Left Back: Gabriel Heinze (Marseille and Argentina): I was really struggling with this one, primarily because there is a complete paucity of quality options in this position. Apparently, Heinze is good enough for a place in the Argentina squad which quite honestly should fill every Argentinean with fear and trepidation. Then again, they also went through a phase of picking Jonas Gutierrez at right back. Let me put this selection into perspective. Javier Zanetti, the Internazionale captain, ended up sunning himself on a beach over the summer following his Treble exploits at club level. Il Trattore (‘Tractor’ – a nickname paying homage to Zanetti’s boundless energy) wasn’t deemed to be up to the task of going to the World Cup. Heinze was. Jesus wept.
Right Wing: Theo Walcott (Arsenal and England): He’s young so he’s clearly got time on his side. If you factor in his hat trick away to Croatia (in those heady days when England were, well, decent), then it’s also obvious that there is talent there. The fact that his career thus far has been blighted by injury is probably another factor that makes his inclusion here slightly harsh. But this is a player that Matt Le Tissier once announced was more talented than Wayne Rooney. That’s a huge billing.
First things first, I can’t help but ponder whether Arsenal is just the wrong club for him. He’d likely benefit in a side that has the propensity to go more direct at times. Arsenal hold possession for so long in midfield that the opposition are able to drop in and organise themselves. I don’t really think that intricate passes round tight corners and down narrow corridors is really Walcott’s gig. If you give the opposition an opportunity to get deep and compact, then you’re restricting the ability of Walcott to devastate. The young flyer doesn’t possess the finesse to play a defence splitting pass, nor does he have the game intelligence to find space in a crowded area. He’s a straight-line runner that would benefit from a more direct approach. And that’s not forthcoming at the Arsenal.
Central Midfield: Michael Essien (Chelsea and Ghana): We’re really sailing into contentious waters now! It’s not that he’s not a good player. He clearly is. It’s just that, contrary to very common opinion, he’s nowhere near the world-beater he’s frequently made out to be. I’m not quite sure how or when the ‘Essien: Best Midfielder in the World’ bandwagon started rolling but I find it a heavily misguided movement. He seems to have gained his reputation despite missing vast swathes of every season since his arrival on these shores, quite often at the critical junctures, through some serious injuries. Furthermore, he’s perennially moved around to plug holes in the Chelsea squad. Surely a player that is that good would be installed as the fulcrum of the team? As it happens, consecutive (good) managers have seen fit to do anything but give him a consistent central midfield berth. Ancelotti is the first Chelsea manager that has seen fit to release Essien from his shackles, so we may yet see the very best of this undoubtedly gifted player.
Central Midfield: Gareth Barry (England (somehow) and Man City): It looks increasingly likely that Barry will continue to steal into Fabio Capello’s England squad, despite it being abundantly clear at the World Cup that he should be one of the first out of the door.. His passing is conservative, as opposed to penetrative or creative, and even then he struggles to retain the ball. He doesn’t possess pace and he’s not a particularly proficient destroyer. Overall, Barry is one of those players that seems to excel at, erm, well, erm, nothing. Barry is the epitome of an invisible footballer and beyond merely existing, I’m not sure what he actually brings to the table. Gareth Barry. why?
Dani Alves, couldn’t agree more. I was at Barca vs Sevilla a few weeks ago and it was only live that I could appreciate the space he gets playing for that team and just how bad his decision making/consistency is.
dan agrees with this antirely. but i would have also added frank lampard and gareth bale (even though he hasnt been around that long). 2 good performances against a crap right back and hes a world beater. but when he played against steinson of bolton he couldnt beat him once and steinson even scored! DANNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!
The Bale hype has been a bit much at times, but he is something special nonetheless. I wouldn’t call Maicon a crap right back – he’s been far superior to Alves down the last few years. But Bale completely roasted him.
This seems written by a man utd fan as some of the player are clearly a gripe a uniteds rivals better players.
