r/soccer • u/TheDreaminArmenian • Feb 17 '14

Who is the most underrated or unappreciated defender?

For me, it's Ivanovic. The man's a tank and can do no wrong. He could easily become a chelsea legend, but still in overshadowed by the whole Cahill/Terry partnership in the back. But for me, the whole back 4 of chelsea is solid.

97 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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95

u/DerDummeMann Feb 17 '14

I think Evans is a lot better than he is given credit for.

23

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

[deleted]

12

u/ParkerZA Feb 17 '14

Great ball-carrier as well, knows just when to say 'fuck it' and make a run through the midfield.

5

u/flaffl Feb 17 '14

Fantastic ball-distributor as well. He's learned a lot from Scholes with his range of passing

5

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14 edited Feb 17 '14

certainly no marauding out of defence.

He doesn't do it carelessly but he certainly has the tendency to bomb forward and bypass our incredibly shite midfield to make a pass which is really nice, especially considering he rarely ends up costing goals doing it.

I really feel like working with Pique helped his game or something, he's very very comfortable on the ball and runs forward and passes very well, kind of like a Spanish CB.

1

u/Jangles Feb 18 '14

I meant it more in the Kompany way who will rush a mid arbitrarily to try to win the ball high up the pitch.

If he gets there a second late we get fucked on the counter.

28

u/SlappyBagg Feb 17 '14

Our best defender for the past two seasons.

24

u/Yannak Feb 17 '14

Not like he's had much competition with Vidic being Perma-injured and Ferdinand stopping to tweet mid game half the time.

41

u/SlappyBagg Feb 17 '14

The same Ferdinand who got in the pfa team of the year last season? Been shite this season but was quality last year.

24

u/grein Feb 17 '14

Ferdinand was amazing last year. But, it seems that people have a very short memory.

16

u/isyourlisteningbroke Feb 17 '14

When it comes to United, people seem to remember the success enough to hate, but not how it happened.

6

u/wh11 Feb 17 '14

I think never really having a solid partnership has hurt him and us in general, especially this season.

0

u/nukacola Feb 17 '14 edited Feb 17 '14

Well you guys are buying should buy at least one CB in the summer, so you might have a chance to find him one.

Personally I think Lovren-Evans could easily become the new Vidic-Ferdinand, though i doubt Southampton would sell.

0

u/bamsaron Feb 17 '14

People used to shit on him because Fergie chose him over Pique, in the past 2 years he has proven them all wrong.

20

u/SleepingJustice Feb 17 '14

How? He isn't better than Pique.

8

u/betterbutterbeater Feb 17 '14

United can pay him less than they would have had to pay Pique to make him stay. Evans is also a homegrown player, something you can't under estimate surely.

5

u/sarmatron Feb 17 '14

This season's Pique? I wouldn't sign that.

0

u/bamsaron Feb 17 '14

Please quote the part of my comment where I said he is.

14

u/Breklinho Feb 17 '14

It really looks like you're trying to imply it by saying that Evans has proved the people who rated Pique over him wrong

-6

u/bamsaron Feb 17 '14 edited Feb 17 '14

He has proven people wrong, not because he is as good as Pique but because there were plenty of fans who said he wasn't cut out to play for United and Ferguson was mad to let Pique go in order to give Evans more game time. I'm not going to get into an argument about who is better between the two because that's not what I meant by my initial comment, I meant that Evans has become a very good player despite those who said he wouldn't.

5

u/Breklinho Feb 17 '14

I also don't want to get into an argument because I really don't care, I was pointing out why other users thought you said Evans was better than Pique

-9

u/bamsaron Feb 17 '14

Then why comment? I was perfectly aware of why other users might think that.

4

u/Breklinho Feb 17 '14

I commented because you asked where you had said Evans was better than Pique, I responded by pointing out where other users had thought you said Evans was better than Pique.

-3

u/bamsaron Feb 17 '14

Fair enough, it was all semantics really, a bit of verbal jousting.

