Left Back: Gabriel Heinze (Marseille and Argentina): I was really struggling with this one, primarily because there is a complete paucity of quality options in this position. Apparently, Heinze is good enough for a place in the Argentina squad which quite honestly should fill every Argentinean with fear and trepidation. Then again, they also went through a phase of picking Jonas Gutierrez at right back. Let me put this selection into perspective. Javier Zanetti, the Internazionale captain, ended up sunning himself on a beach over the summer following his Treble exploits at club level. Il Trattore (‘Tractor’ – a nickname paying homage to Zanetti’s boundless energy) wasn’t deemed to be up to the task of going to the World Cup. Heinze was. Jesus wept.
Right Wing: Theo Walcott (Arsenal and England): He’s young so he’s clearly got time on his side. If you factor in his hat trick away to Croatia (in those heady days when England were, well, decent), then it’s also obvious that there is talent there. The fact that his career thus far has been blighted by injury is probably another factor that makes his inclusion here slightly harsh. But this is a player that Matt Le Tissier once announced was more talented than Wayne Rooney. That’s a huge billing.
First things first, I can’t help but ponder whether Arsenal is just the wrong club for him. He’d likely benefit in a side that has the propensity to go more direct at times. Arsenal hold possession for so long in midfield that the opposition are able to drop in and organise themselves. I don’t really think that intricate passes round tight corners and down narrow corridors is really Walcott’s gig. If you give the opposition an opportunity to get deep and compact, then you’re restricting the ability of Walcott to devastate. The young flyer doesn’t possess the finesse to play a defence splitting pass, nor does he have the game intelligence to find space in a crowded area. He’s a straight-line runner that would benefit from a more direct approach. And that’s not forthcoming at the Arsenal.
Central Midfield: Michael Essien (Chelsea and Ghana): We’re really sailing into contentious waters now! It’s not that he’s not a good player. He clearly is. It’s just that, contrary to very common opinion, he’s nowhere near the world-beater he’s frequently made out to be. I’m not quite sure how or when the ‘Essien: Best Midfielder in the World’ bandwagon started rolling but I find it a heavily misguided movement. He seems to have gained his reputation despite missing vast swathes of every season since his arrival on these shores, quite often at the critical junctures, through some serious injuries. Furthermore, he’s perennially moved around to plug holes in the Chelsea squad. Surely a player that is that good would be installed as the fulcrum of the team? As it happens, consecutive (good) managers have seen fit to do anything but give him a consistent central midfield berth. Ancelotti is the first Chelsea manager that has seen fit to release Essien from his shackles, so we may yet see the very best of this undoubtedly gifted player.
Central Midfield: Gareth Barry (England (somehow) and Man City): It looks increasingly likely that Barry will continue to steal into Fabio Capello’s England squad, despite it being abundantly clear at the World Cup that he should be one of the first out of the door.. His passing is conservative, as opposed to penetrative or creative, and even then he struggles to retain the ball. He doesn’t possess pace and he’s not a particularly proficient destroyer. Overall, Barry is one of those players that seems to excel at, erm, well, erm, nothing. Barry is the epitome of an invisible footballer and beyond merely existing, I’m not sure what he actually brings to the table. Gareth Barry. why?
Continue Reading on Page 3 . . .
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Have to agree with you about Casillas. Buffon would be a good shout as well.
Completely agree about casillias, most overrated player in the world in my opinion. Strongly disagree about Alves, Carra and Zlatan though.
Pretty good list but I’d have to strongly disagree with you putting Essien in there.
I’d also probably put Clichy in there at left back – for all the talk about him being a clone of Ashley Cole, you’d expect somebody a lot better than Clichy!
Seriously u need to get your head examined, Essien is fantastic and when he plays chelsea are a different team and to have a 22 year old with the record of Higuain is truly laughable, i suppose gettin in the national side ahead of aguero/ milito/ is a fluke as well! what a joke
Alves and Zlatan should not be on this list. Zlatan has pretty much single handedly carried whatever team he has been at to the league title for like 7-8 years in a row. Not counting Barca though, clearly they wasted a lot of money to buy Zlatan for the role they played him in. Not his fault though, Pep dropped the ball on that one. Of course there are better goal scorers around, but he is so much more than that.
agree abt higuain…all he can do is score those sitters and tap-ins..if it came down to skills n’ talent, m pretty sure m better than him..
Completely agree about Zlatan. Without doubt the worst transfer in the history of the game. Eto has been just about the best striker in the world for nearly a decade, consistantly top scorer in spain now the top scorer in Italy.
And Barcalona paid what £50 million quid PLUS Samuel Eto to land Ibrahimovic, who’s never been top scorer in any competition or even consistant.
They’d have taken Eto over Zlata any day of the week, to get £50 million aswell lol, they must have been laughing all the way to the bank.
I have to say that I like the idea posed by this blog…but surely to assess someone as overrated you need to consider how highly they are rated now.
Is Jamie Carragher rated as world class? No. Was he rated as world class in 04/5? Yes. Was he? Yes. I don’t think you can quantify it by saying he’s good in a defensive team but that it doesn’t make him a good player. As evident from his lack of games for England he was never as highly rated as he should have been.
You need to put a context on what you write.
Ibrahimovic WAS overrated when he was sold to Barcelona. Inter were laughing all the way to the bank with that cash and with Eto’o on their side they got a much better player. I’m not saying he’s not a talented player, just that he didn’t play to his potential often enough.
very good list but i do disagree with Higuain he’s a striker so his job is to score goals so the fact he has a great goals to game ratio means he is a great player he’s doing the job that hes suppossed to be doing brilliantly. The problem is I like Cassillas so I wouldnt say he is the most over-rated keeper but even though i like him you put a good argument for him so (for me) apart from Higuain (and possibly) Cassillas i’d agree with tha list.
what a complete load of crao, hence why the mug that wrote this can not get a job for a real paper or proper web page, what a total load of miss writtern crap i have ever seen. what a mug
i love how you typed ‘miss writtern’…
Freudian Slip anyone??