He probably is but I mentioned him in the context if Neville was also included. I also don't think either should be on the list. But tell us your top 10 of past decades.
Totally agree comme. Modern fans describe players as being shitty or sucking far too easily. Just as the term world class gets bandied around far too often. You know folks, there is annintermediate point, several in fact, between being a good player and a bad player.
Okay, that's three. I still think Neville is among at the best in his position. At least in the English league, he is the best of his generation. I just do not think Manchester United can find a better rightback for the duration of his time there. Someone also mentioned Salgado. He won't make it to any of the All-time drafts here. He was one of the most solid player while he was at Real Madrid. He brought a lot to the team.
Valdes is very good with his feet for a goalie. He consistently makes long passes when needed. Mentioning the screw ups against Madrid is not very fair because he handles the ball a lot. Naturally he will mess up sometimes as any player does. He is 10x better than Casillas who roofs it out of bounds under any pressure. Even Madrid fans complain about his ball distribution ability.
The only thing I agree with you here is that Casillas is absolutely shit with his feet. I don't know how a professional footballer is allowed to be that poor. Doesn't he play another position ever (in training or scrimmages), just to have some fun?
Lampard? Really? ********ing hell. I think people really don't get the concept of this thread. And over the last 5 campaigns, including this one, lampard has scored 93 ********ing goals in all competitions. As a midfielder! He has been top draw the last 5 years. I have nothing but respect for him as a player.
How about George Best for United? His form after 1968 wasn't as good as it was in his early years. Makes him one of the worst players in their history.
some players do overstay their welcome at clubs not saying Lampard but certainly at some point they hanged around for to long maybe thats why people are naming the likes of Neville
Well the problem is that the worst players tend to only be famous in their own countries, and even then only for a period of time. For instance Gus Caesar is widely considered to be potentially the worst player that Arsenal ever had. Now I'm sure that outside England he's not well known at all. Also, the definition of "big clubs". Chelsea had a player called Micky Droy in the 70s who was very poor, but were Chelsea a big team then? Almost certainly not. Going back a couple of decades someone like Ashley Grimes played at United for 10 years, but I'd still struggle to say he was a terrible player. Gary Gillespie and Craig Johnson were some way short of the likes of Dalglish, Hansen and Barnes at Liverpool and would potentially struggle to get in the team today, but they weren't awful players. The thing is, they also weren't some of the best players in the club's history either, which some people are quoting. Just because you don't know any bad players from the past, doesn't mean you resort to naming good players of the present. If asked for the worst painter from Holland of the 19th century, you don't say Van Gogh just because you don't know any others.
Was Gillespie really that mediocre? To struggle for a spot in current Liverpool? I thought he was a fine utility-player. A good so-called "thirteenth man" on the bench.
Personally I think that the level of depth at the top clubs today is such that he wouldn't stay at Liverpool for the duration he did. Even big teams in the past ended to operate a policy quite similar to the Zidanes and Pavons of Real Madrid. A few great players supported by average and lesser players. Certainly, Liverpool of the 1980s did not possess the depth that the team of today do, where they can boast a squad of 20 or so internationals. I'm not saying here that Gillespie was a poor player (like I said before, bad players don't stay at top clubs for long durations normally), he certainly wasn't though a Neville, Gattuso or Albelda.
Speaking of Arsenal, there were also Ian Ure and Jeff Blockley. Especially Ure was considered pretty poor yet he stayed there for 6 years and even was signed by Manchester United afterwards. Jeff Blockley apparently was described by Arsenal manager Bertie Mee as his "worst ever signign".
Ian Ure was indeed considered a very poor player. Strangely he was regarded as one of the best defenders in Europe prior to his move. Going through an old copy of World Soccer recently there was reference to some ratings in European magazines which had considered him very highly.
Ure didn't do too well with United. I didn't get the impression that he was a high-class defender by watching old clips on YouTube like this here. Check from minute 02:04 to 2:13 with Ure wearing #5. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9t9amJWbnY"]Man Utd v West Ham 1969/70 Division One - YouTube[/ame]
The thread itself is so open to interpretation it makes it difficult to pick a name that you wont have someone querying your credentials for picking him. Celtic aren't a big club these days but I could go back to the early 90's and suggest someone such as Stuart Slater, a £1.5mill signing at the time who spent the best part of a year at the club whilst hardly making much of an impression at all. Tony Cascarino was another bust for us but 2 clubs later he was scoring goals for fun on the French riviera. Similarities with Cascarino come to mind with Chris Sutton. A disaster at Chelsea but a fantastic servant for Celtic. But then, why was Sutton such a failure at Stamford Bridge? Because he was a bad player or did the system and style of play at Chelsea not play to his strengths therefore making him look a lot worse than he was? Should he be labelled a bad player because he couldn't alter his style to suit his new surroundings? Obviously it was a big step down to move to Scotland but Sutton always shone brightly in Europe for Celtic with standout games against teams such as Juventus, Ajax and Anderlecht in the CL, proving that he could cut it at the highest level if given the proper service and roll in the team.
Exactly. Chelsea are riddled with those examples, Shevchenko being the ultimate one. Obviously he is still a great player of his generation. Though I think general talent as proved throughout their career is a better indicator of what OP is getting at. How long is a period of time though? Quinton Fortune amazingly managed 7 years at Man United but then he was probably a better player than, say, Djemba Djemba who only managed 2 years.