Having said that, i don't think there's many of us who can really comprehend the level of expectation being placed on a certain Scouse boy wonder at the moment. He's a young Blue who's living the dream that we all crave, wearing the Royal Blue for real, and we buzz off it. Toffees love seeing him do well because he really does 'get it', and you know when he smashes the ball into the net that his heart his racing for the same reasons that ours are.
He had a tough time of it prior to this breakthrough season, the leg break which put back his progress at least a year will have done his confidence no good, and i'm going to swerve going over the issues he had last season under Moyes. Suffice to say he will have been surprised to become such an important part of the team so suddenly, but he's grabbed the opportunity with both hands thus far.
He's so eager to succeed in fact, that i think sometimes it gets into his head. He's got thirty thousand odd blues watching him every fortnight, their weekend will be decided by the result and as our young hope he's a massive part of it. That's a pressure i wouldn't wish on anybody, and i think in recent weeks it's started to tell. There have been murmurs from some that he's spoken in private about the weight of pressure he feels when he gets out on the pitch.
I think it's important therefore that we as the fans do our best not to make that situation worse. I've no doubt that he gets the strength of feeling from the supporters at each game, good and bad. With every good pass there's applause and with every failed one there's disappointment, for both him and us. Let's do our best not to get wrapped up in the media circus declaring him the next big thing, and just let him develop at his own pace. We all know how much ability he's got, there's no question of that, all he needs to know is that we as fans don't expect the world.
The mental strain has killed off a lot of promising young players, lets not see the same happen to Ross. He's got a decade or more at the top level to become the Scouse Zidane, there really is no rush.
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