villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) NB The Title to this thread should Read - Your Most Overrated Aston Villa Player Of All Time? I think most VT'ers saw this thread coming. It is a controversial thread so it might be an idea to consult the posting guidelines before you consider responding? The key element & bottom line here is that it is your opinion that counts, so please if possible try & respect others. Remember too, that it would be a very boring world if everyone agreed about every single thing. Then again, I'm pretty sure someone may beg to differ but that's their prerogative. Okay, the preambles are out of the way so I'll go straight for the jugular & answer the easy task IMO of who I personally consider to be the most overrated player ever to represent our famous Club. The player in question scored on average probably one in a hundred free kick attempts. He was an exact replica of David Beckham & how both players got a reputation as dead ball specialists is beyond me though I'm sure most of it is to do with media hype. In reality, both players were incredibly poor on both free kicks & corners. The player I have in mind did have the ability to take on & beat his man but then instead of crossing the ball accurately he would invariably do one of the following: 1. Check back & try & beat the same man again only to lose the ball. 2. Check inside on his right foot & whip the ball behind everyone & out of play. ( He did this so many times it's embarrassing.) 3 Just run the ball straight out of play. 4 Take another player on & end up diving to try & win a free kick that, if it was given. he would then proceed to smash it over the bar. This guy was predominately an out & out winger but for some unknown reason under Gerrard Houllier he selfishly chose to play as a striker & the fact is he wasn't very good at it. Put it this way. You wouldn't need more than three fingers to add up the amount of goals he scored from this position. Oh yeah & he was also extremely arrogant & mighty petulant too. I remember him giving young Nathan Delfouneso an absolute rocket on his debut just because he didn't pass the ball directly to his allegedly god given feet. The only time he really did us any really big favour was when the Club managed to offload him on to Manchester Utd for an incredible £15 M. Great to see us finally rip them off with what was a very fine piece of transfer business indeed. He'll soon be bombed out of Old Trafford too IMO but that's their problem & his problem to solve & thankfully not ours. Before any one asks, no, I definitely would not have him back at Villa Park. (perish the thought.) As I stated at the beginning of this post it's all about opinion. I have mine & some of you are not going to like it. Some of you may even agree? However, as I am not open to persuasion I can easily deal with it & I politely suggest you keep an open mind. I may not necessarily agree with your choice either but such is life. So, if you haven't worked it out yet, though I'm pretty certain that most of you have, the dishonour of being Aston Villa's most overrated player IMO goes to non other than Ashley Young. If you disagree, which is your prerogative, who in your opinion should have this dubious dishonour? Edited January 20, 2014 by villa-revolution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I have to ask you first: Do you mean that Beckham wasn't very good at taking free kicks and corners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristchurchVillan Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Simon Stainrod has got to be up there for the older ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) I have to ask you first: Do you mean that Beckham wasn't very good at taking free kicks and corners? Absolutely mental. Comparing Ashley Young to Beckham... Young was not overrated by us in the slightest, underrated in his last two years if anything. Mine is even more controversial... Ian Taylor. Great bloke, decent enough player, but not special. Legend regardless, but I think his talents are massively overrated by some. Edited January 20, 2014 by dont_do_it_doug. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdistheword Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) "David Beckham & how both players got a reputation as dead ball specialists is beyond me though I'm sure most of it is to do with media hype. In reality, both players were incredibly poor on both free kicks & corners." Stopped reading here. Ridiculous statement. Edited January 20, 2014 by birdistheword 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 I have to ask you first: Do you mean that Beckham wasn't very good at taking free kicks and corners? yes Pelle. Absolutely 100%. It is one of the biggest fallacies in football & Ashley Young also falls into the same bracket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 I have to ask you first: Do you mean that Beckham wasn't very good at taking free kicks and corners? Absolutely mental. Comparing Ashley Young to Beckham... Young was not overrated by us in the slightest, underrated in his last two years if anything. Mine is even more controversial... Ian Taylor. Great bloke, decent enough player, but not special. Legend regardless, but I think his talents are massively overrated by some. Wow dont_do_it_doug. I never saw that one coming but you are entitled to that opinion. Care to elaborate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfingers Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Not sure Taylor was over-rated? He played in that side on merit. it was predominately a side with no big names or superstars. Wouldn't have said there was any hype or over-rating of Taylor. Can't remember people getting giddy over him or claiming he should be playing for England etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2014 Cant see this thread resulting in any disagreements! