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JA's avatar

DEEP! That’s actually really research, love it,

I think there’s two main uses, which often cross over,

One is to absolve yourself of blame, responsibility or consequences

The second is that when something is going to have a negative emotional impact on you (make you feel bad; sadness, loss, regret, remorse) people as a defence mechanism tend to channel that negative emotional impact as anger towards an obvious target… (indeed people often do this even if something is just a minor inconvenience)

The second is what football fans tend to exhibit and it’s just such a general lack of emotional intelligence and self awareness about your behaviour.

Now Trent is an interesting study… because he gets an abnormal amount of criticism and abuse anyway.

I often wonder what Trent would have to do in order to “have a good game” (and how realistic it is for any player)

Attack wise… it’s at least 2 assists. Numerous perfect passes.. And even when making this kind of contribution he gets criticised for making risky passes and losing the ball a lot (which any high volume crosses and through-ball-maker will do)

Defence wise… winning every tackle and dual, and never being driven past or beaten on pace. (Again, how realistic is that unless you are playing a slow winger and the team never lose the ball when he is in advanced positions)

.. and completely different body language.

So you are looking at like 2 assists, 90% pass completion, 90% long pass accuracy, 5 tackles complete, 100% tackle completion, 100% duals, never dribbled past.

It’s just silly.

Eg before Christmas’s, Trent was playing with a side strain and taking injections to play as Bradley was injured.

He put in some absolutely outstanding defensive displays against (iirc) Brighton, Arsenal, other teams.. think he made 9 tackles against Brighton..

But his long passing was bizarrely off target, which the injury would explain, and he got a whole shit load of abuse and criticism from the same people who always criticise him for being great in attack but not in defence. 🤷‍♂️

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Leo Rutherford's avatar

Brilliant read.

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