Old Geordie Geezer’s Weekly Round-Up: Shelvey in focus

Are we going to survive without Shelvey? I think the Blackburn game suggests a hearty “Yes”.

All we were missing was a bit of luck. Remember the not too distant past where we actually had games with no shots at goal?

The great Jonjo Shelvey debacle of 2016 reminds me of a theory that I once pushed regarding the great teams of recent years.

Many of the most successful teams in Premier League history have turned out to be one man shows, struggling to maintain form when hit with a single injury or ban.

When Adams was out injured for Arsenal they went through a rough patch, and struggled to replace him when he finally retired.

Then we had periods of poor form coinciding with the absence of other pivotal players. Manchester United almost collapsed when the in-form Ferdinand was out through injury, and again later when Rooney had a spell out.

Frank Lampard proved to be the player that Chelsea couldn’t do without, while Gerrard was Liverpool’s mainstay.

What is interesting here is that it’s rarely the 30 – goals a season striker who kill’s a team by going AWOL. It’s usually someone from the engine room that makes everything tick. Bit of a mixed metaphor there.

So if the game against Blackburn showed us anything it has to be that even without Shelvey being there to orchestrate, we can still create chances. Whether they go in or not is a different matter, but chances were definitely created, and many from telling tackles in midfield that caught the Blackburn players out of position.

Transfer news is as daft as ever though it appears that Rafa is communicating better with the media these days, resulting in a lot less speculation. At least a lot less believable speculation.

Keep yourself up to speed with my Weekly News Round – Up on my Youtube Channel.

96 thoughts on “Old Geordie Geezer’s Weekly Round-Up: Shelvey in focus

  1. Aussie:
    Sharpy, will try and post a bit more often, I kind of feel like I have said my piece on most matters mate (much to the bemusement of some bloggers)
    I might post the blog fantasy league table as a starter. ??

    ? Yes there may be one or two that post saying ‘what?, he’s back?’. But you always had some points that I agreed with and like above with these players, opinions that differ to mine. I think the blogs lost that bit of diversity it needs.

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  2. 😆 We have some bloke called Mark leading the blog league. Not sure who he is, probably some shady character ?
    Propping up the table is none other than….. ??

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  3. Aussie:
    ?We have some bloke called Mark leading the blog league. Not sure who he is, probably some shady character ?
    Propping up the table is none other than….. ??

    Aussie – why don’t you just **** right off!! – nobody wants you on this site anyway!! ??.

    Yeah, me and Sham are struggling a bit this season is fair to say ?

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  4. Aussie:
    ?, Now, now Sharpy, don’t get ladder envy of the blog championship leaders ???

    That’s why you went missing!!, you’ve been focusing on winning the FFL ?

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  5. I see there is a Turkish side negotiating with Chelsea to loan Atsu ?.
    He’s on loan to us until the end of the season isn’t he?, can they do that?.

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  6. Is that bloody Aussie back on? I’ll have to watch what I say now!

    Need to win the next two games or the little blip will have turned into a major slump. I expect we will but hey ho if Reading win tonight it’ll be looking tight. Always wise to throw a little pessimism in there.

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  7. Graham was of the same school as Sir Bobby, a true gentleman of the game, kept his dignity when the press vilified him. Had a lot of bad luck managing England but was an excellent club manager. A really good 5live pundit too, one of the easier ones to listen to.

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  8. Maybe we can relax just a little. Stuart has a point about clubs like Reading and Huddersfield, they will not go unbeaten for the rest of the season and might just as easily lose three games as win three (in Readings case). We just need to be better than them. I would love to catch Brighton though. I just can’t believe they won’t lose a few at some point when injury/fatigue starts to kick in.

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