Yep he was the worst player on the pitch. Looked so much better once Brosque came on and to make it even worse he didn't even want to come off like he thinks he's better than the rest of them
i dont think he's really overrated.. i just think that when he's good he's great and when he's bad he is BAD
Abit harsh people. He isnt a big unit and with the shit that was given to him with all the long balls from midfield it was hard for him to get into the game. Same goes for Griffiths. But i must say that Thompson had some chances that he couldve done better with.
Archie seems to be very hit and miss, doesn't seem to really gel with the last couple of socceroo squads he was in, but you see some of his highlights and it is obvious that there is some major skill there.
i'm guessing the original poster is a Sydney FC fan. showing some anti-melbourne attitude me thinks. or maybe does not know enough about football to realise that players have off days. anyway, i didnt see the game so cant say how archie played. maybe he got bad service from the midfield? i have seen archie play some blinders and it is enough to convince me he is no hack. he's still the best striker in the a-league. equal top scorer last year and did not even play the whole season. everyone is entitled to their own opinion though
And I notice everyone defending him are melbourne fans.. I guess everyone has a right to an opinion though
I'll agree with this post. He has some ability, but he was absolutley shite last night. Then again- so was Ceccoli- and he's a Sydney man. I'd start with Brosque behind the striker and put Carney on the left instead of Ceccoli and we'd have a better team all round.
Biggest hack in Australian football eh? Just to remind you: * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkBmQcDTbvY * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCrZzZDWO2M * www.lierse.com/video2003/liersegenk3-1.WMV Yeah, deadset utter hack He had a poor game, however both he and Griffiths were starved of ball from the midfeild. Corica doing little, Milligan playing midfeild yet not having the abilty to pass.. Long balls were a brillant game plan. Archie was equal Golden boot dispiting playing half the games of anyone else in the league (PSV, Australia games). Like most strikers he is a hot and cold player but at the end of the day Archie has twice the abitly of anyone else on the pitch last night. Best player in the league.
I think you will find that all three of Brosque, Carney and Milligan will be remembered as better players than Thompson by the end of their career's. And will feature in the First XI more consitintly in a stronger era. I agree that Corica was terrible, and was hoping that Sarkies was going to be brought on
Hack is way too strong a word. I do think that he's somewhat overhyped, but when he plays well he's a very good player. The trouble is, as people have noted, he's very inconsistent. His poor touch resulting in horribly muffed chances on Wednesday night I'm going to put mainly down to the fact he's played so little football recently. The biggest concern for me was that he was lazy - Petrovski is a far inferior player to Archie, but he worked his butt off when he got on the field and as a result was far more effective.
Yeah it is a shame that he is inconsistent, i'd agree he is slightly overhyped as well But he obviously had a bad game, he can do better, and in his defence as others have already pointed out, he wasn't exactly getting a lot of quality balls from midfield
What ever you say champ. Milligan is rubbish. The other two have shown abit but have a long way to go. Corica is fat. How can just an unfit (/over the hill) player get a gig for the NT Game was crying out for Sarkies to get a run.
Shame he is inconsistent? Why do you think PSV ( avery big European club) signed him on loan with an option to buy him out long term? If he always played at that level, at his best he'd be playing one of footballs biggest clubs. After Dukes and Aloisi Australian football doesn't have a better striker. Kennedy can't walk for 12 months. Scotty McDonald? Please - rewatch the Bahrian match. Skoko and Archie were a class above. Archie scored 8 goals from 15 games. Better than a goal every 2 games. (+ a lazy two assits, plus countless non-measureable excitment). For mine, that is consistanly much better than any other player in the league.
I think the whole hiddink thing had a big factor in him going to PSV, as was evidenced by the very limited game time he got there. And he did have his shot over in europe, and he never got past the second teir teams, he's good, you wouldn't knock him back from any australian teams or lower level europe teams, but he seems much to inconsistant and lacking in terms of having the right mind set for the big leagues. As far as the national team, well I think hes on level with the strikers that are in line after viduka and aloisi but that doesn't say much, and we have midfielders who could probably do a better job up front ala kewell and bresciano or even culina which would be a better option as we have much better depth at midfield than striker.
But they didn't. He was, let's face it, a stinking flop at PSV - didn't impress anyone and didn't even make the bench for the first team. Similarly, in Belgium his good performances were always offset by the bad... he played some great football there and some horrible stuff, which is why he was never signed by a club in a bigger league. Like I said, inconsistent. Now you're being silly. He'd probably be around as good as Aloisi, that's it. There's nothing in his game, even at his best, that indicates he's got the potential to be playing for G14 teams. But anyway, ifs are academic. His real level is more indicated by where he was prior to being picked up by Victory - kicking around in the Belgium first division. Skoko and Thompson are also mature players. Thompson is probably enjoying the best period of his career. In contrast, McDonald and Kennedy are still developing and I would wager that both will be better players when they're finished than either. 15 games isn't consistency. Look, I like Archie. He's a good player, and great for the A-League. But you've really got a bizarre idea of his level.
