What's your unpopular football opinion?

dan1895

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Wasn't the sale investigated, the sale happened to clear their debts which were fairly substantial at the time, but I was young when this happened so my memory may not be 100%

Thats my memory of it. The sale was the same amount as the debts they had and then iirc the government rented the ground back to them for the price of a 6 pack of Mahou per year.

diusmr8a504cvk

Sheepy99 wrote: »

Going onto another team's thread and congratulating them on winning a competition. What's that all about??
Given how little anybody on this actually knows each other, you wouldn't have went up to every man wearing a Chelsea shirt in the pub last night, and said "fair play to you, you deserved it and have been the best all year" etc.

Talk about whipping out the factor 30 cringe.

In work yesterday and a colleague of mine who is an Arsenal fan said "congratulations" to another colleague who is a Chelsea fan. Total cringe, even cringier when they had a conversation where they referred to the English clubs that they support as "we".

The_Kew_Tour

Makenzie Fancy Cockatoo wrote: »

In work yesterday and a colleague of mine who is an Arsenal fan said "congratulations" to another colleague who is a Chelsea fan. Total cringe, even cringier when they had a conversation where they referred to the English clubs that they support as "we".

Hope you said it to them;)

Dots1982

The Talking Bread wrote: »

What is the point terrorising defenders if you can't get in a position to score when needs be?

Robbie Keane's game was all about movement in and around the box, that is how he scored the vast majority of his goals


Ireland's main problem at the moment is our lack of a goalscorer. If we had anyone close to Kean in that team it would be the difference between drawing a game and winning it, or even losing a game or winning it.

Ps, I am not trying to have an argument with you, just debating the merits of your point : )

A few things about this.

Firstly since Long has been first choice for Ireland, he has scored against Germany, Poland & won a converted penalties versus Poland & France, he may not get hatters versus San Marino, Gibralatar, the Faroes and Malta like Robbie always did but in terms of scoring important goals in qualifers against actual rivals he is certainly neck in neck in terms of goal scoring versus qualification rivals of post Liverpool Robbie.

Also you mention tap-ins, well Robbie had a great knack for getting in goal scoring positions in the box but unfortunately when he was really needed he had a history of missing many fairly easy chances. Slovakia in the qualifers for 2012, away; he managed to miss a tap-in, a penalty and a one on one and in the home game missed a fairly easy unmarked far post header. For a player who's contribution was so minimal outside of goal scoring, If Robbie didn't score the best rating he could be awarded was a 6, it was difficult to justify his inclusion in the team given his undependability versus the seeded teams.

Also it is worth looking at Ireland's general record since Robbie stopped been first choice. Although we don't score many goals we have an impressive record of scoring at least one in every game and our results have also improved since Robbie's demotion/retirement. This may be down to having possibly our best ever manager & a more attacking system of play as I would say you would argue for but I still think the idea of Keane been a bit of passenger unless he was scoring was under-appreciated. Which was fine when he was scoring but his record in qualification versus seeded teams was never good even before he went to Liverpool.

Maybe you're right and I'm over analysing but I still think for all Robbie's goals, there was definitely a trade off in terms of not using a player like Long who can actually do more on the ball and off the ball than just score. It was a bit of a conundrum and I think Long probably was the better option certainly once we qualified for 2012.

Fitz*

Paul Pogba is vastly overrated. All talk and doesn't have the walk to justify it.

He played for a number of season in an all-conquering Juventus team that had a very strong midfield at the time, including Pogba himself, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio.

He then arrived a couple of summers ago at United for a World Record transfer fee, and brought with him the circus of dabbing, haircuts, social media, emjois, music videos and a lot of talk of being the best midfielder in the world.

Since then, he has had some disastrous performances for club against a range of different teams but the first season was known for his bad performances in the big games against the rest of the top 6. He has had some good performances too but a handful of great games cannot mask the couple of seasons of mediocrity. He has had fallen out with the manager, has been dropped for a number of high profile games.

He still goes missing in games, Untied have signed 2 defensive midfielders now to try an accommodate him in this 'LCAM' position that seems to be created just for him. He tries too many 'Hollywood' balls that will never come off. Some players in the past were guilty of this but were able to get stuck into a game at the same time and still be able to run a midfield. Pogba cannot do that. Fancy Dan show pony who is good when things are going good but when they are bad, he is even worse.

