Jay Spearing - what are you?

[Whelan]

We are going to be playing in Europe next season, which means that he is going to be called upon a lot if we keep the same two, as Lucas cannot play every match!

 

As a defensive midfielder he doesn't have the awareness or the positional capabilities, as an attacker (as some have suggested) he doesn't have the range of passess, or mobility to be effective.

 

At the present moment he is £3-5m that could go towards a better player, if Rasmus Elm is available for £6m, then Spearing could very well pay for him!

[MLB]

He's our fifth choice midfielder. If Utd lost Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverly and Anderson who would they play? They were lucky that they could call Scholes out of retirement because without him they would only have youth players like Pogba. Likewise if City lost Toure, De Jong, Barry and Hargreaves. He is FIFTH CHOICE. The criticism of him is out of order.

[Guest TK-421]

He's our fifth choice midfielder. If Utd lost Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverly and Anderson who would they play? They were lucky that they could call Scholes out of retirement because without him they would only have youth players like Pogba. Likewise if City lost Toure, De Jong, Barry and Hargreaves. He is FIFTH CHOICE. The criticism of him is out of order.

 

Why is the criticism of him unfair? I think most of it is quite measured, and tempered with respect, compared to the treatment other players get.

[PaulMcC]

He's our fifth choice midfielder. If Utd lost Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverly and Anderson who would they play? They were lucky that they could call Scholes out of retirement because without him they would only have youth players like Pogba. Likewise if City lost Toure, De Jong, Barry and Hargreaves. He is FIFTH CHOICE. The criticism of him is out of order.

 

Trouble is the players above him in the pecking order, bar Lucas and Gerrard, aren't much better.

[Maxi]

Not top 4 material, unfortunately the only alternatives we have (Lucas, Henderson) aren't either

[Kopite Pete]

Adam and Spearing are not top 6 premier league players. That's what we need.

[ratcatcher]

oh look! another thread whinging about the young players whove been given a chance. fucking whoppers the lot of yers.

[Guest TK-421]

He's 23 and has many appearances to his name. The "young" defence is past its shelf life for Jay.

[jackofdk]

A couple of bad games isn't enough for me to say that he can't be an important (squad) player for us. His many good games, like against Everton in the FA Cup semi, shouldn't be dismissed so easily.

[jackofdk]

He's 23 and has many appearances to his name. The "young" defence is past its shelf life for Jay.

 

He has only played 30 games for us. Still very much in the beginning of his learning curve.

[Guest TK-421]

He has only played 30 games for us. Still very much in the beginning of his learning curve.

 

Enough to form judgment on, in my opinion.

[AnnaJu14]

oh look! another thread whinging about the young players whove been given a chance. fucking whoppers the lot of yers.

 

This

 

Makes you wonder who's next in the firing line for there very own 'what are you thread'

 

Bet half the whoppers on here have never played to an even half decent standard themselves yet think they have the god given right to fire in to who they like about playing ability.

And don't even start with the 'you don't have to have played to be a good judge etc shite'.

Bollocks

[jackofdk]

Enough to form judgment on, in my opinion.

 

If you have that opinion, then obviously it is enough for you to form judgment on.

 

For me, a rough guess would be that he has done average to fairly well in about 20 of those games, bad in a few and very good in a few.

 

Therefore I am still undecided as to whether he can carve out a future for himself at Liverpool. He has one thing that so many of his expensive team mates lack: A strong mentality. That can carry you a long way, as Carra's glorious Liverpool career shows.

[ratcatcher]

He's 23 and has many appearances to his name. The "young" defence is past its shelf life for Jay.

 

Thats just fucking shit.

[Guest TK-421]

If you have that opinion, then obviously it is enough for you to form judgment on.

 

For me, a rough guess would be that he has done average to fairly well in about 20 of those games, bad in a few and very good in a few.

 

Therefore I am still undecided as to whether he can carve out a future for himself at Liverpool. He has one thing that so many of his expensive team mates lack: A strong mentality. That can carry you a long way, as Carra's glorious Liverpool career shows.

 

I just think he's all over the place at the moment and not in a good way. Fundamental errors which he should have grown out of by now. Of course he isn't the only one, with glen Johnson involved in a howler recently. But Johnson makes up for it with other parts of his game. What does spearing bring to the side to make up for his weaknesses? Not much id say.

[Guest TK-421]

Thats just fucking shit.

 

That's an interesting counter argument, mate.

[ratcatcher]

That's an interesting counter argument, mate.

 

Yeah well its better than saying he's 23 and played 30 or so games on which to judge his whole career dont ya think?

[jackofdk]

I just think he's all over the place at the moment and not in a good way. Fundamental errors which he should have grown out of by now. Of course he isn't the only one, with glen Johnson involved in a howler recently. But Johnson makes up for it with other parts of his game. What does spearing bring to the side to make up for his weaknesses? Not much id say.

 

I think you are focusing too much on the latest performances. What did you make of his performance against Everton in the semi?

