GOODBYE JOHN

[Papahet]

​That is possibly the worst sentence i've ever read on this Forum. 

Good argument.

When a young academy kid can come straight into the starting eleven at Carrow Road, SCORE from a corner and not look out of place throughout the game, then that tells me people are making the position seem harder to play than it actually is.

And that was one of our best defensive displays all season funnily enough 

[Anon]

No idea, 

We have lost games we should have won with Eustace starting though; Wigan, Millwall, Cardiff, Forest (a) - How many points dropped there alone with Eustace starting

​Then allow me to assist you.

​You're opinion is hopelessly wrong, and provably so;

	Mascarell	Eustace
Games started	18	13
Points when started	28	28
Points/game when started	1.56	2.15
Total goals conceded when started	25	9
Goals conceded/game started	1.39	0.69
Total minutes on pitch	1643	1058
Total goals conceded when on pitch	24	8
Concede every -- minutes when in team	68	132
Team goals when started	33	27
Team goals/game started	1.83	2.08
Team goals when on pitch	33	22
Score every -- minutes when playing	50	48
Average position of opposition faced	12th	14th

​I'm sure you don't need me to point out that 2.15 x 46 = 98.9 points = automatic promotion.

[RiddingsRam]

Eustance wasnt or should i say isnt the best footballer in the team thats for sure and his technical ability shall we say isn't great!  But what eustace was the master at was allowing everyone around him to play ! And we certainly sempt a more balancef team when he was in there ! 

Good luck in the futute John! !

[BondJovi]

​Then allow me to assist you.

​I'm sure you don't need me to point out that 2.15 x 46 = 98.9 points = automatic promotion.

​The only fair comparison would be the same number of games. And then somehow the same teams.

Had Eustace been fit we would have made the playoffs at least. Mascarell remained fit then playoffs. We would have needed to use both towards the season end anyway.

I can only assume releasing Eustace means we have a suitable replacement, maybe he wanted one last season of regular football?

[Ovis aries]

It really isn't that important a position Claude Makelele had very little influence during his career

[Anon]

​The only fair comparison would be the same number of games. And then somehow the same teams.

Had Eustace been fit we would have made the playoffs at least. Mascarell remained fit then playoffs. We would have needed to use both towards the season end anyway.

I can only assume releasing Eustace means we have a suitable replacement, maybe he wanted one last season of regular football?

​I did show that Eustace played against lower placed teams. I like Mascarell too and I agree we'd have been in the play offs if he didn't get injured.

[Papahet]

​Then allow me to assist you.

​I'm sure you don't need me to point out that 2.15 x 46 = 98.9 points = automatic promotion.

That's possibly the most ridiculous method i've ever seen.

Eustace - a 35 year old, who can barely manage a hour of football is somehow going to club together 46 league games and we'd be laughing to the Premiership with 100 points on the board.

Just think about that for a second

 

 

[uttoxram75]

The best football we've seen since Jim Smith was in Mac's first season with John Eustace playing regularly.

He was the perfect fit for Hughes and Bryson's movement allowing them to get forward without fear.

Eustace is the type of player that proves its a team game.

Its probably time for him to go based on age and injury but best wishes to him and thanks for the superb football you allowed to be played. Players like Eust are so underrated its unbelievable.

The ability, discipline, selflessness, bravery, work ethic and sheer football intelligence needed to do what he did, while making it look so easy, is a rare talent indeed.

Top man.

[Anon]

That's possibly the most ridiculous method i've ever seen.

Eustace - a 35 year old, who can barely manage a hour of football is somehow going to club together 46 league games and we'd be laughing to the Premiership with 100 points on the board.

Just think about that for a second

 

 

​The most ridiculous method you've ever seen of evaluating a player's performance over the season is to tally the games he's played and measure how successful he's been relative to his peers? How would you suggest we do it? Spin a ******* bottle?

"Barely manage an hour of football". Why would you try to lie about this? I've already posted the stats you numpty. 1058 minutes on the pitch / 13 games = 81 minutes per game.

[ramesses]

Garbage Ram heard that Eustace was leaving. The he heard a rumour that Mascarell might return. And then he thought about it for a second…

 

 

[Alph]

You don't have to be the best footballer in that position. You have the most passing options. The most time. 

