I know there's bound to be plenty of contenders, so i'll try and put in a few qualifiers.
Which player, who has been in the game at a decent level (top flight) for a long time, has had you incredulous that managers keep on playing, giving contracts to, and buying?
When there seems to be almost nothing to demonstrate he is actually very good at football? There's always been players that generate heated debate among Liverpool fans over the years: Houghton, Crouch, Allen, and of course Lucas. So let's not do them again.
I've created this thread because of the Chelsea - Everton game, and conversations (mainly swearing) about a certain player.
Tom Cleverley.
Or "Fucking" Tom Cleverley as the Bitters prefer to call him. Rarely have I heard such vicious, almost unanimous hatred of a player. I thought it was largely due to the comedy gift Martinez, describing him thus:
“I think you do not have a better English player. Technically, he is as good as you get. The way he executes, how he reads the game, for me he is one of the most sensational you are going to see in Premier League history.
“I wouldn’t sell him for any money in the current market. I want to see him go from strength to strength because I know there is so much more to come.”
And we thought Rodgers had oversold the Welsh Xavi!
But he was equally reviled and dismissed as a manager's favourite at United, and was extraordinarily unpopular there. It takes a certain quality of player to replicate that at another entirely new club.
But I can see why. He's the best ever example of a player whose fans would say that he is "a player you have to understand football to appreciate". You know "neat"
Except he genuinely doesn't seem to have any fans. Anywhere. Ever. I've seen him play quite a few times, and perhaps the 5-0 thrashing is an unfair start point for any critical assessment.
But fuck me, he was a special kind of shite. He scurries about a lot - extremely slowly - pointing and gesturing to show his in-game intelligence, and when he gets the ball, he stands still, then runs in a circle, then either loses it, or just passes it back to the player he got it from.
And that's it. No creativity. No goal threat. No tackling. No interceptions. Nothing.
He was genuinely ENTIRELY useless. And he so very often is. And he's been doing it for 6 years. And not only at little Championship strugglers, or hopeful teams like Hull.
At Manchester United. And now Everton.
It's fucking amazing.
Which player, who has been in the game at a decent level (top flight) for a long time, has had you incredulous that managers keep on playing, giving contracts to, and buying?
When there seems to be almost nothing to demonstrate he is actually very good at football? There's always been players that generate heated debate among Liverpool fans over the years: Houghton, Crouch, Allen, and of course Lucas. So let's not do them again.
I've created this thread because of the Chelsea - Everton game, and conversations (mainly swearing) about a certain player.
Tom Cleverley.
Or "Fucking" Tom Cleverley as the Bitters prefer to call him. Rarely have I heard such vicious, almost unanimous hatred of a player. I thought it was largely due to the comedy gift Martinez, describing him thus:
“I think you do not have a better English player. Technically, he is as good as you get. The way he executes, how he reads the game, for me he is one of the most sensational you are going to see in Premier League history.
“I wouldn’t sell him for any money in the current market. I want to see him go from strength to strength because I know there is so much more to come.”
And we thought Rodgers had oversold the Welsh Xavi!
But he was equally reviled and dismissed as a manager's favourite at United, and was extraordinarily unpopular there. It takes a certain quality of player to replicate that at another entirely new club.
But I can see why. He's the best ever example of a player whose fans would say that he is "a player you have to understand football to appreciate". You know "neat"
Except he genuinely doesn't seem to have any fans. Anywhere. Ever. I've seen him play quite a few times, and perhaps the 5-0 thrashing is an unfair start point for any critical assessment.
But fuck me, he was a special kind of shite. He scurries about a lot - extremely slowly - pointing and gesturing to show his in-game intelligence, and when he gets the ball, he stands still, then runs in a circle, then either loses it, or just passes it back to the player he got it from.
And that's it. No creativity. No goal threat. No tackling. No interceptions. Nothing.
He was genuinely ENTIRELY useless. And he so very often is. And he's been doing it for 6 years. And not only at little Championship strugglers, or hopeful teams like Hull.
At Manchester United. And now Everton.
It's fucking amazing.
