Didsbury Dave said:
It is your duty as a football fan to make snap judgements about players. What else would there be to talk about after the game in the pub?
We've all got them right and also got them wrong. Who are the ones you got the most wrong?
Here's mine:
Carlos Tevez: after seeing him a few times for United and for his first 4 or 5 games for us, I thought he was all effort and industry and no end product. How wrong can you be? He's outstanding.
Lee Bradbury: I went to his first game, a friendly at Turf Moor. He scored a hattrick. I said to my Dad he looked as good as Shearer.
Michael Frontzec - after a few games I remember him juggling the ball during a dead ball situation in front of the STretford End. He looked cool as a cucumber. I remember thinking he was going to be our best left back for years.
Nick Fenton - rang my mate after his home debut and said "He was like ALan Hansen". I thought he was going right to the top. He did - to the top of Scottish Division 2.
Zabaleta - he looked a liablity during his first couple of games. Too slow, committed too many fouls. I thought he was a colossal waste of money. HE is slow, but he has adapted his game superbly now and is extremely versatile.
There's my top 5, which ones did you get wrong?
Great thread Dave. But fackin el, some shocking premature judgements there mate.
1. Terry Dunfield (although this is a bit of a strange one - because after his first team performance at the end of the season under Keegan, I suspect I'm not alone in having come away from that game, thinking we had a real player, I recall him spraying the ball around, having real composure) ... the rest really is history.
2. Mikhail Kavelashvili - not only did he come with the Kinkladze tag of 'he's a better player than me', but I remember going to Port Vale away, and seeing this lad do about 200 keepy upy's before the game, and all sorts of other tricks. I'm not one for getting carried away with this street soccer bollocks, hate kids who do hundreds of tricks, but when put into a real game situation, are shite, but with the Kinkladze comment behind him also, and my love for everything Georgian as a result, I sensed he was going to be something sensational. He wasn't.
3. Gary Mason - saw him training in a 5-a-side game at Platt Lane, and he looked the most composed player on the ball I had seen since Gaudino and thought he would be in the spine of our team for years to come and a future Scotland captain. His level literally was the 2nd division.
4. Claudio Reyna - when I saw we had signed him from Sunderland, I thought we were signing a fucking nobody, (I'll admit to throwing the 'he's a yank' point in there also), with absolutely no ability whatsoever. The truth is, he was no Jan Molby, but at the time for us, under Keegan, he ended up producing some consistent performances, and did get us passing the ball around in midfield.
