Whenever I see him play I just see a player who doesn't care. I rarely see him run back to make a tackle, or run anywhere in fact. He just has a stupid casual jog which isn't good enough for a top team. It's not his body, his weight, his skills etc. that are the problem. It's his mindset which only he is in control of. You can influence someone's mindset but not teach it. We've got a player here who technically is good enough, but mentally far from it in my opinion. That is where Wilshere shines. Wilshere knows that he's good and doesn't hide in a little shell, but instead steps onto the field with pride, determination and a winning mindset every single game. McEachran knows that he's good to a degree but instead of embracing that to make himself even better, he seems to think that he's good enough as he is and that he doesn't have to put in the same amount of effort as the other players around him. This is probably because of the delusional "HE'Z DA NEXT BIG TING" label that so many of our fans have given him. When I take those points into consideration it makes the notion that he's "the next Lampard" like so many deluded (no offence) people claim even more laughable. A team doesn't just have 2 leaders; the captain and vice captain; a team has (or is supposed to have anyway) leaders in every area of the pitch. McEachran isn't a leader. From the looks of things, he doesn't want to be a leader. In his position and at this level of football, you have to be leader. Ambition to better yourself as a player shows on the pitch regardless of circumstances or which club you play for. Sturridge had always shown very well how much he wanted to improve. McEachran just doesn't seem to give a shit though. When he was loaned to Swansea City, their main objective was to survive in the Premier League. He clearly didn't have the mindset for that though like the rest of the players, did he? So he was dropped. He wouldn't fight for the badge he was wearing on the pitch. He should have worn their crest like it was embedded into his skin and given his all, but he just wore it like some random football top. While it's true that if he was from Brazil many more people would likely call for him to be in our main squad already, at the same time, if he was from Brazil the very same people wouldn't have trouble admitting that he's not as good as he's made out to be once they start looking at actual facts and likely scenarios. He's only made out to be some "English Xavi" because, well, he's English.. and he came from our youth system. People are looking more towards sentiment with Josh than what would actually be good for our team. Many factors have lead to him having some sort of 'prestige' when compared to our other younger players around the same age as him, but really, I'd say Chalobah, Saville, Lalkovic, Loftus-Cheek, Musonda even, are all ahead of him mentally. Maybe he's retarded, I honestly don't know. His passing skills shouts "FUTURE ENGLAND AND CHELSEA MIDFIELDER!". His (from what I can see) mindset shouts "FUTURE MID-TABLE PLAYER AT FULHAM!". But with that said, despite his skill-set seemingly only being suited to being the playmaker of a team, he never seems to even want the ball! He doesn't look comfortable in possession at all. He looks incredibly nervous and often uses his small frame to quickly dodge away from a player before getting the ball away from him ASAP and then looks upset when the ball is passed right back to him. He'd likely suit La Liga or Ligue 1 but I honestly can't see him ever coping well with the quick tempo and pressing game of the Premier League. I have never seen him take anything by the neck in a game and just push himself. Never. And when he missed that penalty not long ago for the England U21's (I think) and another player converted from the rebound, he didn't seem to give a shit that his team had just scored. He just sobbed into his hands because personal glory would have fit well with his well-masked feeling of self-entitlement. Chalobah is our boy. He is the one who is working hard, improving game by game, and deserves to be our holy grail of youth players. It sounds like I'm being harsh on Josh as I'm pretty much just listing negatives, but really, outside of his passing/vision, what is there to praise? There's no work rate to comment on, no visible determination or want to better himself, tackling ability, pace, stamina, tactical awareness etc. You gotta take the blue tinted glasses off sometimes. He can and will improve technically, but I just don't see it happening for him mentally. If Carlo came back I'm positive he'd be shocked that Josh still acts like a young boy and would forget the whole "He could be our Pirlo" tag.
