villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Anyone who thinks McGrath is over rated is wrong beyond belief. Giants Stadium, 94 World Cup, Italy vs Ireland. The single greatest defensive display by any player I've ever seen. That's no exaggeration either. Let me tell you something. That game has become almost mythical in itself. It's always the first place people will point in praising Paul McGrath, and rightly so. However how many people were over 15 years old in 1994 on here? And have any of you actually watched that game since that day? What you're more than likely doing is riding on what people have said since. I have a match report from a magazine at the time and Phil Babb was rated a 9 and McGrath an 8 from the game. Granted that isnt exactly concrete evidence but I have seen that game as well as the 94 LC final many times and IMO he had a even better game against United a few months earlier. The fact that writing all this makes me feel dirty says it all about how we cannot say any differently without being chastised. He was a great player but "one of the all-time greats" is proving my point. Overrated isnt a derogatory term. In this case its merely just Villa fans who overrate him. Look at someone like Stanley Matthews for example. "The wizard of dribble". Watch the videos. He has one move, which was to knock the ball past a player and run onto it. A move than 99% of amateur footballers could do today in their sleep. A humongously overrated player by the legend status he has today. I watched that game with my own eyes. I've watched every World Cup since 1986. I've been watching football for over 30 years. I stand by my statement. Even God knows Paul McGrath was the best player he ever created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 You're a brave man R,Bear - The above post is heresy & you will have to live with the guilt of this post forever. However, you are fully entitled to this view & that's a fact. Even after decapitation ) AVTuco wanted to say it but didnt dare. I did. I'm not in the business of saying what people want to hear. I tell it like it is. Or at least how I think it is for better or worse. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Anyone who thinks McGrath is over rated is wrong beyond belief. Giants Stadium, 94 World Cup, Italy vs Ireland. The single greatest defensive display by any player I've ever seen. That's no exaggeration either. Let me tell you something. That game has become almost mythical in itself. It's always the first place people will point in praising Paul McGrath, and rightly so. However how many people were over 15 years old in 1994 on here? And have any of you actually watched that game since that day? What you're more than likely doing is riding on what people have said since. I have a match report from a magazine at the time and Phil Babb was rated a 9 and McGrath an 8 from the game. Granted that isnt exactly concrete evidence but I have seen that game as well as the 94 LC final many times and IMO he had a even better game against United a few months earlier. The fact that writing all this makes me feel dirty says it all about how we cannot say any differently without being chastised. He was a great player but "one of the all-time greats" is proving my point. Overrated isnt a derogatory term. In this case its merely just Villa fans who overrate him. Look at someone like Stanley Matthews for example. "The wizard of dribble". Watch the videos. He has one move, which was to knock the ball past a player and run onto it. A move than 99% of amateur footballers could do today in their sleep. A humongously overrated player by the legend status he has today. I was well past 15 in 94 when I watched that game, and I've seen it again since a few years back. McGrath was superb, and fully deserving of his praise. Although I'll grant you, he was no Phil Babb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM3000 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Have to say Downing, I dont think he was massively overrated but he has no pace and can barely beat a man, a half decent cross if you are lucky. He had some okay performances but probably made to look a lot better than he was by playing with, Barry, Young, Milner, Carew etc. Kind of shows now too, I mean we got 20m for him, still laugh at that fee now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Downing's best season was actually in 10/11 when all those had left, he did play really well although yeah in hinsight we ripped Liverpool off big time. Also in hindsight I wouldn't have signed him that summer but Bent instead. I'm really surprised with the opening post saying Young. Between 07-09 he was imo the best left side attacking player in the premier league. O.k maybe that's overrating him a fair bit but generally his stats were very good during that period and he fitted our style of play perfectly. Not often you can argue we have the best player in his position playing for us in the league anyway. He faded a bit during MON's last season and he was never a second striker in the Houllier year but overall he gave us 4 and a half years good service and it was probably time to move him on. At United he's shown himself to be a bit one dimensional really, he was a perfect player in the O'Neill system as the game for him was simplified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM3000 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Downing's best season was actually in 10/11 when all those had left, he did play really well although yeah in hinsight we ripped Liverpool off big time. Also in hindsight I wouldn't have signed him that summer but Bent instead. His last season was under Houllier I think. Young was still there then, as was Bent in Jan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Downing's best season was actually in 10/11 when all those had left, he did play really well although yeah in hinsight we ripped Liverpool off big time. Also in hindsight I wouldn't have signed him that summer but Bent instead. I'm really surprised with the opening post saying Young. Between 07-09 he was imo the best left side attacking player in the premier league. O.k maybe that's overrating him a fair bit but generally his stats were very good during that period and he fitted our style of play perfectly. Not often you can argue we have the best player in his position playing for us in the league anyway. He faded a bit during MON's last season and he was never a second striker in the Houllier year but overall he gave us 4 and a half years good service and it was probably time to move him on. At