Not if people still rate that old, out of form, 30+yr old player among the best in the world, like Henry. Many claim he is STILL in the top 3-5 players in the world, and anyone who's watched him in the past few years will know that that's ridiculous and he's now overrated.
My biggest problem with Rooney is that he want MIA for large parts of Manchester United's title campaign last season and was given credit as if he was the vital cog in the effort. In reality, consistency remains his largest problem, he has the ability to turn any game he participates in, but he also has the ability to be anonymous for ten games on the trot against mediocre competition. Take his England career for example, he was stellar in Euro 2004, but not including his WC 2006 results (poor due to injury), he has not produced consistently in either the 2006 or 2008 qualifying cycles. Until Rooney produces consistent quality he will simply not be deserving of the praise that is currently given.
Underrated: Javier Saviola Jermain Defoe Momo Sissoko Arjen Robben Overrated: Gary Neville (I'd take Phil over Gary tbh)
Gary Neville? Are you kidding? He's adored by United fans and his absence is more evident now than ever before. Great shout for Hamann. He's an absolute legend.
I don't know anyone who would rate Del Piero among the top 50 players in the world - much less the top 3-5. But I agree with the poster who said that he was probably underrated when he was in his prime. As for Henry, he just turned 30 last month. Considering that Darren Bent commanded a higher transfer fee than Henry, I would argue that Henry is not overrated either. True, his star has fallen somewhat due to his slow start for Barca, and the fact that Arsenal are flying high without him. Still, if you were to list the best strikers in the world Henry would probably deserve to be in the top 10, if not the top 5.
Yes that is correct, many ManU fans don't rate him that highly. Not many ManU fans would consider Neville one of the world's top right backs.
He was given the credit he deserved because he clearly was a vital cog last season. Any Man Utd fan (and do a search of my posts) will admit that he was very poor for the first half of the season while he struggled to recover from his WC injury. So poor that he was dumped out on the wing simply to get games and we effectively played with 10 men. However, he had an explosive second half and was key. Check out the goals and assists he provided despite his injury. He more than merits the praise he has received. As for England, come back to me when he is used correctly instead of either being dumped as a lone striker or expected to perform with Lampard/Gerrard/Cole/Crouch/etc running into him every two seconds. Hardly any English players have played consistently well throughout any qualifying cycle. Rooney is no different and does not deserve to be judged on that alone. I do find it funny that people are going out of their way to find any excuse to not rate Rooney.
Over-rated Ginola, Harry Kewell, Bolo Zenden, Laurent Robert, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Wim Jonk, Thierry Henry, Aaron Winter, Chris Woods. Under-rated: Jan Ceulemans, Hansi Muller, Brad Friedel, John Sheridan
He was injured for most of the season. What more do you expect? He has been excellent so far this year in EC qualifiers and in Bayern's matches. Unnfortunately he was hurt in training recently. Oh and he is right footed as well. If he is healthy I expect he will be one of the players to watch at EC2008, where he will play on the right. My list. Overrated: Lampard: Any central midfielder who attempts as many shots (and penalties) as he does would score a lot of goals. His touch and vision are lacking, but he is a decent player. At any other team he would struggle. Torres: Simpy amazying that a player who has never scored more than 14 goals in a season in La Liga is considered world class is astonishing. Jose Mourinho: Most overrated coach in the game today. His tactics are just not good enough for the Champions League. Underrated Strikers: Klose: One of the best strikers in Europe. Top scorer in WC2006. Has a great touch, can pass and shoot with both feet, and is extremely quick. His goal scoring and assist records should speak for themselves, but people choose to ignore that. Raul: The best striker in Champions League (current version) history, but amazingly he is rarely even mentioned in top 5 and 10 lists for his position. The only forward who comes close is Ruud. Inzaghi: Another great forward in european competition. He is clinical and always scores in the "big" games. FC Bayern has been eliminated by this guy on 3 occasions.
Not Shevchenko? And going by your criteria for judging Torres, the current Raul cannot be described as underrated as he hasn't reached double figures since 2004.
Torres is overrated, but he's still got time to develop into a world-class striker. Mourinho's tactics aren't good enough for the Champions League? What are you smoking?
No one talks about Raul, but Torres is all the rage. Its hard to be overrated when you currently aren't rated that highly in the first place. Lets face it with the attacking players at his disposal over the last 3 seasons they should not be hoofing long balls to Drogba. There is a reason that world class strikers like Sheva and Crespo were not successfull at Chelsea. Its not that they don't have what it takes to play in England, its the tactical system that they play.
This Chelsea team is built for England. However, if there's anyone who knows how to do well in Europe, it is Mourinho. Chelsea is overrated, but Mourinho is not.
In fairness, it takes a great manager to inherit a good side from Ranieri before wasting a huge chunk of money and getting said side to play an awful defensive style. The thing that pushes him into the upper echelon of managers is having to ability to completely waste two of the best players of our generation in Shevchenko and Ballack. Still, he's been found out and has already jumped ship (again) if the latest reports are to be believed. Credit to him for managing to stick around at a club for a record three years.
You forgot to mention two titles, several domestic cups, an unbeaten home record during his tenure, getting the best out of players like Lamps, Guddy, J.Cole, Drogba, etc., as well as a short stint he had with a club called Porto (you may not have heard of them, it seems most of JM's detractors never have...) where he won other domestic titles, the CL and the UEFA cup.