Sure Pogba was great too? So what?
He's obviously a good player but he's definitely massively overrated.
Overrated Players
- Thread starter JSArsenal
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Sure Pogba was great too? So what?
He's obviously a good player but he's definitely massively overrated.
I realize you look at games only at the surface so I won't even bother to debate this with you. Simply put, he was everywhere and provided a critical role to the team during the defensive and attacking phases of play...everytime.
Yeah because he was admittedly brilliant in the PL, specifically late '90s and early '00s PL. Take him out of there and that Arsenal team was nowhere near the elite of Europe. Might I even add a PL that produced one finalist from all throughout the nineties and up until 2005.
Internationally as well he always seemed a threat to me
I don't find him being mentioned with Keane as some insult of Keane
Utd player: Michael Carrick, had this cowardliness in him whereby he shirked from taking responsibility in big matches. Better mids ran the show versus us in Europe with him in heart of our midfield. Had an incredibly 12/13 season but the standard of PL was so low (even Cleverely looked decent), that he became incredibly overrated. For some reason, his wimpiness to get across Olic before he pulled one back is seared in my memory
Past player: R9, holy nostalgia! Was truly a force of nature and one of greatest football what ifs? But, very often he is spoken of as T5 player of all-time which is absolutely bonkers.
Current player: Declan Rice. Built up as next great midfielder but I haven't seen anything in him to suggest he is worth 100-150m which is touted as the fee to get him.
Past player: R9, holy nostalgia! Was truly a force of nature and one of greatest football what ifs? But, very often he is spoken of as T5 player of all-time which is absolutely bonkers.
Current player: Declan Rice. Built up as next great midfielder but I haven't seen anything in him to suggest he is worth 100-150m which is touted as the fee to get him.
Richarlison - decent, hard-working, aggressive wide-forward but never in a million years a £60m player or a player to take a top four club to the next level.
Bissouma - another classic 'Tottenham' signing. Get a lad in who does a good job at a smaller side as part of a functional unit and then once he arrives at a club with aspirations, you realise he's quite limited in everything he does at the top level.
van der Sar - United career only I must state. I thought he was very, very average for United but benefitted from being fairly steady against the backdrop of our struggles to find a half-competent replacement for Schmeichel and also from playing in an unbelievable side.
Patrice Evra - always found him to be quite frustrating. Again, we have to contextualise this against the backdrop that we're talking about 'overrated'. For sure Evra was a 'good' player but I feel he's one of those who has improved AFTER he retired. I used to regularly complain about his defensive ability back in the day and you could trace many of the goals we conceded to his defensive frailties. Also found his crossing very frustrating, seemed to struggle to actually lift the ball in the air!
Carlos Tevez - ran around like a madman, usually in the wrong areas and didn't score many goals for us in a very good side
Joe Cole - was he top, top level? Thought he was lucky to be part of that Jose revolution at Chelsea personally and then lived off that for a while. Little bit of a floaty player, skilful but did he really hurt teams?
Bissouma - another classic 'Tottenham' signing. Get a lad in who does a good job at a smaller side as part of a functional unit and then once he arrives at a club with aspirations, you realise he's quite limited in everything he does at the top level.
van der Sar - United career only I must state. I thought he was very, very average for United but benefitted from being fairly steady against the backdrop of our struggles to find a half-competent replacement for Schmeichel and also from playing in an unbelievable side.
Patrice Evra - always found him to be quite frustrating. Again, we have to contextualise this against the backdrop that we're talking about 'overrated'. For sure Evra was a 'good' player but I feel he's one of those who has improved AFTER he retired. I used to regularly complain about his defensive ability back in the day and you could trace many of the goals we conceded to his defensive frailties. Also found his crossing very frustrating, seemed to struggle to actually lift the ball in the air!
Carlos Tevez - ran around like a madman, usually in the wrong areas and didn't score many goals for us in a very good side
Joe Cole - was he top, top level? Thought he was lucky to be part of that Jose revolution at Chelsea personally and then lived off that for a while. Little bit of a floaty player, skilful but did he really hurt teams?
He carried us on his own until Robben arrived. Remained class throughout his time with us, despite loads of injuries.
The one player we had in his era who I would call overrated is Schweinsteiger.
No. Insane take. Uncle Pat was great. I love this game!Busquets - Became known as something he wasn't - Xavi and Iniesta were the main players for that Barcelona midfield. He takes too much credit for the success of Barcelona. He was just a minor cog who passed to the much better players.
Felix - Nowhere near as good as people make him out to be.
