I'll be honest, I'm not sure why he was labelled the saviour. He looked alright before his injury, but it was so early on and we were less **** then. I think it's the rose-coloured-glasses effect that happens when a team is off-form, and anybody not playing is suddenly amazing. Like how we were missing Sarr, and then he came back and we were still crap. I don't think it's a big loss. The big loss is that all our midfield options (bar Louza) are rubbish.
Bet he never plays regular top flight football for a team in a good league. Will muddle a living playing for Greek and Turkish teams for a while before heading off to Romania to finish his career.
But we were saying at the time that his injury was a big blow, and just because Sarr was utter garbage once he came back, it doesn't deflect from the fact that, while inconsistent, he was at least very productive before his injury
His injury was a big blow - he was a first team player out for 6 months. That doesn't mean he's amazing. Like I said, everybody looked better back then, he just has the advantage of not being tarnished by the bad games.
I don't think anyone labelled him the "saviour" whatsoever. He just looked comfortably better than the utter dross that is Cleverley and Kucka and played with high energy. Would have been very useful in the Championship.
Looking back at match threads to see if I'm going insane: his first match he was great (as was everyone, bar the last 15 minutes), his second he was poor, third he was MOTM for most, fourth he was poor. Then I got bored, but I think it's fair to say he was inconsistent. Some quotes from those 2 poor matches: "etebo must have an identical twin who does his travelling." "Cleverley and Etebo levels below last week" "The midfield is the crucial element. Kucka was a massive miss. Etebo was okay but Louza." "Thats what we need from Etebo. More bite. Shame it's only taken forty minutes and going 2-0 down." "Etebo and Cleverley done nothing today" "Massing, etebo, and Louza are all having a mare" "Disappointing to see how ineffectual Kucka was today and he Etebo and Sissoko were thoroughly outplayed." "Etebo - messy and weak - brushed past by Wolves on multiple occasions." "We need to get hold of the ball, Etebo, Sissoko & Kucka are all very good at taking it off you but also love giving it straight back. That’s not going to work." He's hit and miss, but what we need is consistency.
A hit and miss player would have been a huge upgrade this season, and a massive upgrade on our upcoming Championship squad, currently full of miss and miss players.
Whilst I generally agree with your point, we've not seen him perform well in matches where the rest were poor. The quotes above were from the Brighton and Newcastle games, so when we were crap so was he. Extrapolating that form, I think it's more likely that he'd have joined the miss and miss players than have been a shining light. Just my opinion, but I see no evidence to suggest he's different from the rest of them. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I was impressed with him in the beginning of the season even though he wasn't yet playing at his best. It's his first season in the EPL. If not for his injury, he would have have challenged Cucho for the most improved player. Sent from my AUM-L29 using Tapatalk
