Mediocre Players who were forgiven too many times, by foolish managers

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PalazioVecchio

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I was going to call the thread "Rubbish Players who....." but at Elite level, nobody is truly rubbish.

Therefore the term 'mediocre' is understood to be 'relative to their pay-grade' . Forgiven = game-time and contracts. Foolish managers is a little harsh, especially with all the financial constraints. But i left the expression just to focus the mind.

Again, a special call for any relevant old Eagles.

1. Benteke

2. Olivier Giroud.......especially when he played for France.

3. Mario Ballotelli...........a stick of dynamite ready to go off in your dressing room.

4. Harry Maguire

5. Joey Barton...... great player, great spectacle on match-day. Great disaster.

6. Samir Nasri.......a red card specialist. Brilliant on the training ground and will break your heart in the stadium.

7. Owen Hargreaves......like a Formula-One Renault. With the technicians leaning over the computer and scratching their heads.

And in all cases, maybe you would like the phone number of their agent. He seems to have done a brilliant job selling Fridge-freezers to Eskimos.
 
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Bit rough on Giroud - he is France's top goal scorer. Mind you Neymar is Brazil's and he wouldn't be in my team.
Roberto Baggio was one who always made me wonder what all the fuss was about.
 
In no particular order:

1. Gianluigi Lentini - in the early nineties a then world record transfer to AC Milan. Supposedly an amazing winger. Serie A was televised on channel 4 around that time so I saw him quite a bit and wondered what all the fuss was about. He then got injured in a car crash and faded over time from top level football.

2. Javier Mascherano - an "in between player" who could play at centre half or as a deep holding midfielder. Mainly I saw him get caught out of position and then kick people four feet in the air. Picked up by clubs like Liverpool and Barcelona but he was not Makelele. He was not Nesta. He was a mix of the worst parts of both. Admittedly that still does make him decent but the disparity between reputation and output was discernible.

3. Igor "Beckenbauer" Biscan - a worse Mascherano. Should be sued for his nickname under the trade descriptions act.

4. Titus Bramble - at a time when England had a seriously decent cohort of centre halves (Ferdinand, Terry, Ledley King, Sol Campbell, Woodgate, and others) somehow this guy was mentioned in the same conversations. All I seemed to see him do was go missing in big games or make unforced match defining errors.

5. Jean-Alain Boumsong - not sure on the chronology but Bramble and Boumsong were on the Newcastle books at similar times, maybe even the same time. Enough said.
 
Coutinho, decent couple of weeks with the dippers. s*** at Barcelona and shittier at Villa.
Jesse Derry at our gaff just because he's a c*** for thinking he'll get first team football with the rent boys.
 
RubinsCube said:
In no particular order:

1. Gianluigi Lentini - in the early nineties a then world record transfer to AC Milan. Supposedly an amazing winger. Serie A was televised on channel 4 around that time so I saw him quite a bit and wondered what all the fuss was about. He then got injured in a car crash and faded over time from top level football.

2. Javier Mascherano - an "in between player" who could play at centre half or as a deep holding midfielder. Mainly I saw him get caught out of position and then kick people four feet in the air. Picked up by clubs like Liverpool and Barcelona but he was not Makelele. He was not Nesta. He was a mix of the worst parts of both. Admittedly that still does make him decent but the disparity between reputation and output was discernible.

3. Igor "Beckenbauer" Biscan - a worse Mascherano. Should be sued for his nickname under the trade descriptions act.

4. Titus Bramble - at a time when England had a seriously decent cohort of centre halves (Ferdinand, Terry, Ledley King, Sol Campbell, Woodgate, and others) somehow this guy was mentioned in the same conversations. All I seemed to see him do was go missing in big games or make unforced match defining errors.

5. Jean-Alain Boumsong - not sure on the chronology but Bramble and Boumsong were on the Newcastle books at similar times, maybe even the same time. Enough said.
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And Pardew was criticised for picking Super Hayden Mullins ahead of Mascherano😆
 
PalazioVecchio said:
I was going to call the thread "Rubbish Players who....." but at Elite level, nobody is truly rubbish.

Therefore the term 'mediocre' is understood to be 'relative to their pay-grade' . Forgiven = game-time and contracts. Foolish managers is a little harsh, especially with all the financial constraints. But i left the expression just to focus the mind.