De Jong - Dare I say it? He actually isn't all that great. He is a good player, but has been very underwhelming at Barcelona. You could say the same for De Ligt at Juventus, to be fair.
Felix - Nowhere near as good as people make him out to be.
De Jong - Dare I say it? He actually isn't all that great. He is a good player, but has been very underwhelming at Barcelona. You could say the same for De Ligt at Juventus, to be fair.
Peak for peak i say their comparable .
also i say he was a better player when it came to the big occasion, contrary to many i was never that afraid of Henry than I was of Drogba when we faced them, the way he bullied defenders really opened up opportunities for other players to impact the game.
Also the teams he played were far less attacking due to mom's influence and that surely impacted his numbers, that one time carlo played an offensive style he set the league ablaze.
But in the end you're right in ranking Henry higher, Drogba never had two consecutive great seasons the way henery had in early to mid 2000s.
Aye, same. I have a lot of fond memories of them facing off.
Agree with first two, although I quite like Richarlison and wanted us to sign him.
But your VDS and Evra takes sounds crazy to me. I remember brief moments when we had to play with Kuzcziak or Foster and how shaky we looked despite still having great defence. Same can be said after he retired and we had to endure Lindegaard and de Gea's long adaptation. Our defence dropped a level, because VDS was as big a reason for that World class defence as Rio or Vidic.
Evra's final ball was frustrating, but he was great in moving the ball from defence. His technique and short passing was always top-notch. I only ever remember him struggling against Lennon defensively, he was always reliable otherwise.
That's great and all, but as others have said, he's overrated. It is what it is.
Robertson and Kante are sh*te!!! Heard it all now.
Pretty much two of the most combative, technically sound players in recent PL history.
Pretty much two of the most combative, technically sound players in recent PL history.
Wouldn't this be an argument in favour of him not being overrated?
I did say most dribblemerchants.
Jay-Jay was fun to watch I must admit, but please remind me what he achieved on club level? Did he ever play for a top club? He dribbled for Bolton, Hull, Fenerbache, Frankfurt and PSG (pre-Qatar) right? Scored 14 goals in 124 PL games.
How dare you!
I think Zaha is underrated. Under the right manager and team would have been great as proving with Palace.
Sorry badly phrased, it read like "take him out of that Arsenal team, and ..." I meant "Take him and that Arsenal team out of that heavily physical PL environment in that period, and they are nowhere near the European elite ... ".
I know lot of Arsenal fans are mocking but I think the same about Cantona. I love the guy and he is a bona fide United legend, maybe top 5 legends to be honest. But on the global stage, he simply never delivered at the very elite end also so can't be considered in the same league as those who did.
He hated it I'm sure but more just that he did a good job, better than most, against Drogba, particularly the CL final.
I actually think Chelsea, but Mourinho specifically was bad for him. Had he gone to Arsenal around the same time and spent the next decade playing under Wenger, he'll have had less trophies to his name but maybe remembered much more fondly? I think Mourinho stifled a lot of his flair and attacking instincts.
There is another United player I think this applies to as well but I do not want to get in trouble with the locals
Tell me about it!!There is another United player I think this applies to as well but I do not want to get in trouble with the locals
I always thought he was overrated and still we always hear how great he was.
Maybe not as big of a name as some on here, but it has to be Adama Traore for me. And mostly by people on here. He's one of the most one-dimensional players out there, and even then he's WILDY inconsistent at that. But he knocks the ball on and runs very fast and has big muscles, so he's great.
You can still hear Senderos crying out in fear.
My take is Grealish. For a time the media willed so hard for him to be the best player in the England squad apart from Kane. It was completely nauseating. Average at best. All he is good at is winning free kicks
At the time he was playing, he was probably a little underrated. I think the overrated aspect came in when we realized how good he was when compared to the shite we've had since Fergie left. To me, Carrick was always a very tidy player. Not particularly showy, which is probably why he went under the radar for so long.
I don't think they were comparable peak for peak. I think the only peak that matches Henry in the league is Suarez 13/14.
Drogba was an insanely great player and I do think he's comparable to Aguero and Rooney.
However when you have a player that for a few years was legitimately considered the best player in the world by many giving your some of the best seasons we have ever seen in the league for 5 consecutive seasons ( with his down years being comparable to most top strikers best years), then we're talking different level here. Even Shearer doesn't get in that top tier of forwards ( Henry, Ronaldo, Cantona and Suarez).
Who the hell rates Rabiot?
