I draw surprising comparisons between our individual players and the best in the world
There isn’t too much new news, so this’ll be a bit more of a fun post- this isn’t your New Year’s post (which will be coming shortly).
I’ve always seen similarities between a lot of our players and top Premier League players, so here I explain some of them.
Andy Lonergan – Hugo Lloris
Both are left footed, both are brave, both’s weaknesses lie in their distributon, and obviously both are goalkeepers.
Kevin McNaughton – Sylvinho (yes I know he’s retired)
Both are full backs, both have had grey hair from an early age, both’s weaknesses lie in their lack of pace and both have it in them to score surprisingly good goals…
Dorian Dervite – Jan Vertonghen
Both are centre backs, both look vaguely similar, both play very similarly (albeit one plies his trade in the Championship and the other in European Championships and World Cups) and both have played for Tottenham.
Oscar Threlkeld – Tomas Kalas
Both are young, up and coming right backs who are yet to nail down a place in their team’s starting line up.
Josh Vela – Jon Flanagan
Both have broken into their childhood teams after periods where it looked like it might not be happening. Both are currently figuring at right back.
Medo Kamara – Michael Essien
Both are defensive midfielders who have shone for their respective club in the past but are now very much out of favour. Essien has left Chelsea and I expect Medo to do the same and he may have played his last game in a Wanderers shirt.
Keith Andrews – Daley Blind
Both are defensive midfielders, both’s weaknesses are lack of pace. Both are good on the ball.
Jay Spearing – Steven Gerrard
Both are central midfielders, both are form Liverpool and both have very similar strengths and weaknesses. When either of these club captains are out of form, they can be big losses for their team.
Darren Pratley – Yaya Toure
Both are tall, strong box-to-box midfielders, and both are now technically very good. Not gonna lie, I think Pratley is now awesome on the ball.
Chung Yong Lee – Lionel Messi
While one is a midfielder and the other plays up front, I feel that there are tremendous similarities between the too. Both are very slight but posess incredible ability on the ball and are very humble, good professionals off the pitch.
Liam Feeney – Antonio Valencia
Both are wingers, both are quick, both are strong, both’s crossing ability can let them down as they overcomplicate their games.
Rob Hall – Raheem Sterling
Both are young wingers with great promise that look unfulfilled so far. Both need to work on their strength.
Max Clayton – Jay Rodriguez
Both have experience injury problems, both are highly rated and both play in very similar roles- either as wide attackers or strikers.
Tom Eaves – Nicklas Bendtner
Both have sported ‘top knots’ until recently, both play as target men, both have had mixed loan spells away from their clubs, both were very highly rated as 20 year olds.
Jermaine Beckford – Fernando Torres
Both have had incredibly good spells at their clubs before going into rough patches just before being stupidly purchased. Both are now out on loan at levels which look better fitting.
Connor Wilkinson – Yaya Sanogo
Both are very highly rated, but have struggled slightly to make the step up to senior first team football for their clubs after impressing out on loan.
What do you think of these comparisons? Having a team including the likes of Messi and Vertonghen would be pretty amazing- don’t know if I’d take Torres though…