At the end of the day, he is a good player and nothing more. All hype. And never a World Record Transfer in my opinion.

AdamD

Generic, meaningless statements that are used throughout posts like above. 'Goes missing in games' - just vague enough that you can't really argue it

Fr Tod Umptious

FitzShane wrote: »

Paul Pogba is vastly overrated. All talk and doesn't have the walk to justify it.

He played for a number of season in an all-conquering Juventus team that had a very strong midfield at the time, including Pogba himself, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio.

He then arrived a couple of summers ago at United for a World Record transfer fee, and brought with him the circus of dabbing, haircuts, social media, emjois, music videos and a lot of talk of being the best midfielder in the world.

Since then, he has had some disastrous performances for club against a range of different teams but the first season was known for his bad performances in the big games against the rest of the top 6. He has had some good performances too but a handful of great games cannot mask the couple of seasons of mediocrity. He has had fallen out with the manager, has been dropped for a number of high profile games.

He still goes missing in games, Untied have signed 2 defensive midfielders now to try an accommodate him in this 'LCAM' position that seems to be created just for him. He tries too many 'Hollywood' balls that will never come off. Some players in the past were guilty of this but were able to get stuck into a game at the same time and still be able to run a midfield. Pogba cannot do that. Fancy Dan show pony who is good when things are going good but when they are bad, he is even worse.

At the end of the day, he is a good player and nothing more. All hype. And never a World Record Transfer in my opinion.

Saying Pogba is overrated is hardly and unpopular opinion now is it ?

Brian?

FitzShane wrote: »

Paul Pogba is vastly overrated. All talk and doesn't have the walk to justify it.

He played for a number of season in an all-conquering Juventus team that had a very strong midfield at the time, including Pogba himself, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio.

He then arrived a couple of summers ago at United for a World Record transfer fee, and brought with him the circus of dabbing, haircuts, social media, emjois, music videos and a lot of talk of being the best midfielder in the world.

Since then, he has had some disastrous performances for club against a range of different teams but the first season was known for his bad performances in the big games against the rest of the top 6. He has had some good performances too but a handful of great games cannot mask the couple of seasons of mediocrity. He has had fallen out with the manager, has been dropped for a number of high profile games.

He still goes missing in games, Untied have signed 2 defensive midfielders now to try an accommodate him in this 'LCAM' position that seems to be created just for him. He tries too many 'Hollywood' balls that will never come off. Some players in the past were guilty of this but were able to get stuck into a game at the same time and still be able to run a midfield. Pogba cannot do that. Fancy Dan show pony who is good when things are going good but when they are bad, he is even worse.

At the end of the day, he is a good player and nothing more. All hype. And never a World Record Transfer in my opinion.

I think claiming he was the best midfielder in the world would be a far more unpopular opinion than this.

Ol' Donie

My unpopular opinion is that it's just got boring. There's way too much of it.

Irish94

They play a brilliant brand of football, and are very enjoyable to watch, but if Liverpool do not win a trophy this season then a discussion over the possibility of Jurgen Klopp to be sacked should not be balked at.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Long throw-ins into the box are ****ing useless. I hard;y ever see it result in a goal.

eagle eye

Some matches are fixed in the Premier league.
I've seen odds for games where the favourites are a far more generous than they should be and almost always don't win in that circumstance.

CSF

eagle eye wrote: »

Some matches are fixed in the Premier league.
I've seen odds for games where the favourites are a far more generous than they should be and almost always don't win in that circumstance.

I’d love to hear more about this theory because at first glance it doesn’t make much sense.

Paully D

eagle eye wrote: »

Some matches are fixed in the Premier league.
I've seen odds for games where the favourites are a far more generous than they should be and almost always don't win in that circumstance.

I don’t know about specifics, but I think we’d be naive to think that match fixing to some extent isn’t going on at the highest levels of the game.

Where there’s money......

retalivity

To fix results would probably need collusion from a lot of people, making it riskier and easier to expose. Id say that fixing things like bookings, corners etc is far more prevalent

MarkY91

I don't rate Henderson, think he shouldn't be captain of Liverpool and I think he only became captain as when English Gerrard left, they wanted another English midfielder to take the role.

