What City player was most over rated by our own fans

[OB1]

Balotlli all day long. I'm looking at it all relatively. Kinkladze was a gem to us because we were so woefully shit. He stuck out and not just to our own fans, other fans rated him too. The battle of Juninho v Kinkladze as it was billed at the Riverside, Dec 1995, (the coldest away match ever and I just wanted to die, quite frankly). We got beat that day, and Juninho shone out of the two of them but the fact it was billed as that in the first place shows what others thought of him.

Balotelli has been labelled as a legend by many on here, more often than not for matters that are nothing to do with football and i'm sorry but Balotelli is anything but a legend. Never before have I seen our fans laud someone almost like a teenage girl fawns over the latest bubble gum pop idol from the States. It's been quite embarrassing at times. Balotelli is a good player, but he's not even close to being what many said he is.

This.

Plus Kinkladze, however much of a dilettante he may have been, provided me with some of my most precious memories as a City fan. His performances at home to Newcastle, and away at Oxford and Southend, amongst others, were nothing less than magical, and when the Etihad is eventually raised to the ground in the 3rd World War, he'll still be the scorer of the greatest goal ever seen in Manchester.......

Balotelli and Kinkladze count as players with fantastic natural ability. Kinkladze failed to apply himself sufficiently to fulfill his potential and Mario did not fulfill his potential at City; he may yet prove himself at AC Milan, where he had a very impressive first few months. Both these guys are guilty of under-delivery but that, in my mind, does not necessarily make them overrated.

I think someone like James Milner, who I like and want in the squad, is overrated by a lot of City supporters.

 

[Skashion]

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?

I'm not offended by your bitterness. The idea that I'm easily offended though brought me much mirth so I thank you.

 

[Pigeonho]

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?

I'm not offended by your bitterness. The idea that I'm easily offended though brought me much mirth so I thank you.

My pleasure.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Mike Sheron
Richard Edghill - (before it became too obvious)
Richard Dunne

and just to be controversial

Kompany

 

[peoffrey]

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?

I'm not offended by your bitterness. The idea that I'm easily offended though brought me much mirth so I thank you.

My pleasure.

You're right, Pige. That song the Scallies sang for him throughout was vomit inducing. He was a badly behaved, puerile, ignorant, lazy shit who only played when he felt like it. Mancini got that one so, so wrong yet he'll never admit it.

 

[NQCitizen]

Can't believe the amount of people this week turning on zabaleta You're on drugs, you ust be !

I'm not turning on Zaba he's obviously very good and a great bloke but tactically and positionally he can be suspect. His attacking urges are not always appropriate and some of his decision making can be rash.

If Pellegrini adds in the new quality to the line-up as expected it's not completely unthinkable that he'll be the worst player in the 11.

Hart
Zaba Kompany Nastasic Clichy
Fernandinho Yaya
Navas Silva Jovetic
Aguero

 

[JGL07]

De Jong by a friggin' mile!

He was needed in the 2009-10 season in the games against 'the big 4' when we had to control the midfield and stop them from playing. As I recall, he was quality against Chelsea at home but 2 goals in 3.5 seasons for a midfielder is a poor return. Don't care if he's a defensive midfielder, so's Gareth Barry but he offers so much more than a sideways pass and cynical foul.

The idea of De Jong was to stop the other (better) team from playing. By 2010-11, we were better than 18 other teams in the league anyway. He was here on big money and of 4 players we signed in January 2009, all 4 came to City for the money. There was no 'project' then!

He seems a sound bloke and that but Christ, he was ineffective most of the time. Never got the love-in for him.

He has a PL winners medal. And he earned it.

Course he did. He's a good footballer! He's nowhere near as good as many thought, though. And, him being sold is not even a fifth of a reason why we were dog mess last season.

De Jong was sold because he wanted to move. He was never going to get a regular starting place with City. He was never going to sign a new contract unless he was starting regularly. The options were to sell him or let him bide his time and walk for nothing 12 months on.

 

[MCFC BOB]

Kompany

I think, again, we are fair when it comes to Vincent.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Clueless. Nothing more needs to be said.

-- Tue Aug 06, 2013 3:50 am --



Paul Lake, Tevez, Zabaleta and Kinkladze... Dear oh dear. Think i might go to bed now.

I know. By the way, I'd have staked my life on old Mr 6one being a newbie with less than 100 posts, so I went back and checked, and sure enough! 3 letter word, begins with 'r', ends in 'g'.......

Not a rag. 17 years season ticket holder.

I included Paul Lake. Bit of a funny one. It never materialised how good he was or not because of his injury, so nobody knows how good or not he may have been. So we don't know. But people say as though it's certain he'd have been England captain etc...

Tevez I think was massively overrated, and much like Suarez he is to the detriment of the team in my opinion. With their greediness and excessive touches of the ball. It was no coincidence in my mind that when Tevez came back into the team last season, we were less prolific than in 11/12 and like we were in 10/11 again when Tevez was the main man. Tevez was also obsessed with being the main man, and when he felt he wasn't he wanted to leave. He only came back to collect his money and when he did come back, he was not as good as he was before his sabbatical.

Adam Johnson was very useful in 11/12 and could have done with some of his goals last year, but he was overrated, as shown by his poor season at Sunderland. Should do better this year though now his stock has reduced.

Kinkladze, to hear some talk it's like the guy was messi. if he was that good, he'd have single handedly stopped the club being relegated.

Michael Johnson is overrated to the extent that you're only as good as you treat your body (see Rooney) and people were too quick to give excuses for Johnson. His lifestyle was atrocious for an "athlete" especially one on £30,000 a week and contributed to his weighty frame. People even made the excuse saying that it was the medication that made him balloon. That doesn't wash.

How can you claim Lake was overrated then, if your argument is then that his talent was unproven?! For me, and I've watched and played a lot of football, Paul Lake was one of the most effortlessly talented players the club ever produced, and whilst his career may have been cut obscenely short, he was club captain at 21 and had made it into Bobby Robson's initial squad of 40 for Italia 90. 6ft tall, good in the air, immaculate right foot, decent enough left foot, pace to burn, supremely athletic, he still gets in my greatest ever City XI even now, and in 3 different positions! I remember going to the Library once to see City get battered 4-0, and I had to sit in with the Arsenal fans cos my mate was a Gooner. Despite the scoreline, the home fans around me couldn't stop drooling over the City right back, who swaggered up and down the right flank, going past opponents like they weren't there. Lakey was a diamond floating in a sea of shit that night, and his loss is still one of the cruelest blows we've ever had to endure. Apart from that he was crap though, eh?! ;)

 

[conormcfc]

Balotelli was probably the most slagged off player on this forum for the 2 and half years he was here. Not sure where this 'he was untouchable' status has come from. Did you miss the weekly Mario bashing topics?

I don't think our fans overrated him at all. In fact I'd say he's rated higher by fans of other clubs.