Lampard is not underrated. He was a phenomenal passer of the ball, with a lot of Chelsea chances coming directly from his creativity. He was also a workhorse in a similar fashion to Beckham, so he wasn't just allowing others to work, while he took pot shots.
This will sound wild, but Bergkamp.
Why?
He was a great player. However I think due to how aesthetically pleasing his game was, people really overrated his impact.
There were large stretches particularly from the 99-2000 season onward when Bergkamp was benched or not even considered a starter.
Yet people act like he was far more to Arsenal ( 01-06) than he actually was. They tend to stretch his prime when talking about him and moments like the goals against Newcastle and Leicester are used as testament, despite the fact that he never really had that level of consistency in his game.
If he played today, he would be far more scritinized than he has been.
In addition, I genuinely feel that if he played with the team that Ozil had to play with, people would not really see much difference between them.
He also faded in big games, he also wasn't impactful in key moments, he also wasn't a strong impact player, yet he always gets put into that upper echelon of talent. People regularly compare him with Cantona ( with lots of fans saying he's better), when in reality he benefitted from the fact that Arsenal were not as big as they are today and the coverage was not as much as it is today.
Yorke's United career was scrutinized for a bad 00/01 season, Cole was scrutinized for an average start to his United career. In today's game, Neymar is scrutinized for not winning the UCL with PSG, but more importantly not being available in key moments that could have made that possible.
Bergkamp chose not to partcipate in a lot of the UCL away games that led to Arsenal not doing anything impactful in Europe. Yet he has not been scrutinized for it, in fact it's even added to his mystique.
Great player, but far more flawed than people like to remember
This will sound wild, but Bergkamp.
Why?
He was a great player. However I think due to how aesthetically pleasing his game was, people really overrated his impact.
There were large stretches particularly from the 99-2000 season onward when Bergkamp was benched or not even considered a starter.
Yet people act like he was far more to Arsenal ( 01-06) than he actually was. They tend to stretch his prime when talking about him and moments like the goals against Newcastle and Leicester are used as testament, despite the fact that he never really had that level of consistency in his game.
If he played today, he would be far more scritinized than he has been.
In addition, I genuinely feel that if he played with the team that Ozil had to play with, people would not really see much difference between them.
He also faded in big games, he also wasn't impactful in key moments, he also wasn't a strong impact player, yet he always gets put into that upper echelon of talent. People regularly compare him with Cantona ( with lots of fans saying he's better), when in reality he benefitted from the fact that Arsenal were not as big as they are today and the coverage was not as much as it is today.
Yorke's United career was scrutinized for a bad 00/01 season, Cole was scrutinized for an average start to his United career. In today's game, Neymar is scrutinized for not winning the UCL with PSG, but more importantly not being available in key moments that could have made that possible.
Bergkamp chose not to partcipate in a lot of the UCL away games that led to Arsenal not doing anything impactful in Europe. Yet he has not been scrutinized for it, in fact it's even added to his mystique.
Great player, but far more flawed than people like to remember
His mother.
I agree with you regarding VDS. Crazy to think he is overrated when he solved our goalkeeping worries that existed for so long. He was calm, collected and a real leader between the posts. He wasn't flamboyant but the true great keepers are silent.
I will disagree on Evra a little. Again, won't say he is overrated for the most part but he did have weaknesses that seem to be forgotten now. His final ball being one. You're right though, very reliable and his build up play is where he really would shine. So many touchline exchanges with Rooney, Ronaldo etc it was brilliant.
I can't comment on Berkgamp's career but that Newcastle goal, that was a fluke wasn't it?
Couldn't agree more, his physical attributes are decline rapidly now and that's one of the reasons why he performs not as great as before.
He was by no means a bad player or anything like this. But his peak was relatively short and throughout huge parts of his career, he simply wasn't that great. I think he gets overrated due to his physical style. But I also admit that he was played out of position for many years.
Personally, I rate Lahm as the best full back I have ever seen. He is generally very highly regarded, even though I guess I rate him a bit higher than most people would. One of my all time favorite players.
There is another United player I think this applies to as well but I do not want to get in trouble with the locals
Scholes? I’d actually agree he’s a bit overrated on this forum.
He played in about 40-50 games for about 10 seasons in a row, might have been a couple of seasons that were up on 60 games. He may have had bad games, but he pretty much played every week for 10 years and still played regularly in his last 2 seasons, during what was probably the clubs most successful period.
So, if you look at it that way, it's very easy to see why people like to look back say he never had a bad game.
"Many years of his prime"... Ibrahimovic went to PSG at 31 ffs =D