Overrated players

[Guest ManDoon]

Just now, McCormick said:

I’ll add Kevin-Prince Boateng to the list, Balotelli is an obvious one, Alexis Sanchez and a recent one is Axel Witsel.

 

Probably controversial (or already said) but Kaka and Pato were massively overrated.

Damn Kaka is a very controversial one, I thought he was incredible. Pato kind of flamed out.

[LionOfGosforth]

Just now, McCormick said:

I’ll add Kevin-Prince Boateng to the list, Balotelli is an obvious one, Alexis Sanchez and a recent one is Axel Witsel.

 

Probably controversial (or already said) but Kaka and Pato were massively overrated.

 

Definitely. He was one of those players (I think Hulk was another) who were signed by Russian teams for astronomical amounts in an era when players didn't go for that kind of cash. Never got Witsel at all.

[Manxst]

Jozy Altidore and Matej Kezman 

[LionOfGosforth]

1 minute ago, ManDoon said:

Damn Kaka is a very controversial one, I thought he was incredible. Pato kind of flamed out.

 

Thought Kaka was a magnificent player, just seemed to glide around the pitch, brilliant finisher too. Class hair as well, had it all. Pato is a good call though.

[Guest ManDoon]

I rated Kezman tbh. Mutu should have been better than he became if Chelsea didn’t screw him

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, LionOfGosforth said:

 

Definitely. He was one of those players (I think Hulk was another) who were signed by Russian teams for astronomical amounts in an era when players didn't go for that kind of cash. Never got Witsel at all.

 

My bullshit theory is that his reputation grew based on him being absolutely class in Fifa

[McCormick]

1 minute ago, ManDoon said:

Damn Kaka is a very controversial one, I thought he was incredible. Pato kind of flamed out.

For Kaka, I think it was that he was disappointing more than anything. Did look like a world beater in his early days but didn’t really get to that level yet still gets talked about like he did.

[The Prophet]

I thought Alexis Sanches was great up until circa 2017-18 when he burnt out. Didn't he end up playing something like four consecutive summers without a rest?

[Guest ManDoon]

Yeah he was a strange one, pretty average player. Hulk was god awful Imo

 

[Guest ManDoon]

Just now, McCormick said:

For Kaka, I think it was that he was disappointing more than anything. Did look like a world beater in his early days but didn’t really get to that level yet still gets talked about like he did.

Yeah perhaps didn’t hit the heights he might of, still was amazing to watch on his day though, elegant footballer 

[triggs]

23 minutes ago, LionOfGosforth said:

Tricky thread and topic because there are so many players that could be argued were good, even close to great and yet you don't like them because of x or y and it's all just opinion anyway. Couple more:

 

Mendieta - memory might be playing tricks, quite good at Lazio but can't recall him doing anything for Boro in the 90s and was a Spanish international for ages

 

Marcelo - I don't know if he's "overrated" per se but I think he's absolutely terrible. Positionally a joke, runs around like fucking Benny Hill

 

Marcelo has been done for ages but was unbelievable for Real in those CL winning years. Their best player in a lot of those games

[Kid Icarus]

Here's one for the grandads

 

Jared Borgetti

 

Unreal goalscoring record and often talked about in the same breath as someone like Martin Palermo before he went to Bolton and turned out to be not all that good. 

[LionOfGosforth]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

 

My bullshit theory is that his reputation grew based on him being absolutely class in Fifa

 

I like this theory. I never ever saw him do anything beyond the basics in a game and he cost like 40m when good players were going for half that.

[McCormick]

3 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

My bullshit theory is that his reputation grew based on him being absolutely class in Fifa

 like Adriano on Winning 11/Pes 

[Guest ManDoon]

Adriano’s story is actually pretty sad, I think a family member died and he sunk into depression 

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, ManDoon said:

I can’t agree he’s better than Alonso. Alonso had every attribute you could want from a midfielder.

But that's patently not true though.

 

Athleticism and mobility - no.

Quick feet, close control - no.

 

Scholes was better than Xabi. Scholes did what Xabi did when his legs went.

 

I can definitively say. Modric is the best Real Madrid central midfielder of the last 15 years. Better than Khedira, Kovacic, Xabi, Kroos... all of them.

 

Btw i'm pretty sure if you remove penalties- Mane has outscored Salah in at least 2 seasons that they've been together. Mane's timing of runs in the box from crosses and the way he attacks them and can hit a 1 or 2 touch finish is unparralled. I think Mane is a better finisher. Salah's more run, dribble, shoot and he's more relentless when it comes to goalscoring. His game is more 2-dimensional is Salah but it's harder to stop.