Whether the writer’s a united fan or not is anyone’s guess, but he makes some good points.
Dani Alves is interesting but I think I’m right in saying he’s played in 8 finals and won them all, so a stat like that is pretty hard to argue with.
Barry was a class act at villa to a square ball, foul machine or England and Man City.Last year at villa he was in the team of the season, nobodys even talking about him anymore. Looks like Milner could be headed for similar fate.
Top of my list would be Kaka. Completely overrated, no surprise he’s done nothing at Real.
Rooney slightly further down…
Disagree with ibrahimovic and essien.
Hands up, I am a United fan! Footy fan in bias shocker. In fairness, I was a fag paper away from putting Patrice Evra in at left back – good player, and a fantastic character, but considering the fantastic positions he gets himself into, his final ball can be infuriating at times. He also gets caught square on far too often when defending.
Rooney went some way to shedding any overrated tag last season, but he’s got it all to do again.
I couldn’t agree more with you. Especially with Gabriel Heinze. I too think he is overrated(though he was palying for Real Madrid.) I desperately wanted to know why did maradona not include Javier Zanetti in the world cup squad? yes, he is 38years old but still the man has great defensive skills. Add to that, he is the lifter of the 2010 champions league. He should have bben the argentine captian instead of Javier Mascherano. I strongly believe the results of Argentina against Germany in the 2010 world cup would have been the other way round if Zanneti was there.
I don’t know if Zanetti would have been the difference in Argentina winning and losing against the Germans, but it would have been a start. Cambiasso was another SHOCKING exclusion.
Maradona set that side up with an embarrassing lack of balance and a real deficit of quality in the central midfield.
What are you trying to achieve with this article. It is completely inaccurate and misinformed journalism, embarrassing.
Tom – I tell you what would be better than coming on with a one liner: posting what your specific qualms are. Anyone can jump on a soap box like you have. What is specifically perturbing you about what I’ve written?
Also, I’m not pretentious enough to call myself a journalist. I’m a football fan who penned a few of my opinions 🙂
I completely agree about Casillas, while I do think he is a very good keeper I don’t believe he is elite or on the level of the likes of Cesar or Reina. He has a great reputation based on his “weak” defences in the previous 4-5 seasons where on a few occasions (as said by the commentators in-game) he has been the keeper who has made the most saves throughout the league at the end of the season, for a team who have finished top 2 consistently for the past 5 years. Now some will obviously point to the defence, or lack thereof, alongside the loss of a defensive midfielder who wasn’t replaced but for me that is a get-out clause. One of the requirements (in my humble opinion) for a keeper who is world class is the ability for them to be able to marshall and organise a defence, this I haven’t seen from Casillas much over recent years, add to this his inability to command his box to any great significance and I think while he is a very good keeper, he isn’t world class and has never been better than Gigi Buffon (that good ol’ debate eh?). I also feel as though he started in the World Cup because of his past reputation of a keeper, based on form Reina would have started and there wouldn’t have been any drop off in production for me, especially when you look at Casillas in the tournament.
I don’t agree with Carragher as being overrated, apart from Liverpool fans every football fan I speak to re Carra do think too highly of Carragher (“pundits” do not count), so for this reason I don’t think he can be overrated. Decent defender who is beginning to get caught out due to lack of pace, will always give 100% to the Liverpool cause though and can relate to all of their fans which is why I think they laud him up so much. On the whole I don’t think he has ever been considered a top, top defender from anyone outside of scouseland.
Heinze also has me of a similar thinking with the notion there are not too many people out there who think so highly of Heinze that he can be overrated, agree about the lack of left backs who are though. Ashley Cole is comfortably the best full back in the world and everyone knows the rest of the left backs around are behind him, by some distance too.
