Who is the most overrated player in PL history?

[Rito]

Lampard and Terry in that highly unlikable Chelsea team seemed very overrated to me. Terry was a half decent defender who had a couple if great seasons and Lampard had full license to attack with the convenience of two midfielders behind him and overall contribution was quite mediocre.

Care to elucidate what are the parameters of "overall contribution" that you are harping about?

Usually, for a midfielder scoring 200+ goals, with his basics right and a very intelligent footballing brain, I think the team and the fans will be decently satisfied with his "overall contribution" to the game.

Of course, objectivity goes for a toss when you mention the "highly unlikable" Chelsea team.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

By the media. Specifically the British media.

Even in 2007, people on this forum claimed he was better and more important to United than Cristiano.

Ronaldo will be the first to tell you how good Rooney was, but Ronaldo was our best player. There was a reason why Rooney had to step aside to CR7, but that doesn't change the fact that Rooney was a world class player. Probably a top 10 player at that time...

 

[Fridge chutney]

Rashford is another shout. For all of the hype his numbers so far have been more akin to the second coming of Danny Welbeck, more than anything.

You don't half talk out of your arse about United. Rashford just turned 21 and has more goals than Danny Welbeck achieved in his entire 5/6 senior years at the club. He left for Arsenal when he was 24.

Rashford also tends to perform well in important matches, as you'll remember from earlier this year when he embarrassed your fullback.

 

[Sandikan]

Some really biased discussion thus far. Gerrard is highly rated as a player and deservedly so - I don’t see him overrated in relation to his EPL reputation - no one ever puts him as high as Henry, Ronaldo, Shearer or even likes of Scholes etc so his reputation isn’t overinflated IMO. His reputation in the game is based on his overall career and exploits such as Europe.

When you say "no-one", you mean except for every single Liverpool fan for starters. And lots of the media. When you see all time prem teams from neutrals Gerrard is often in there.

 

[Sandikan]

Rated by who though? Supporters/football followers or the media?

Rooney by the media. About 2 genuine top seasons from him over the years and never 'the man' at United no matter what the media might claim.

Joe Hart an obvious one by the media too.

Not getting into the Stevie G shite - he's definitely not top bracket like some like to make out.

I'm sure there's others I can't think of right now.

Since when do you need to be "the man" to go down as a top player?

Scholes, Giggs etc were never the "main man" in that respect either.

And why do people try and put Rooney down as some sort of 2 year merchant!
Did you start following United in 2010 or something?

 

[Sandikan]

I wouldn't have said Lampard is particularly overrated. I mean he is Chelsea's top scorer of all time, which is pretty good for a midfielder. I also don't think he's actually rated that highly really. I mean I suspect most people would rate him behind Gerrard for example, whereas I'd sooner have Lampard in my team.

Good point. Only particularly staunch Chelsea fans would even dream of putting him in the same conversation as Keane, Scholes, Vieira and Gerrard.

 

[Sandikan]

Rashford is another shout. For all of the hype his numbers so far have been more akin to the second coming of Danny Welbeck, more than anything.

Can't compare these two!
Rashford will already have gone beyond welbecks total goal haul and he's still only 21.
He's only just getting a regular start up top for an attacking team.

He looked poor at times out wide but strikers can tend to.

No one is saying he'll ever be a 30 goal a year man, but he has more than welbeck had about him

 

[Sandikan]

Drogba for me I actually like the guy and he was a good player but the book ends there.

He had on great season in 09/10 and then won the champions league for them but he was never as good as the revisionists make you think he was.

His goal out put was pretty low looking back as a whole. Especially for being the centre focus of such a top team.

 

[RochaRoja]

Ronaldo will be the first to tell you how good Rooney was, but Ronaldo was our best player. There was a reason why Rooney had to step aside to CR7, but that doesn't change the fact that Rooney was a world class player. Probably a top 10 player at that time...

