Posted this in the Aaron Davey thread, but equally applicable here.......
The unfortunate reality as I see it is that he has always been required, and has played well enough often enough to justify his selection. That is quite obviously no longer the case.
Appalling attitude, numerous poor and extremely costly performances and what seems to be a complete incapability to lead means he can no longer justify his ongoing automatic selection.
We have been through this with "sacred cows" as Range Rover put it earlier in this thread, in the past, and we can't and shouldn't support that any further.
He (as well as few others) needs to be told in no uncertain terms that what he is putting out there in skill as well as (and maybe more importantly) attitude and leadership is completely
unacceptable to this team. He is no longer a protected species, and must at the very least try to perform or he will suffer the same fate of a lesser (for want of a better word) player.
Now we all want him to be back to his best, to be accountable to the team and the match and to lead, but right now his inclusion is only justified on a very long past reputation, and that is no longer good enough.