VillaChris Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 (edited) On 24/05/2020 at 12:18, Xela said: The title game was poor as both teams were edgy. Not reflective of football over the season! Overall I'd say football was more enjoyable back then for a myriad of reasons. Rose tinted spectacles may be one of them! International tournaments were certainly of a higher quality. World cups in 80s were all time classics and so was 98 imo, haven't had a world cup of that standard since imo. Euro 2000 was also of a very high standard when you look at likes of Zidane and Figo at their peak. Considering the next one is in Qatar and the one after that will have 48 teams it's not going to get better. Euro 96 was about the same quality as euro 2016 but 16 is simply a better number for overall smooth nature of tournament. Edited May 25, 2020 by VillaChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedge Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 I always thought Michael Ballack was a useless cheat but I only really saw him at Chelsea. I know I'm in the minority there. Jack Wilshere, even when he's not injured doesn't score, doesn't get many assists, rubbish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 ballack - he was good, I think you'd say midfield general, he controlled games, imagine Lampard but with the influence on the pace of the game of barry, I would say at Chelsea his role diminished so his ability to control games was as needed or apparent wilshere - the quote that I still remember about wilshere was the media here getting all excited about him and trying to flog him to barca and pep saying they don't need him because they have 10 of him in their reserves, that's hyperbolic but not that far from the truth, the thing with wilshere was he came as the crash bang wallop styles of gerrard, Lampard and scholes came to an end, the hundred mile an hour 70 yard passes and 30 yard screamer roy of the rovers style of gerrard in particular was the epitome IMO of English football which was in the gutter following 2008 - 10 tournaments as we're all watching the Spanish dominate with passing and moving in a way that we simply couldn't...and this kid could! we got excited because he could play 10 yard weighted slide rule passes and had a great touch, he was good he was just overhyped because he could do what others couldn't at a time when it was flavour of the month, if he'd stayed fit he'd have stayed at arsenal and he'd be pushing for 100 caps by now, we've had some right dross in englands midfield since he fell apart 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Wilshere was good in 10/11 imo but after that he's lost about four years to injury so can never get back in stride and lost a bit of intensity. When you look at the emerging players after 2010 world cup it's amazing the amount of injuries they've all had. Yes some were overhype but if you add up Phil Jones, Welbeck, Sturridge, Wishere and Andy Caroll and the length of time they've all spent injured you've come up to well over 20 seasons combined they've all missed. Add in Adam Johnson's incarceration.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 I actually thought Wilshere was okay in his final season at Arsenal whenever I saw them then he looked one of their better players, I think they actually tried to keep him. As a teenager he was hailed in the press as the future of England's midfield alongside Gary Gardner and Josh McEachran, strange to think the latter two are at small heath now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 Quote Teenage Kicks: Four English midfield maestros - Wilshere, Gardner, Bostock and Shelvey - with dreams to take on the world JACK WILSHERE (above) CLUB: ArsenalBORN: January 1, 1992POSITION: MidfieldASSETS: Quick feet, explosive speed, balancePLAYS A BIT LIKE: Paul Gascoigne GARY GARDNER CLUB: Aston VillaBORN: June 26, 1992POSITION: Holding midfieldASSETS: Composed, reads game, two good feetPLAYS A BIT LIKE: Gareth Barry JOHN BOSTOCK CLUB: TottenhamBORN: January 15, 1992POSITION: MidfieldASSETS: Good left foot, vision, strengthPLAYS A BIT LIKE: Joe Cole JONJO SHELVEY CLUB: CharltonBORN: February 21, 1992POSITION: Attacking midfield/second strikerASSETS: Energy, power, passing rangePLAYS A BIT LIKE: Steven Gerrard https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1181388/Teenage-Kicks-Four-English-midfield-maestros--Wilshere-Gardner-Bostock-Shelvey--dreams-world.html Think Shelvey had the best career of the 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 The thing with Shelvey is I actually think he's a talented player who with a better mentality could be a decent squad option for England. He was in good form ages ago for Swansea but Monk was going on about him needing to improve his discipline (think he go over 10 bookings in his regular season and sent off a few times) then his form dipped and he went to Newcastle where he's been in and out. Bostock moved too early, should've stayed at Palace. Had an interesting career abroad at least. Gary Gardner, again another who had a couple of serious injuries so lost 2-3 years of his career just when he was breaking through. McEachran, never saw the hype tbh. I actually think because he came through a year after Wilshere and had a similar style Chelsea just tried to big him up to make him seem like he was going to be better of the two. Guess you could put Delph as part of that group given he was only 19 when we signed him in 