They are not cliches, but good reasons for not shitting all over young players. But people who feel a right to do the latter can’t have them and so frame them as excuses instead. I don’t think any player relies on anything written in here, btw.
What happens is that people delude themselves into scenarios where, in reality, a player can probably only be judged in about 20 games of their career.
If the player has recently returned from injury, aged below 23, has been at their club less than a year, has been in the league less than a year (or two years, in some cases), has a new manager, is not playing in what is considered their optimal position, is not in a team on a winning run - it’s not fair to expect them to perform.
They are excuses because what you and others need to understand is that this is the career that they have. You get a few hundred games, and these are them. A footballer can only be judged on what he does, not what he could do in a hypothetical situation. The games are the games, those are the circumstances and conditions that he needs to perform in, and when all of your excuses are done it comes down to the same thing - either he performs, or he doesn’t. There are no asterisks.
I read until Carrick was almost 30 that if we signed a more defensive midfielder to ‘unlock’ him, there was a belief that he had qualities to impact the game further forward. Now that he has retired, who knows, it may well have been true. In another life, in another set of conditions, he could have been Steven Gerrard. He wasn’t. We don’t get to simply add all of these attributes and contributions to him in any assessment, because he did what he did, and he didn’t what he didn’t.
The fact is, you can make excuses for, ‘not shit on’ any players of your choosing. None of that changes the performances you are getting from them. These are the games, there are no alternative optimal games to assess them on. If they are young, that’s tough. If Hojlund is sold this summer, his United career will be assessed by what he did in a United shirt. And that is the same for any given 90 mins.
Some players, great players, understand thins and seize the day. Regardless of whatever circumstances you consider to be sub-optimal. Very happy that Dorgu appears to be in this camp, rather than be amongst the players who come here and do not perform but just say ‘it’s not my fault’. These are the cards you are dealt. Don’t join United at 20 or if they are struggling if you think you can’t perform. But if you do, do your fecking job. The same goes for our manager. I don’t care about how x or y is not perfect. They are all excuses. Either you can, or you can’t.
So I’ll continue to say Hojlund has been shit while he is shit, and you continue to explain to everyone WHY he has been shit. Changes nothing, but if it makes you feel better, you do that. It may even be true, but so what? It still doesn’t help anyone, except maybe Hojlund’s feelings.