Saying a player is overrated isn’t saying he’s bad though. Or even that he wasn’t excellent.

Many on here thought Rooney was the more important player for United which was proven false by the team’s relative decline after Cristiano’s departure.

 

[M Utd]

I'd go for Michael Owen. He burst onto the scene with Liverpool and England and lots of people raved about him. Went to Madrid and didn't really cut it. Injuries played a big part in his downfall and showed just how much he relied on his pace. Once that was gone it was pretty obvious the wasn't a fantastic footballer. God knows why Newcastle spent so much on him.
Perhaps I'm a little biased as I think he's now stealing a living as a pundit and for me he's just one of the worst.

There's also this. Watch til the end when Southall gives him some grief about scoring against a kid as he celebrates like he's won the world cup.

 

[RochaRoja]

His goal out put was pretty low looking back as a whole. Especially for being the centre focus of such a top team.

Yeah, Drogba had a couple of great seasons as a goalscorer but was flakey as hell.

His big game record was probably the best I’ve ever seen though, which makes me rate him higher than I usually would a player with his stats.

 

[Sauldogba]

Yeah kid go back and watch some of his games from start to finish. Having a very common edgy opinion doesnt make you right.

Only Messi and Xavi can be debated with Scholes in terms of passing and Messi is mainly a through ball passer whereas Scholes could ping a coin from 80 yards.

Dont call me kid.
Ever.

/

Guti was a better passer than Scholes thats not even debatable.
Messi can do what Scholes does and more.
A lot more.So can Pogba as well.

Fabregas has like 50 more assists despite playing less games and playing for inferior teams.

 

[RochaRoja]

I'd go for Michael Owen. He burst onto the scene with Liverpool and England and lots of people raved about him. Went to Madrid and didn't really cut it. Injuries played a big part in his downfall and showed just how much he relied on his pace. Once that was gone it was pretty obvious the wasn't a fantastic footballer. God knows why Newcastle spent so much on him.
Perhaps I'm a little biased as I think he's now stealing a living as a pundit and for me he's just one of the worst.

There's also this. Watch til the end when Southall gives him some grief about scoring against a kid as he celebrates like he's won the world cup.

18 year old Owen was a genuine phenomenon. Kids nowadays probably don’t know how good he was back then. Defenders were absolutely terrified when he ran at them.

I’d argue that he was already on the decline when he won the Ballon d’Or in 2001. He’d lost a bit of his pace and directness by then and was on the way to being the Gary Lineker type poacher that he was until that injury that really ruined him in 2006.

 

[M Utd]

18 year old Owen was a genuine phenomenon. Kids nowadays probably don’t know how good he was back then. Defenders were absolutely terrified when he ran at them.

I’d argue that he was already on the decline when he won the Ballon d’Or in 2001. He’d lost a bit of his pace and directness by then and was on the way to being the Gary Lineker type poacher that he was until that injury that really ruined him in 2006.

I expect the years that pass either promote or demote someone's actual career and at times it's easier to say someone was worse than they actually were as you based that judgement on their finals years. I'd openly admit I probably think him lower given me thoughts on his punditry. His tactical knowledge really seems limited or perhaps it's his inability to get that across verbally which is missing.

 

[ShadesOfTomato]

Can't compare these two!
Rashford will already have gone beyond welbecks total goal haul and he's still only 21.
He's only just getting a regular start up top for an attacking team.

He looked poor at times out wide but strikers can tend to.

No one is saying he'll ever be a 30 goal a year man, but he has more than welbeck had about him

You don't half talk out of your arse about United. Rashford just turned 21 and has more goals than Danny Welbeck achieved in his entire 5/6 senior years at the club. He left for Arsenal when he was 24.

Rashford also tends to perform well in important matches, as you'll remember from earlier this year when he embarrassed your fullback.

