VillaChris Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 Rio only became world class CB when Vidic turned up. First 3 years he was poor, got banned for missing a drugs test and then got dropped after the infamous Boro Roy Keane game. Worth bearing in mind with people hammering John Stones, it takes time. Haven't seen much of Lindlof but exciting Sweden are starting to produce some good young players again. Emil Forsberg is another you'd imagine will be in the premier league before very long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 I wouldn't say Rio was poor in his first 3 years at Man Utd. He'd already been excellent at Leeds for 2 years as a £18m player, and 3 years at West Ham prior, so was clearly proven in the league. Unfortunately I've seen nothing in Stones to suggest he isn't anything other than bang average at best. I hope I'm proven wrong for England's sake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 1 hour ago, Xela said: Unfortunately I've seen nothing in Stones to suggest he isn't anything other than bang average at best. I hope I'm proven wrong for England's sake Same here, he's error prone and very shaky. Just not seeing what got him the move tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post HanoiVillan Posted December 23, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted December 23, 2016 51 minutes ago, Genie said: Same here, he's error prone and very shaky. Just not seeing what got him the move tbh. I looked very hard, and found an image that showed why he's £50m-worth of talent: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 2 hours ago, VillaChris said: Rio only became world class CB when Vidic turned up. First 3 years he was poor, got banned for missing a drugs test and then got dropped after the infamous Boro Roy Keane game. Worth bearing in mind with people hammering John Stones, it takes time. Haven't seen much of Lindlof but exciting Sweden are starting to produce some good young players again. Emil Forsberg is another you'd imagine will be in the premier league before very long. Stones is just shit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 26 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: I looked very hard, and found an image that showed why he's £50m-worth of talent: Usually still requires them to be good at football though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post The_Rev Posted December 24, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted December 24, 2016 3 hours ago, VillaChris said: Rio only became world class CB when Vidic turned up. First 3 years he was poor, got banned for missing a drugs test and then got dropped after the infamous Boro Roy Keane game. Worth bearing in mind with people hammering John Stones, it takes time. Haven't seen much of Lindlof but exciting Sweden are starting to produce some good young players again. Emil Forsberg is another you'd imagine will be in the premier league before very long. Not having the point about Rio being poor before he was paired with Vidic. You could see from his debut at West Ham that he was class, he was superb for five years before Manchester United signed him, in fact he'd been in the PFA team of the year twice been one of the best players at the World Cup (2002) and was pushing 50 England caps before United even signed Vidic. He definitely formed a formidable partnership with Vidic and was excellent until his back went in his early 30s. I can see why people compare John Stones to him because of an innate ability on the ball but Ferdinand didn't seem to make as many unforced errors or struggle with concentration like Stones does, and by the time Ferdinand was the age John Stones is now (22½) Rio was looking like the finished article, not a prospect who might be good in two or three years. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 22 hours ago, Xela said: I wouldn't say Rio was poor in his first 3 years at Man Utd. He'd already been excellent at Leeds for 2 years as a £18m player, and 3 years at West Ham prior, so was clearly proven in the league. Unfortunately I've seen nothing in Stones to suggest he isn't anything other than bang average at best. I hope I'm proven wrong for England's sake I went to school with a load of United fans (as I'm sure anyone growing up in Brum in the 90s did) and they all were pretty critical of him in his first season and then in the second he had the drugs ban. He also lost his England place around then. From 2006 him and Vidic were bosses at the back, not just in the premier league but in europe aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gharperr Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 (edited) delete. Edited December 26, 2016 by gharperr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gharperr Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 (edited) Just because rio was very good at some age doesnt mean stones wont be because hes not as good as rio at that point. pretty well known CB's are usually 25+ until they reach their prime. Stones was easily one of the top 3 CB's that pep could choose who fits into the system hes trying to play at the time. We only have to look at koscienly who had a very dodgy 1.5years (when he was like 25/26? for people to write him off...and then after to become easily top 10/5 CB in the world. (people who dispute this dont really understand how cb's work on an individual level).... CB's take time. Especially when one country are falling behind to to develop proper cb's in modern game Edited December 26, 2016 by gharperr why do my edit get double posted? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Mkhitaryan's goal is up there with the best ever, absolutely incredible. Shame he was offside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 19 hours ago, Davkaus said: Mkhitaryan's goal is up there with the best ever, absolutely incredible. Shame he was offside. Robert scored a similar goal for Newcastle a few years ago. that was better as I think he was onside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 On 23/12/2016 at 23:41, Dr_Pangloss said: Stones is just shit. Yeah he is, the media get so carried away by bigging up English talent. They still still bang on about about Wilshere and Barkley being world beaters and they too are both shite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 I can't see Pep sticking with him unless he improves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 If Zlatan scores twice today he passes Messi and becomes the most prolific scorer of the calendar year in top European football. Messi on 51 goals. Zlatan currently on 50. Not bad for a 35 year old! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 What a joke the ref disallowing that goal The goalie jumped into Zlatan and not the other way round, after the ball was in the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 never been a Valdes fan but he is having an inspired game in goal today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Have to say that Ibra disallowed goal is one of the worst decisions I've ever seen, what was it actually chalked off for?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 High boot I guess but was a shocking decision I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted January 1, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted January 1, 2017 By letter of the law, the goal was correctly ruled out for dangerous play. However, with no intent and with his foot not making any contact with the keeper, it was a poor decision. I've seen overhead kicks given a goal that were more dangerous than what Zlatan did for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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