Most Overrated Player in History

[villa89]

First name that springs to mind, Totti. Big fish small pond. Don't know if I ever saw him have a good game. The definition of a luxury player, sporadic moments of magic interspersed with alot of standing around watching the game pass him by. 

Edited February 26, 2021 by villa89

[theboyangel]

7 minutes ago, villa89 said:

First name that springs to mind, Totti. Big fish small pond. Don't know if I ever saw him have a good game. The definition of a luxury player, sporadic moments of magic interspersed with alot of standing around watching the game pass him by. 

I saw him live in Rome and he absolutely bossed the game, scoring one and setting up the other goals.
 

He may have been a petulant and at times horrible individual but he could certainly play football. 

 

[jimmygreaves]

On 06/06/2020 at 16:54, Genie said:

Jack Wilshere, a “career” in the premier league, millions in the bank and was either injured or average.

Similar career to an on loan player with us you might argue......

Anyway.... 2 names that'll probably ruffle a few feathers. John Terry and Ashley Cole.

Terry, yep, great defender but just an old school stopper for my money.... yet he's talked about as one of the greatest of all time.

Similar at kind of story for Cole. Great at arsenal bombing forward, went to Chelsea and stopped doing that.... unfortunately couldn't defend especially well.... but lauded by all and sundry.

[theboyangel]

2 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said:

Similar career to an on loan player with us you might argue......

Anyway.... 2 names that'll probably ruffle a few feathers. John Terry and Ashley Cole.

Terry, yep, great defender but just an old school stopper for my money.... yet he's talked about as one of the greatest of all time.

Similar at kind of story for Cole. Great at arsenal bombing forward, went to Chelsea and stopped doing that.... unfortunately couldn't defend especially well.... but lauded by all and sundry.

I think Terry was a terrific defensive organiser in his pomp but his off field shenanigans tainted many people’s opinion of him.

As for Cole, he changed the dynamic of a full back by becoming an attacking outlet - sure there we plenty of full back who bombed forward but the way Arsenal played with him overlapping was another level.

for me, on a similar vein, Beckham has to be classed as overrated. Decent right foot and dead ball delivery but little pace and could never take a player on. His looks and marriage to a pop star elevated his status beyond his ability. 

[jimmygreaves]

2 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

Beckham has to be classed as overrated. Decent right foot and dead ball delivery but little pace and could never take a player on. His looks and marriage to a pop star elevated his status beyond his ability. 

See, I get the Beckham love.... I think he was a tremendous footballer. I think his ability was overlooked simply because of his fame.

His touch and passing was class. He made difficult stuff look easy.... but more than that he was a genuine team player who worked incredibly hard.

Every club he was at he was loved.

[useless]

John Terry was one of the best ball playing centre-backs of the premier league era. For some reason a lot of people seem to think he was just an old fashioned English type defender, maybe because in fairness he possessed a lot of those qualities, but his ability on the ball was vastly underrated, he was very comfortable in possession, excellent passer, and could use both feet.

[theboyangel]

3 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said:

See, I get the Beckham love.... I think he was a tremendous footballer. I think his ability was overlooked simply because of his fame.

His touch and passing was class. He made difficult stuff look easy.... but more than that he was a genuine team player who worked incredibly hard.

Every club he was at he was loved.

This the beauty of football and opinion. One mans rubbish is another’s treasure

[jimmygreaves]

23 minutes ago, useless said:

John Terry was one of the best ball playing centre-backs of the premier league era. For some reason a lot of people seem to think he was just an old fashioned English type defender, maybe because in fairness he possessed a lot of those qualities, but his ability on the ball was vastly underrated, he was very comfortable in possession, excellent passer, and could use both feet.

Nah.... Only ever had the best money could buy playing alongside him (and behind and in front too). When that wasn't there or he was put under pressure he was easily exposed.

He's Shaun Teale to Paul McGrath.

Like I say, good player but hugely overrated.

Edited February 26, 2021 by jimmygreaves

[TrentVilla]

30 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

Beckham has to be classed as overrated. Decent right foot and dead ball delivery but little pace and could never take a player on. His looks and marriage to a pop star elevated his status beyond his ability. 

Beckham? No chance, absolutely no chance. If anything all the celeb stuff around him detracted from what a superb footballer he was, if anything he was under rated. Absolutely class player.

[jimmygreaves]

2 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said:

 

Error 

Edited February 26, 2021 by jimmygreaves

[useless]

Most Chelsea fans will tell you that Terry has easily been their best defender over the last twenty years, and if anything it was he who made their other defenders look better. He's a genuine contender for best central defender of the premier league era.

