Michael118

Who would you say is more overrated (reputation vs actual ability)?

Delph for me was a weak link in Lambert's teams. Anything but solid, wasn't overly composed or great in possession, wasn't great offensively or defensively, frequently gave away possession cheaply, was captain but hardly displayed any 'captain-like' qualities. Never rated Stewart Downing. James Chester - Not the worst CB I've seen but he's not Premier League quality. Lacks size and presence for a CB and doesn't make up for it enough in other areas. Pulis used him as a RB at West Brom and I can see why. Jack Grealish - Not a fan of his mentality or style of play to be honest. I can't think of a player less suitable for 'building a team around'. The end product of the club's poor decision making and misplaced investment of recent times. Hopefully something can be salvaged from it but I'm not holding my breath. When you compare the way I view him to the hype surrounding him I have no other choice but to include him in the list. Abraham - If he "hasn't cut it in the Premier League for a poor Swansea team", why are there fans calling for us to sign him permanently even if it costs £100m? The rest are still rated by some and if not were rated reasonably highly when they joined or at some point.

I based it relative to their reputations. Mellberg has an overwhelmingly positive reputation among fans but I was never overly impressed when I watched him play. Jenas and Whelan both came over with reputations but I never rated either based on what I saw of them at their previous clubs. Abraham and Grealish - both lack some fundamental qualities I look for in players who feature in such key roles. I struggle seeing either forming part of the core of a successful team at Premier League level. That's not to say they won't go on to have successful careers at 'big clubs', but they're anything but safe bets and not players I would have invested heavily in.

I rated Laursen highly. I would have loved to have seen Laursen and Vlaar paired together. For me, Vlaar was seriously underrated. If he was around during the MON era he would be remembered as a different player. Clark and Okore also ridiculously underrated and neither have come close yet to reaching their full potential.

Agreed, I thought he showed tonnes of potential but was also sold to Bolton to fund the recruitment of Curtis Davies. My list of our most overrated players: Fabian Delph, Curtis Davies, Darius Vassell (only saw the last few seasons of his career), Olof Mellberg (only saw the last few seasons of his career), Jordan Veretout, Jordan Ayew, Rudy Gestede, Stewart Downing, Stephen Ireland, Jermaine Jenas, Luke Moore, Henri Lansbury, Glenn Whelan, Albert Adomah, James Chester, Jack Grealish, Tammy Abraham.

Players I rated who never got the best out of themselves while with us: Crouch, Davis, McCann, Sorenson, Cahill, Angel, Solano, Baros, Warnock, Makoun, Lichaj, Daniel Johnson, Albrighton, Guzan, Vlaar, Okore, Clark, Gil, Kozak, Westwood, Lowton, Sylla, Gueye, Traore, Amavi, Bacuna, Cissokho, Gabby.

What does age, club or number of games played have to do with x factor?

Absolutely. I'm not surprised you say he has a good attitude. It comes across strongly on his twitter account and by the way he carries himself. It's a shame he will probably need to work his way back up the divisions but from what I've seen he has the tools to turn it around. Stories like his is what I watch football for. So many talented players just don't get the opportunities or the support they need at clubs to live up to their potential and are let go or fall through the cracks. Hopefully he can find a club where he is valued so he can get back on track and turn things around as quickly as possible so his talent isn't wasted.

Thanks for that, V4L. Weird though as I was planning to come on here and ask about him over the next few days. I looked him up and couldn’t find much info apart from him not having a club. Surprising because although I only saw him play once for us, I thought he was a stand out and was disappointed we let him go. Too much x factor and creativity for Bruce and MacDonald to handle probably. Glad to hear he is training with someone and is still on some club’s radars. He’s definitely a talented player with a lot of potential.

https://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/ostersund/forum.aspx

Jerell Sellars scores his first goal for Swedish team Östersunds FK coming on as a late sub. 6 mins, 28 secs.

Just an update on his progress. It's no secret that I rate him pretty highly. He's just turned 26, but I still think he has a lot to offer at Premier League level if someone is willing to take a chance on him.

Funny then how from a spiritual perspective and as far as I can tell, he carries a lot more light than the majority of players.

'Snowflake Royal' also rated Meite as 'very lackluster' despite scoring both of their goals and rating a 9.2 and 'man of the match' on Who Scored. Bacuna stats vs Ipswich: Rating: 7.3 (4th overall) Total Passes - 49 (7th overall) Pass Success Rate - 82% (5th overall) Tackles - 1 (11th overall) Interceptions - 2 (3rd overall) Key Passes - 2 (1st Overall) Dispossessed - 1 Errors - 0

I couldn't agree more.

Bacuna rescues Reading again with a lovely assist for their late equaliser against Ipswich. 2 mins 50 seconds. https://streamable.com/9pwer

I could have told you Nyland was going to be a poor signing on the day we signed him. As for Bacuna, 3 goals (2 of which were match winners) and 2 assists for him now from his first 10 games playing predominately as a CDM for 22nd placed Reading. You could almost say he's single-handedly keeping Clement in a job there and has plenty of motivation to do so with Steve Bruce waiting to take over. Reading when Bacuna plays 90 mins - 4 wins, 1 draw, 4 losses. Reading when Bacuna plays less than 90 mins or doesn't play at all - 0 wins, 2 draws, 5 losses.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Should have had an assist shortly after he came on when he turned his opponent inside out and put in a razor sharp cross which would have put the game away if Abraham was able to connect better with the header. He's on another level compared to the rest of the squad in terms of his reading of the game and his execution.

https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/torremarathon/2018/10/01/carles-gil-reinvencion/00031538423294877389172.htm http://eldesmarque.com/coruna/deportivo/noticias/24665-carles-gil-pone-el-juego

I haven't watched a lot of football over the last couple of seasons but I saw part of an Everton game the other night and Bernard looks like he has some real quality.

Gabby should have been one of the best strikers in this league. Bruce rightly gave him an opportunity, but could get little if anything out of him and ended up putting him back on the shelf. If we had a manager like Pulis or Allardyce who could actually get the best out of a player like Gabby it would have turned out a lot differently for him.

Got decent performances out of him?!

See my posts in the Richard O'Kelly thread.