This. He is one of those kinds of players who sometimes does miraculous things, but by and large on the basics makes his team worse.
Scores miraculous goals from ridiculous angles, 1 out of every 15 attempts. That's 14 shits that should never have been taken. Poor at recycling play, and lacked variety on his crosses. Funny enough I think he was actually better defensively when he cared. Didn't have the smoothest hip movement, but tackled hard and flew in like a don't give a shit defender, and was actually pretty solid in the air.
He wasn't great but was hard nosed. It's his possesion contributions that was most lacking. Hit crosses were dangerous but of the single hard grounder variety. When he went high he often overshot the whole box.
Thought he was a poor purchase at the time, and labored hard to like his character, thought his footballing lacked a level of intelligence required at the highest level.
He'd be a Cult hero fullback had he played at Watford or Fulham. But at the very top he lacked what it took to be efficient, and an overall positive for a top end club.
