Your most overrated footballer

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

Currently, and especially here at the Caf: Upamecano and Konate.

 

[Bebestation]

One of the most overrated united players recently for me has to be Ander Herrera. He is absolutely loved by a certain group of fans.

I feel like after his successful man marking minutes of Eden Hazard had made some to believe that he can actually control a game in midfield which was two different things.

At his max he would stay glued to a player like Hazard so he didnt get much freedom, maybe recycle some possession and not much else. When we played a lower class team with no one to mark he was especially shit and diving all over the place.


Not really heard that much about himnat PSG now either.

His fans will find Fred overrated and vice versa when Fred can mark players as well as be useful against low level energetic teams.

 

[renandstimpyfan83]

No checks to see what this thread is about, I see.

Marcelo Salas. Used to think he was the perfect centre forward in his first couple seasons at Lazio. He was just a good player in good form. Chilean fans may argue with that but his club record isn't spectacular.

Oops. My mistake.

I think your initial assessment of Salas was fairer. He was ruined by injury after joining Juve while in his prime. Before that he was a 1 in 2 striker back when that was considered the mark of a top striker. All time top scorer for the Chilean national team who have had some very good forwards.

 

[Bondi77]

How is that relevant? Do you know what this thread about? If you post a bunch of names, you must surely have overrated them at some point, or didn't understand the thread at all. Either own up to overrating the likes of Pepe or admit you didn't understand that the thread and move on, instead of being overly defensive and making me have to explain all of this out to you.

I know what the thread is about and it is about an opinion and I gave mine while you criticised it....typical.
Are you telling me that Arsenal and Chelsea have not been rinsed by paying the prices they paid for the two mentioned players?
Just answer the question and jog on!

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I know what the thread is about and it is about an opinion and I gave mine while you criticised it....typical.
Are you telling me that Arsenal and Chelsea have not been rinsed by paying the prices they paid for the two mentioned players?
Just answer the question and jog on!

No

 

[DOTA]

Oops. My mistake.

I think your initial assessment of Salas was fairer. He was ruined by injury after joining Juve while in his prime. Before that he was a 1 in 2 striker back when that was considered the mark of a top striker. All time top scorer for the Chilean national team who have had some very good forwards.

We only have two seasons of his prime to judge him on, in that case, and to be honest there's a lot of players who've managed two very good seasons.

There's two ahead of him for Chile now, including some bloke called Eduardo Vargas who I've never heard of.

EDIT - Just gave this a watch and getting nostalgic now (I had it on mute so no idea if the music is bearable). Some cracking stuff in there.

 

[Devil81]

Bergkamp was a good player but he's so overrated by many, had a very poor record against United.

The guy was insanely good!!!

If anything his career has been underrated, similar mould to Cantona and capable of pure genius.

 

[Champ]

The guy was insanely good!!!

If anything his career has been underrated, similar mould to Cantone and capable of pure genius.

Exactly this.

Bergkamp is in the same vein as Cantona and Berbatov for me.
All absolute geniuses with the ball, could do things that no one else would even dare to attempt, and could turn it on whenever they wanted.

The biggest part of Bergkamps game however was his workrate, used to actually work very hard on the pitch and was very unselfish.

 

[Carl]

Phil Foden seems to be incredibly overrated.

The most overrated RedCafe player though (in terms of longevity) has gotta be Nani.

 

[Zlatattack]

Thierry Henry, no chance was he best prem league player ever, he went to Barcelona and was anonymous.

That's ridiculous. He was amazing, before Ronaldo he was the best Premier league player ever.

Are you old enough to have watched him play?

 

[slored1]

I always overrated Ramsey. Somehow I still think he's a brilliant player and that he would be a good fit for our squad if we didn't sign Bruno.

 

[renandstimpyfan83]

Players I overrated:

Jones and Cleverley - I thought both would be top players and have 100 caps for England by now.

Lass Diarra - I expected him to be world class after he transferred to Real Madrid and become a better version of Makelele

Arshavin - thought he was one of the best players in the world around 2008-09 and would be the missing piece for Arsenal.

Joe Hart - considered him top 3 in the world around 2012 and better than Manuel Neuer.

Joe Cole - At the time of the 2010 World Cup I thought he was the answer to all England’s problems and if Capello only picked him we’d suddenly look like a decent side again. Went to Liverpool immediately after the tournament and it quickly became obvious why he wasn’t getting a game for England anymore.

Ashley Young - Same as Cole. Could never understand why he wasn’t in the England team and expected him to be one of the best wingers in the PL when he joined United.

Adam Johnson - Finally England had a top class out and out left winger! Why doesn’t Mancini play him more?! Because he’s shite and a nonce.

Juan Mata - Thought he was on par with David Silva during his first couple of seasons in the PL.

Anthony Martial - The new Henry...