Terry did get a lot of praise during the Mourinho era, but similarly agree that it was Carvalho who was the cornerstone of that defence and it would be interesting to see the defensive stats with and without Carvalho during his stay at Chelsea. If I was Ancelotti I would have no concerns playing Ivanovic and Alex as the two centre backs if they are given time to gel, just never play Paulo Ferreira in that role again, I might as well rock up with my boots.
Dani Alves I also agree with, I hate full backs who spend more time in the opposition half if they cannot defend (A. Cole is one of very few exceptions), Micah Richards and Glen Johnson are my prime examples in that they love gallivanting forward but are inept defensively and Richards has the footballing brain of a newt (although never proven I don’t imagine it is too high). I think Alves gets a lot of love because he is quite involved with Barca’s attacks going forward but defensively you can get at him, he has a high motor though and rarely gets caught out in a sprint so he gets a few points for that.
With Walcott I think it is simply a case of people not thinking of him that highly anyway so don’t think he can be considered overrated, infact as an impact player he is up there with anyone for me. During the WC I was a huge supporter of Walcott over SWP, something I got slaughtered for, but my main point was both would be on the bench so you have to go for someone who would make the biggest impact from the bench, not starting, and you can name far more games where Walcott has made an impact on a game over the last 12-18 months than SWP. I like Walcott but I’m not too sure on a position for him yet but like him as an impact player and his pace worries many.
Can’t see how Essien is overrated, guy is a stud in centre midfield. I think the main problem he has is that he can put good shifts in at both right back and centre back, if Chelsea have an injury crisis in the centre back or right back position they know they can call on Essien who will fill the void with great effort and a small drop off in production but with the ability to put a centre midfielder in and hope to carry him (to an extent – if he’s playing for Chelsea I doubt he’s a scrub). It reminds me of the situation with Gerrard, he is almost that good that you can put him wide right, wide left, behind the striker, sitting and he will do a good job in all positions despite him being best in the central midfield role with a defensive mind alongside him. For example you wouldn’t be able to put Lucas wide right if you had a crisis in that position, but you know you can put Gerrard there if needed because he will do a good job despite his loss in his more natural and favoured position. So for me I think it is more a case of him being almost too good in other roles compared to other players despite how good he is in his more preferred role.
I think Barry gets a lot of flack mainly for his England performances, which are rightly pointed out because they have been woeful, but for City he is a big player and is a large part of that side. He offers the balance alongside De Jong and has good passing range along with the ability to help cover the left back area if he goes for a wonder, and with Kolarov having the ability to cross a ball this has happened a few times for City this season. I don’t think that many people are a fan of him now and so as such don’t think he can be seen as overrated, if you ask most City fans I think they would say he would be one of the first names on the team sheet.
Ribery I agree with to an extent, he had great potential and since being heavily linked with moves to Chelsea and Madrid, as well as his ban things have regressed quite badly for Franck. Given time I think his stock will rise again and he has some potential in there that if guided correctly can unleash a world class player for me, he just needs a little time, which unfortunately is not something you get much of in the football world these days.
You know my stance on Higuain haha! In fact I almost think he is underrated by some, at Madrid Ronaldo and Mourinho are the headline grabbers but Higuain is a massive part of Madrid for me, although how badly his injury hampers him his unknown yet. I don’t think a player who has 7 in 12 so far this season (all league stats), 27 in 32 last, then 22 in 34 the year before, can be overrated when nationally they don’t really get a great deal of recognition. I think his play off the ball is also sometimes overlooked with all the superstars they have and I think in time, although Benzema has the greater potential, they will miss Higuain during the next 2 months.
Ibra is like marmite in that you either love him or hate him, he has a lot of detractors but also some fans who worship the ground he walks on. His big money move to Barca didn’t quite pan out as he would have hoped and perhaps he is just a player who needs his ego massaging and a league like Serie A to bring his ability out in him. While I do think he is overrated from his fans, in general my perception from the majority of fans is that they do not rate Ibra.
All written in a rush before we finish work xD, so I expect there are plenty of mistakes in there haha!