The most talented Boro players you’ve seen at the Riverside

Andy_W said:
I think Valdes, like many players gets overrated because they played for Barcelona.

Put him in any other side and he would be just above average, like how Bojan used to look class at Barca, and then crap for a poor team.

Saying that, Barcelona can also turn good players into poor or average players, especially those who go from being a big fish to just a fish, like Coutinho.
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He started year after year in probably the best side we will ever see, you dont get in that position through being above average
 
JM14 said:
He started year after year in probably the best side we will ever see, you dont get in that position through being above average
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Oh I'm not doubting that he was above average (for a keeper), but you don't need the best keeper in the world, or even a top 10, when the rest of the side is as good as it was. He wasn't a patch on Kahn, Casillas, Cech, Buffon, Neuer etc, who also played for good teams. When he came to us he was about 10 years passed his best too.
 
Humpty said:
Never thought Rav was as talented as Viduka or Boksic personally.
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Not skill wise maybe, but a better finisher or got himself into the right position more. The other two never outscored his rate, and they had far better teams to play in too. Much easier in a good side.

The latter two had a better attitude too mind.
 
Valdes was a top keeper for years, certainly top 10 in the world in his prime at Barca. Completely revolutionised the position as well. He was superb with his feet and hands, had amazing reactions and was a brilliant 1 on 1 keeper. He was also pretty vocal as well and, along with Puyol and latterly Pique, organised Barca's defence very well.

It's clear his head wasn't in the right place when he came to us and it showed in his performances (which I actually don't think were THAT bad). He just never seemed particularly motivated to achieve in his time here (see also his spell at Utd), but given what he'd won in the game it's difficult to see how he would be.
 
Viduka
Juninho
Merson (For the league we where in)

Also a mention for Woodgate - not in the same bracket but as a defender when fit seeing how easy he made it, always 2-3 steps ahead of the attacker. Just a shame he had the injuries he did
 
Andy_W said:
Not skill wise maybe, but a better finisher or got himself into the right position more. The other two never outscored his rate, and they had far better teams to play in too. Much easier in a good side.

The latter two had a better attitude too mind.
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I'd dispute that he was a better finisher than those two. He played in a much more attacking team, against poorer opponents and bagged most of his goals against poorer sides in the cup.
 
In terms of talent...

Juninho
Woodgate
Boksic


Emerson had serious talent as well, as did Traore.
 
Andy_W said:
Not skill wise maybe, but a better finisher or got himself into the right position more. The other two never outscored his rate, and they had far better teams to play in too. Much easier in a good side.

The latter two had a better attitude too mind.
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I don't think Boksic's attitude was better. I'd say it was worse. Rav might have been a moaning, abrasive nob. But a lot of that was down to frustration and the fact he cared. He was also right about a lot of things, just not the best way to vent your frustration. Not sure if it's true or not, but his astonishment and moaning over the state of the training facilities allegedly influenced Gibson when it came to developing Rockcliffe.

I don't doubt Rav was a pain in the ****, but give me that over Boksic's "I'll play when I feel like it" attitude.
 
Andy_W said:
Not skill wise maybe, but a better finisher or got himself into the right position more. The other two never outscored his rate, and they had far better teams to play in too. Much easier in a good side.

The latter two had a better attitude too mind.
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Rav was too one footed for me. Didn't Ricard outscored him for league goals in a season too.
 
WilliamMunny said:
It never ceases to amaze me when people say Emerson was unplayable for 3 months. It was in fact 6 PL games (4 weeks) - in the 7th game Patrick Vieira put him in his back pocket and he was never the same again. If people doubt that, how did we manage to go 12 games without a win (over 3 months from 14th September until Boxing Day) with this supposed dominant midfielder playing alongside Juninho and Ravanelli? We scored 7 and conceded 26 in that 12 game run. If Emerson had been anything other than a complete passenger, that record would not have been so pathetic.
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So it was all Emerson's fault in those 12 games nothing to do with the other 10 players. It's a team game.
 
festa5 said:
He was also right about a lot of things, just not the best way to vent your frustration. Not sure if it's true or not, but his astonishment and moaning over the state of the training facilities allegedly influenced Gibson when it came to developing Rockcliffe.
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I think this was integral to how we designed rockcliff.

As some one said as the time it’s like buying a Ferrari and keeping it in a shed.

rav was so appalled at our lack of training he has trappatoni fax over jives training plan for him to follow.
 
zorro_mfc said:
I think this was integral to how we designed rockcliff.

As some one said as the time it’s like buying a Ferrari and keeping it in a shed.

rav was so appalled at our lack of training he has trappatoni fax over jives training plan for him to follow.
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Say what you like about Rav, his dedication as a pro athlete was never in doubt.

Wasn't there a story about him and Fjortoft being the only ones who turned up training one day? (can't remember why now, but clearly they were supposed to have the day off). Rather than go home they carried on and did a session the two of them.

Going on a bit of a tangent like but I always thought Robbo missed a trick not playing Fjortoft with Ravanelli more that season. He was clearly one of the few players Rav respected.
 
WilliamMunny said:
It never ceases to amaze me when people say Emerson was unplayable for 3 months. It was in fact 6 PL games (4 weeks) - in the 7th game Patrick Vieira put him in his back pocket and he was never the same again. If people doubt that, how did we manage to go 12 games without a win (over 3 months from 14th September until Boxing Day) with this supposed dominant midfielder playing alongside Juninho and Ravanelli? We scored 7 and conceded 26 in that 12 game run. If Emerson had been anything other than a complete passenger, that record would not have been so pathetic.
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Totally agree. Don't get me wrong he showed in those six games he could mix it with the best and we saw some incredible goals from him during his time here but he didn't have the right mentality to be a top player. There were times in the 96/97 season where I thought he must be getting paid to give the ball away as it was happening that often.
 
asredastheycome said:
So it was all Emerson's fault in those 12 games nothing to do with the other 10 players. It's a team game.
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I clearly didn’t say that it was all his fault. I did say that if we had the best midfielder in the world in unplayable form throughout most of that period - as some have stated was the case - how come our form was utterly rancid?
 
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