Welbeck's best PL goal tally was 9 goals in a season Man Utd won the league and he was 21. Rashford's best so far is 7. He may surpass that this season but their early careees have taken a similar trajectory so far. He's a good young player but not the prodigy some make him out to be.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Saying a player is overrated isn’t saying he’s bad though. Or even that he wasn’t excellent.

Many on here thought Rooney was the more important player for United which was proven false by the team’s relative decline after Cristiano’s departure.

Decline after his departure? We went to another Champions League finals the next year. Also, in CR7's last year we only scored 68 league goals and the next year we scored 86 missing out on the title by 1 point to Chelsea. But the next year we were right back on top and won the league again???

 

[Classical Mechanic]

I’m Asian.

I’m just saying that I doubt most captains of Asian and African national teams are spending their weekends watching full PL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A etc games. And as for the CL, do you realise what time it’s on over here? I consider myself a massive football fan but only watch a few full CL games a season because it’s just not possible to fit it in to any kind of normal sleeping hours.

I suppose I could have included Oceania too but I couldn’t really have told you off the top of my head how many nations are in that confederation.

The FIFPro awards are the best consensus. They award one vote to every professional player in the world (65000) to select their best World XI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFPro#FIFA_FIFPro_World_XI

edit: only just realised De Gea was voted in this year.

 

[Sauldogba]

You think Pogba is a better passer of the ball than Scholes? Quite frankly you've just invalidated your already weak argument. No offence, but are you 18 or something? Anyone who has watched Scholes from the early 90's and especially to the end of his career wouldn't make such a ludicrous statement.

Scholes passing range, flight of the ball and accuracy was incredible as was his short game. He very rarely gave the ball away. Taking consistency into account, his passig range towards the end of his time with us was the best i've ever seen. Pogba's long game is good, but it's not a patch on Scholes and his short passing isn't even comparable.

Not a patch on Scholes?
This is why i think hes a bit overrated.
I dont know if its because hes English and England dont really produce players like him but Pogba could do what Scholes does .

Scholes is a great passer but ive seen Pogba do what he does on a weekly basis like its nothing.

Scholes signature pass was the crossfield pass out to the flanks with the left side of his instep on his right foot.Pogba does that with his right foot,left foot,outside of the boot.
Sometimes even without looking.

 

[Halds]

Dont call me kid.
Ever.

/

Guti was a better passer than Scholes thats not even debatable.
Messi can do what Scholes does and more.
A lot more.So can Pogba as well.

Fabregas has like 50 more assists despite playing less games and playing for inferior teams.

You should know, that the world has never seen a better passer than Scholes, son. Ever. He could hit a penny 100 yards away.. Blindfolded!

 

[Grande]

Usain Bolt? Imsayin Hazard.

 

[Grande]

Dont call me kid.
Ever.

/

Guti was a better passer than Scholes thats not even debatable.
Messi can do what Scholes does and more.
A lot more.So can Pogba as well.

Fabregas has like 50 more assists despite playing less games and playing for inferior teams.

Guti? You’ve gotta be kidding.
Cheap shot

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Not a patch on Scholes?
This is why i think hes a bit overrated.
I dont know if its because hes English and England dont really produce players like him but Pogba could do what Scholes does .

Scholes is a great passer but ive seen Pogba do what he does on a weekly basis like its nothing.

Scholes signature pass was the crossfield pass out to the flanks with the left side of his instep on his right foot.Pogba does that with his right foot,left foot,outside of the boot.
Sometimes even without looking.

Scholes was a different kind of player to Pogba and Fabregas because he was a deep lying playmaker more in the mould of Pirlo or Kross. He was much more consistent with his passing and ball retention than the likes of Pogba but with less direct goal contributions.

If you look at his last season with United his pass accuracy was 93% and he played an average 9 long balls per game with an accuracy of 85%. Only Toni Kroos in the modern game can better that.

 

[RochaRoja]

Decline after his departure? We went to another Champions League finals the next year. Also, in CR7's last year we only scored 68 league goals and the next year we scored 86 missing out on the title by 1 point to Chelsea. But the next year we were right back on top and won the league again???

