Lots of discussion about Terry and Rio - and to a lesser extent, Jamie Carragher. But I don't think there's been a single mention of Kolo Toure. That's probably a a good sign that Toure still belongs in the "underrated" category. He's been a titan - arguably more valuable to Arsenal over the last few seasons than even Henry.
Underrated he may be, but I don't think I agree with the assessment of him being more important than Henry.
I agree 100% with your statement about the centrebacks and i would only take cole on our ntl team as we have no leftback. For all our animosity between each other, portugal and holland have similer styles
These discussions will always be retarded because there is always a valid reason for rating someone and there will always be a valid reason for not rating someone, and it comes down to how people perceive the ratings of other people.
yes but there are always some players that the media favors that dont live up to all the hype surrounding them, and then there's players like iniesta who is pure class, but is shy and awkward off the field, which tend to make him overlooked when discussing the games best midfielders. so you get overrated and underrated players. simple as that.
Not really as simple as that. Many players who don't "live up to the hype" are really not living up to hype as a perception. Ex: Many people discount Ferdinand until they see the team perform without him. And players that are overlooked by the media are often not overlooked by the fans, and vice versa. Once again, its all about perception.
When I criticise players of another country it's always assumed that I think Dutch players are better than said players of another country. Why is that? If you were to read the Dutch board, you'd know that we don't think highly of our current generation of defenders AT ALL. The issue here however is that the Dutch style of football requires a different style of defending, i.e. ideally we like a player who cannot only defend but also is a complete, alround footballer, i.e. someone who can contribute to build-up play, make runs forward, someone who always looks for a creative football solution rather than use the safety option of kicking the ball into the stands. This doesn't mean that we have defenders like that (AZ's Donk may become one but isn't just yet), just that that is the type of defenders we love and rate.
So in other words you are waiting for the second coming of Ruud Krol. If I was to say to you "In England we don't rate Robin van Persie, there are no Dutch players we rate", does that not imply that we rate our players as better than the Dutch? If I then add, we look for players that are great in the air, superb on the ball, can tackle, score from long distances, play in goal when needed, have incredible pace and play the violin. Does that not suggest that we actually produce such players with some regularity? The Dutch haven't produced a world class centre-half of the type you describe since Ronald Koeman more than 20 years ago
Underrated: How about Gareth Barry at Villa. Long been an above-average player that just gets ignored. Good call on Steve Finnan whoever put that in. He was statistically the best right-back in the league last season and should have been in everyones team of the season without doubt. The fact that he wasn't means he was underappreciated. Jolean Lescott was great last year too and it took England until this week to have a look at him. Not good. How about Newcastle's Steven Taylor who had a excellent season last year that went virtually unnoticed. Overrated: Gunners fans are going to kill me but Gael Clichy was very much overrated last year. He will be a great player, but he isn't there yet and to feature in some media outlets team of the season was just wrong. He was below-average defensively committing nine goal costing errors and as for his so called brilliant attacking skills he still hasn't registered an assist or scored a goal in over 3000 premier league minutes - something even Titus bramble has done! Ashley Cole also has to go in here. I think someone all ready said it best he is a good player, but not a great player as some suggest. If fact he wasn't even the best left-back on his team last year - that was Wayne Bridge who probably should go in the column above. Tim Cahill - scores goals above average but doesn't assist or create goals for his teammates at all. Something an attacking midfielder should do to get the press and attention Cahill does. His teammate Arteta is an interesting comparison. Cahill has 11 goals and eight assists in 4157 minutes over the last two years, Arteta has 10 goals and 30 assist in 5511 minutes. That is a difference in assist rate (per-90 minutes) of 0.32 per-90 (0.17 compared to 0.49). When you consider that the average attacking midfielder assisted at a rate around 0.30 asssits-per-90 minutes over tha last two seasons you'll see my point that Cahill is way behind. He does have value as a scorer though (where he has been just above-average) but it has not been enough to push his entire attacking game above-average and be deserving of the massive praise he gets.
I'm a Gunner fan but I agree with you about Gael Clichy. He creates a good amount of danger on the left even if it's not all reflected in the numbers but, as you note, he makes lapses and has been caught badly out of position. I like him a lot, but calling him the best left back in the Premiership - as I"ve heard him described by at least one announcer - is a bit premature. Gareth Barry is a good call here too - for the underrated category. As other posters have noted - overrated and underrated is all about percpetion and who is doing the "rating" in the first place. But a good case for a player being underrated is one who deserves to play for his country but is neglected. Barry is a good example of that.
Good post. It is exactly that. Who is misjudged or unknown but good and could be considered for international duty and vica versa. As for Clichy he is young and if he can develop he will be great. He is still relying on his speed too much and even he over values it. His attempt to cut out glen johnson's ball to Utaka at the weekend was a prime example. Had he not gambled, thinking he could get there and just tracked his man instead it is unlikely anything would have come from it. As it happened Arsenal were up 3-0 but what if it had been close? That immaturity will no doubt be ironed out by Wenger. Gael is a good prospect at the moment but nothing more.
Overrated Adriano....Useless drunk Lampard....Although he is not overweight Jose....Boring football and talks such blatant lies its an insult to the listening public. Underrated Scholes...World Class Carragher.....One of the best in Europe Paulo Ferreira
My Underrated XI - Trezeguet is the closest thing to an underrated striker. -----------Trezeguet--Del Piero----------- ----Giggs--------Seedorf------Camoranesi -----------------Redondo----------------- --Kaladze--Carvalho----Materazzi--Neville-- ------------------Canizares------------
The Juventus trio you named have been under the radar because of their drop to Serie B but I do not remember any of them being underrated, particularly Trezeguet. It's a sign that Toure is neither over nor underrated.
Well, there are not many underrated world-class strikers, but if we were to pick one, I think Trezeguet fits the bill. Del Piero is underrated in the sense that, despite being one of the greatest second strikers to play the game in recent years, if not the best (although Rivaldo also stakes a claim to both that title and a spot on this team), he rarely finds a top 10 spot in "Best players in the world" lists compiled by magazines/fans. Whereas players like Wayne Rooney regularly do. I'd be surprised if average fans who didn't follow the Italian game would have heard of Camoranesi.
Really? I don't know about that. Being a regular in their CL games and featuring for Italy at the WC would give him some recognition for non Serie A fans. Plus that god-awful ponytail
Actually, before I was a real fan and was just watching the world cup, camoranesi was one of my favorite players. He still is, though I've never seen him play for Juventus.
You have to remember that many of the posters here are not "average" fans, and do follow the game quite closely.
Overrated Beckham - most overrated player ever! He is a good free-kick taker but there have been better free-kick takers than him. For him, it's all about the image. The "Bend it like Beckham" phrase has been thrown around too loosely. Rooney - English fans think he's the one that's going to help them win their second World Cup. He has talent but he is too temperamental and he isn't as good as Totti and Ronaldinho Ferdinand - he is erratic and he makes some ridiculous errors. He shouldn't have went to Man U. An own goal specialist Van Der Saar - if you can test him from long-range, he can fall into pieces. If not, he'll have a good day Underrated Crouch - he is hated mostly because he is so lanky but he isn't such a bad striker. His goalscoring record for England is pretty good so far Carragher - all the hype is around Ferdinand and Terry but Jamie is arguably the most solid CB in the EPL. He knows how to get the job done and he is an important part of the Liverpool defence