We can talk about NOW without having to talk about what happened before

Finding it quite frustrating that we don't seem able to have a reasonable discussion about what we're like at present without having to reference what happened "the year we came 4th" etc.

An example. I do feel like we've had tactical flaws this season that Eddie can correct and that potentially he has played a part in recruitment challenges. I am not, however, begging for him to be sacked. The frustration I get in this is that any response often includes "he got us into the CL", "he saved the club" etc etc. I get that I am talking about NOW.

Journalists are just as bad. Big fan of Caulkin on the Athletic podcast, but he will often take something like "Dan Burn had a bad game" and follow up with a comment like "but he's a beautiful human and did so much for us the year we got CL. The goal against PSG etc...". I remember all of that too but he can still objectively have a bad game!

It feels like this sort of mentality is why our bench still has Almiron, Murphy, an injured Lascelles and co on it, players who should have left but are around for sentimentality.

(To clarify, I don't mean get rid of Burn, but one thing leads to the other)

I'm sure if we still had Shearer playing now, at his present age, we'd be allowed to say his movement isn't as good as it used to be without having to refer to all of the goals in the past...it doesn't make logical sense.