- Aug 20, 2013
- 2,279
- 7,974
Massive dissapointment
Out of his gang of 7, which was what I was thinking about actually, i'd say I'm only dissapointed in him really. Oh & Chiriches too. Soldado borderline & Chadli, Lamela, Eriksen I'm happy withCompared to who in our current side?
Eriksen and Chadli have both been playing well, but have had a long run in the first team.
I could name three or four players that i see as being more of a "massive disappointment" than Paulinho.
Out of his gang of 7, which was what I was thinking about actually, i'd say I'm only dissapointed in him really. Oh & Chiriches too. Soldado borderline & Chadli, Lamela, Eriksen I'm happy with
At the end of the day it depends what you look for from our midfielders but one things for sure, to throw away a goal scoring (in out side) box to box midfielder when we have only scored ten goals all season (four in one game) seems plain stupid?
He has scored six in thirty games for us from midfield and though not prolific, aside from Eriksen who else is going to score from that area?
I'd hate to see him go and it's funny how Lamela get's some leniency on here over his performances yet Paulinho doesn't?
I'd say that both so far have been underwhelming and need more time to settle. Thirty games (for Paulinho) is hardly a fair measure to assess his ability. Didn't Bale feature in twenty two games without being on the winning side?
Where are you going to play the box-to-box midfielder? You are essentially limited to replacing Eriksen, Mason, or Capoue.
It does not make sense to replace any of those guys with Paulinho in the starting XI. Eriksen plays the AM role better than Paulinho. Capoue is a much better defensive midfielder - suitable for the CM-2 role. That leaves just Mason - and we have Dembele and Bentaleb to also consider for playing time at that position (and that assumes Stambouli is a replacement for Capoue).
So, Paulinho is left with being a replacement for Eriksen - but if we bring in someone who can play on the wing, then Lamela would be a suitable replacement for Eriksen in the event of an injury or suspension. By the time January gets here, we will be (hopefully) in the knockout stages for Europa, and I expect to see the regulars getting more game time rather than a complete rotation - so Paulinho is not even guaranteed game time in Europa past January. Not the end of the world for Paulinho to move on here.