But you do have to have a brain. Not a position if you're going to nod off and start ball watching/chasing. You've got to be able to force the ball wide away from the CB's your job is to protect. To do that you often need to control the midfielders in front of you. Becomes like a chain. CB's don't want anyone running at them. So you don't want any runners running past you. You want to make sure that there's pressure on the ball and that runners are picked up. 

What Mascarell used to do wrong was go closing down too early. Discipline lost, runners see the gap. 

You don't close the ball unless you're sure that runners are picked up and CB's are protected.  Then you can go off and win the ball or force it wide. 

It's not easy. You have to look for other people. Like Hendrick is nightmare for drifting toward the ball when he shouldn't.

It's a thinking man's position. Thought Eustace was pretty good at it. Only lacked the pace to recover the position if he'd gone to close the ball. And on the ball he perhaps didn't have the vision and ambition. 

Thorne is much better. Got the pace, he can organise, he thinks fast and is aggressive on the ball. 

Be interesting to see how many defensive midfielders, if any, that Clement uses. Using 2 is obviously twice the vision. It's extra incentive for the opposition to go wide. It means a DM can close the ball but the CB's still have a shield. Might be the way to go if Thorne can't stay fit. 

And then Eustace would have been handy.

[CumbrianRam]

This whole only lost X amount of games with him in the starting lineup, smells of Gerrard snydrome from Liverpool fans (past three or so seasons).

His last game for Ipswich summed it up for me, was a decent leader of the team, good at reading play and interceptions however he was starting to lose his legs was very lucky not to get sent off way before he did, he is also not the best passer of the ball. Bascially his defensive aspect in that game were good, however he rode his luck a bit! A Eustace/Omar hybrid would have been great!

Also Thorne in my view is much better as DM, shame we never got to see that last year!

He did a good job for us, however I think this is the correct decision, as we may possibly been playing under a different system in the near future and maybe Eustace was not happy with a backup place. 

I highly doubt he will stay in the Champ, probably go back to Coventry as a player/coach and do well there.

[Dimmu]

I hope he gets his move to Premier League now.

[Ashz09]

Sad he's gone I watched him closely a few games and he really rally's the team when losing or winning. The thing is he got a reaction as well so he must be listened to. I can only hope like others have said a better replacement young or old (Pref a experienced CDM about 28).

 

 

[TroyDyer]

You can't evolve by staying the same. Eustace wasn't the future. Hanson needs games to improve and become the player his potential suggests. 

Great servant but time waits for no man. 

[Ramarena]

Thanks John. Sadly I think this last injury is one too far at this level and age is not on his side. However if he had stayed fit from Feb onwards I am certain we would have done a lot better, we missed his presence and experience out there in the final few months. 

Good luck to him and hope he get's a good club and hopefully we have a better replacement lined up. 

[Papahet]

That statistic proves nothing though.

It's like me saying "If we had Sergio Ramos at CB and not Keogh playing we'd have been certainly promoted" - there's no way of knowing that'll have been a certainty, without being Mystic bleeding Meg,

Eustace does tire in the second half, so wouldn't have managed every second of every game anyway; taken off against Ipswich (80 mis, Forest (76 ), Cardiff (58), Bournemouth (73), Millwall (58), Wigan (80)..

After those games featuring Eustace we managed wins against, Fulham (cup), Huddersfield, Wolves, Watford, Brighton Southport, Chesterfield, Blackburn, Cardiff, Bolton, Wednesday, Charlton, Wigan, Blackpool, all without John Eustace and still managed to climb to the top of the league. It wasn't until injuries to the likes of Martin and Bent we struggled, not Eustace's presence. - As we already shown we we're capable of picking up points without him.

Hanson is the future, he shouldn't be cast aside for Eustace when the latter is 36 this year and will struggle even more this coming season with the pace of the games.

[sage]

​

​That is possibly the worst sentence i've ever read on this Forum. 

​I'm I didn't go into further detail as i was finding it difficult to rationalise your comment and point.

You want to dismiss the statistical contribution of Eustace's input to the team as you deem the 18 games he played cannot be extrapolated over 46 games yet you base your whole argument on someone playing one game and scoring a fluke goal.  

[Animal is a Ram]

1-1 when he was subbed.

​

and he scored the goal, if I recall.

[Ramarena]

Not sure why people think Hanson is the future as a midfielder. Not criticising him at all he's a good young player, but isn't he a CB?