Well, If Turnip had picked Waddle, when he was poty in England, and during his latter time at Marseille when he took them to a European Cup final, may have been different.Agree with FJ. For 6 or 7 years either side of the Millenium he was very good. Not world class, but did his job better and more consistently than most England midfielders you could name. Possibly never quite the same after his injury shortly before the 2002 WC, and I did object to his spate of appearances after 2006 which seemed to serve no other purpose than allowing him to get past 100 caps. Probably contributed more to the national side than Waddle actually, irrespective of who was the more talented of the two..
Don't think I've ever read a better post than this. Absolutely spot on.I don't think his ability declined much post-United but he struggled to find his place after football moved on from 4-4-2. As a right midfielder in that system he was without equal because he could create so effectively from in front of the full back. Two strikers to aim crosses at and he could beat his man every time just by bending the ball around him (something no one else has managed to replicate at all). Then he would chip in fairly regularly with spectacular goals.
Madrid didn't really know what to do with him, which pretty much sums up what went wrong with the galactico recruitment policy. He was alright as a deep-lying midfielder but it didn't come naturally to him, he wasn't a tika-taka type and didn't contribute much in defence. He was too slow to play as an out-and-out winger. Wherever he played he tended to chase the ball because his reputation was so huge that he felt like he should be 'making something happen', especially for England. Dropping him was impossible because of his reputation, and his dead-ball ability probably made him worth keeping around anyway. But the fans started to really resent him, culminating in McClaren dropping him from his first squad in a move that seems really ****ed up now.
So yeah, world-class in his very specific role at United but no one knew what to do with his really unique skillset after that.
Hope springs eternal...Brentford must be gutted, so close to automatic then to lose at Wembley too. Same going to happen to Watford?
It's what a witch-hunt does to you.It's what a reputation does to you