I see from the (brilliant as usual) nufc.com match report that they note only Distin congratulated Robert on his goal on Saturday. When I saw it on TV he looked to be running back for the kick off with no players around him.

Seems a shame if his team mates have no time for him but I suppose if us lot on here can't decide if we love him or hate him then I think that dilemma must be around for the players also. Even YKD said on the the post match interview that Robert 'has his critics'.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

Answers

It was also just a goal back, they didn't really have time to celebrate as another goal was that important.

I'm sure if it had been the winner he would have been jumped on.

He celebrated with Lua at the end as well. Certainly not "one of the crowd" at the Toon, but hopefully he'll settle in. Maybe he's just quiet and gets on with it (when he feels like it)

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

Our best player on Saturday (TV highlights only mind) and in the games I've seen (even those where he has been slammed) he's been amongst the better players.

We've waited six years to replace Ginola, spent £5.5m on Speed (bought to solve the left problem), some on Glass and tried others in that position & never been a threat down the left. Now we have someone who makes a good proportion of our goals & demands special treatment from the oppo yet we slag him off because he doesn't work as hard as Paul Sweeny.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

He does seem like a right miserable twat at times doesn't he?? Before he scored on saturday i was begging robson to take him off, he was useless. It seemed like when he scored he started to play a bit, as if this was his motivation to step it up. Why can't we have Distin, Bernard and Robert in the same team, i feel that would go some way to solving some of our problems.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

The thing is, if we keep giving him the ball, he does invariably produce chances or win free kicks. He has a few frustrating tendancies but to be honest all he needs is a kick up the arse every now and again.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

On the subject of Robert, it was interesting to see him standing all alone out on the left touchline when Shearer went down with that horrible facial injury. Yet he made no effort to go over to him, when most of the other players were obviously concerened...Hmmmmm!

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

I have known many professional sportsmen (ok Sportspersons) everyone of them do not like to see another professional injured. It is a rarity to see anyone who actually hates another. Maybe in Roberts case he cannot stand the sight of blood and was staying away, he may have thought with the whole team around it might have made the trainers job more difficult, but no I suppose you are right he is a loner and non contributor so the sooner he goes the better it will be for us.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

Oh for crying out loud. What is with the sudden fascination at seeing who doesn't like who on the team, and looking for every little indicator that may or may not support this? It's like a bunch of old biddies gossiping around the water cooler! ;-))

Is it possible that Robert (rightly) realized there was nothing to be gained in running over to Al other than to be another body getting in the way, and perhaps he was better off staying put for the restart? Shearer, Robert, Dyer, et al, are professionals. As long as they play well together on the pitch, it really doesn't matter if they're friends off it. This kind of gossip only serves to feed any media lurkers looking for more ways to knock us down.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

BTW, just saw the highlights (finally!), after his goal, Robert was indeed running back for the restart and looked to be urging his teammates on to the same. He was all business, as we should have been at that point. We were still behind and had a lot of work to do, plenty of time for celebrations later.

And if by chance he is squeamish about blood, as Gus suggested, I can see why he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere near Al. I love Al, but......eeeyyugh!! That's why the physios get paid the big bucks 8-0

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

He stayed out wide expecting to take a corner. Obviously not used to our referees yet.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Good point Ciara. Every gesture, every aspect of body language, every word written on his website is dissected and analysed here and invariably given a negative spin, when a positive spin could equally easily be attributed.

Why? We are supposed to be supporters. Such interpretations of Robert's motivation creates an environment in which the boo boys (who are a waste of space at SJP) thrive.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Maybe we should change the song.

We are the Geordies
The Geordie boo boys
We are never happy.....

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I'm still laughing at Ciara's assertion that we're like a bunch of old gadgies round the water cooler (or tea urn over here!). The thing is - we are!

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I can't believe no one has spotted the obvious here. It's all part his persona. He has to be aloof and cool because he's French. End of story.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Cant agree more Jonno!

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I think the attitude to Lolo is based, not on his output, but on his possible output. If you look at the official FA Premier statistics for the season, the leading assists are as follows:

Robert Pires 18 Laurent Robert 14 Ryan Giggs 13 Nolberto Solano 12 David Beckham 11

When you add in 7 goals, no matter how you look at it, he's produced the goods. If he manages to set up three more goals and score one in our remaining games he'll have set up or scored 25 for the season. Who would have settled for that at the start of the season for £9.5 million? I'm sure if we sold him, half the teams in the Premiership would bite our hands off if we asked £12 million.

What would you prefer? A hard-grafting 10-a-season player (goals + assists), or Robert?

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

As I suggested on another thread recently, the issue is not whether Robert is a good player or not - the real issue is that most people realise he is generally only playing at ca.40-50% of his true potential, irrespective of all the statistics.

If we could only getting playing at 80%+ in most games we would have a genuine world star on our hands - in fact, we would already have the PL Championship tied up. IMO he really is that talented.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Aye Ciara; Aye Jonno. Let's give the Lad his space and let him play his football.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Clarky, I think he`s a great talent and has a lot of room to improve, but do you really think he`s got that much more to his game that he`s currently only playing at 40%? What are you expecting from him when he plays to his potential? 20 goals a season? 35 assists? Couple of penalty saves maybe?

