Ladeulcateg wrote:One of the best around in Finnan? I'm sorry mate but take your rose tinted specs off. Finnan is very very very solid and very dependable. He makes hardly any mistakes aswell and his consistency is excellent.
But, and its a big but... he offers NOTHING going forward. Attend a few games and try watching the lad. The amount of times today (and over the past season and a half) I've found myself standing there screaming for him to overlap or even be ahead of the play to offer the option for the pass has worn me down. He always takes a touch instead of playing first time passes aswell. He's a good player, but for you to sit there and suggest he's in the class of Neville, Alves, Zambrotta or Eboue is laughable. Theres a lad who plays for Wigan for
sake who's a far better player aswell, Ryan Taylor. Used to play for Tranmere. Top quality full back but not fasionable and not at a "big club".
You then go onto Hyypia's famous lack of pace arguement... well am sorry but pace is nothing if you don't have class. Hyypia has class in abundance. He reads it, heads it, intercepts, passes, tackles and marshalls a defence. I'm sick of the experience arguement. Its again
by idiots who don't have a clue what they are talking about. Owen wasn't experienced at 17 when he scored 23 goals in his first season. Fowler wasn't at 18 when he scored 18 goals then 30 odd the next season... Rooney wasn't when he broke into the England team and took the euro's in 2004 by storm.
Agger is lazy, sloppy and not arially dominant. He's also not the most mobile. He's a good player, who's decent at everything a defender needs and he's better on the ball than most with his dribbling which can create space but he's not by any stretch of the imagination top class. Never has been and never will be.
You then start with the common Fowler arguement about how you need pace and power to play in the premier league blah blah. I'm starting to get wound up, I shouldn't because I'm bored of the
... In football the three most important things are passing and movement. Followed by touch. If a player has those three things they are more than useful. Fowler has a very good level in all of these.
He can also finish. The problem is Benitez doesn't know how to use him. The players are there in this country, infact, they're everywhere if I'm honest. Barton, Taylor, Bullard, Ashton, the problem being people don't know how to get the best out of these players so therefore don't take a chance on them and they end up never fullfilling there potential.
Fowler can spot a pass, control a ball, pass a ball, link up, play a one two, keep the play moving on the deck, head a ball, read the flight of the ball quicker than a defender and move into space far better than all of our strikers. He is only as quick as Crouch, he's not as strong as Crouch, Bellamy or Kuyt but the fact is he's never been great physically. He once had upper average pace. Now he's got lower average. So what? He was on the pitch for 9 minutes today an looked more likely to score than Bellamy and Kuyt did for the whole time they were on the pitch. Infact, If Fowler had played 5 games more this season I reckon he'd of outscored Bellamy and Kuyt.
What i do find funny is peoples use of cliche's and common terms used by "experts".
What I also find funny is that because of footy manager the experts think that when you hit 30 all your attirubtes drop and you become useless. When the fact is Robbie now is probably just as good as the Robbie of 2003/2004. The only difference is he's probably physically not able to play 90 mins every game due to his fitness.
Fowler will never make a ball stick consistently, he'll never stretch a defence either, but i tell you what, give him a chance and more often than not its in the back of the net.
The last paragraph. A right winger isn't essential at the moment. The main area's in order to be a great side. Two strikers, a left winger, a centre half, a right back. The right back we can get away without. JUST!
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