OPINION
When you’re a professional footballer and you’re not playing regularly it must be very frustrating, especially when a lack of game time isn’t what you’re used to.
You would expect West Ham United midfielder Robert Snodgrass, then, who is struggling for minutes at the moment, to be chomping at the bit for either an opportunity to play or an exit from the east London club.
However, former Scotland international Jackie McNamara doesn’t envision that sort of ultimatum coming from his countryman: “Obviously the team, West Ham, are doing quite well this year, started reasonably well, he’s waiting for his opportunity to get in and get games so I don’t think he’ll be desperate to leave, no,” he told Football Insider on Friday.
Look, patience is one thing, but McNamara’s verdict here is a bizarre one. He’s acting as if Snodgrass is happy with what he’s got right now, which surely can’t be the case.
The former Hull City man is 32 years of age now, meaning he only has a few years left at the top level. Surely he’d want to be playing regularly in the Premier League while he still can, no?
According to WhoScored.com, Snodgrass has started just one Premier League game this season, making a further three substitute appearances. Those games come to a total of 144 minutes, while he has started two further Carabao Cup games , without much success.
Is that really enough to satisfy someone in the twilight of their career? Yes, he will have expected game time to be tougher this time around with the return from injury of Andriy Yarmolenko and the summer signing of Pablo Fornals.
However, the Scot surely wouldn’t have anticipated this dramatic a loss of game time. Even Michail Antonio’s injury towards the end of August didn’t lead to an upswing in minutes.
Despite that, McNamara doesn’t believes his compatriot would be looking to leave the London Stadium. That’s a take that makes very little sense, though.