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

ADK - my "40-50%" may have a little poetic licence built into it - even though I realise you're not allowed that on here.

However, I believe my general point is valid - the guy has done OK statistically, but is capable of much, much more. I genuinely believe he could be as good as Henry and Pires, and possibly better than either of them.

Currently, he does not demand enough of himself, and is therefore easily satisfied - as I believe sometimes comes across in his web-site burblings.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I think you make a good point, Clarky. Most of us have seen Robert in something approaching full-flight, esp early in the season. If he played anywhere near that well on a consistent basis, he'd be even more of a force to contend with. However, even when he appears(to the crowd) to not be trying that hard, opposing teams are still putting 2 players on him at every opportunity so they obviously know how dangerous he can be.

I also think looks do count for alot, and it's too easy for the crowd to pick up on all the times he appears to be doing nothing as indicating he's lazy and doesn't care. It shouldn't matter, but to an audience it does. A little more effort on his part, even if only for looks, would probably see fewer people getting on his back. IMHO, if he can keep burying his fantastic free kicks and putting in the crosses, he's quite welcome to spend the rest of the time contemplating his navel.

Just imagine if Robert manages to consistently play near the top of his ability, and Bellamy learns to finish at a higher rate, and Dyer remains relatively injury free next season.....we'll be every defender's nightmare. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Point taken Clarky, you`re certainly not wrong about him not demanding enough of himself. Wonder if maybe a bit more competition for a place may be the answer? With the best will in the world Bernard is never going to bring to the side what Robert can so Robert can be reasonably certain he won`t get dropped.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Just watched a clip as posted on the other thread of Roberts goal. From the close up he seems to be pointing at the ball an then towards the spot. Seems like the proffesional attitude in wanting to get the game going straight away to push the advantage. I have to applaud him on this matter. No-one had a chance to get near him to congratulate him, he was off and running straight away.

I think your wrong and that Bobby will drop anyoone who plays badly just look at Carl Cort, okay maybe not. Seriously though he dropped Barton when he was our weakest link.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I seem to remember a certain chrissy Waddle looking like he was always knackered, if the ball wasn't at his feet he'd slouch around and look totally out of it. However as it turns out he was one of the fittest lads out there. Laurent is very frustrating as just about everyone agrees too, if he only chased back on occasion I for one would much happier with his contribution.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Andy, not sure I agree about Bobby. Yes he dropped Barton, but 3 months too late in the opinion of most of us. Which means he won't drop CC this season. Which will be a huge mistake, methinks.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

syme,

In the few games prior to the Derby game his contribution has been outstanding. I recall a particularly memorable occasion at SJP v Arsenal in the cup where Robert was the last line of defence and broke up the play to lead a counter-attack.

I'm not saying it's true of you but it appears many of our crowd will find fault regardless of his contribution. I'll just settle for the genius that put us back into the game on Saturday.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I can see where you're coming from Homer, however, prior to his goal the only thing he'd done was a rather speculative shot that the keeper pushed onto the bar (that was more than anyone else mind) What made me upset was that when Derby were breaking forward he would be walking back, not even jogging. In the first half everyone was terrible, stray passes, half hearted attemps to make a challenge, no passion anywhere. I really believe that the game needs to be at a high tempo for him to become involved, if, as saturdays first half was anything to go by, the majority of our players seemed dissinterested.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

Another point is he is generally awful at defensive work, and it's risky sometimes for him to tackle. He was booked for possible the worst timed tackle I've seen this season against Fulham, and gave away a free kick which led to a goal a few matches earlier.

A lot of fans think that he has the ability to beat ANYONE just like that with no effort. Taking on Premership quality full backs time and time again is no mean feat. I just wonder if Solano got injured, if Robert could go on the right, his long range shooting is superb and he could be devastating coming inside and shooting with his left.

Clarky, I agree entirely about him not playing to his full potential.

Comparing him with Pires, last season's Pires was not a patch on Robert this season. Are you sure he's had 16 league assists? I thought it was 9 or 10

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

9 goals and 15 assists for Pires - fantasyleague.com again. Discrepancy no doubt due to the subjective nature of what exactly constitutes an assist.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

only thing he'd done was a rather speculative shot

That shot was as good as anything you will see in world football.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

That's mere speculation, Heed.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

Yep, keeper got both hands to the ball and it still took the crossbar to keep it out. Hamish the Hotshot couldn't have done it better.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002

I watched the Everton game last night (thanks Gus, it was on the mat when I got home) and Robert was excellent. The most memorable being taking on two Everton players to get into the corner and cross for Corts goal. I'm not so bothered about his tracking back as much as I am about him not running with the ball down the line. He constantly drifts inside when, as he proved against Everton, when he does get into the corner and cross it can prove dangerous for the opposition.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2002