[useless]

At one point while he was playing it became fashionable to say that Becks was overrated, the protest was often that he had no speed, or couldn't dribble past players, but people took that so far that it got to the point where rather than being overrated he became underrated. But I think now as English fans realize more and more that there's more to a winger's game than just running really fast with the ball, he's becoming retrospectively more appreciated again as a brilliant ball playing midfielder, perhaps more in the continental style rather than the traditional archetype of an English midfielder.

[Tomaszk]

Cantona.

[Follyfoot]

Trevor Francis

 

 

 

mate 

[Keyblade]

If Beckham played in central midfield (where he absolutely had the skill to) instead of on the wing he'd be remembered more fondly. His passing was sublime. But because that was the era where English football were obsessed with wingers who could run fast in a straight line and beat full backs (and then not deliver a good final ball, but let's ignore that) as well as the fact that Ryan Giggs was ripping it up on the other side, he gets kind of underrated and you see comments like "he could only cross". Well yeah, that in itself is an amazing (and rare) quality for a winger!

[TrentVilla]

7 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

If Beckham played in central midfield (where he absolutely had the skill to) instead of on the wing he'd be remembered more fondly. His passing was sublime. But because that was the era where English football were obsessed with wingers who could run fast in a straight line and beat full backs (and then not deliver a good final ball, but let's ignore that) as well as the fact that Ryan Giggs was ripping it up on the other side, he gets kind of underrated and you see comments like "he could only cross". Well yeah, that in itself is an amazing (and rare) quality for a winger!

I’ve always argued though that Beckham wasn’t a winger because well he wasn’t a winger. He was a right sided midfielder, with fitness levels on another level to most and quite incredible stamina, he wasn’t slow either just not electric. He did is work deeper on the pitch but was no less effective. I’d honestly question if someone was old enough to see him play if they deemed him just a good crosser of the ball or just dismiss them as a woeful judge of player.

Many though judged him against the archetypal winger of the era, Beckham was a player ahead of his generation in many ways and in others a bit of a throw back.

He was twice the player Giggs was, his vision and football intelligence was second to none and his spirit to pull sides through games was a joy to watch even when no your side.

Those who think Madrid signed Beckham purely because of his marketability are kidding themselves he was every bit good enough to go there.

[Keyblade]

3 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I’ve always argued though that Beckham wasn’t a winger because well he wasn’t a winger. He was a right sided midfielder, with fitness levels on another level to most and quite incredible stamina, he wasn’t slow either just not electric. He did is work deeper on the pitch but was no less effective. I’d honestly question if someone was old enough to see him play if they deemed him just a good crosser of the ball or just dismiss them as a woeful judge of player.

Many though judged him against the archetypal winger of the era, Beckham was a player ahead of his generation in many ways and in others a bit of a throw back.

He was twice the player Giggs was, his vision and football intelligence was second to none and his spirit to pull sides through games was a joy to watch even when no your side.

Those who think Madrid signed Beckham purely because of his marketability are kidding themselves he was every bit good enough to go there.

He reminds me of Jack if Jack didn't develop into an awesome athlete.

Or probably like Trent Alexander-Arnold if they played him as a right sided midfielder instead of as a full-back, but just with way more natural ability. 

[VillaChris]

I first thought is always Cantona tbh but then he was involved in 4 title wins in the 5 seasons he was there and the only year they didn't win it was when he was out until October for the kung fu kick.

Always been more based on France and not getting a huge influence in their european campaigns in that era.

[NurembergVillan]

12 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I’ve always argued though that Beckham wasn’t a winger because well he wasn’t a winger. He was a right sided midfielder, with fitness levels on another level to most and quite incredible stamina, he wasn’t slow either just not electric. He did is work deeper on the pitch but was no less effective. I’d honestly question if someone was old enough to see him play if they deemed him just a good crosser of the ball or just dismiss them as a woeful judge of player.

Many though judged him against the archetypal winger of the era, Beckham was a player ahead of his generation in many ways and in others a bit of a throw back.

He was twice the player Giggs was, his vision and football intelligence was second to none and his spirit to pull sides through games was a joy to watch even when no your side.

Those who think Madrid signed Beckham purely because of his marketability are kidding themselves he was every bit good enough to go there.

Don't need to sprint past a full back if you can curl your cross around him.  His ability to do that meant the timing of his delivery was unpredictable and hard to defend.

Ruud van Nistelrooy was a world-class striker in terms of positioning and finishing, so he and Beckham were absolutely made for each other.

[TrentVilla]

8 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

He reminds me of Jack if Jack didn't develop into an awesome athlete.

Or probably like Trent Alexander-Arnold if they played him as a right sided midfielder instead of as a full-back, but just with way more natural ability. 

Marc Albrighton is I think the most similar in style but obviously nowhere near the same level.