 

I thought he was brilliant that day, and the stats seem to confirm it:

 

 

Liverpool 2 Everton 1 | Going to Wembley Thrice | FA Cup Opta Stats

 

Excerpts from the article from the stattos:

 

"A 90% average is excellent on the day and Spearing also won 67% of his tackles on the day too."

 

"Jay Spearing lost the ball the least for Liverpool in the semi-final whilst Glen Johnson lost the ball the most in the side."

[JohnnyH]

People getting upset because others are questioning Jay’s long term ability to be a success here actually betray the truth of the matter.

 

I think Jay will stay here forever as he loves it and is more than happy to play a bit part role, and that’s great for us, but anyone suggesting he is good enough to be playing regularly in a team looking to get back in the CL places and then challenge for the title are wrong.

 

Jay will be great to cover for knocks and to play in lesser early round Cup games, but you just have to look at our monumental collapse since losing Lucas to see how badly we need either Lucas back on top form, or another top class DM.

 

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that were Jay Italian or Spanish then the exact people supporting him would be incredulous that we hadn’t shipped him out yet. However, I don’t actually think that’s a bad thing. We should be making an extra effort with local players and we should give them longer if they have come through the ranks as they will be costing us a lot less then some imports and it is always good to have a local lad in the squad. Calling Jay a youngster though is actually a bit belittling to Jay himself. This is his 5th season playing for us. He is no youngster.

 

We have had a truly disastrous league season. It’s going to be our worst for decades. There are very serious issues that need to be looked at in the playing staff. Jay isn’t the biggest issue by any means. But he is one of those that simple, sadly, isn’t going to take us up to CL level if he is playing regularly like he has had to this season. We need better back up to Lucas in the middle of the park. Maybe we’ll sign a top DM and then Lucas can be the better back up? I don’t know. But I do know that while supremely loyal, and clearly a lovely lad who I know a few on here know personally, I just don’t think he’s good enough for what we want to achieve.

 

Maybe he should look himself at leaving. He could be great for a team like Bolton or WBA where he’d get to have a proper career. He’s 24 this year and he’s played a total of 37 league games. Maybe the lad needs to think about himself because if we can improve the squad this summer, then he will find himself more and more on the peripheries, and if we are luckier with injuries next season, then he may see himself back playing 0 games again. I think jay loves it here too much to leave, and that’s fine. But I think this will be the season where he plays the most amount of games he’ll ever play in his Liverpool career.

[Randy Marsh]

Jay is the least of our worries.

 

Looks far better playing with better players, i.e Lucas, Gerrard. Looks shit playing amongst crap like the other night. No problem him being in the squad as back up because he has proven he can step in when needed.

[Whelan]

He's our fifth choice midfielder. If Utd lost Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverly and Anderson who would they play? They were lucky that they could call Scholes out of retirement because without him they would only have youth players like Pogba. Likewise if City lost Toure, De Jong, Barry and Hargreaves. He is FIFTH CHOICE. The criticism of him is out of order.

 

That is a bit disingenous that. He isn't fifth choice, he is our second choice defensive midfielder.

 

He is also first choice now, for the rest of the season. Henderson, Shelvey, Gerrard and Adam are not defensive midfielders. He has proven he is okay in the odd match, for a team that will hopefully be playing in Europe regularly that isn't good enough.

 

His stock will quite high this summer, he is a good deposit on a better player.

[Guest TK-421]

I think you are focusing too much on the latest performances. What did you make of his performance against Everton in the semi?

 

I thought he was brilliant that day, and the stats seem to confirm it:

 

 

Liverpool 2 Everton 1 | Going to Wembley Thrice | FA Cup Opta Stats

 

Excerpts from the article from the stattos:

 

"A 90% average is excellent on the day and Spearing also won 67% of his tackles on the day too."

 

"Jay Spearing lost the ball the least for Liverpool in the semi-final whilst Glen Johnson lost the ball the most in the side."

 

I don't question his ability to perform in one game but the consistency isn't there imo.

 

Id have to watch the whole game again to give you an honest appraisal.

[jackofdk]

I don't question his ability to perform in one game but the consistency isn't there imo.

 

Id have to watch the whole game again to give you an honest appraisal.

 

As I said earlier, of the 30 games he has played, I'd guess 20 have been decent and a couple at each end of the Shit-Brilliant-scale.

 

For me, with so few games under his belt, he is still a work in progress and I still think it is possible for him to step up and find the consistency needed to become a good player for us. Especially because his mentality is strong.

[Baresi]

He's fucking well better than Henderson.

[Whelan]

For me, with so few games under his belt, he is still a work in progress and I still think it is possible for him to step up and find the consistency needed to become a good player for us. Especially because his mentality is strong.

 

He's fucking well better than Henderson.

 

This is the problem, and what I find so annoying about the attitude of Liverpool fans.

 

He has played more than Henderson, and is older (by 3 years), yet we are happy to write off Henderson and determined to play up Spearing.

 

Henderson is a better footballer than Spearing already.