[Guest ManDoon]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6113581/amp/Adriano-opens-drinking-depression-ruined-career-Inter.html

[Kid Icarus]

Just now, McCormick said:

 like Adriano on Winning 11/Pes 

 

Aye. Coded by an Inter Milan fan. Martins 99 acceleration and 99 top speed.

 

Adriano was class before he fell off for fair enough reasons though. 

[Guest ManDoon]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

But that's patently not true though.

 

Athleticism and mobility - no.

Quick feet, close control - no.

 

Scholes was better than Xabi. Scholes did what Xabi did when his legs went.

 

I can definitively say. Modric is the best Real Madrid central midfielder of the last 15 years. Better than Khedira, Kovacic, Xabi, Kroos... all of them.

 

Btw i'm pretty sure if you remove penalties- Mane has outscored Salah in at least 2 seasons that they've been together. Mane's timing of runs in the box from crosses and the way he attacks them and can hit a 1 or 2 touch finish is unparralled. I think Mane is a better finisher. Salah's more run, dribble, shoot and he's more relentless when it comes to goalscoring. His game is more 2-dimensional is Salah but it's harder to stop.

Alonso read the game much better, was more physically imposing, better long range passer, better long range striker of a ball. 

[Thomson Mouse]

2 hours ago, jack j said:

Paul Scholes

 

Which proves the amount of crap in this thread  

[LionOfGosforth]

Gianluigi Lentini has to be in here. Signed for Milan around 92. At a time when big fees in the UK were around 3-4m, he cost 13m and was rubbish for them. Developed a big rep at Torino but flamed out, don't know the back story though. He was pretty much the poster boy for daft Serie A expenditure in the 90s.

 

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by LionOfGosforth

[Flip]

23 minutes ago, gjohnson said:

Nah....

 

Obviously good at internationals, but then so was Ali Daei. (yes i know it's not a fair comparison) However Peles club career (not goals scored) is pretty feeble even by 70's standards   

 

I won't take shit opinions like this. Respect the King.

 

Fuck are you on about? You realize Santos was the best team in the world back then? Went to Europe every year and beat the Champions League winners and top teams of Europe back then? The Benfica side with Eusebio that won two straight CLs (and played another two in 5 years) were torn apart by Santos and Pele scored 7 goals in three matches against them. Those games were prestigious back then. 

 

He won 6 Brazilian league titles in 8 years in a time where their biggest competitor was Botafogo with the likes of Garrincha and Nilton Santos who beat the shit out of most teams as well. 

 

 

[Manxst]

6 minutes ago, LionOfGosforth said:

Gianluigi Lentini has to be in here. Signed for Milan around 92. At a time when big fees in the UK were around 3-4m, he cost 13m and was rubbish for them. Developed a big rep at Torino but flamed out, don't know the back story though. He was pretty much the poster boy for daft Serie A expenditure in the 90s.

 

 

 

Another sad story:

“A year after signing for Milan, at the age of 24, Lentini was involved in a serious car crash whilst driving home from a pre-season tournament in Genoa, in August 1993. He fractured his skull and damaged his eye socket and he spent about two days in a light coma. After the crash he never fully recovered his mercurial dribbling skills. Plagued by 'memory loss', periods of blurred vision, and 'dizzy spells' he was tormented by the spectre of what his career once was, when he returned to the pitch at the end of the 1993–94 season. His teammate at the time, Marcel Desailly, was compelled to confess that “You could see the skills, how he was before the accident and after the accident, the balance was completely different”. His career in Milan fizzled out and culminated in a European Cup medal and another Serie A title that season, but this was merely for filling the bench; a paltry return for the world's most expensive signing at the time.” (From Wiki)

[ponsaelius]

Lentini was in a pretty serious car crash after his first season at Milan. He pretty much never recovered properly.

[LionOfGosforth]

Just now, Manxst said:

Another sad story:

“A year after signing for Milan, at the age of 24, Lentini was involved in a serious car crash whilst driving home from a pre-season tournament in Genoa, in August 1993. He fractured his skull and damaged his eye socket and he spent about two days in a light coma. After the crash he never fully recovered his mercurial dribbling skills. Plagued by 'memory loss', periods of blurred vision, and 'dizzy spells' he was tormented by the spectre of what his career once was, when he returned to the pitch at the end of the 1993–94 season. His teammate at the time, Marcel Desailly, was compelled to confess that “You could see the skills, how he was before the accident and after the accident, the balance was completely different”. His career in Milan fizzled out and culminated in a European Cup medal and another Serie A title that season, but this was merely for filling the bench; a paltry return for the world's most expensive signing at the time.” (From Wiki)

 

Damn, that's sad. Had no idea or recollection of that at all.