- Jan 20, 2013
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Dawson was here last season during those capitulations. And in previous ones.
I don't agree re Livermore at all, decent, puts himself about but he's at Hull for a reason along with Huddlestone and Dawson fighting relegation. We'd have been better against the likes of Liverpool? Conjecture with little evidence to back it up.
Going back to Pinky's lament about the last of the old guard going I think it was more a nostalgic look at times past (which I understand) and a point towards the clubs long servers such as Daws, Hudd, Lennon, and Defoe. Can't say I miss or will miss any of them from a footballing or mentality point of view.
Players with a strong mentality and very good technical ability are pretty rare and not easy to find at the prices and wages we're willing to pay. Like I said I agree I think the players we brought in have lacked a strong mentality but I think it's fair to say we lacked it before then and if Jake Livermore was the difference then we really were in trouble. He wasn't.
There's a massive middle ground there mate that falls within that "difference." The difference between 2012/13 and the following year was huge, and I pointed out that there are various components involved of various significance. As I said, I don't think Livermore would have changed the results, but I don't think he would have allowed the utter capitulations on the back of entirely giving up.
This was never a conversation of anything more than conjecture and speculation, so I don't understand the need to point that out. "Little evidence" is based on biased sample size in choosing to point to Hull with a massively less talented squad, vs their replacements being around that more talented squad and being turned over. Mind you, Hull was also not consistently turned over by those sides, so if we want to be overly selective and biased I could turn the sample around and point to that fact.
Daws was present, but he was behind a midfield that did absolutely nothing to shield him all of last season. We featured a flat CM last season with two players of similarity, with not one taking the responsibility of shielding the back line and the other with pushing us forward. Daws did not have a good season, but he was not directly responsible for the capitulations last season. I specifically point to our central midfields who put up shockingly low numbers of tackles, interceptions, clearances, and forward passes to relieve pressure in those matches.