There's nothing to be bitter about, he did the club no harm. What it is, is an answer to the OP. Some say Kinky, some say Elano and some, like me, say Balotelli. You see the question is 'what city player was most overrated by our own fans', and it's fair to say that when a player is given the leeway and arse licking that Balotelli got, when the truth is he was no more than a good player, that player is most definitely being overrated.Skashion said:I'm very amused by those who still have a lingering bitterness towards Balotelli.
That's all well and good. Jonathan Greening has a Champions League medal, which dresses up the fact he was in because Keane was banned and wouldn't have got anywhere near a medal otherwise. Point being you can dress it all up however you want, but for US he wasn't anything like as good as what people believe. His personality and 'star' status is what many fell for, simply because we've not had someone who gets in the gossip columns in the showbiz parts of the papers for years and years. For every world class performance he put in, in the Euro's, there are plenty more for us which show he simply couldn't be arsed. Add the nonsense on the pitch and the red cards and what you have is someone who, for us, was nothing more than good. If he goes onto be the player you believe, fair enough and good luck to him but the OP didn't ask that, he asked who was overrated when playing for us and Balotelli was most definitely overrated.Skashion said:He's not even 23, first-choice striker for Italy who got them to the Euro 2012 final, first-choice striker for Milan with 12 goals in only 13 appearances, top-ten all-time goals per minute scorers in the Premier League despite spending a fair amount of time playing wide-left, winner of the Golden Boy award, one of our first three players ever nominated for the Balon d'Or. Hard to see how that's merely 'good', and as I say, not even 23, you might just be counting your chickens with your overrated declaration. He's very good with potential to be quite a bit more, which is pretty much how most people rated him.
So this post is basically a I-don't-care-about-facts posts. :-)Pigeonho said:That's all well and good. Jonathan Greening has a Champions League medal, which dresses up the fact he was in because Keane was banned and wouldn't have got anywhere near a medal otherwise. Point being you can dress it all up however you want, but for US he wasn't anything like as good as what people believe. His personality and 'star' status is what many fell for, simply because we've not had someone who gets in the gossip columns in the showbiz parts of the papers for years and years. For every world class performance he put in, in the Euro's, there are plenty more for us which show he simply couldn't be arsed. Add the nonsense on the pitch and the red cards and what you have is someone who, for us, was nothing more than good. If he goes onto be the player you believe, fair enough and good luck to him but the OP didn't ask that, he asked who was overrated when playing for us and Balotelli was most definitely overrated.
Put it this way. If Balotelli wasn't a pop star player, someone people fawn over for non-footballing matters, and he put in the same performances he did for us, people would have been on his back a long time ago. 'He's crazy, but he's our crazy'. 'He does magic tricks in the box'. 'He slagged Rooney's prozzie off'. 'He lit fireworks off his balcony'... and countless other off pitch stuff. He gained some super star status through all that, things which matter absolutely zero in the scheme of things to the football club where it matters, and for that he was pretty much untouchable as far as getting stick off the fans was concerned. Take all that away and give him the personality of Gareth Barry, and I would say people would have got on his back like they have other players. I remember a handful of games where he played to the potential I don't doubt he has, but a 'legend'? Please.Skashion said:So this post is basically a I-don't-care-about-facts posts. :-)Pigeonho said:That's all well and good. Jonathan Greening has a Champions League medal, which dresses up the fact he was in because Keane was banned and wouldn't have got anywhere near a medal otherwise. Point being you can dress it all up however you want, but for US he wasn't anything like as good as what people believe. His personality and 'star' status is what many fell for, simply because we've not had someone who gets in the gossip columns in the showbiz parts of the papers for years and years. For every world class performance he put in, in the Euro's, there are plenty more for us which show he simply couldn't be arsed. Add the nonsense on the pitch and the red cards and what you have is someone who, for us, was nothing more than good. If he goes onto be the player you believe, fair enough and good luck to him but the OP didn't ask that, he asked who was overrated when playing for us and Balotelli was most definitely overrated.
Thought you weren't bitter? This post definitely is bitter.Pigeonho said:Put it this way. If Balotelli wasn't a pop star player, someone people fawn over for non-footballing matters, and he put in the same performances he did for us, people would have been on his back a long time ago. 'He's crazy, but he's our crazy'. 'He does magic tricks in the box'. 'He slagged Rooney's prozzie off'. 'He lit fireworks off his balcony'... and countless other off pitch stuff. He gained some super star status through all that, things which matter absolutely zero in the scheme of things to the football club where it matters, and for that he was pretty much untouchable as far as getting stick off the fans was concerned. Take all that away and give him the personality of Gareth Barry, and I would say people would have got on his back like they have other players. I remember a handful of games where he played to the potential I don't doubt he has, but a 'legend'? Please.
How do you get bitter from that? You're one soft, easily offended man if you think that there is bitter. It's how I saw it. I have no ill-feeling toward Balotelli, he's never done anything to me personally. My opinion though is that he was overrated, which of course is what the OP was asking. Now, is that ok with you fella?Skashion said:Thought you weren't bitter? This post definitely is bitter.Pigeonho said:Put it this way. If Balotelli wasn't a pop star player, someone people fawn over for non-footballing matters, and he put in the same performances he did for us, people would have been on his back a long time ago. 'He's crazy, but he's our crazy'. 'He does magic tricks in the box'. 'He slagged Rooney's prozzie off'. 'He lit fireworks off his balcony'... and countless other off pitch stuff. He gained some super star status through all that, things which matter absolutely zero in the scheme of things to the football club where it matters, and for that he was pretty much untouchable as far as getting stick off the fans was concerned. Take all that away and give him the personality of Gareth Barry, and I would say people would have got on his back like they have other players. I remember a handful of games where he played to the potential I don't doubt he has, but a 'legend'? Please.