Like comparing a Rolls Royce to a Ford Fiesta 
3 Likes
Iām not anti Sawyers, far from it. Great player. Not sure why anyone would bring Keates in to it though. Completely different players and while Keates never had the techincal ability, or the potential to play higher he was outstanding for Walsall. 3 promotions says it all.
6 Likes
Why? I am merely pointing out the difference in quality.
Which is why the Baggies paid Ā£3m for him in a three year deal. The issue, if he has one at West Brom is that he is being played far too deep.
1 Like
3 million which he paid back ten times over with a promotion.
Yeah absolutely bizarre that. I rate both of them very highly, but you may as well compare apples and oranges. Keates achieved more as a Walsall player than Sawyers did too, but it became fair game to have a pop at him when he tried to manage us and failed 
1 Like
Letās not over cook my comment , my point being one is classed as a legend the other lazy which I canāt get my head around.
Keates was tremendous for the club I am not saying he wasnāt.
When us Romaine comig back 
2 Likes
Fair enough. Thatās a far more reasoned point than this sounds.
I think there are better comparisons to draw. Oztumer Vs Sawyers for example (him ripping us apart in the FA Cup not withstanding 
)
I never thought he was lazy, and in the role he played for us he wasnāt there to chase the ball around, there were other players to do that job. We always had a lot of possession of the football when Smith was manager anyway.
You canāt knock what Sawyers has achieved in the game, itās not an easy route from League 1 to the Premier League for any player in this day and age. Keates gets the legend status because he played a lot of games for us in several spells, and in some of our most successful teams and in the title winning season in particular was a key player who dragged us over the line.
Heās not a number 10 and hasnāt been for a long time. By far his best football for us came when he played deeper in the Smith/OāDriscoll/Whitney season. In fact OāDriscoll put him back to 10 and our form went to pot. Heās much more effective deeper hence where he plays now! I donāt even think the Oztumer comparisons are valid. Very different players.
1 Like
Such a regular he didnāt make the subs bench last night lol letās see how often heās picked now bilic realised heās the weak link
No heās not anymore, but he did play that role for us and under Smith. He very rarely played that deep for us. Thereās no perfect comparison, but Oztumer is far more relevant than Keates as a reference point.
1 Like
We need more players like Richard Taundry - why did we waste our time for so long with a lost cause Premier League player like Sawyers
4 Likes
Doesnāt erase the fact that he started pretty much every single game in a Championship promotion winning side and began a Premier League season as a starting central midfielder.
He was sublime to watch when he was with us, and if you werenāt able to appreciate or enjoy that then thatās unlucky for you.
4 Likes
He definitely played that role for us. Lots. But by that final season he almost exclusively played alongside Mantom/Evans/even Morris (under Whitney) with Chambers behind. It got the best out of him in my opinion. I loved him for us. Itās rare we get such a classy player! Looks like heās had a dip at the moment, hopefully heāll get over it. I thought Keates (particularly) and Oztumer were both good players for us. Neither are anywhere near as talented as Sawyers (nothing wrong with that!) and their respective careers show that.
I didnāt say he didnāt, but he was pushed on a lot more playing with the players you mentioned than he is now.
I also agree that he was a hell of a player and so were the other two mentioned. But Keates did a completely different job, you may as well compare him to Walker or Leitao. Also think thereās a difference between talent and effectiveness. Sawyers could be the most talented Walsall player Iāve ever seen. Was he as effective for us as Keates? Not so sure.
Yeah, heās got deeper as his career has gone on. I wasnāt disagreeing with you, more people saying heās playing out of position currently for WBA. Heās not. I think that final Smith team are a little tainted by not going up. I think we would have if Smith had stayed or even if Whitney not OāDriscoll had initially taken over. Not because Whitney was great but he understood that the team didnāt need to be tinkered with. If that had happened some of those players including Sawyers might be remembered as more effective. It was a really good Walsall team, just a shame Smith did one. Turned out well for him though!
1 Like
Did Sawyers play in squads with as much talent as Keates did, not sure?
And tbf they both played very similar positions, just different styles.
Definitely. Most of the players Sawyers played with were either good league one pros, or ended up in the champ themselves.
And if it was simply that Keates was playing around better players Iām not sure heād have been around the second time we got promoted.