You cannot have your cake and eat it. One one hand you people call Hiddink and amazing football brain, the font of all football knoweldge and then you want to lessen the importance of Archies move to PSV because Hiddink was incharge when he went over? I would have thought having just a wise sole only helped the argument for Archie being quailty. Archie was one of the best players in the Belgium league (top 10 European club) towards the end of his time there. 2nd on the goal scoring I beleive, in his last year. Bresciano as a striker? Culina
The fact is he was signed by PSV. How many of the current players in the A-League have, even the potential to be signed by a club of that size? No very many. When Carney or Brosque are running around for the best team in France or Holland, then get back to me. No shame being a stinking flop at one of the biggest clubs in world football. No shame not getting a gig behind the like of Arouna Koné, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink & Jefferson Farfán. As for the last bit of that - rubbish. He struggled when he first went to Belgium but he still finshed with 27 goals from 90 odd games (many subs) - hardly a bad record. 2nd on the goal scoring table in his last season. He has a number of European clubs after him, he wanted to raise his children in Melbourne. PSV are a major European club. Not Real or Utd but one of the big '3' in one of the biggest 5 leagues. For the record he did get 2 runs for PSV proper side. Also played well for the youth side (they don't have a reserve side I dont beleive) Thompson is 26/27. McDonld is like 24 (?). Kennedy will go past him, if he can get fit. (ACL is horribile for ones abilty, more so a big/lanky person). Scott will struggle. It is when you only play 15 games, and the season has 21. Bollocks. I know exacly how good he is. Australia #3 striker ATM and the best player in the league, good enough to get signed by Hiddnks PSV. He is no Henry, but he is a pretty handy player at this level and for Australia Asia games of that standard. I like him also. If he scored a hatrick last night and I talked him up (which I wouldn't have been) imagion many 'its just one game' commets there would have been. Funny how the same doesn't goes if he has a poor outing.
My mistake, I just looked it up and apparently he made two appearances for the first team. I can't think when they were though.
Both those players have played at striker in a pinch during their club careers, never said they'd be the next Henry, but they could do the job better than archie. And to be honest i'm not sure what you mean in your first statement? Of course having hiddink in charge of PSV lessens the significance of archie going over there, it was through hiddinks pushing in order to have archie training at a higher level that made the deal go through or even get initiated in the first placed. And if he was so great then why'd he only get a total of 8 minutes with the first team over 2 games against sh*te clubs when the team had already secured the win and not much more playing time for the reserves? Would the experience made him a better player? probably, but it would do the same for anyone who went and trained with a big club.
I'd say calling a provisional loan deal a 'signing' is a bit of a stretch, but no matter. The fact he was also dumped by PSV for not living up to what they expected to me seems a bit more telling. 27 goals from 90 games isn't exactly an outstanding record for a striker... particularly when it's in the Belgian league. By way of comparison, Viduka and Aloisi both averaged over a goal every three games for their clubs last year and were considered to have had reasonably off seasons. He blew very hot and cold while he was there, which is why he never secured a move to a bigger club in a bigger league. Thompson is 27. McDonald is 22, and he's already far superior a player to what Thompson was at the same age. That's dodgy logic. If I play three games and play well in all of them, can I claim to be a consistent performer? No, that's ridiculous because there's not enough games to make a judgement on. The A-League season is short enough as it is, and his was even shorter. He played great - but it's a drop in the pond. In a sport where the average player plays 40-50 matches of football a year, 15 games is a tiny sample. You can't use it to make a judgement of itself. When you look at his whole career, it's fairly evident that he's had a problem with maintaining his level of play. Form fluctuations are to be expected, but he's more unpredictable than most. I don't think anyone's canning him based on this game exclusively, but it has highlighted a couple of issues that have been ongoing, such as his patchy form and occassional laziness. That said I'm willing to put down part of his bad performance on this occassion to the noted lack of service, and also the fact he's had very little game time recently. Personally I still think he has a firm place in second- and third-string Australian teams. But you're really overrating him IMO. He's certainly one of our best second-string strikers at the moment, but is at the peak of his career rather than on his way up (or down) like the others. The hype he gets is a bit unsubstantiated, really.
I think scoring a brace against Celtic as a 20 year old is far more impressive than anything Thompson has done at club level up to this date. PSV is a good side dont get me wrong, but being a 4th string striker is nothing to write home about, doesnt matter which club you are at. Most clubs dont even have a 4th string striker on their senior list. Hiddink has already publically stated that he loaned Thompson so he could keep match practice for the World Cup