If I say that in the Liverpool thread, the usual gang of "popular" posters would be in uproar.

Brian?

MarkY91 wrote: »

I don't rate Henderson, think he shouldn't be captain of Liverpool and I think he only became captain as when English Gerrard left, they wanted another English midfielder to take the role.

If I say that in the Liverpool thread, the usual gang of "popular" posters would be in uproar.

100% agree. He’s a large man who runs around a lot. That’s it.

GiftofGab

MarkY91 wrote: »

I don't rate Henderson, think he shouldn't be captain of Liverpool and I think he only became captain as when English Gerrard left, they wanted another English midfielder to take the role.

If I say that in the Liverpool thread, the usual gang of "popular" posters would be in uproar.

I'm a Liverpool fan and I don't rate Henderson. He has some leadership skills but is not a good player, Just average. He can't control the pace of the game, works hard but not effectively.

Iused2likebusts

Does the captain really matter in football anymore. Who are the leaders in the modern game. I read in all teams superthreads about a lack of leaders in their teams. Apart from kompany at City I can't think of any what we used to call leaders in the game. There are no Tony Adams, Gerrard, Terry , Keane type figures anymore. Henderson is a decent player that I feel some people dislike or don't rate as they don't see him as a suitable captain. This shouldn't come into it when rating a players ability.

Chancer3001

Mine is that pocchetino is absolutely terrible at signing players and got really lucky with the players at spurs being there before he arrived

Shanotheslayer

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Mine is that pocchetino is absolutely terrible at signing players and got really lucky with the players at spurs being there before he arrived

There's unpopular and just plain incorrect. Yours is incorrect.

MarkY91

GiftofGab wrote: »

I'm a Liverpool fan and I don't rate Henderson. He has some leadership skills but is not a good player, Just average. He can't control the pace of the game, works hard but not effectively.

I'm glad some people agree with me.

I think of he wasn't English, he would not be Liverpool captain. I hope can dijk eventually takes his place as Captain. He seems like a leader from the back. Reminds me of Kompany at man city in terms of leadership and being a CB.

Chancer3001

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Mine is that pocchetino is absolutely terrible at signing players and got really lucky with the players at spurs being there before he arrived

It's not so much an opinion as a bee in your bonnet. You've said before that he is "easily the worst" when it comes to signing players, listed admittedly a few bad buys (with transfer fees adjusted to make them look worse). You've ignored how low their net transfer spend is and that they are doing better than the managers you claim put the team together, or maybe 3 consecutive top 3 finishes including the highest position in over half a century is part of your "he's just lucky" theory?

https://www.totalsportek.com/money/premier-league-clubs-transfers-net-spend-last-5-years/

redzerdrog

At least 99% of football fans are idiots who struggle with the basic understanding of the game

garra

Irish94 wrote: »

They play a brilliant brand of football, and are very enjoyable to watch, but if Liverpool do not win a trophy this season then a discussion over the possibility of Jurgen Klopp to be sacked should not be balked at.

Not sure how unpopular this opinion would be anywhere other than the LFC thread, where the fans of the world's greatest football club would not only appreciate the brilliant brand of enjoyable football but the steady squad improvement over his tenure including players that were already at the club on his arrival.

Not winning a trophy would only be used as a supporting reason for his dismissal on top of other reasons, ie dire football, not getting CL qualification, players mouthing off to media, sponsors pulling out, games not selling out, difficulty recruiting players due to manager's tarnished standing etc

Billy86

garra wrote: »

Not sure how unpopular this opinion would be anywhere other than the LFC thread, where the fans of the world's greatest football club would not only appreciate the brilliant brand of enjoyable football but the steady squad improvement over his tenure including players that were already at the club on his arrival.

Not winning a trophy would only be used as a supporting reason for his dismissal on top of other reasons, ie dire football, not getting CL qualification, players mouthing off to media, sponsors pulling out, games not selling out, difficulty recruiting players due to manager's tarnished standing etc

I'm going to assume you're talking about defensive organisation there. Because otherwise..........

irishman86

garra wrote: »

Not sure how unpopular this opinion would be anywhere other than the LFC thread, where the fans of the world's greatest football club would not only appreciate the brilliant brand of enjoyable football but the steady squad improvement over his tenure including players that were already at the club on his arrival.

