by muirinho »
05 Nov 2021 00:50
Zip From Despair To Where? The consensus at the time was that Moore was a significant step up when we signed him and was good value at £1m. Quicker than McShane, more experienced and less error prone than Cooper and more consistent than Ilori.
The mistake was not selling him when we had the change and offering him a vastly improved contract. Granted he has been underperforming massively for the past 2 years and not justifying the wage.
.....Is the correct answer.
I wonder sometimes whether players actually disimprove after they've been here a few years, or, whether on repeated viewings, their shortcomings become more obvious.
I think we should have sold Moore, and I don't think he's worth his reputed wages, nor is he a particularly a good on-field captain - but I also don't think he is significantly different to the player we bought - and if he was available now for £1million, and we needed a CB, he would still be worth that.
It's interesting to see, if you look at players of the season, how frequently they are players in their first or second year - and how their reputation often falls later. In my opinion, this isn't necessarily because they've get worse, but their shiny newness wears off, the good-things they do become more part of the furniture, and the bad things they do begin to grate more.
Like a 7-year itch for a relationship - except with football it's more like 2-3 years.
As an example - I give you -
POTS - 20/21 - Josh Laurent
19/20 - Rafael
18/19 - Rinomhota (2nd Yiadom, 3rd Meite)
17/18 - Moore (2nd Mo Barrow, 3rd Liam Kelly)