Sir Maximum

[HughieG]

He's receiving a lot of praise after yesterday's game. I love him as a player and character, and I think he's just what our club needs.

However, yesterday he also frustrated me as much as he excited me at times. He does lack a bit of an end product at times for me, and he also dribbles far too much in the middle of the pitch, oftentimes losing the ball to the opposition.

Maybe I'm being harsh - but I think he can become an even more complete player than he is now!

He's going on the back of my shirt, if I don't go with Bruno G.

Have a nice day everyone!

[toptoon]

He was awesome yesterday and I was thinking what he could do with better players around him.
He does dribble too much sometimes and lose the ball but often it’s because there are no other options available (players in good positions to pass to). I thought the ref didn’t look after him very well either.

It’ll be great to see Saint and Bruno playing together.

[Alberts__Lob]

He's still only 24 so he's got a lot of good years ahead of him. Having better players around him should take his game to the next level also

I would have thought Didier Deschamps is taking notice. Imagine Mbappe and ASM in the same team.....absolute nightmare for defenders!

[trinitoon]

The most annoying thing for me is that every time he loses the ball, he:

1. Stops and stands around flapping his arms.
2. If he's been tacked (good or bad), sits on the grass flapping his arms around.
3. Starts taking on players too often when a pass would be a better option.

The way I view it is "rough with the smooth". You get both with ASM. If he's scoring or at least adding to the attacking threat, these tantrums can be forgiven.

I haven't forgotten the amount of negativity to him on here when we were losing and he was doing the things mentioned above with no end product for a few games.

He is essential for us to keep because he is the only person in our team that creates something out of absolute nothing with the ball at his feet. It would piss me off immeasurably see him in another shirt - especially Liverpool's or Man U's.

Yes, he jigs around like a jitterbug but when we add better players around him, this guy will be fucking scary.

[Sclox]

....he has the fear factor. All opponents earmark him as a threat - he terrifies them.

I noticed he was receiving extra curriculars during the game from the Everton players.

[toonlegend]

I've always thought he has never been looked after by the refs.

i said last year he'll be crippled by the time he's 30 the number of fouls made against him

[Cannylad]

He worries opposing defenses to the point where he was pulling four players out of position to deal with him yesterday, he should learn to make a pass instead of taking them on all the time though and maybe get better results. Apart from that he is a massive plus for the team and we can't do without him, great to watch when he's running at them full blast.

[ex_pat_magpie]

I think we'll get the best out of him as the team improves with better players. He's often in the position of not having any player putting himself in line for a pass and then he's left to go too far on his own.

He fits better into a team better than we had before the newcomers arrived.

[Andy1981_2]

I think he is improving on the end product side of things - I suspect the stats would back up that claim too, but I haven't checked! He isn't being as selfish under Howe as he was under Bruce, but there is still a lack of quality in his shooting, and that needs to be worked on because he creates lots of opportunities for himself to shoot. Also, I suspect he'll be on the end of a fair few through balls when Bruno settles into the team, which means more one on one opportunities too. So, off to 'finishing school' with Big Al, maybe?

As Trinitoon has pointed out, the big issue is his sitting it out after being bundled over - fairly or otherwise. He has to learn to play to the whistle. However, there's a broader culture at play there in modern football I think. Lots of players do this, not just ASM. It's the reason I can't stand Dwight Gayle as well - does exactly the same. If we can encourage ASM to get up and get back at the ****er who just felled him then that's the way to go.

[trinitoon]

Aye. But I think his shooting is just fine.

The problem is, there are not enough people around him on his wavelength that can do a bit of tiki taka in the box to work more space to get a shot off.

There's often no one there keeping pace with him for him to slide the ball to. Of course it is his prerogative to shoot first but if his path is blocked, he starts faking from side to side which is both ridiculous and unplayable in equal measure. When he starts doing that, people need to get their ar'ses in the box to give him more options.

He might shoot anyway but others need to liven up. If Wood starts figuring this out and sharpens up in the box, he might get on the end of the odd pullback, cross or blocked shot.

I remember ASM being called a luxury player. Luxury starts looking real nice when everyone is putting a shift in. EH's constant nagging for people to stop standing around is starting to get through.

I hope we don't let ourselves down against the Vile. Coutinho's worth at least 1 goal so we won't buy a ticket until we score 2.