A lot has happened in the two weeks since I last penned this column. The Town deservedly beat Bristol City, proving the decision regarding changing the goalkeeper to be the correct one, before competitive defeats at Fulham and Birmingham.
In a campaign which is repeatedly delivering ups and then downs, one thing has remained a constant – the improving quality of Izzy Brown, providing us with an insight into why he is currently on the books of Chelsea.
Make no mistake about it, the 22-year-old is a special player, the like of which we are lucky to have, and should enjoy watching for as long as we have the pleasure of being able to do so. Yet I’m aware not everyone seems to see it that way.
I regularly hear those around me at games, before, during and after matches, and many on social media claiming he is lazy and shirks his defensive responsibilities.
Excuse me!? Here we have the most creative player in the league and we want him to defend? Do Manchester City want David Silva to defend? Liverpool and Roberto Firmino? Barcelona and Lionel Messi? Obviously they don’t and neither should we.
I’m not a great fan of statistics when it comes to football, quite often you can manipulate them to suit the argument you are trying to put across, but facts are a different story and here is one that I like – no player in the Championship this season has more assists than a certain Izzy Brown.
Furthermore, he is one of the leading chance creators in the division too, and if the Town are to have any chance of staying up this season, we are going to need to create opportunities and score goals.
Why on earth would we want to sacrifice our most creative player for him to do a bit of defending? It would be footballing madness and I’m pleased manager Graeme Jones seemingly has no intentions of heading in that direction.
Personally, I don’t care if Izzy never sees our half of the football pitch again all season if he continues to do his thing in the opposing half. He is the key to our survival this term, and I fully intend to enjoy watching him do his thing for as long as we are lucky to have him in a Town shirt.