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 McEachran was extremely bland player, he seemed a Westwood type player 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Delph easily the best player of the lot. 2014 Delph is funnily enough the best English midfielder I can think of in the last 4-6 years apart from maybe the current Jordan Henderson. Shows how much dross England has had in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 3 minutes ago, Keyblade said: Delph easily the best player of the lot. 2014 Delph is funnily enough the best English midfielder I can think of in the last 4-6 years apart from maybe the current Jordan Henderson. Shows how much dross England has had in there. Since moving to Liverpool Oxlaide Chamberlain was looking very good in Cm, that injury was a big blow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 Danny Webber, Jon Stead, Kazim Richards. Watched a Sheff U game from back in the day. Not one of them could actually control a football. No hyperbole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 not a player but David Wagner has again brought his anti-football into action and people used to bang on here that he would take us places. 0 wins in 10 games and just 3 goals in that time Did well to get Huddersfield up but if he was called Bruce or Pulis he would have been slaughtered and not praised so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Phil Neville. I thought he was crap at the time but I was a young lad then, I was wrong about a lot of things. Particularily good solid do the dirty work salt of the earth defenders and midfielders Saying that, watching all these old games has confirmed I was correct about Phil Neville. Garbage footballer with all the on the ball ability of a pub player. Carved out a career at Everton as some faux hardman despite again not being able to pass wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 24 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: Phil Neville. I thought he was crap at the time but I was a young lad then, I was wrong about a lot of things. Particularily good solid do the dirty work salt of the earth defenders and midfielders Saying that, watching all these old games has confirmed I was correct about Phil Neville. Garbage footballer with all the on the ball ability of a pub player. Carved out a career at Everton as some faux hardman despite again not being able to pass wind. Yeah a dreadful full back, Fergie sold him in his prime yet kept average players like OShea on for a lot longer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Phil Neville, Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Darren Fletcher, Quinten Fortune et al. Just goes to show it isn't always about ability. Its about effort and a winning mentality. Sir Alex was a genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 41 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: Phil Neville. I thought he was crap at the time but I was a young lad then, I was wrong about a lot of things. Particularily good solid do the dirty work salt of the earth defenders and midfielders Saying that, watching all these old games has confirmed I was correct about Phil Neville. Garbage footballer with all the on the ball ability of a pub player. Carved out a career at Everton as some faux hardman despite again not being able to pass wind. Was he ever perceived as a hard man though? Yes he played dm, but I don’t think he was the hard man type. What he did do well was good positionally and reading the game. Now clearly I’m not saying he was a good footballer. But for a mid table Everton side, he certainly played his part in making them hard to break down. Sometimes need those type of players. Our midfield at the moment could do with someone with those attributes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 23 hours ago, rodders0223 said: Phil Neville. I thought he was crap at the time but I was a young lad then, I was wrong about a lot of things. Particularily good solid do the dirty work salt of the earth defenders and midfielders Saying that, watching all these old games has confirmed I was correct about Phil Neville. Garbage footballer with all the on the ball ability of a pub player. Carved out a career at Everton as some faux hardman despite again not being able to pass wind. Garbage manager too. Took England women backwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 On 27/05/2020 at 16:30, Zatman said: not a player but David Wagner has again brought his anti-football into action and people used to bang on here that he would take us places. 0 wins in 10 games and just 3 goals in that time Did well to get Huddersfield up but if he was called Bruce or Pulis he would have been slaughtered and not praised so much It's crazy to see how much one game impacted his(and Staam's) managerial trajectory. Beating Reading on penalties in the final got them up (Staam didn't last through the next season) and he kept Huddersfield up. And got the Schalke job while Staam is over here stateside now . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 On 01/06/2020 at 17:50, PaulC said: Took England women backwards. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 If Juventus win Serie A this season then Ronaldo will be joined in the exclusive club of winning Premier League, La Liga and Serie A by Danilo. Shit player great agent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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