United were definitely an inferior side from 2009 onwards. 2007-2009 they were unquestionably one of the two best sides in Europe. The 2011 team wasn’t a patch on that and qualified for the CL final due to a very favourable draw.

 

[Stacks]

How the feck does this shit get posted in the Main Forum? Seriously...

Think it's satire

EDIT: it's actually a brilliant post

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Think it's satire

EDIT: it's actually a brilliant post

It is a great post that adequately highlights the idiocy of these kind of debates.

 

[shamans]

@MJJ If you saw Owen play at his peak you'd know he was way more than just pace. The guy had a lot to his game but injuries messed him up.

 

[MJJ]

@MJJ If you saw Owen play at his peak you'd know he was way more than just pace. The guy had a lot to his game but injuries messed him up.

Okay?

 

[Robbie Boy]

It is a great post that adequately highlights the idiocy of these kind of debates.

Far from a brilliant post. A massive waste of his / her time, more so.

Some of the names in here are hilarious, though. Not sure what metric there is to measure an 'overrated' player. I mean, there's some that are pretty obvious and then there's some absolute PL legends being mentioned which is downright bizarre. Suppose it's all just subjective opinion, at the end of the day.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Far from a brilliant post. A massive waste of his / her time, more so.

Some of the names in here are hilarious, though. Not sure what metric there is to measure an 'overrated' player. I mean, there's some that are pretty obvious and then there's some absolute PL legends being mentioned which is downright bizarre. Suppose it's all just subjective opinion, at the end of the day.

I thought it was pretty funny.

The overrated/underrated thing in football, music and life in general is bloody annoying. It generally translates to 'something/someone that is acclaimed or successful that I don't like', so yes its, by and large, a subjective exercise. Its reflective of the human ego I think, that so many people think they happen to know the 'truth' while everyone else is blind.

That said, people seem to enjoy these debates so perhaps I should just stay out of them.

 

[Sauldogba]

Scholes was a different kind of player to Pogba and Fabregas because he was a deep lying playmaker more in the mould of Pirlo or Kross. He was much more consistent with his passing and ball retention than the likes of Pogba but with less direct goal contributions.

If you look at his last season with United his pass accuracy was 93% and he played an average 9 long balls per game with an accuracy of 85%. Only Toni Kroos in the modern game can better that.

Yeah hes a great player im not denying that just dont think hes as good as the others.
Do you have a link to his 93% passing accuracy stat?

 

[The_Podgy_Poet]

Pepe Reina, David Ginola, Eric Cantona, Drogba, Jose Antonio Reyes, Martin Keown, Gianfranco Zola

Hard to pick between the them.

EDIT: Scratch all of the above, Gazza wins this absolutely hands down. Throughout most of his Premier League career (ie post 1992 playing in England), he was far past his peak and pretty damn rubbish. Yet every damn match he played in he had commentators completely fawning over him, it was ridiculous!

No-one can match Gazza in this topic.

 

[lysglimt]

Care to elucidate what are the parameters of "overall contribution" that you are harping about?

Usually, for a midfielder scoring 200+ goals, with his basics right and a very intelligent footballing brain, I think the team and the fans will be decently satisfied with his "overall contribution" to the game.

Of course, objectivity goes for a toss when you mention the "highly unlikable" Chelsea team.

Ah ignore him. Lampards contribution to Chelsea was huge - to say anything else is simply ridiculous. A 1 goal in 3 midfielder is head and shoulders above anything else the P.L has seen before

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Yeah hes a great player im not denying that just dont think hes as good as the others.
Do you have a link to his 93% passing accuracy stat?

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/11/History/Paul-Scholes

It was his second to last season his last season was slightly less.

I will say that Pogba is the most spectacular passer I have ever seen. Some of his long ball technique is crazy.

