The unpopular football opinion thread

[joeyt]

Not sure that's an opinion

[Superior Acuña]

Gary Speed wasn't very good. Brilliant bloke, brilliant professional attitude, excellent in the air. Crap at passing, second touch was a header.

 

Shay Given was average. Shortest 6'0 man I've ever seen. Couldn't take crosses, atrocious at kicking, would shit his pants on the back pass, didn't communicate very well, didn't command his area. Decent shot stopper but still way over rated.

 

 

Bollocks, both.

 

Speed wasn't up there with Viera/Keane/Gerard/Lampard centre mid, but of course was good and played important role in our team being good.

 

Maybe Given is overrated by some, I dunno, but he wasn't average. He wasn't amongst the midtable in terms of PL goalkeepers.

[Tsunami]

Gary Speed wasn't very good. Brilliant bloke, brilliant professional attitude, excellent in the air. Crap at passing, second touch was a header.

 

Shay Given was average. Shortest 6'0 man I've ever seen. Couldn't take crosses, atrocious at kicking, would shit his pants on the back pass, didn't communicate very well, didn't command his area. Decent shot stopper but still way over rated.

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll get a job on Talk Sport no problem?.

 

I agree Given wasn’t great with his feet and didn’t command the 6 yard box but put him in KK’s team and we win the league.

 

Speed was a Rolls Royce of a player, he must have been a dream to play with.

[Disco]

Not world beaters but both very good and very dependable PL players.

[Dinho lad]

Decent shot stopper.   Is that all?   He made countless number of outstanding saves. He was also very quick off his line and very agile. He was probably our most consistent player.

[Candi_Hills]

I just never thought Speed was very good with the ball at his feet. Certainly a worse technical footballer than Lee and Batty who he ended up replacing.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

They're both in the top 10% of players in the premier league who played in their positions

[Collage]

Given was a great shot stopper. Yeah not great allround like Schmeichel and easy to say he wasn’t good enough to win the league but I don’t think that’s true. We could have won the league under sir Bobby. We didn’t, but it had nothing to do with Given.

[Candi_Hills]

Given was a great shot stopper. Yeah not great allround like Schmeichel and easy to say he wasn’t good enough to win the league but I don’t think that’s true. We could have won the league under sir Bobby. We didn’t, but it had nothing to do with Given.

 

The 4th place finish was Bobby's best chance at the league. We were top with 12 games to go and then Bellers got injured, if I'm not mistaken.

 

As for Shay Given, I'm from the Guardiola school. I've always liked goalkeepers who can play. I think it's a really undervalued attribute for a keeper to have and Shay didn't have it. He was terrible at kicking and a total flapper when a centre forward closed him down on the back pass. Mind you, he had some big boots to fill because Pav was top notch in that department.

[Superior Acuña]

Given was a great shot stopper. Yeah not great allround like Schmeichel and easy to say he wasn’t good enough to win the league but I don’t think that’s true. We could have won the league under sir Bobby. We didn’t, but it had nothing to do with Given.

 

The 4th place finish was Bobby's best chance at the league. We were top with 12 games to go and then Bellers got injured, if I'm not mistaken.

 

As for Shay Given, I'm from the Guardiola school. I've always liked goalkeepers who can play. I think it's a really undervalued attribute for a keeper to have and Shay didn't have it. He was terrible at kicking and a total flapper when a centre forward closed him down on the back pass. Mind you, he had some big boots to fill because Pav was top notch in that department.

 

I checked this recently - we'd have done better with Bellamy fit aye, but we weren't going to win the league. Arsenal won every single game in that period. We'd have had to win every game like them, and against them.

 

Sure Shay had limitations  - that doesn't mean he was average

[Yorkie]

Me? I'm from the Guardiola school, mate.

[Abra Dubravka]

Given wasn’t from an era where being good with the ball was needed in a goalkeeper, certainly not in the PL. Might have been different had he gone and played on continent, but keepers being good with their feet has only really become necessary in last 5 or so years - certainly outside the top sides.

 

Bit of an unfair metric to judge him on I’d say, seeing as his peers of the time weren’t much cop with the ball either. Up there with as one of the best in league for a few years. 

 

Doubt Dave Seaman would be too canny taking the ball in the 6 yard box, being closed down and pinging it out to Lauren’s feet on the wing 30 yards away over a wingers head.

[Candi_Hills]

Me? I'm from the Guardiola school, mate.

