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*Official* English Football Season 2016-17

Uppercut

Uppercut

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sledger said:
Yeah, Torres would be my pick for biggest flop too. Would also have Soldado, Carroll, Shevchenko, Falcao, and Rebrov, comfortably ahead of Veron. Bebe, Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson as well. Then there's also the likes of players like Bosko Balaban, Seth Johnson, and Steve Marlet who people tend to forget about, but were absolutely terrible. Didn't West Ham also buy some Ugandan striker from Serie B club for like £10m a while back? Pretty sure he was a disaster as well.
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Interesting how many of these are strikers, especially ones that are signed between their real-life peak age and their English-pundit-theoretical peak age.

I guess part of it is also that spending big money on defenders is rare. So unmitigated disasters like Blanc at least didn't burn a hole in the transfer budget while they held the team back. As midfielders go, Veron may be the worst. I can think of guys like Aquilani who moved for big money and did nothing, but am struggling to come up with any that actively held the team back like Shevchenko and Torres.
 
sledger

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Yeah, I struggle to think of any midfielders who were the same. Van der Meyde and N'Zogbia were two that came to mind, but I don't recall them holding back their teams as such, just being crap.

I guess the reasons strikers have such a huge effect on holding back teams, or at least get noticed more, is because so much of a team's overall strength and effectiveness is dependent on a forward who is good and fits in with your style of play, especially if you only play with one. Having an immobile lump up front who is useless is a serious liability because so much attacking play will have to go through them, meaning a crap player in that position will just eff up so many other parts of your setup and strategy.

The same is to some extent true of any player I guess. But cack midfielders can be carried by those around them a bit more, and cack defenders can be protected by a good midfield or their cracks can be papered over by having an attack that means you tend to score more goals than you concede. Pretty sure this is one of the reasons why plenty of Arsenal's players over the last ten years managed to cling on for as long as they did.
 
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GIMH

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Does Torres count though? I thought we were talking about Prem flops not flopped at a specific club.
 
T

Tom Halsey

International Coach
GIMH said:
Does Torres count though? I thought we were talking about Prem flops not flopped at a specific club.
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I thought it was just worst signings tbf.

Maybe it's just me, but biggest flop and worst signing have two different definitions IMO. Biggest flop is as it says but that doesn't necessarily mean they were a bad signing if you're only saying they were a bad signing with the benefit of hindsight. In other words, the logic of the signing might have been sound but it just didn't work out for unforeseen reasons.

I think a lot of the biggest flops were unexpected but on the other hand some were completely predictable and those predictable ones would be the worst signings. United have definitely made a few of those, both Fergie era and since, but I don't think Veron counts.

Torres is sort of in the middle IMO. He had had a noticeably poorer first half to the season at Liverpool than his previous couple of years so there were question marks but I definitely wasn't certain he'd never regain his old levels. Don't think he was a particularly great fit for that side though tbf.
 
cpr

cpr

International Coach
Really don't get the latch onto Bebe by some, yeah he was a blind gamble, in the same way Forlan was (Fergie saw a ****ing highlights reel he'd put together ffs). It wasn't that much money compared to what we spend elsewhere, and if you watch him back in Portugal now he's showing the flashes of skill that made it a half decent punt on a raw kid.

So he failed at Utd, but in truth it was a huge step for him.


I just don't get why people throw him up when you can launch into Obertan and Bellion instead, those two (especially the latter) get away with far too much hiding behind the Bebe signing.
 
Niall

Niall

International Coach
sledger said:
Haha, that Ibra miss. Oh dear.
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He has been a bad signing, a few nice goals, but absurdly wasteful and cost them loads of points. You will get plenty later seeking to absolve Jose of all blame, but that would be naive. He has persisted with an increasingly wasteful Zlatan all season and his subs today were weird. Mata who was the most creative player on the pitch off and Rooney on.

I'd also wonder why Jose has such a hard on for Lingard, why Rashford is out of position and where on earth mkhitaryan is.

This lot are not making top 4.
 
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vcs

vcs

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They created enough chances today to win half a dozen games, but :laugh: all the same. Another two points dropped.
 
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