Ah ignore him. Lampards contribution to Chelsea was huge - to say anything else is simply ridiculous. A 1 goal in 3 midfielder is head and shoulders above anything else the P.L has seen before

At his peak he contributed 20, 21, 20, 20 & 27 goals over 5 seasons in all competitions for them. 108 goals in total.

 

[Mb194dc]

Harry Kane MBE. Decent goal scorer against the championship quality defences that make up most of the premier league. Good penalty taker. Very limited player in a lot of ways. Seemingly immune from criticism in the UK media, other than when claiming goals from Eriksen.

One of the most ridiculous golden boots, surely, 6 goals comprising: 5 goals against Panama and Tunisia, 3 penalties in total, and a deflection.

Seemingly able to swear at the referees in the premier league without punishment, immune from being offside even with VAR in use it seems.

Current CV with zero trophies on it:
Football League Cup runner-up: 2014–15
FIFA World Cup fourth place: 2018

I would love to see Kane play in Spain or Italy to see how he does, come on Harry make the move and prove me wrong!

 

[Stacks]

Far from a brilliant post. A massive waste of his / her time, more so.

Some of the names in here are hilarious, though. Not sure what metric there is to measure an 'overrated' player. I mean, there's some that are pretty obvious and then there's some absolute PL legends being mentioned which is downright bizarre. Suppose it's all just subjective opinion, at the end of the day.

I thought it was pretty funny.

The overrated/underrated thing in football, music and life in general is bloody annoying. It generally translates to 'something/someone that is acclaimed or successful that I don't like', so yes its, by and large, a subjective exercise. Its reflective of the human ego I think, that so many people think they happen to know the 'truth' while everyone else is blind.

That said, people seem to enjoy these debates so perhaps I should just stay out of them.

I think this was the point of the post and I found it pretty funny. Good summary of the ludicrousness of this thread so far

 

[Bobski]

Since when do you need to be "the man" to go down as a top player?

Scholes, Giggs etc were never the "main man" in that respect either.

I hate that "The Man" nonsense as well. Such an Americanized NBA concept which does not work in a more team orientated sport. Who was "The Man" in our treble team, we has about 7 guys who split the vote for player of the year(which is why Ginola ended up winning that year)

Much of it is driven by marketing.

 

[mitchmouse]

If people are bored of Gerrard, then maybe Joe Hart

hart is certainly one of the poorest keepers I've seen not to mention an embarrassment with that ridiculous singing of the National Anthem

 

[Cheesy]

Rooney was once considered one of the “big three” along with Messi and Cristiano. If you’re judging him by those standards then of course he was overrated.

Not really. There was a brief period during 09-10 when people were starting to label him the third best player in the world behind Messi and Ronaldo but it was only for a brief period - for the majority of that period Xavi and Iniesta were widely (and rightfully) regarded as being the third/fourth best in the world.

 

[Cheesy]

Harry Kane MBE. Decent goal scorer against the championship quality defences that make up most of the premier league. Good penalty taker. Very limited player in a lot of ways. Seemingly immune from criticism in the UK media, other than when claiming goals from Eriksen.

One of the most ridiculous golden boots, surely, 6 goals comprising: 5 goals against Panama and Tunisia, 3 penalties in total, and a deflection.

Seemingly able to swear at the referees in the premier league without punishment, immune from being offside even with VAR in use it seems.

Current CV with zero trophies on it:
Football League Cup runner-up: 2014–15
FIFA World Cup fourth place: 2018

I would love to see Kane play in Spain or Italy to see how he does, come on Harry make the move and prove me wrong!

Are you trolling?

He's one of a handful of players who've consistently been able to score 20+ in the PL era, he's already done it four times in a row and is on course to make it five. If anything I'd say it took people too long to appreciate just how good he is.

 

[Dike_Manc]

Definitely Eden Hazard. Good player, no doubt about it but his real talents lie in drawing fouls and making them look legitimate. If that is what constitutes a great player, then I'm wrong.