Harry Winks was unimpressed by the teams’ performance in the 1-0 loss to Vitesse last week, including his own.
The midfielder openly criticised the performance as reported by Mirror Football.
He has struggled for Premier League minutes this season but has gotten playing time in the cup matches.
However, Nuno Espirito Santo left him out of the Carabao Cup game against Burnley this week, and Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Mackie, thinks he is being punished for speaking up.
The former QPR forward speculates that Nuno Santo might be trying to stamp his authority on the squad and is using Winks as an example.
He said on Sky Sports as quoted by HITC: “It looks like it is that,he has been playing and been involved before.
“So, you can only say that internally the manager their wants to stamp his authority to say ‘you fall in line in my regime or you don’t. And if you don’t this is what happens’.
“It looks like he has been subjected to that. I can’t know anymore because I’m not in the camp. But it certainly looks like that.
“At the minute, Skipp has come in and he’s playing. However, Winks was someone who played more games than Skipp. I am sure it is that he’s been punished, but I am sure time will tell with January coming up.”
Winks has hardly been in the team this season and his omission is mainly because Oliver Skipp and other midfielders playing ahead of him are better options.
Mackie is simply trying to make a big deal out of nothing and Winks is probably attracting too much attention now.
It is good to have quality players in the squad as alternatives to your main options.
However, it might be time to let Winks go because it is now tiring to hear pundits talk about how good he is every other weekend when he is not playing.