Again, a special call for any relevant old Eagles.

1. Benteke

2. Olivier Giroud.......especially when he played for France.

3. Mario Ballotelli...........a stick of dynamite ready to go off in your dressing room.

4. Harry Maguire

5. Joey Barton...... great player, great spectacle on match-day. Great disaster.

6. Samir Nasri.......a red card specialist. Brilliant on the training ground and will break your heart in the stadium.

7. Owen Hargreaves......like a Formula-One Renault. With the technicians leaning over the computer and scratching their heads.

And in all cases, maybe you would like the phone number of their agent. He seems to have done a brilliant job selling Fridge-freezers to Eskimos.
Click to expand...
benteke , i was pleased to see him leave at the end.
however, first season he kept us up, so...
 
Feel free to mention either.....

a) mediocrities from the lower leagues who never got sacked, even though they should have.

or

b) great players blighted by booze or other demons. George Best and Gazza both had a fairly awful fall from grace, especially the former. However their fame and history often confused matters. Gazza was a brilliant player WHILE consistently hammered on drink. Gazza played at the top level for longer than George Best but ultimately both became too mediocre to keep on the books of any ambitious club.

or

c) great players who got old and tired. And needed sending off to the Knackers Yard, but didnt. Luka Modric in the last 12 months. Will Ronaldo embarrass himself next year ?
 
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wilelliott88 said:
And Pardew was criticised for picking Super Hayden Mullins ahead of Mascherano😆
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In Super AP's defence, both Tevez and Macherano were young at the time they signed. So maybe he felt JM was not quite seasoned or wily enough to get West Ham ticking. I did hear JM was not the best trainer either and that may have been a factor.

In hindsight and will his full career now played out, Senor Macherano makes my list.
 
PalazioVecchio said:
Feel free to mention either.....

a) mediocrities from the lower leagues who never got sacked, even though they should have.

or

b) great players blighted by booze or other demons. George Best and Gazza both had a fairly awful fall from grace, especially the former. However their fame and history often confused matters. Gazza was a brilliant player WHILE consistently hammered on drink. Gazza played at the top level for longer than George Best but ultimately both became too mediocre to keep on the books of any ambitious club.

or

c) great players who got old and tired. And needed sending off to the Knackers Yard, but didnt. Luka Modric in the last 12 months. Will Ronaldo embarrass himself next year ?
Click to expand...
a) Whilst a naive and bright eyed student I was conned in the mid 1990s. The con? Agreeing to part with hard earned college funds in order watch Darlington play Rochdale. In the Rochdale team was a playmaker / libero / free role / tub of lard named Andy Gouk. I remember thinking "this is Jan Molby wearing boots made of 50 pence pieces": didn't leave the centre circle for 90 minutes; pass completion rate must have been under 10%.

b) There's only two Andy Gorams...

c) Sadly, some of the really good goalkeepers like Peter Shilton. I only really remember the tensed up stiff in the 1990 penalty shoot out. Watching earlier footage of him reminded me of just how good he was (and for how long). In terms of outfield players Jimmy Greaves: mustard at Chelsea/Spurs and his one season at AC Milan. But in a few years he was struggling to beat the offside trap for Barnet.

Sadly categories b and c have some overlap.
 
RubinsCube said:
In Super AP's defence, both Tevez and Macherano were young at the time they signed. So maybe he felt JM was not quite seasoned or wily enough to get West Ham ticking. I did hear JM was not the best trainer either and that may have been a factor.

In hindsight and will his full career now played out, Senor Macherano makes my list.
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Macherano was a defensive midfielder who was converted into a central defender by Barcelona. At 5ft 9ins he was short for a player in this position.
 
Willo said:
Macherano was a defensive midfielder who was converted into a central defender by Barcelona. At 5ft 9ins he was short for a player in this position.
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These are very valid points.

My abiding memories of him are dominated by unceremonious opponent dumpings in both positions.
 
RubinsCube said:
These are very valid points.

My abiding memories of him are dominated by unceremonious opponent dumpings in both positions.
Click to expand...

Mascherano reminded me of Roy Keane with slightly more running however less of the leadership and footballing intelligence.

They could both play the ball short pretty neatly and would harass the opposition.

Even from typing this, I can't identify any defining feature of Mascherano beyond him putting himself about and being a nuisance. Which has already been covered 🤣
 
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