Jonjo Shelvey is often accused of being a lazy footballer but when speaking to the club as part of there ‘Zoom army’ programme, the lazy midfielder denied being lazy and told one fan ‘to be quiet’.
The stand in skipper received a question from a fan named Davy asking why he was so lazy and Shelvey responded by saying:
“I think I give off this thing with my body language, the way I run,”
“The way I am. I’m quite a laid back character, but listen it might look like that but the stats say different and as long as I’m doing it, being recorded and monitored, you can’t get away with not running.
“I know it might seem like I’m not running or that I’m lazy but the stats say different so I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing.”
As someone who has often called Shelvey lazy, it is interesting to finally hear this own opinions on the matter but I reject the idea that him being a laid back character is any excuse.
He continued to say: “You can be as laid back as you want off the pitch, but if there’s one thing you shouldn’t want to appear whilst on the pitch it is laid back.
“If I’m going to be honest, I’ll take not running at all and win the game comfortably, keep the ball and play possession football, but you can’t get away with anything these days.
“You need to roll your sleeves up, run and I feel that’s what the stats show I’m doing and the proof is in writing so Davy can be quiet.”
As much as I have criticised the former Liverpool man, if he did play for a side that had a lot of the ball, he would be a great asset to have. He has a natural passing ability but it is a big shame that in our side he has to do a lot more of the dirty work and opposition midfields find it so easy to play against his ‘laid back’ style.