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Underrated Footballers

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  • Branislav Ivanovic
  • Graham Stuart
    We'd have stayed up in 1998/99 had he signed earlier that season
    Don’t think so.  It was mainly because we didn’t have a goalkeeper and Clive was carrying an injury from about September onwards 
  • Lewis Dunk. When building a team, we should always look at combative, captain material centre backs who score goals. Should be in the England squad, when you see Mings and before him Dier.
  • Albie Morgan
  • Scott Carson. One bad game and a high profile blunder and then a plunge into obscurity but I genuinely think he could've been established as English No.1 keeper in a different timeline.
  • Madjid Boughera.
    You can say that again 
  • Steve Bruce
    When you look at some of the players getting call ups these days it's crazy to think he never once got a cap.

    Incredible that he played over 400 times for Man utd but never for England.
  • Denis Irwin.
  • Currently I’ve always said Stuart Dallas at Leeds. Fantastic player.
    He is such a good player. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him have a bad game. 
  • thenewbie said:
    Scott Carson. One bad game and a high profile blunder and then a plunge into obscurity but I genuinely think he could've been established as English No.1 keeper in a different timeline.
    Agreed,Mclaren should never have played him in that game against Croatia,far to important for a very young keeper,should have got 30-40 caps if used properly.Still had a good career,and nice to see him get a game for City recently.
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  • Until partway through this season I would have said Mason Mount, but since Lampard left and he continued to be key for Tuchel people seem to have dropped the 'he's crap, it's just because he's Lampard's favourite' argument and are acknowledging that he's actually excellent. I think Mateo Kovacic is also painfully underrated, he's one of the fastest dribblers in the league, which he disguises quite well because he only does it in small bursts, and he's brilliant at keeping games ticking over. He limits himself tactically to fit a system but he's capable of doing more or less anything on the pitch (except scoring, he's terrible at that)
    I hate to say it as well, but Jordan Ayew. He's a really weird player. He scored one goal this season, back in November and only got three assists, but he's top of the league for pressing, and he's been essential in the way Hodgson has set up his side to be difficult to beat. He's not going to ever win you games with goals or drive you up the table, but if you're a team who needs to set up to harass the opposition and provide defensive cover across the pitch so that your one good player can shine without too much defensive responsibility he's your man. In a lot of ways he's the kind of player Curbs would have wanted to pick up, a modern version of the way we used to always ensure that if one winger was attacking the other was going to hug his centre mid and his full back all game. I used to be guilty of thinking Ayew was a complete joke, but there's a reason he's played 170 Premier League games. I could see a new manager firing him into the sun if he doesn't want to play that way though
  • Benteke..

    i'll get my coat! not serious, might have finished the season well but awful striker 
  • Rufus. Not by us of course but don't know how he never played for England. 
  • He probably wasn't quite good enough?
  • Talal said:
    Rufus. Not by us of course but don't know how he never played for England. 
    That era we had a huge selection of world class centre backs, players like keown struggled to make the tournament squads back then. Any other era, especially now, and he would’ve walked into most England teams.
  • Talal said:
    Rufus. Not by us of course but don't know how he never played for England. 
    That era we had a huge selection of world class centre backs, players like keown struggled to make the tournament squads back then. Any other era, especially now, and he would’ve walked into most England teams.
    Yes I agree that's true. Still surprised he wasn't capped a few times in friendlies at least. 
  • John Robinson - showed you could have a decent premier league career through sheer application. 
  • Dean Kiely - again, not by us, but in any other era he would’ve been the Irish number 1 for years and was far better than any other British born keepers wenger and Ferguson experimented with in the early noughties. Just like most of the curbs era was an expert at one thing (in this case shot stopping) which just about made up for his weaknesses on everything else
  • Dale Stephens
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  • For us 
    Kishishev 
    Carl Leaburn
    Keith Jones 
    Steve Brown (i loved him but never felt the manager did as much) 

    For everyone else 

    Dallas at Leeds 
    Giroud for Arsenal and Chelsea 
    Gareth Barry from Villa onwards been class everywhere and even had the decency to get himself sent off when we were desperately trying to stay up 
    Neil Lennon.  Economical user of the ball 
    David Batty, brilliant positional sense and got himself in the right areas 
    Andrea Pirlo (best midfielder of the modern era next to Scholes for me, media preferred Iniesta and Xavi, Gerrard and Lampard) possibly not underrated more, not overrated and celebrated enough 
    Ward-prowse been doing the business for years for Southampton 
    Steve McManaman, clever player even Liverpool fans didn't seem overly loving towards him but he could play. Real Madrid shared that opinion too 

  • Jermaine Defoe. Natural goalscorer and should have played more for England. Surprised he was overlooked by the big 4 clubs.

    Always thought Chris Eagles was underrated at lower league level.

    Le Tissier (in an England context)

    Julian Dicks

    Darren Bent

    Chris Waddle 

    Steve Bruce 

    Mark Robins 

    Ashley Cole was probably the most consistent performer in an England shirt throughout his career but don't think he always got the recognition.

    Steve Bull
  • Ndidi at Leicester is another one for me. Absolute class act.
  • edited June 2021
    Dean Kiely - again, not by us, but in any other era he would’ve been the Irish number 1 for years and was far better than any other British born keepers wenger and Ferguson experimented with in the early noughties. Just like most of the curbs era was an expert at one thing (in this case shot stopping) which just about made up for his weaknesses on everything else
    Yeah but the incumbent, who Fergie and Wenger didn't experiment with either, was rather good.
  • Sergio Ramos. Seems to be a bit of a joke these days, and mostly famous for his shithousery, but he's had a long career at one of the biggest clubs there is, one that has a habit of chewing players up and spitting them out, and he's won the lot.
  • Did Colin Walsh ever get the credit he deserved,2 broken legs cost him full Scottish honours,he had a wand of a left foot,one of the best passers of a ball seen at the Valley,often used to go un noticed in a game,until you saw replays later and realised how many chances he set up.
  • Jermaine Defoe. Natural goalscorer and should have played more for England. Surprised he was overlooked by the big 4 clubs.

    Always thought Chris Eagles was underrated at lower league level.

    Le Tissier (in an England context)

    Julian Dicks

    Darren Bent

    Chris Waddle 

    Steve Bruce 

    Mark Robins 

    Ashley Cole was probably the most consistent performer in an England shirt throughout his career but don't think he always got the recognition.

    Steve Bull
    Some really good shouts there, the only one I'd pull up is Julian Dicks, he had a wonderful left foot and loved a tackle but I thought he tried too hard to play to the image he was trying to put out rather than playing the game. 

    Waddle was a class act and a grafter too, properly understood football 
  • Michael Carrick is another one for me
  • There's some strange definitions of 'underrated' going on. Of those given already Keith Jones is the best example of a player going about their business and doing a top notch job with the minimum of fuss and attention. See also someone like Stuart Armstrong at Saints. 
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