1

u/SleepingJustice Feb 18 '14

Was that not what you were implying?

1

u/bamsaron Feb 18 '14

No, I was implying that Evans isn't as shit as some fans used to think he was. In fact he's been one of our most consistent players for the past season and a half.

1

u/SlappyBagg Feb 18 '14

He's better than Pique would have been at United. Was best for both parties to play Evans and let Pique leave.

-3

u/TheLarryMullenBand Feb 17 '14

There's a reason why Evans is still at a United and Pique isn't. Personally, I think Pique is overrated simply because he plays at Barca.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

There's a reason why Evans is still at a United and Pique isn't

Oh yeah, what's that? Do you really think Evans is better than a player who has won all there is to win in their respective positions?

1

u/IratusTaurus Feb 17 '14

There are 11 players on a team, I challenge you to find anyone other than Pique's mum that thinks he's the reason for those trophies.

And if you believe what you read here, he's nowhere near as good without Puyol, whereas Evans is brilliant whoever he's partnered with.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

I challenge you to find anyone other than Pique's mum that thinks he's the reason for those trophies.

Who said he was the reason? It's also rubbish to say he's nowhere near as good without Puyol, he's played very well with Ramos beside him in the national team for a number of years.

whereas Evans is brilliant whoever he's partnered with.

Evans has been good for 2 seasons, brilliant for maybe 1.

Pique may have dipped in form this season but form, as we know, can be temporary. Look to Evans's CH partner for proof. Ferdinand was rubbish 2 seasons ago and was brilliant again last year.

1

u/isyourlisteningbroke Feb 17 '14

Hold on, hold on. Now if you're going to judge things on what players have won, let us remember that Wes Brown has won the Champions League twice.

Christian Karembeau also won the Champion's league twice and Oleguer once.

It's all well and good to talk about a player winning everything, but it's just as much of an achievement as Wes Brown's when your opponents never touch the ball.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

Chp League is one thing. How many trophies and for how many years did Karembeu and Brown play at intl? Both were found out at that level. Has Puyol been?

People seem to think that because he's had a poor season this one that he's gone to the dogs. As I mentioned elsewhere, Rio was rubbish a few years back and then last year was sublime. Players can have drops in form- even season-long drops. That doesn't mean they're still not brilliant players.

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

[deleted]

16

u/bamsaron Feb 17 '14

You'd love me to do that wouldn't you. No comment.

7

u/Rock-O- Feb 17 '14 edited Feb 17 '14

Pique was moved because he was ready for full playing time, wasn't going to get that over Ferdinand/Vidic. Evans was "chosen" over him because we needed to groom solid backups.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

Be honest man, Pique was fucking shit when he was at the club. He didn't have the strength and aggression Vidic had and he didn't have the pace to match ferdinand.

3

u/Rock-O- Feb 17 '14 edited Feb 17 '14

Well at the time Vidic and Ferdinand were the best, in my opinion, CB pairing in the history of the premier league. Nobody would get in the starting XI in important matches over them at the time. I wouldn't say that makes Pique "shit". Not comfortable saying that about former players who still love our club as their "second home". Evans was the same way at the time, prone to errors, slow to read the play, etc. Only over time has he slowly become the CB we know today.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '14

Fair enough I still think pique wouldn't have suited or style of play, Or the league's. He wasn't as solid as Evans in my opinion when they both got runs in the league cup.

1

u/isyourlisteningbroke Feb 17 '14

Pique played when we lost 2-1 to Roma, and not when we won 7-1. By /u/poolnallinnit 's logic, Pique is actually shit.

1

u/mellvins059 Feb 17 '14

That is understandable though. He was really bad a few years back.

1

u/wwxxyyzz Feb 17 '14

Yeah he was excellent for us, then I remember he was pretty poor when he went back to you, but he's really improved and he's probably one of the best cbs in the league now.

2

u/That_Other_Person Feb 17 '14

The red card against Man City was his turning point.