Ryan Mason

[Kandi1977]

Well, what does he offer? Assist? No. Goals? No. Good positioning? No. Protection for back 4? No. Good passing accuracy? Yes... I think there is room for improvement to say the least, and I'm more than confident that ANY of the other cm we had would have performed equal to better than Mason with the same game time.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

Well, what does he offer? Assist? No. Goals? No. Good positioning? No. Protection for back 4? No. Good passing accuracy? Yes... I think there is room for improvement to say the least, and I'm more than confident that ANY of the other cm we had would have performed equal to better than Mason with the same game time.

In my mind he is a sold midfielder who is an all rounder. I'm not saying he is a world beater, but at the same time I'm not prepared to write him off. If Pochettino, Scholes and Hodgson rate him, there must be some reason for it. I just don't get why people are so hell bent of getting rid of him?

 

[alekaras]

I don't know if he was played in his best position last season. To me he seems more of a AM and that's not the position where he has been played, so that may explain his shortcomings. I'm no football expert, but I did see moments of brilliance from him, mostly in the first half of the season. After that he didn't seem to play as instinctively as he did in the beginning and faded, but then again, so did Eriksen and no one's slagging him. So let's give the guy a chance.

 

[GrimsbyYid]

By all means suggest another objective way of assessing whether we would have had a better chance of finishing fourth without Mason in the team.

I know what you saw last season too because you came on here and moaned about the same players after every game. You don't rate Mason, we get it. Sadly, I have not read any posts from you were you have been able to explain why you think he is so poor or seen you willing to acknowledge any positives that he brought to the team.

fudge me the very message you quoted I explained quite clearly why I think he's poor, why do you conveniently ignore this and say I haven't explained it? I couldn't be more precise in my expression. As for ackowledging the positives, again, why are you out right lieing? I said he has great passion, he has a good work ethic! There you go!! Positives!!

 

[GrimsbyYid]

And Paul Scholes saw a player that "...can tackle, he is tactically disciplined and he kicks the ball cleanly with either foot. He gets about the pitch too. I understand he had a few loan spells and some injury problems before he made it as a regular with Spurs and his development has been overshadowed by Kane. But I see no reason why Mason should not be in the next senior England squad." Hodgson obviously agreed and put him in the squad, and our own manager obviously sees something in him by playing him.

We, as fans, cry out for loyalty from our players yet show none ourselves. He's one of us, is actually quite good and can only really improve from now. I just don't get why so many people want to write him off as a waste of space, when quite obviously there are some quite qualified people who vehemently disagree.

You said this earlier. He's one of our own - like that means anything. It only means anything if they're good, it's nota justification for playing anyone. As for loyalty. What loyalty has Mason showed us? No ones come in for him except championship clubs who he admits to talking to last year! If Real Madrid came for him would he show loyalty? Who knows, but why do you presume he's mr loyal?!

I would love nothing more than for Mason to be as good as you think he is this season, I'll happily say I was wrong, happily, delighted. I"ve seen nothing to suggest he has anything close to the ability to do that though. Why do people struggle that other people have different opinions. History will prove one of us right, let's see where he is playing in 2 years time.

 

[DublinSpur]

In my mind he is a sold midfielder who is an all rounder. I'm not saying he is a world beater, but at the same time I'm not prepared to write him off. If Pochettino, Scholes and Hodgson rate him, there must be some reason for it. I just don't get why people are so hell bent of getting rid of him?

There might be some people here who want to get rid of Mason... maybe even one or two "hell bent" on it. But almost all the Mason critics (myself included) actually want to keep him as a squad player with a view to seeing if he improves. Because we do like him and we all love to see an academy graduate become a regular in the first team for years to come.

The problem is - and this is where opinion splits - some of us don't think he's good enough (yet?) to be first choice in such a crucial position. We'd prefer to see a better player in central midfield with Mason staying as a backup / rotation / cup player until such time as he improves. There's very little "hate" for Mason from what I can tell; just a difference between those who think he should be an automatic starter and those who think we need someone ahead of him.

 

[NWND]

Well, what does he offer? Assist? No. Goals? No. Good positioning? No. Protection for back 4? No. Good passing accuracy? Yes... I think there is room for improvement to say the least, and I'm more than confident that ANY of the other cm we had would have performed equal to better than Mason with the same game time.

Did or does Modric offer any of those things?

No.

You're so busy looking to tick off every negative about a player you haven't bothered to think about what he does bring.