Managers: André Villas-Boas - Thought he would be brilliant at Chelsea and basically a better version of Mourinho. He’s had an alright career but not the GOAT level I was deluded enough to believe.

Sven Göran Eriksson - Really thought England had got an elite level coach, the Swedish Fergie. Turned out he was a one trick pony whose outdated tactics squandered the Golden Generation. After leaving the England job became a total mercenary.

David O’Leary - Expected him to have a really good career after the job he did at Leeds. Was rubbish at Villa and has never been heard of again.

Marco Silva - I guess I just really wanted the Soccer Saturday mob to be wrong.

 

[George the Cat]

That's ridiculous. He was amazing, before Ronaldo he was the best Premier league player ever.

Are you old enough to have watched him play?

No he wasnt, and if he was that good how comes when Arsenal used to visit OT sometimes I hardly even noticed he was playing?

 

[Redcy]

The guy was insanely good!!!

If anything his career has been underrated, similar mould to Cantone and capable of pure genius.

I think where Bergkamp is interesting is in that he was capable of genius and he changed how the league was viewed by foreign players, possibly the first big superstar player to come here. However I think he is perennially overrated when he got here he was average as a striker, with moments of brilliance. While I understand the comparisons to Cantona, for me I think the big difference is how much of a leader Cantona was, he also changed many players, especially younger ones, view of how they should behave and train. Before Cantona and Keane the professionalism was pretty poor at the player level, the expectations and desire of Cantona, his training regime, etc from every I understand changed the perception inside and outside of United. Add to that Cantona's ability and flair it brought back what we had been missing. I am not sure Bergkamp had such a massive effect on Arsenal, that mainly came from Wenger.

 

[jeepers]

Welbeck. I loved his off the ball movement and was genuinely sad when he moved to Arsenal. Whoever sold him (LvG?) was right to do, completely fleeced Arsenal.

 

[Andy_Cole]

Think people have misunderstood the OP.

I guess the players I’ve admittedly over rated are:
Andy Cole
Scholes (or maybe not? I consider him as the GOAT).
Carrick
Fletcher
Saha
Rooney (again maybe not, thought of him as top 3 in the world at one point)
Berbatov
Welbeck

 

[Oranges038]

Used to think Defoe had the ability to play at the very top, quality goal scorer but maybe he was obviously lacking something that stopped him getting a move.

I flicked through and saw people mentioning Henry and Bergkamp, unless you thought they were top 10 all time players, you weren't overrating them. Henry was one of the best strikers of his era and Bergkamp was one of the best forwards or second strikers of his time too. They were absolutely world class.

Buffon - alwasy errors in him and never seems to get the blame for things,

Seriously, Buffon... Buffon who's played at the very top level for 25 years and has won almost every thing available to him during that time? Buffon that is widely regarded as one if the best goalkeepers ever? Yeah, it was just you that over rated him.

 

[DOTA]

Think people have misunderstood the OP.

I guess the players I’ve admittedly over rated are:
Andy Cole
Scholes (or maybe not? I consider him as the GOAT).
Carrick
Fletcher
Saha
Rooney (again maybe not, thought of him as top 3 in the world at one point)
Berbatov
Welbeck

Those two. Park as well. I'm a sucker for a player who can 'do a job' in a big game.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Think people have misunderstood the OP.

I guess the players I’ve admittedly over rated are:
Andy Cole
Scholes (or maybe not? I consider him as the GOAT).
Carrick
Fletcher
Saha
Rooney (again maybe not, thought of him as top 3 in the world at one point)
Berbatov
Welbeck

Saha is a good one. He’s one of those players who “would have been great, if not for the injuries”. I’ve always rated him, but no doubt overrated him in retrospect.

i would probably add Dwight Yorke.

if you look over his entire career, it’s very average.

 

[Mickson]

Paul Scholes by United supporters.

Zidane, quite controversial, obviously a brilliant player but often in big moments and big games rather than for a whole season. A bit like Kaka and AC Milan at times.

Ander Herrera, absolutely overrated. Running around like a headless chicken. Never been so provoking to see him win POTY at United.

Pirlo, obviously a great and beautiful footballer but his reputation just grew and grew and grew. A bit like Scholes.

I'm not sure... but Berbatov tends to be overrated especially after his career.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Exactly this.

Bergkamp is in the same vein as Cantona and Berbatov for me.
All absolute geniuses with the ball, could do things that no one else would even dare to attempt, and could turn it on whenever they wanted.

The biggest part of Bergkamps game however was his workrate, used to actually work very hard on the pitch and was very unselfish.

Berbatov had a bit of genius about him but wasn't a truly great player. My guess is that while he is was better, Bergkamp may also be overrated although it's a hunch and I haven't really followed his career.

 

[Redcy]

Ariel Ortega - to the point I would update his stats in editors in every game. Possibly one of the most naturally gifted footballers since Maradonna and just never really produced it

 

[Redcy]

My issue with Bergkamp is people rating him in the top 20 EPL players of all time, when I don't know that he even gets in the top 10 strikers in the EPL. Its not that he is not a great player, its about people rating him in the top 20 EPL players.

