that shouldnât be held against how good he was
M-S- yep that is MY main issue - I donât expect everyone to agree with me but that is the essence of a site like this: I have an opinion, others have a different opinion and then we debate it. Sawyers is a good player, definitely Championship standard but itâs illuminating that Dean Smith hasnât tried to sign him for Villa. We were lucky to have Sawyers and then Ozzie as our number 10s - 2 of the best players to have played for us over the last 15 years.
I think somewhere along the lines our wires have been crossed. You directly responded to my message about making things look effortless/lack of effort. I wasnât digging you out personally as I agree with your point, but mine was based around how I perceived MOST Walsall to think. Iâm fully aware of how the site works and welcome intelligent input and debate from people such as yourself, apologies if it didnât come across that way.
In terms of Smith, I think he probably would have gone in for him if they hadnât gone up as a replacement (although a completely different player) for Grealish. The embarrassment of riches he seems to have mean he can look higher up the chain than Sawyers.
We really were blessed (and spoiled) to have Oztumer follow directly behind Sawyers. All that creativity was equalled our by our one dimensional midfield last season though!
Think he would have definitely gone for Sawyerâs if he had lost Grealish
I wonder if the cook and Dobson money as gone with bonzo?
Agree with the comments re: Grealish, who is a similar type of player but a level up from Sawyers.
Sawyers may lack the physicality to be a good premier league player in my view. I would like to see him get the opportunity though, but could only see it if he was in a promotion winning side.
I totally refute the assertions that he hid in the big games. We were beaten in both games by much better sides and Sawyers was as good as any of our players in those ties.
Not doubting Sawyers ability but I think we only saw the best of him in the first half of 2015-16. I think he was the best player in the division until Smith left and then he went back into his shell a little.
Not surprised heâs done well higher up. Playing with better players who are more on his wavelength.
I disagree. I thought he was poor at Wembley. There were a couple of occasions when he had the opportunity to break on Bristol City and he dallied and got caught in possession. He didnât play well, and as he was our main creative outlet, we never really looked like scoring.
Odd, as the Grimsby and Leeds fans I went with both said he was our best player - they also said we never looked like winning and City were head and shoulders above us in terms of quality. Had to agree. Still worth it for the Wembley experience.
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He didnât have much competition that day! I just remember feeling that Wembley would be Romaineâs stage to show how good he was. Perhaps I expected too much and thatâs why I was disappointed.
One man canât pull a whole team through a game though. Bristol City by far out classed is that day and just double or tripled up on Sawyers all game whenever we had possession. It wasnât helped that Bradshaw was less than 50% for but played removing any real threat we had up top.
Isnât that because Brentford have better players who make runs Tone?