Christie has been brilliant for us, barring a dodgy spell at the end of the 2014/15 season where the entire squad effectively capitulated.
Adding to that he's still only 23 so has potential to improve further, he's easily one of our most talented youngsters hence his consistent place in the first team.
If Cyrus wanted to move to a prem club, I wouldn't blame him but I definitely wouldn't be actively looking to sell him...
Much needed post @sage
Too easily people are saying "433 didn't work" and "players are bottlers" but so much more went on this season.
Omar was alright but he was a total hot head. So eager to press and chase (which is what gets fans cheering because they're stupid) that he too often left us exposed. And like you say, Cyrus is crazy. He's either a really crap good player or a really good crap player. He's so up and down that I can't decide if I rate him or hate him.
That goal v Forest was disgusting. More so than the first Brum goal.
A Grant goal kick. Hoofed long to Bent. And as soon as the ball flies over the halfway line 6 players are gone. Can't remember who won the header for Forest but it put 6 players out the game. Then Omar committed suicide. 1 header from their own half put Forest on through on goal.
I loved how many players Mac used to get beyond the ball. But this was just poor decision making. But there's been little to no danger of it happening since... Or scoring much.
Many asked for a Plan B. But the problem is one we're seeing now. We've got so many options but very little depth to cover any specific system.
McClaren was very unlucky to lose all 3 DM's. Eustace and Thorne just knew that role. They took so much ***** work off the other 2 midfielders.
The other mistake Mac made was the tinkering of the defence.
We'd already lost Thorne, Eustace, Martin. So our spine had taken a blow. Then he seemed to set about systematically destroying confidence.
By tinkering with the defence we started to see the worst of Forsyth. Cyrus had broken completely. Then Whitbread, Shotton and Buxton couldn't get settled. Kept getting traded all over the place. And Keogh never knew who his partners would be. He even appeared at RB himself
Then to kick a team that's down we had all the speculation and panic around Newcastle.
The lessons to learn from this season were blatant. And I wish Mac had been here longer to show if he can learn. I wish we'd spent £25m on just a Thorne and Martin with a good defender thrown in. Maybe loan a winger because Mac was really good with wingers. He didn't like them to play 90mins and if we had what he called "a full back game" then he gave himself all kinds of options. Dawkins was a great slowly slowly catchy monkey alternative for building play. Ward and Russell very much for exploding play. Ibe for ridiculous ability to go through defenders with the ball. Far more direct than anyone else. No going around them. Through them!! He was improving too.
So much to take from this season. So much to build on
