Guti has always been a completely average player who could come up with a bit of magic every once in a blue moon.
Guddy is just an average player in my book and has never been anymore than that and Bogarde, well he might have been quality at Ajax but the moment he left them any sign of quality also deserted him
I disagree. In Chelsea's first title victory Gudjohnsen was one of the best players on the team. Played a crucial role. Bogarde I always think has been exagerrated how bad he was. The decision of Chelsea to freeze him out wasn't really football based. Once frozen out he gave up trying. You don't generally though get to play for Ajax, Milan, Barcelona, Chelsea and the Dutch national team by being poor. No, I just mean the ones I mentioned (and possibly a couple of others). People like David May are legitimate answers.
Again, I disagree (he's had plenty more good seasons, particularly this one), but regardless if you can come up with three seasons in which someone is among the best DLPs in Europe, they're probably not among the worst players to spend time at a big club. I mean United were relegated 40 years ago.
To name Carrick as "one of the best" is an other stretch, otherwise he would have played more for the national team. Or England would've been a three times world champion with Carrick as one of the victims of a great generation but that is also not the case.
For the most part people are just listing players that they don't like. Anyone who isn't a true world-class player seems to be at risk for nomination in this thread. Most players mentioned so far do not stand-out at their team as being particularly bad like, say, Demichelis was towards the end of his Bayern career (and still get called-up ahead of Zanetti to World Cup 2010 - lol). Eidur stood-out a bit at Barca (in a bad way), but certainly not at Chelsea.
Real Madrid - Guti, Salgado Milan - Gilardino, Antonini Manchester United - Park Barcelona - Oleguer, Valdes, Belleti Chelsea - Kalou Bayern - Van Buyten, Demichellis, Badstuber Liverpool - Crouch
Brown was oft injured, O'Shea was part of a Giggs/O'Shea CM that won the league . He was shit, but he was flexible shit. Gary Neville is a better shout. His last 5 years at United were horrendous. All star selections and NT caps are not a judge of how good a player is. To suggest him in this thread is bordering on trolling. He's the best holding mid in the prem and has been for some time. Valdes for 3 years was an average keeper who would make horrendous mistakes routinely. He's since become a good keeper who makes horrendous mistakes occasionally. He's by far the weakest player in the XI and has been for years. I can't believe Eidur got in this thread. Classy player. More importantly, you can't mention him and leave off Jesper Gronkjaer!!!
LOL ... if compared to all big names like Ronaldinho Etoo Deco Messi Xavi Iniesta, Henry Dani Alves Puyol Busquet Villa or even to Keita Malouda ... then Valdes became a weakest link among the best XI starter .. for Barca ... In reality, I think Valdez is ok ... B to B+ in average and some (few) A class performance
Valdes is by far weaker than Abidal? Or by far weaker than players who aren't even regular starters for FCB?
Well as you said, he had one good season at Chelsea yet he's managed to stay there for over 7 years. At times. Guti was surplus for Madrid his last 3 or so years. Managing to come up with something brilliant once in a blue moon is not enough.
For this thread, we must compare him with his teammates because this is about a player vs his teammates within a club. The fact that he managed to play for so long(longer than some names mentioned here) and as a starter made him a stronger candidate in this thread.
No, Valdes fits nicely into Barca's system/possession-oriented play. The Chelsea team he left was better than that Barca team he went to. So at first he looked like he belonged, but as Barca steadily improved and became the best team in the world, Eidur looked way out of place.
Surely this thread should be for the likes of Nicky Tanner, Torben Piechnik, Igor Stepanovs, Phillipe Senderos. Not a player like Victor Valdes who is among the best keepers in the world.
Recently a myth was created about Valdes being good with the ball, thus being important to Barcelona's system. Anyone who watched those Classicos where Real Madrid pressured Barça's backline saw that Valdes is as bad with his feet as the average goalie. Yes, he comes out of his line well and quickly, but his only asset is to kick the ball out of bounds. Also, the only reason we are not seeing his big mistakes in the past couple of seasons is that Barcelona is barely attacked by anyone.
What? Valdes rarely kicks the ball out of bounds. The entire Barca system is based on starting from the back and building up. Pep would kill Valdes if the only thing he did was kick it out. Valdes makes his number of errors but bashing him on his distribution from the back is the least thing you can do.
He doesn't kick it out of bounds against shit teams that press the backline in a disorganized manner and leave him with an easy way out. When Real Madrid did it right he was completely lost. But that's OK, very few keepers have the ball control to get themselves out of most situations. Having watched Rogerio Ceni for my whole life I can speak with authority
Do you understand roman numerals? XI means eleven, so players not in the starting 11 don't matter (for my comparison). Abidal was an oversight by me. But he's more solid than some give him credit for. For me, at worst he was below the standard of Barca. Valdes was capable of losing a game by himself. If he played for a team that didn't control 65% of possession in his first 3 seasons or so starting off, he'd have done much much worse than he actually did. Are you related to VV? Muhahahahahahahahahahaha
Do you think that the replacement of VV by any other goalkeeper of your choice would result in more points/wins for FCB over a full season?
I used to think he was a major weak link at Barcelona. That's no longer the case though now, and he is right up there among the best keepers.
Did you watch the other 10 or so times he played Real Madrid the last 3+ years? Or better yet, just re-watch the 3 games Pinto started in goal against Madrid in Copa del Rey.