United he's shown himself to be a bit one dimensional really, he was a perfect player in the O'Neill system as the game for him was simplified. VillaChris You're right about him being one dimensional. An ex Villa player told me that he was a one trick pony & that Fergie had become fed up with him. Unsurprisingly he ( The ex Villa player) also agrees with my own assessment of Young too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 "Paul had this really nonchalant way of defending. He could just sally through a game. A ball would come into the box and he'd just back-heel it to safety ... I dithered over whether I should play him or not, because Rush and Dalglish were a handful. I just wasn't sure that he was ready for them. I played him in the end and he was magnificent. Honestly, he just walked through the game. Never gave Rush a kick. And of course, Ian Rush never would score against United while McGrath was playing. We actually gave Liverpool a bit of a doing that day, came back from 1-3 down to draw 3-3. I know it doesn't sound great defensively, but McGrath was superb. It told you a lot about him." Alex Ferguson. "Big Paul McGrath showed all the qualities demanded of us for half an hour in Giants Stadium that day. For him the word big is appropriate. Known for his poise, his ability on the ball, his unique gift for reading the game, Paul displayed these qualities on this day. One other huge asset was his courage. When the Italians did get sight of the goal, Paul presented a final, insurmountable obstacle. Paul inspired us as much as in the end he demoralised Roberto Baggio and the other Italian players " Roy Keane "The one thing I quickly came to realise with him was that he never knew or understood how good he actually was ... He had what very few players have. It's what we call an overdrive. It's the ability to be running at high pace with someone and all of a sudden, from nowhere, it's like a fifth gear kicks in. Boom, the turbo comes on. And he could just wipe out the opponents to get there. He also had guts to burn. People used to say that I was brave, mainly because I had a name for getting cut quite often. Paul just didn't get cut because he was better in the air than me. But he was every bit as brave as I was. He'd never shirk a tackle, never shirk a header." Kevin Moran "So Paul became vital to us at that time. He was the player we came to rely on. There was nobody else who could do the job I was asking him to do. He was fantastic. I felt I could have played him centre-forward, outside left, midfield, at the back anywhere ... and he'd have done the job for me in that position." Jack Charlton 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 i did like how you said we all overrate mcgrath and then in the next sentence say its because we havent had a player like cantona... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 MON just told Young to stick to the touchline and cross the ball for Carew or take a decent corner for Laursen to head in. It worked in 07/08 and 08/09 until the Feb when Larusen sadly had his final injury. On occasions he would also demolish full backs but not the top sides I tended to notice. At Man. United you need a little more than that, particularly in champions league games where Young has hardly done anything of note. Still that's not a problem Man. United will have much longer. Still with his stats I still would have him far from the overrated category. He was a very good player for us, enjoyed playing for us so I wished him well when he left. The diving? Well he did that for us aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Mellberg. Angel. Petrov. Ehiogu. Bouma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Have to say Downing, I dont think he was massively overrated but he has no pace and can barely beat a man, a half decent cross if you are lucky. He had some okay performances but probably made to look a lot better than he was by playing with, Barry, Young, Milner, Carew etc. Kind of shows now too, I mean we got 20m for him, still laugh at that fee now. He has more pace than Milner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 MON just told Young to stick to the touchline and cross the ball for Carew or take a decent corner for Laursen to head in. It worked in 07/08 and 08/09 until the Feb when Larusen sadly had his final injury. On occasions he would also demolish full backs but not the top sides I tended to notice. At Man. United you need a little more than that, particularly in champions league games where Young has hardly done anything of note. Still that's not a problem Man. United will have much longer. Still with his stats I still would have him far from the overrated category. He was a very good player for us, enjoyed playing for us so I wished him well when he left. The diving? Well he did that for us aswell. He should have gone to the London Olympic Games in 2012. He would have had a clean sweep of all the Gold medals in the diving competitions for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Mellberg. Angel. Petrov. Ehiogu. Bouma. They'd all walk straight into today's team. Overrated you say? hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sasa Curcic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 You could argue Bouma a little...depends what you like in a full back. He wasn't great going forward that's for sure. No chance on Mellberg or Ehiogu, both top quality centre halfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Maybe, not to be harsh, Luc Nilis? Good game...then no more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Mellberg. Angel. Petrov. Ehiogu. Bouma. They'd all walk straight into today's team. Overrated you say? hahaha What's that got to do with anything? Then you've suggested Curcic? You don't get this do you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Mellberg. Angel. Petrov. Ehiogu. Bouma. They'd all walk straight into today's team. Overrated you say? hahaha What's that got to do with anything? Then you've suggested Curcic? You don't get this do you. Hot daddy Curcic!! It was a joke. Just like calling anyone from your list overrated... Mellberg went from Aston Villa to Juventus.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Maybe, not to be harsh, Luc Nilis? Good game...then no more... That was a stunning goal against Chelsea at the Holte End wasn't it? I think his games for Belgium, Anderlecht & PSV showed what a class act he was & it was a crying shame that he broke his leg because he would have been absolute quality for us, no question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts