The Most Over-Rated Premier League Players

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I don’t know about anyone else, but it kinda frustrates me when I watch football matches in the Premier League and I hear commentators and the like praising a player or stating how important he is… yet in my opinion that said player is actually massively over-rated, and rarely contributes much to a game at all.

I realise this post may be a tad negative or bitter, of course I wish I was playing Premier League football week-in, week-out, but I just feel that these guys really punch above their weight and am so surprised that I don’t seem to hear other people with the same viewpoint as me.

So here it is, my over-rated 11. Feel free to leave your opinions below, or suggest over players that I may have over-looked.

over rated premier league players

 

Goalkeeper:
Thomas Sorenson, Stoke City. This would have been Scott Carson without a shadow of a doubt had he not been shipped out by a wise Roy Hodgson at WBA, but this prize now falls to Thomas Sorenson of Stoke City. I know Gomes would have been too obvious a choice for this position, but I think he’s just too obvious for this. I personally can’t handle Sorenson of Stoke City – I think he fumbles so many shots, makes a lot of silly mistakes, and often gets away with it yet gets shed loads of praise. Thankfully Stoke have a very decent defence to keep Sorenson with little to do during games.

 

Leftback:
Banoit-Assou-Ekotto, Tottenham Hotspur. I really can’t stand this player. I thought Redknapp was quite a sensible manager, yet I don’t see why he’s not bothered replacing his joker at left-back. I watched Spurs play on quite a few occasions last season; I loved their attacking football, and I seriously felt as if they could build upon their squad to become title challengers. Probably the first player I felt that needed to go if they are serious about challenging is Assou-Ekotto. As with Clichy below, he may be alright at going forward, having lots of energy to burn and making those over-lapping runs to provide another threat – as if they needed one with the one-man-team in Gareth Bale. But I feel this guy can’t defend at all. His concentration seems so poor, his reading of the play, his positioning, his workrate. Sometimes he just seems that he wants to showboat and give the ball away. He must lose the ball for Spurs so much. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes he can play a great match. But too many times all I see from him is giving away cheap possession – not what Tottenham want.

 

Rightback:
Gael Clichy, Man City. This one is probably less about the player and more about the circumstances of the club that opted to sign him. I mean, Manchester City, the richest club in the world, signing the likes of Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero… and then… Gael Clichy?! I just fail to see why they opt for a very average left back when they want to buy their way to success – I think the move shows the complete lack of half-decent left backs currently available to sign. Clichy gets forward a lot and has a lot of energy to burn, no doubt why Mancini wants him in their side as it gives them more options when attacking, but I really think defensively he gets found out a lot and I don’t think he is the best positioning-wise as well as when it comes to reading the game. I know he’s not a right-back, but he’s right footed and I seriously had to include Assou-Ekotto in this line-up as well.

 

Centre back:
Fabricio Coloccini, Newcastle. I couldn’t really be bothered thinking of another centre-back so decided to stick with Coloccini. To be fair he has improved a lot since he arrived at the club, and the club probably wasn’t the greatest to play for with all their off the field problems, but I still feel he’s quite a dodgy defender. Doesn’t have great pace, and doesn’t seem to have great positioning at times, yet he still often does a job for Newcastle.

 

Centre back:
Titus Bramble, Sunderland. Don’t feel I really need to say anything at all here to justify his inclusion?… I feel harsh including him but again, can’t be bothered to think of an alternative. I think just about everyone knows how dodgy he can be, yet sometimes he manages to find a top performance when his club needs him. Could be a great defender if he wasn’t awful 99% of the time…

 

Left midfield:
Stewart Downing, Liverpool. As a Man United fan I was really glad to see Liverpool spend a reported £20 million on the winger, as in my opinion he is vastly over-rated. Maybe at a better club he will come on as a player but even in his England appearances I’ve rarely been impressed by him. When he plays good he looks very good indeed, but in my eyes this happens ever so rarely. He doesn’t run at people enough, and doesn’t cross the ball enough. In a fast-passing team he really slows down play, I find him so boring. Watching him play for England the other night against Wales, against a very average looking Welsh rightback, Downing only really tried to beat his man a few times – yet was often successful when he did try. I don’t see why he doesn’t take more people on, all he seems to do when given the ball is stop, cut inside and pass (often giving the ball away), or just run at his man. Not very sly when it comes to attacking, perhaps all he has to do is knock it down the line and then put in a cross. He rarely does this though – such a frustrating player to watch, can’t imagine how it must feel to play upfront when he’s playing.