Not winning a trophy would only be used as a supporting reason for his dismissal on top of other reasons, ie dire football, not getting CL qualification, players mouthing off to media, sponsors pulling out, games not selling out, difficulty recruiting players due to manager's tarnished standing etc

Subtle :pac:

~Rebel~

MarkY91 wrote: »

I don't rate Henderson, think he shouldn't be captain of Liverpool and I think he only became captain as when English Gerrard left, they wanted another English midfielder to take the role.

If I say that in the Liverpool thread, the usual gang of "popular" posters would be in uproar.

I think a big part of it comes down to what you think a captain does. Some people think its all about on pitch leadership, which I'd totally disagree with. On field leaders are on field leaders, regardless whether they have an armband or not. Did Sami Hyypia become less of an on-field leader when he passed the armband to Gerrard? Not a bit. Would VVD suddenly act differently if he had the armband? Doubtful.

A Captains primary role is off the field. It's acting as a liason for the players, it's dealing with media commitments, it's going to Alder Hey and local schools and events and showing the club in a good light. it's taking the responsibility of all that stuff so other players don't have to worry about it - and being a person other players can turn to if they have an issue they don't feel comfortable bringing to the manager yet. It's helping new players get comfortable in their new city/country/continent. And helping young players who have come up to train/play with the senior squad, making them feel welcome. And at all that stuff, Henderson is great.

And I'd agree that him being English is a big part of why he got it, because Liverpool are an English club, and he has a very firm understanding of what being a Liverpool representative means in the wider context.

Honestly, I think Henderson and Milner are about the perfect combination for captain and vice captain for the actual responsibilities those roles entail.

~Rebel~

~Rebel~ wrote: »

A Captains primary role is off the field. It's acting as a liason for the players, it's dealing with media commitments, it's going to Alder Hey and local schools and events and showing the club in a good light. it's taking the responsibility of all that stuff so other players don't have to worry about it - and being a person other players can turn to if they have an issue they don't feel comfortable bringing to the manager yet. It's helping new players get comfortable in their new city/country/continent. And helping young players who have come up to train/play with the senior squad, making them feel welcome. And at all that stuff, Henderson is great.

Sounds like someone is trying to bend the idea of captaincy around touchy feely social media depictions.

When you think of great captains, Bremner, Souness, Keane, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Baresi, Terry...it was very much for their on field leadership and not your public relations/nice to kids in hospitals and the youth system stuff.

super_furry

Paul Scholes is hugely overrated with the benefit of hindsight. When he was playing he fell into the ‘good player’ category, not the Iniesta he’s suddenly become in people’s memories since he retired.

PhlegmyMoses

To counter that, my unpopular opinion is that anybody who doesn't rate unflashy players like Scholes, Busquets, Modric, Alonso etc either never really played football or dont really understand it very well. There is a reason their teammates and rival players rate them so highly.

eagle eye

PhlegmyMoses wrote:

To counter that, my unpopular opinion is that anybody who doesn't rate unflashy players like Scholes, Busquets, Modric, Alonso etc either never really played football or dont really understand it very well. There is a reason their teammates and rival players rate them so highly.

Makelele, you left out the most underrated one of all!

Brian?

eagle eye wrote: »

Makelele, you left out the most underrated one of all!

The highest rated underrated player ever.

It's actually a cliche to say he was underrated. From what I remember everyone thought he was world class while he was playing. Sure didn't they call the holding midfielder position the "Makelele role" for a long time.

Drumpot

I hate the way the default choice of blame for an underperforming team is the manager. I also hate the way it’s now considered ok for players to down tools or not play well cause they don’t like a manager or the tactics.

I can personally give any position a decent shot when playing and don’t fail to get stuck in, put in some effort or make bad 10 yard passes just because the tactics/position isn’t my favorite. I’m not a professional and have more pride in application to a friendly game then a lot of paid footballers.