 

[WeePat]

I like that phrase, I may have to create a British version. Next time I see a keeper wondering I'll say 'look at him, he's going to the chippy' and see if it catches on.

For me personally it's Alex, the Brazilian defender. I know he isn't particularly rated but I had mates who really liked him when he was at Chelsea, and I suspected it was for that lightning bolt of a goal he scored against Liverpool rather than actually being any good at the back.

There is a Danish version of it which essentially translates to 'he's on a field trip' but to my understanding, this is usually reserved for keepers who come way out of their box and then end up in no mans land.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

My issue with Bergkamp is people rating him in the top 20 EPL players of all time, when I don't know that he even gets in the top 10 strikers in the EPL. Its not that he is not a great player, its about people rating him in the top 20 EPL players.

agree.

Another question I’d ask about Bergkamp is whether he’s a player who got near fulfilling his potential?

 

[WeePat]

I grossly overrated Bergkamp when I was a child.

 

[Idxomer]

Maybe Rooney in 2010, I really believed he was the best player in the world during the 2009-2010 season.

 

[DanClancy]

My issue with Bergkamp is people rating him in the top 20 EPL players of all time, when I don't know that he even gets in the top 10 strikers in the EPL. Its not that he is not a great player, its about people rating him in the top 20 EPL players.

At 87 goals in 315 PL games he certainly wouldn't.

He played a lot of games against United, how many times did he really impress?

 

[tenpoless]

Arshavin after he scored the goal against Barca

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

McFred

 

[giorno]

What is this crap about Pirlo? One of the greatest midfielders of all time, an absolute genius. Why would anyone think he is overrated?

Because they haven't seen him play bar 2-3 games late in his career

 

[Lord SInister]

Cleverley, I got to a point, I was deluded in thinking that he is going to be our next great midfielder who will lead us to glory.

 

[Oranges038]

At 87 goals in 315 PL games he certainly wouldn't.

He played a lot of games against United, how many times did he really impress?

Stats don't really tell the full story of a players impact and overall game. I don't really remember him ever tearing Utd apart or being decisive in any games, aside from that 1 missed penalty.

He had 87 goals and 94 assists in 307 games according to the PL website. Which, for a player who was not an out and out striker is an excellent return. He's fifth on the list of all time PL assists.

In context for similar players to Bergkamp.

Cantona scored 70 and assisted 56 in 150 games.

Le Tissier scored 100 and assisted 64 in 270 games.

Di Canio scored 66 and assisted 49 in 190 games.

 

[Gio]

What is this crap about Pirlo? One of the greatest midfielders of all time, an absolute genius. Why would anyone think he is overrated?

I think it's more because he became a hipster's wet dream, fuelled by the cultured image he cultivated - the glass of Borolo, playing PES before the World Cup Final, the dislike of warm-ups, the mugging off of that twat Joe Hart, and so on.

Either way, what he did on the park puts him right in the top tier of deep-lying playmakers of all time.

 

[Demyanenko_square_jaw]

Bergkamp was an excellent/great player in the '90s, but after that he was probably in the right place at the right time to wind down his career and avoid too much criticism. Arsenal were strong and had other leaders, Bergkamp was loved for his first few seasons and could coast along to an extent as he aged.

If someone of the same qualities as Bergkamp post 98/99 had to arrive in recent, lesser Arsenal teams i don't think it would be long before the fans were on their back for not being consistently decisive enough, slow and needing a lot of service to get that moment of genius. they would probably heavily split opinion.

 

[SeanyC]

Kagawa...flashes now and again for us, never lived up to his hype. Torres for Pool, and I will throw in Djemba Djemba for good measure. Man he was awful! The next Keane my a*se

 

[The Urban Goose]

Alex Pato. The new Kaka my arse.

 

[Spotkick]

Jari Litmanen for me. Idolized the player in the 90's as an Ajax fan. To me it was absolutely ridiculous he was on the bench at pool and Barcelona when he player there. To me he was the best player in the world. turns out I was probably wrong

 

[Lord SInister]

Wait I thought this thread was about players, that we personally overrated.
How wrong was I.

 

[Falcow]

This made me chuckle. Scholes is great and all but calling Pirlo, who could actually qualify to be in all time world XI as overrated is not only laughable but downright disrespectful.

I think you post just proves how overrated Pirlo was/is. He wouldnt make a world 11 from the last 20 years never mind an all time world 11. Putting him in an all time 11 is the definition of over rating him.

A midfield best of the last 20 years would feature any 2 or 3 of Xavi, Insista, ZZ, Alonso, Keane before Pirlo gets a look.....at least in my opinion.

Pirlo is a tier below those and is next in line along with Modric, Scholes, Schweinsteiger, Vieira and Busquets.