 

Right midfield:
James Milner, Man City. I used to quite like Milner with his huge work-rate and all action style play. But recently I’ve found him very boring, and very ordinary. He seems to rely on his strength too much, often fouling players or trying to barge them to beat them, and doesn’t seem to be a great all rounder, just quite average. I don’t think he’s very creative, he seems more of an old-fashioned English midfielder, yet is finding himself often involved with the England team. Seems like he’s been around for ages, so maybe I’m just getting bored of seeing his face, he is only 25 years old though which is quite a surprise. Still think he’s quite an ordinary, over-rated player, someone who rarely ever excites me during a match – perhaps the odd 30 yard strike being the exception.

 

Centre Midfield:
Michael Carrick, Man United. I feel a bit harsh including Carrick as a Man United fan, but often when I’ve seen him play I’m forgetting exactly why he plays for the club. I mean, what role does he play – he seems to be in a more holding role, yet I thought he was quite a creative player with a good range of passing and good general vision, but when I saw him play recently against Benfica (albeit, first game in a long time), all he ever did was pass sideways, back to keeper, or give the ball away. He looked really panicky in possession, and not at all assured or comfortable on the ball. I think he could be quite a confidence player, so maybe he’s going through a bad phase, but he does often seem to be out of favour with manager Ferguson and I can see why based on some of his performances. Needs to become more assured and up the rate of his passing game.

 

Centre Midfield:
Frank Lampard, Chelsea. I felt I wasn’t really being controversial enough with this post so decided to include a Chelsea legend to kick up some fuss…just kidding. I’ve never been a massive fan of Lampards to be honest. Everyone bangs on about his goalscoring record, yet whenever I’ve watched a full game of him in action you actually realise he has about 10 shots during the game… so 1 of these is bound to go in after all – yet you’ll watch Match Of The Day and only see about 2 or 3 of his strikes, 1 of which resulted in a goal. Okay he is a decent player still, but I think he’s past his prime and I consider him quite an ordinary, over-rated player.

 

Striker:
Peter Crouch, Stoke City. I was going to opt for Anelka at Chelsea but Crouch frustrates me so much yet is still considered by many of being a top striker. I really, really don’t. He’s so tall yet he’s poor in the air – any time he goes for a header he ends up fouling the defender by putting his arms on his shoulders to jump – I don’t see why he even has to do this when he’s 7 foot tall or whatever. He rarely scores, and commits so many fouls its unbelievable. Not that he’s a dirty player, I just think that the referee always blows up when they see him try to compete for something just because he looks so gangly and uncomfortable. Hardly his fault I know, but you’d have thought he’d have tried working on his general play. In my eyes Stoke were crazy to pay a fee that could rise to £12 million – I think he’s worth peanuts. Crouch scored 12 in 73 appearances for Spurs, and I don’t think he’ll find himself getting anymore chances to score at Stoke. Tony Pulis is a madman to pay this price for Crouch. He’s 30 years of age after all, and has played for 10 clubs – I think this in itself seeks volumes.

 

Striker:
Steven Fletcher, Wolves. This guy has to be the first on my teamsheet, I just really think he is a very very average striker. He’d cut it in the championship or the SPL, no doubt about that, but I’m rarely ever impressed by him whenever I see him playing in a Wolves shirt. Okay he’s only 24 years of age, which I admit really surprised me when I found it out when writing this piece – I presumed he was 28 or so, so I guess he’s got time to improve, but personally I don’t see why Mick McCarthy signed him from Burnley, especially for £6.5 million. His goalscoring record at Burnley was 8 goals in 35 appearances, so around a goal every 4 games, he’s got 11 in 33 appearances in Wolves so 1 in 3 now, a good improvement but he could score so many more goals if he was more composed in front of goal.

By Matt

Matt is the owner and chief-editor of the Footy Blog, one of the UK's leading football news blogs.