We started last season terribly, Mason came into the team and improved things immeasurably. The reason is his confidence to hit the early through-ball and bravery in possession. A willingness to accept responsibility for moving the play forward and take the ball off the defence.

Something both he and Bentaleb share and something that our other midfielders lacked.

 

[Kandi1977]

Did or does Modric offer any of those things?

No.

You're so busy looking to tick off every negative about a player you haven't bothered to think about what he does bring.

We started last season terribly, Mason came into the team and improved things immeasurably. The reason is his confidence to hit the early through-ball and bravery in possession. A willingness to accept responsibility for moving the play forward and take the ball off the defence.

Something both he and Bentaleb share and something that our other midfielders lacked.

Are you seriously saying Mason is as good as Modric was for us? Omg! what a JOKE! I'd love Mason to be a brilliant player, but he's not. Yet. I don't wnat to get reid of him as he's a good squad player, but he was clearly and by far our weakest link last season, and therefor most want a BETTER PLAYER in that position. How hard is it to accept that? Who would you play, Mason or Modric, Schneiderlin or Mason, Schweinsteiger or Mason, Matic or Mason, Kramer or Mason, Bender or Mason?

 

[Gutter Boy]

Well, what does he offer? Assist? No. Goals? No. Good positioning? No. Protection for back 4? No. Good passing accuracy? Yes... I think there is room for improvement to say the least, and I'm more than confident that ANY of the other cm we had would have performed equal to better than Mason with the same game time.

All of the above. That's the point of the double pivot CMs - they are alrounders, rather than specialist DMs, AMs etc.

I also read the other day that Mason had more assists last season than Eriksen (not sure where the figures are from)

 

[milo]

**** me the very message you quoted I explained quite clearly why I think he's poor, why do you conveniently ignore this and say I haven't explained it? I couldn't be more precise in my expression. As for ackowledging the positives, again, why are you out right lieing? I said he has great passion, he has a good work ethic! There you go!! Positives!!

I've re-read the post I replied to and I still cannot see anything to support your arguments.

If you are going to dismiss a crude average points gained when he was in the team and when he wasn't, I think that you need to come up with something better and a rant doesn't cut it.

Why do you think that Poch picked him in every game that he was available for last season?

 

[milo]

Are you seriously saying Mason is as good as Modric was for us? Omg! what a JOKE! I'd love Mason to be a brilliant player, but he's not. Yet. I don't wnat to get reid of him as he's a good squad player, but he was clearly and by far our weakest link last season, and therefor most want a BETTER PLAYER in that position. How hard is it to accept that? Who would you play, Mason or Modric, Schneiderlin or Mason, Schweinsteiger or Mason, Matic or Mason, Kramer or Mason, Bender or Mason?

I think that you need to read NWND's post again. No where does he say that Mason is as good as Modric.

 

[NWND]

Are you seriously saying Mason is as good as Modric was for us? Omg! what a JOKE! I'd love Mason to be a brilliant player, but he's not. Yet. I don't wnat to get reid of him as he's a good squad player, but he was clearly and by far our weakest link last season, and therefor most want a BETTER PLAYER in that position. How hard is it to accept that? Who would you play, Mason or Modric, Schneiderlin or Mason, Schweinsteiger or Mason, Matic or Mason, Kramer or Mason, Bender or Mason?

Where did I say he was as good as Modric? He was nowhere near our weakest link, in fact, he's the one player that made the team remotely functional, hence he was thrown in when he had no PL experience whatsoever.

 

[NWND]

Are you seriously saying Mason is as good as Modric was for us? Omg! what a JOKE! I'd love Mason to be a brilliant player, but he's not. Yet. I don't wnat to get reid of him as he's a good squad player, but he was clearly and by far our weakest link last season, and therefor most want a BETTER PLAYER in that position. How hard is it to accept that? Who would you play, Mason or Modric, Schneiderlin or Mason, Schweinsteiger or Mason, Matic or Mason, Kramer or Mason, Bender or Mason?

Oh and we won't be signing any of the players you've listed at the bottom, the only realistic player in my view that brings potentially more to the table than Mason is McCarthy, but that's probably because he's a year older but more importantly has many years more experience.

 

[stinkfoot]

Just thought I'd check the Mason thread for any ITK.....you never know. Its crazy, a whole thread right here just to discuss Mason. Who'd have thunk it eh!?

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

You said this earlier. He's one of our own - like that means anything. It only means anything if they're good, it's nota justification for playing anyone. As for loyalty. What loyalty has Mason showed us? No ones come in for him except championship clubs who he admits to talking to last year! If Real Madrid came for him would he show loyalty? Who knows, but why do you presume he's mr loyal?!

