Georgi Kinkladze

Loved Kinky. I was in Holland and talking to some Dutch peeps about him and they said that he had the talent but was never a team player. I kinda get that. with us he had to take over the ball and never pass as no one else was anywhere near his ability.
 
Ability wise Kinkladze was right up there with the best in the Premier League at that time. Despite our appalling season that ultimately led to relegation, he was a nightmare for every team that came up against him.

Unfortunately his loyalty to us meant that the majority of his time with us was spent in the lower leagues, which negatively impacted how he is remembered by the wider football community.

I remember Stuart Hall outside Maine Road saying that the rest of the players would need microchips in their brains to keep up with him and he was right.

Kinkladze's ability to go past a man and get the crowd off their seats was Messi esque, unfortunately that is where the comparisons end. Great player, a joy to watch but ultimately the bright spark in an otherwise bleak few years for the club.

Whether Pep could have got the best out of Kinkladze is an interesting debate. I would have loved to have seen those two combine!
Agree.
 
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Kinky could have been excellent in this set up assuming he bought into Pep’s methods. His ability to take on packed defences would benefit us against the bus Parker’s and just imagining us playing the ball out from the back giving him the chance to go almost box to box is making me more excited than perhaps a middle aged man should be.
No doubt for me that he was a genius largely surrounded by dross
 
I was young when he played so my view of him is one worn with rose tinted specs. I loved him at the time. My first hero.

He should’ve been playing at the top level and surrounded by great players. Instead he turned up for a City side relegated twice in three seasons. Sublime talent but a flawed genius.
 
i think if he was playing now, he'd be average in our team.

Loved him back when he was playing for us, but he was a good player in a shite team.

I don't think he'd get anywhere near this team
Agree with both these statements. He was a fantastic talent, up there with the best at that time. But his workrate (or lack of), plus his knack of going missing in games (particularly away from home) would drive Pep mental. He was a diamond in a sea of undiluted shite at that time. Best to remember him that way.
 
I don't think he'd get anywhere near this team

I agree with that, but not because of a lack of ability. The problem is the number 10 role, where you have a playmaker behind the striker, removed of all defensive responsibilities, and just allowed to drift and dictate play at will, is dying. Guardiola expects high work rate from everyone, even De Bruyne and Silva are not exempt from that. Kinkladze was head and shoulders the best player in a poor City team, and was allowed to not put in a shift, there were plenty of cloggers who would do that, but in this team he would just be another good player rather then a stand out one, and expected to work. He wouldn't have the luxury of a team built around him. This is probably why he struggled at Ajax. As much as I love players like him, pure flair, "luxury" players, who have license to do what they want (Riquelme, Le Tissier, etc) its hard to see a future for them these days. With many teams playing two defensive midfielders, its easy to nullify their threat, and once that happens its like playing with 10 men.
 
I don't think he'd get anywhere near this team
He wouldn’t make the bench, in fact, we wouldn’t even send anyone to watch him play.

No better than Wilfred Zaha. I’d say Zaha is more consistent.

David White was my favourite player as a kid and I think he was better than Kinky
 
Agree with both these statements. He was a fantastic talent, up there with the best at that time. But his workrate (or lack of), plus his knack of going missing in games (particularly away from home) would drive Pep mental. He was a diamond in a sea of undiluted shite at that time. Best to remember him that way.

Then again it would be hard for any coach to tell him to pull his finger out when surrounded by what he was.
 

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