It’s a cop out and gives players further excuses to under perform. It also endulges the stupid celebrity status that now seems to follow some players. I’m sorry but twitter and all this bollox media stuff that comes with it is a poison that’s making the game like wrestling. More interest on the drama outside the pitch then on it.....

Drumpot

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

To counter that, my unpopular opinion is that anybody who doesn't rate unflashy players like Scholes, Busquets, Modric, Alonso etc either never really played football or dont really understand it very well. There is a reason their teammates and rival players rate them so highly.

Agree totally.

Sort of ties in with the hyperbolic bandwagon that led to Scholes being played on the left for England to accommodate Lamard and Gerrard in the centre. It’s no coincidence that people playing down Scholes usually value style over substance.

The Talking Bread

What's a flashy player! By my definition Scholes and Modric to a point would fall into that category!

The Talking Bread

I think my definition is more based on skill, passing, etc.

redzerdrog

redzerdrog wrote: »

At least 99% of football fans are idiots who struggle with the basic understanding of the game

The truth is they are not football fans, they are brand fans.

Shanotheslayer

The Talking Bread wrote: »

What's a flashy player! By my definition Scholes and Modric to a point would fall into that category!

Flashy players would be the likes of Neymar/Mbappe/Ronaldinho etc all the silky tricks

Scholes and Modric aren't flashy in that sense.

eagle eye

Brian? wrote:

The highest rated underrated player ever.

He was highly rated by a small percentage.
The majority never mentioned him.

Skylinehead

eagle eye wrote: »

Makelele, you left out the most underrated one of all!

I've heard this so many times its inherently untrue. How can you be underrated in the position named after you?

eagle eye

I'm gonna say that Scholes career went through good and average patches. I think he gets overrated because of how great he was between 2006 and 2011. He was superb for most of that spell but was somewhat ordinary for most of the new millennium years before that.

sheroman01

That John Terry going out with Bridge's EX is not the worst thing in the world that someone could do.

Chancer3001

The hilarious bias in the way Terry was treated over that incident compared to Ryan giggs and his brothers wife

The Golden Miller

Jordi Cruyff was underrated, and when he did play for United, generally did very well from what I remember. Ran the show for Alaves too.

ERG89

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

To counter that, my unpopular opinion is that anybody who doesn't rate unflashy players like Scholes, Busquets, Modric, Alonso etc either never really played football or dont really understand it very well. There is a reason their teammates and rival players rate them so highly.

I like Busquets as much as one can but he is not on the level of Modric, Alonso, Xavi and Iniesta.
He's been in poor form for a few years too since Xavi left and Iniesta dipped.

Chancer3001

Chancer3001 wrote: »

The hilarious bias in the way Terry was treated over that incident compared to Ryan giggs and his brothers wife

The fact that, in this day and age of social media, people are interested in this nonsense in the first place.

I don't care if Terry, Giggs or anyone is riding half the country. I don't need to know if footballers are moral people or not. My interest in them really should extend to performances on the pitch and, as a citizen, if they break the law. That's it.

Drumpot

The Talking Bread wrote: »

What's a flashy player! By my definition Scholes and Modric to a point would fall into that category!

I’m not sure about the flashy bit but modric seems to get more respect then Scholes from some by virtue of the fact he plays for Real Madrid. Considering Scholes was at the heart of a Man united team that dominated English football in two different periods when English football was at its peak in the last 30 years makes that sort of ridiculous but can certainly get past the barstool analyst “standards of quantifiable excellence”.

It’s just stupid to downplay Scholes contributions to the most successful side in England in the last 30 years. It was no coincidence that Ferguson asked Scholes out of retirement and he nearly managed to drag united to a league title in 2012 and actually helped them Win their last title in 2013!!... Forget everything to the contrary, Something somethings assists or/and something something goals makes that so... :pac:

razorblunt

Deleted User wrote: »

Sounds like someone is trying to bend the idea of captaincy around touchy feely social media depictions.

When you think of great captains, Bremner, Souness, Keane, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Baresi, Terry...it was very much for their on field leadership and not your public relations/nice to kids in hospitals and the youth system stuff.

I thought a Club Captain is essentially what they were describing rather than an on-field captain.

eh i dunno

Tim Cahill was better than Dele Alli