 

Graduated with a first. Minored in Accounting and Redknapp studies.

[madras]

I just never thought Speed was very good with the ball at his feet. Certainly a worse technical footballer than Lee and Batty who he ended up replacing.

Batty wasn't exactly creative, Lee was a better finisher...all 3 were great at keeping possession. What I loved with Speed was his reading of the game, his ability to find positions where he was available and still to cover if the move broke down. Picked up loads of loose ball through anticipation but it didnt look as good as a tackle does.

[Stifler]

Speed was so undervalued by us in my opinion.

The fact that we signed both Bowyer and Butt to replace him and neither were anywhere near as good shows you how good he was for us.

 

As for Given, he never had an all round performance but he was absolutely excellent for us even if he was a shot stopper. He could be 1 on 1 with someone and come out on top 9 times out of 10.

As for his distribution being bad, he was often criticised for this during his time with us, but if you look back at highlights of him when he was at the club, loads of our goals come from him clearing the ball or taking a goal kick, often when Shearer or Shola was upfront.

[Interpolic]

Tuchel is doing a pretty crap job at Chelsea. They have spent a fortune on attacking talent in recent years and Tuchel can't get consistent returns out of any of them. Only finished 3rd last year because the sides behind them were so inconsistent, and they're boring. He's living off a CL run which wasn't particularly impressive either. Still it's the Champions League.

 

Declan Rice - nah I'm still not getting it. Think I'll forever be living in another dimension while the hype rains down on this bloke. 

[madras]

Just now, Interpolic said:

Tuchel is doing a pretty crap job at Chelsea. They have spent a fortune on attacking talent in recent years and Tuchel can't get consistent returns out of any of them. Only finished 3rd last year because the sides behind them were so inconsistent, and they're boring. He's living off a CL run which wasn't particularly impressive either. Still it's the Champions League.

 

Declan Rice - nah I'm still not getting it. Think I'll forever be living in another dimension while the hype rains down on this bloke. 

With you on Rice, just don't see it, throw Grealish in there as well.

[Pilko]

1 minute ago, Interpolic said:

Declan Rice - nah I'm still not getting it. Think I'll forever be living in another dimension while the hype rains down on this bloke. 

 

I'm fully on board with this, me. Seen him have the odd good game and that but people talking about £100m and that are on smack. He's like a more mobile Mark Noble.

[JumpersForGoalposts]

On 05/03/2021 at 15:19, Candi_Hills said:

Gary Speed wasn't very good. Brilliant bloke, brilliant professional attitude, excellent in the air. Crap at passing, second touch was a header.

 

Shay Given was average. Shortest 6'0 man I've ever seen. Couldn't take crosses, atrocious at kicking, would shit his pants on the back pass, didn't communicate very well, didn't command his area. Decent shot stopper but still way over rated.

 

 

 

 

I can confirm that both of those opinions are unpopular.

 

Mainly because they fly in the face of the evidence on display.

 

Speed was solid and reliable. Given was probably the best keeper in the PL over the whole period he was at the club. Was in the top 2 or 3 every season he was here.

[Pokerprince2004]

The England team is bang average. Sick of people saying this is the best England team for generations. Apart from Kane and possibly Foden and Bellingham the team is not a patch on the late 90s team. Maguire, Mount, Sterling, Rice, Rashford, etc all overrated because they're English 

[NE27]

This is a good England squad imo.

 

How it's used seems to be the issue at times.

[Kid Icarus]

If £100m is the metric we're using then he's obviously massively overrated, as are most players, but he's still a very good player that's worth about £50m with the English player tax included imo. He's been the main driving force that's got West Ham where they are right now and he's got a bit of everything to his game.

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, Pokerprince2004 said:

The England team is bang average. Sick of people saying this is the best England team for generations. Apart from Kane and possibly Foden and Bellingham the team is not a patch on the late 90s team. Maguire, Mount, Sterling, Rice, Rashford, etc all overrated because they're English 

I'd argue they're all overrated by people who want to use it as a reason to claim Southgate had little to do with England's recent success, but I agree with your post entirely like.

[ilikenewcastle]

Just been reading some of the stuff about Given posted earlier this year and blimey it's way off. Twice got in the PFA team of the year (with suspect defences in front of him) and certainly saved us several points a season.

 

Rice is class, but the fees that get mentioned are absurd.

[Kid Icarus]

The £100m/£150m thing seems like a 'hes not for sale' tbh.

 

There's a decent Tifo video on him that came out recently.