Most underrated Villa Players | Page 3 | Vital Football

Most underrated Villa Players

DeanoVilla said:
I thought Petrov was extremely under-rated pre diagnosis.

I seem to remember on here there was only really me and a user by the name of James06 who really highly rated him in the seasons before he fell ill. A lot of users labelled him a crab saying he only passed sideways, which I always felt was very unfair.

After he fell ill, obiviously everyone threw their support his way and rightly so, and he became a hero and a legend, but I'd say the vast majority didn't rate him before hand.

Very underrated player. Bit like Gareth Barry and Douglas Luiz in midfield. Just oozed class kept things ticking over.
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He could score from the half way line as well and wore the hoops up in scotland at celtic,,seanie
 
Here's a name that never gets mentioned, Mark Draper.

He doesn't belong up there with Southgate and Yorke but he did for one season.

I don't know what happened to him. He was sensational for a season. He seemed to fall apart after he got called up to England.
 
DeanoVilla said:
I thought Petrov was extremely under-rated pre diagnosis.

I seem to remember on here there was only really me and a user by the name of James06 who really highly rated him in the seasons before he fell ill. A lot of users labelled him a crab saying he only passed sideways, which I always felt was very unfair.

After he fell ill, obiviously everyone threw their support his way and rightly so, and he became a hero and a legend, but I'd say the vast majority didn't rate him before hand.

Very underrated player. Bit like Gareth Barry and Douglas Luiz in midfield. Just oozed class kept things ticking over.
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Oh his debut, him and JPA were almost telepathic. Nobody else in the team was on the same wavelength so they couldn't make much out of it. That really stood out to me.

I think Petrov got his crab reputation because there was nobody to play the ball to Infront of him.
 
BodyButter said:
Here's a name that never gets mentioned, Mark Draper.

He doesn't belong up there with Southgate and Yorke but he did for one season.

I don't know what happened to him. He was sensational for a season. He seemed to fall apart after he got called up to England.
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Last year I watched a load of season reviews from the mid/ late 90s and in one of them he looked awesome.
 
BodyButter said:
Oh his debut, him and JPA were almost telepathic. Nobody else in the team was on the same wavelength so they couldn't make much out of it. That really stood out to me.

I think Petrov got his crab reputation because there was nobody to play the ball to Infront of him.
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Yes Petrov's debut was one of the best I've seen in some ways, he looked amazing as an attacking force, like the attacking midfielder we always needed. He never looked even remotely close to that afterwards which is probably why people didn't rate him. But as Deano said, he carved out an excellent career for us in a different capacity.
 
Melon Donkey said:
Never liked him.
Never remember him being particularly special tbh.
But I think I’m in the minority when it comes to him so I guess I am under rating him then !.
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I thought he was great for us, especially as his reputation was basically in the bin when he signed. The impression I've got of him since is that he considered us an unfortunate but necessary backwards step that he had to take to get his career back on track, which is mad seeing as he went on to play for a series of much smaller clubs that normally finished below us.
 
Remember watching Draper playing for Leicester in the 4-4 draw under Little. Think it was the game Tommy Johnson threw up in the centre circle but scored a hat trick? Villa fans were booing him when he kept the ball for what seemed like ages and remember saying to them you'll be cheering for him in a couple of weeks and, lo and behold, we did but never hit the heights for us as Leicester. Think our form fell off a cliff after that.Similar to what happened with Sasa Curcic,great for Bolton, shite for us
 
BodyButter said:
Here's a name that never gets mentioned, Mark Draper.

He doesn't belong up there with Southgate and Yorke but he did for one season.

I don't know what happened to him. He was sensational for a season. He seemed to fall apart after he got called up to England.
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I actually thought he was over rated rather than underrated.

Remember when we signed him it was a real coup. He was up there with Roy Keane according to the tabloids, and while he did OK for us he never quite did anything more.
 
I remember Draper being very good in his first season, decent second then absolutely God awful after that.
 
I'll chuck another name into the conversation- Dean Saunders. His strike partnership with Dalian Atkinson was electric. Still believe if Stephen Froggatt hadn't had a season ending injury in the run in we'd of beaten the Manc twats to the title
 
Old Trinity Villan said:
Alan Hutton if just for his attitude and THAT goal. He was sent to the bomb squad. What did he do? Kept trying his hardest and eventually took his rightful place back. Never gave less than a full Ron Saunders 110%. Brilliant and a decent pundit now as well.
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I think Hutton was rated exactly as he should have been. Never a premier league player but great in the championship.

I'll never forget that he signed a new deal with us for less money that horrible summer after the play off final loss when we thought we might go under at worst and at best would have to sell off anyone worth anything just to survive.

As for THAT goal. Simply one of the greatest moments I've witnessed at Villa Park. I love that man and I say that as someone who hated him for years as a player. Great guy.
 
remote said:
For me -Paul Merson loved watching this guy play when he turned it on.
His lobs of the keeper almost became his trademark -great range of passing - some great goals

Yet barely gets a mention when great villa players are discussed.

Any others.???
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He was brilliant, especially that pass he did with the outside of his boot. Was really gutted when he left.
 
DeanoVilla said:
I thought Petrov was extremely under-rated pre diagnosis.

After he fell ill, obiviously everyone threw their support his way and rightly so, and he became a hero and a legend, but I'd say the vast majority didn't rate him before hand.
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Very true, I am guilty of it, under Houllier I just thought he had gotten too slow and lacked the athleticism needed to play that type of football. This was the era just before we started seeing the likes of your Kantes and Ganas come thru. The game very much started to speed up.

The entire team suffered the loss of Milner we lost our engine in midfield. None more than Stan as a Attacking Mid at Celtic he didn't have to get around the pitch. And under MoN he was excellent at reading the game and again didn't need to run around like a headless chicken.

Of course what followed next was a decade of terrible centre mids until McGinn showed up.
 
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