I would love nothing more than for Mason to be as good as you think he is this season, I'll happily say I was wrong, happily, delighted. I"ve seen nothing to suggest he has anything close to the ability to do that though. Why do people struggle that other people have different opinions. History will prove one of us right, let's see where he is playing in 2 years time.

Well I think that we cannot expect loyalty from any player unless we show them loyalty first i.e. prepared to give them time to adjust. I'm not saying he is a world beater, but quite clearly people that know the game better than you or I, see something. I'm prepared to see what he has got and hope that he will fulfill this expectation. On the face of it, he has had his first season in the premier league, has broken into the England squad and has done enough for Pochettino to think he is better than Capoue, Paulinho and Sandro. But he's had one season. We'd give and have given other players more time before we made up our mind.

You quite clearly have made up your mind. I don't struggle with this, and respect your opinion. I just disagree, and whilst he's playing for our team, I will give him nothing but support. I don't think he is as bad as you're making him out to be.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

There might be some people here who want to get rid of Mason... maybe even one or two "hell bent" on it. But almost all the Mason critics (myself included) actually want to keep him as a squad player with a view to seeing if he improves. Because we do like him and we all love to see an academy graduate become a regular in the first team for years to come.

The problem is - and this is where opinion splits - some of us don't think he's good enough (yet?) to be first choice in such a crucial position. We'd prefer to see a better player in central midfield with Mason staying as a backup / rotation / cup player until such time as he improves. There's very little "hate" for Mason from what I can tell; just a difference between those who think he should be an automatic starter and those who think we need someone ahead of him.

That's fair enough Dublin. I obviously misconstrued the feeling as a feeling that he needs to leave the club which I think is just not right. I don't think he should be an automatic starter (nor do I think anyone should be an automatic starter - you should earn each and every start) and whilst I think there are better players out there, I'm not sure how many of them would come and are within our budget. If that does turn out to be the case, I think we need to support him.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

Just thought I'd check the Mason thread for any ITK.....you never know. Its crazy, a whole thread right here just to discuss Mason. Who'd have thunk it eh!?

Fair point stinkfoot!

 

[parklane1]

I do not want to see Mason leave the club, to be honest I feel a little bit sorry for him as he is being asked to do a job he is not able to. We have a CM of Bentaleb and Mason and neither one of them have a defensive mind set and often let runners get in behind them and both are guilty of ball watching on occasions.

Bentaleb is a player who looks like he will improve on this but his strengths are in other areas ( imo), however Mason is/will never be that type of player ( imo) and because of that we need to bring someone in to partner Bentaleb. By all means we should keep him and let him play his own game when the opportunity arises but at the moment he is a weak link in our ( biggest) problem area.

As for " being one of our own" we all want to see youngsters come in and play well but lets not pretend that because they are " one of our own" it means that we should not replace them if they are not good enough.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

I do not want to see Mason leave the club, to be honest I feel a little bit sorry for him as he is being asked to do a job he is not able to. We have a CM of Bentaleb and Mason and neither one of them have a defensive mind set and often let runners get in behind them and both are guilty of ball watching on occasions.

Bentaleb is a player who looks like he will improve on this but his strengths are in other areas ( imo), however Mason is/will never be that type of player ( imo) and because of that we need to bring someone in to partner Bentaleb. By all means we should keep him and let him play his own game when the opportunity arises but at the moment he is a weak link in our ( biggest) problem area.

As for " being one of our own" we all want to see youngsters come in and play well but lets not pretend that because they are " one of our own" it means that we should not replace them if they are not good enough.

I thought I would move the discussion on Mason to his thread to keep ITK for what little ITK there actually is.

I think young players will always make mistakes, but I actually think Mason is quite tactically disciplined. Yes there are better midfielders out there, but there are better players in all of our positions and the criticism that Mason gets over and above say the criticism that Ericksen gets is unwarranted imho.

I think you misconstrue my point about being "one of our own". What I think that this should do is that we give the player some time before writing him off which some people are already doing. He's had one season. We give foreign signings much more time e.g. Lamela and Modric. Hell we even gave Acimovic more time before writing him off!

 

[mark1208]

Hi guys newbie here my opinion is even though it doesnt count for much Is Mason is a good squad player but for me him and Bentaleb are too similiar none of them are good enough of just sitting in front of back 4 .

Yes the defense was shocking last season but the 2 in front couldnt really defend for toffee they are both better in foward positions