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 If you wan't controversial how about Stiliyan Petrov or Wilfred Bouma. Petrov was quite bad during his first couple of seasons and even after that when he seemed better i feel that was mostly because we sold all our other quality midfielders. Great man and missed atm but not nearly as good as some would have you believe. A good player but overrated imo- Bouma was pretty good but the longer he was injured the better he got in some peoples mind, reading about him at the time you'd think he was the best defender on the planet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Okay I strongly disagree with your views on David Beckham, but in response to the thread: Stiliyan Petrov Juan Pablo Angel Carlos Cuellar Thomas Hitzlsperger These are all players who when they played for us they were never really that great, we just fell in love with them. Petrov great man, Angel great season (singular), Cuellar great beard, Hitzlsperger great shot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Ashley Young was great for us until his final season. Even then he was still the best player on the pitch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I think as villa fans we generally think on the negative side so I'm not sure we ever over rate our players as such. Always wondered why people loved Alan Wright, always thought he was shit, and was happy when he wasn't in the team and then eventually left us. I always felt we were vulnerable down the left side with him. I was a massive Angel and Savo fan but I know many that thought they were over rated by some villa fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Alan Wright Milan Baros Fabian Delph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) This is a hard one, as it's probable that you're gonna upset someone, and end up belittling players that you actually happened to like. With that in mind I've got two. Olof Mellberg. I love Olof to the core. He was a very good defender, and a player you wanted in your team. I loved his passion and he gets extra kudos for letting his feelings about that lot down the road known. That said I don't think he was world class, and I don't think he was as good as some would have you believe. Not in the same league as Laursen, and I'd probably have Southgate ahead of him too (in terms of Prem era centre backs). A cult hero, rather than the legend status some put on him. Juan Pablo Angel. Again, I love JPA. He loved us too. I loved some of his goals. He had a real flair, and was for a couple of seasons a very good Premier League striker. He did however struggle at the start of his Villa career. Not unusual, and I'm aware of family problems, but add that to spells of not finding the back of the net, and some very inconsistent periods, I struggle to place him in anywhere near as high regards as some would. Edited January 20, 2014 by dAVe80 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 This is a hard one, as it's probable that you're gonna upset someone, and end up belittling players that you actually happened to like. With that in mind I've got two. Olof Mellberg. I love Olof to the core. He was a very good defender, and a player you wanted in your team. I loved his passion and he gets extra kudos for letting his feelings about that lot down the road known. That said I don't think he was world class, and I don't think he was as good as some would have you believe. Not in the same league as Laursen, and I'd probably have Southgate ahead of him too (in terms of Prem era centre backs). A cult hero, rather than the legend status some put on him. Juan Pablo Angle. Again, I love JPA. He loved us too. I loved some of his goals. He had a real flair, and was for a couple of seasons a very good Premier League striker. He did however struggle at the start of his Villa career. Not unusual, and I'm aware of family problems, but add that to spells of not finding the back of the net, and some very inconsistent periods, I struggle to place him in anywhere near as high regards as some would. You answered for me too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt1874 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Yacouba Sylla. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I feel that it became so fashionable to call David Beckham overrated that he kind of became underrated if you know what i mean, it seems people thought because he wasn't running around an hundred miles an hour going past players being the all action hero, that he somehow wasn't all that good, but i thought he was great technically and a great team player. As for VIlla I sometimes feel that a lot of the players in the O'neil era are overrated they only ever got us up to sixth similar to what was achieved before David O'leary and Graham Taylors second spell. But the way people go on when reminiscing you'd think we used to play like Barcelona or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Angel for sure. Even by myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Alan Wright Milan Baros Fabian Delph Who on earth is overrating Baros? I mean he was an OK premier league striker. Incredibly frustrating. Very much disliked on the boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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