Zatman Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 NRC gets little appreciation on here, I remember the other season people saying Sylla was better than him after he had played about 5 games. Yes, NRC was a jerk and not very gifted with the ball, but he had pace, a great engine and was a good tackler. He would have made a big difference to our last two seasons. is that why he has been playing for Vancouver and Chivas in last 2 seasons and not one team in Championhip or Inter Milan or Sevilla has touched him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Not sure I've ever despised a player quite like I despised NRC. What an abomination he was. He'd half get it under control, then rotate himself around it, then point and shout out of the side of his mouth. Then pass it out for a throw in to the opposition. Christ, I hated watching him. Westwood is a bazillion miles ahead of him. 23 caps for England u21 and played 100 games for a team challenging top 4. Westwood has not come close to that. I'm not even sure what this shows/means. Plus, 23 England U21 caps and not a single full cap? Poor young midfielders back then or did he just not make the grade? Perhaps the latter. If NRC was any good, his career (bear in mind he's only 30) wouldn't have gone Aston Villa -> Bolton -> Ipswich -> Vancouver -> Chivas. He did a job for us, but was always a weak link in that side for me. My lasting images of NRC are him making bursting runs in to the box... only to blaze over from 6 yards etc. Westwood is a different player playing in a different league - but he's got more ability than NRC imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2014 I don't give a shit how many times NRC played for England u21s. Westwood is better than him. That's no huge claim. I think NRC was one of the worst players we had in the first XI back when were actually good. It's not like I'm saying Westwood is better than Barry or Petrov or Milner. But I'll stand by it. Westwood is better than NRC was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I don't see westwood being signed for a team challenging the top 4 and playing 100 times for them. If he does then fair enough but I don't see it happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2014 That logic doesn't really work though does it? Carlos Cuellar played nearly 100 times for us in that era. Does that make him better than Ron Vlaar? Because he isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'd say the Carlos cuellar I saw at rangers and villa was better than the vlaar I see at villa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'd say the Carlos cuellar I saw at rangers and villa was better than the vlaar I see at villa. Vlaar isn't a great defender persay but, seriously, get out. That's a ludicrous claim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'd say the Carlos cuellar I saw at rangers and villa was better than the vlaar I see at villa. Well the Rangers bit is totally irrelevant to the discussion. As for the Villa Carlos Cuellar being better than the Villa Ron Vlaar. Absolute **** twaddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTTERDAM1982 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 NRC always played well against Ronaldo.I seem to recall him playing RB against Ure once, and he marked Ronaldo out the game. A very limited player, who thought he was far better than he actually was, didn't appreciate what he was good at, and failed to be as good as he should have been.I don't think Westwood has an attitude problem tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 If you say so. Its your opinion and mines different. There's nothing to prove who was better. From what I've seen vlaar is a poor premier league defender. He has the odd excellent game but overall offers little in terms of making us look strong. The fact we miss a player like senderos shows the impact vlaar has on our defence. While I was never a huge cuellar fan I felt he was fairly strong as a cb. We had better so he had to play rb, which in a way makes your comparison to vlaar and mine with Westwood to NRC different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2014 I stopped listening when you claimed Cuellar was better than Vlaar. We'll have to agree to disagree because that's total bollocks. Imo of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Nice to discuss something like grown ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'd say agreeing to disagree when we reach a clear difference in opinion is much more grown up than arguing about it for pages when it's clear we're not going to agree. Cuellar being better than Vlaar is an utterly ludicrous claim, imo. So it's safe to say our opinion of certain players is vastly different. Which is enough to explain our difference in opinion regarding Westwood and Vlaar. Whatever I look for in a good player, does not agree with what you look for. it's like me saying a brunette is more attractive and you saying a blonde is. we're never going to agree so there's no point in carrying it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 No problem to agree to disagree. Just didn't see the need to be told my opinion is twaddle and total bollocks. I haven't insulted your opinon, I just disagreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2014 Sorry if you were offended. I absolutely stand by it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I don't see westwood being signed for a team challenging the top 4 and playing 100 times for them. If he does then fair enough but I don't see it happening.Being signed by a team challenging for Top 4 and being signed by a Martin O'Neill team challenging for Top 4 are completely different though. Heskey, Harewood, Beye and Shorey were all signed around the time we challenged for Top 4/5/6. It doesn't automatically make them good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 None of those players you mentioned played 100 times for the team while they challenged top 4 though. I didn't say being signed makes them good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 So you want someone who was signed by O'Neill, who played 100 times (can it be more than 100?) at a point when we were challenging for top 4? Very specific. It seems easier just to say that managers sign good and crap players, and any player being at any team (irrespective of their league position) doesn't automatically make them quality. Players occasionally get carried in better teams or with better players around them. Ultimately, the cream rises to the top (which is why the better players of O'Neill's team are now playing for Man Utd and Man City) while NRC flopped down to the MLS with Liam Ridgewell and Stephen Dawkins. Also... Are you sure that NRC played 100 games whilst we challenged for the top 4? I don't remember us being that good for over 2 seasons. One season maybe. The other seasons we were battling for 5th or 6th, IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It's logic that makes no sense though, isn't it? Heskey played roughly the same games over near enough the same period. Although Heskey was a regular in our best season (09-10) whereas Reo-Coker barely played that year at all. And I certainly wouldn't say Heskey was better than Benteke. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Not sure I've ever despised a player quite like I despised NRC. What an abomination he was. He'd half get it under control, then rotate himself around it, then point and shout out of the side of his mouth. Then pass it out for a throw in to the opposition. Christ, I hated watching him. Westwood is a bazillion miles ahead of him. 23 caps for England u21 and played 100 games for a team challenging top 4. Westwood has not come close to that. So? Francis Jeffers is the all time U21 leading scorer. NRC played central midfield and couldn't control a football. He couldn't pass it 10 yards to a teammate. He was a joke. Challenging for top 4 is very kind. There was only one season we did that, and we blew it. He was typically terrible throughout that season though if you're wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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