[Archived] Vince Grella Signs

[steven]

I think that when Grella is fit we'll all see what he's capable of and will think that 5m was worth it. As for Bresc, he stutters at international level, had a good season in Italy a few years ago, and in my opinion is the 3rd most overrated player to come out of Australia, behind Viduka and Kewell.

[47er]

OK I see your point - I break something, hobble around with a Zimmer frame and am gutless because I can't do the marathon. Perfect logic. What part of INJURED don't you understand. All the talent and heart in the world isn't going to help if you're broken is it. You might find that if you were the manager YOU wouldn't even give him the choice of playing because you would know a) he'd contribute nothing limping around and he'd be making the injury worse. Ince was a crap manager for us but he was a brilliant midfielder, even world class. If he thinks Grella is a midfield player then so do I. Emerton thought he was a good signing and he saw more of him than most. Lastly, if he was crap and you put him on the market at 4 million you'd be a laughing stock, yet he was on the market for that price and we bought him. The correct price is what the market will pay hence he's worth 4 million. Now finish the rest of that bottle and go to bed.

Ince was a crap manager and part of his crapness was his inability to sign decent players, even mid-fielders.

[LDRover]

OK I see your point - I break something, hobble around with a Zimmer frame and am gutless because I can't do the marathon. Perfect logic. What part of INJURED don't you understand. All the talent and heart in the world isn't going to help if you're broken is it. You might find that if you were the manager YOU wouldn't even give him the choice of playing because you would know a) he'd contribute nothing limping around and he'd be making the injury worse. Ince was a crap manager for us but he was a brilliant midfielder, even world class. If he thinks Grella is a midfield player then so do I. Emerton thought he was a good signing and he saw more of him than most. Lastly, if he was crap and you put him on the market at 4 million you'd be a laughing stock, yet he was on the market for that price and we bought him. The correct price is what the market will pay hence he's worth 4 million. Now finish the rest of that bottle and go to bed.

Christ I don't know where to start.

People questioned Sutton and McKinlay's heart because they considered themselves 'injured' during our last relegation battle, they were proved right. I find it strange that Grella 'felt his groin' so close to a 'must win' game after having trained for the full week yet he was fit and raring to go for the less important battle at Liverpool. Maybe I'm being unduly cynical, should he come back and play a key part in the remainder of our games I'll admit I was wrong.

Also you use Emerton as an example of Grella being a 'player', well he's hardly going to slag any prospective team mate off, especially a current International team mate at that. Also using Ince as barometer for any kind of footballing decisions is frankly ludicrous - Robbie Fowler, Keith Andrews anyone?

What is your reasoning on the price and market value? If he was a good buy at 4 million surely there'd have been other suitors for him, to my mind there were none? For me the true acid test of if he's any good or not is if we wanted to sell him now, could we and what would we ge for him? IMO very few would be interested and we'd be lucky to recoup 25% of our outlay.

Thanks for the later disparaging comment on my apparent immaturity, although by doing so you've probably displayed bucketloads yourself. Oh hang on, you posted AFTER 11:30...you must be well grown up.

[TimmyJimmy]

Christ I don't know where to start.

People questioned Sutton and McKinlay's heart because they considered themselves 'injured' during our last relegation battle, they were proved right. I find it strange that Grella 'felt his groin' so close to a 'must win' game after having trained for the full week yet he was fit and raring to go for the less important battle at Liverpool. Maybe I'm being unduly cynical, should he come back and play a key part in the remainder of our games I'll admit I was wrong.

Also you use Emerton as an example of Grella being a 'player', well he's hardly going to slag any prospective team mate off, especially a current International team mate at that. Also using Ince as barometer for any kind of footballing decisions is frankly ludicrous - Robbie Fowler, Keith Andrews anyone?

What is your reasoning on the price and market value? If he was a good buy at 4 million surely there'd have been other suitors for him, to my mind there were none? For me the true acid test of if he's any good or not is if we wanted to sell him now, could we and what would we ge for him? IMO very few would be interested and we'd be lucky to recoup 25% of our outlay.

Thanks for the later disparaging comment on my apparent immaturity, although by doing so you've probably displayed bucketloads yourself. Oh hang on, you posted AFTER 11:30...you must be well grown up.

Whoa, down tiger. I never considered your maturity, I'm no kind of a judge to comment. I think I had in mind a bottle of alcohol not milk as I thought you must have been drunk to post such a damning opinion.

I can't be bothered to look back and read your posts now but the gist was gutless, useless, no heart and a waste of money. You seem pretty convinced but based on what - absolutely nothing other than its your opinion. How does anyone argue against that? Well its my opinion he isn't those things and I tried to illustrate why I felt that. You're saying he's rubbish but that leaves open the possibility that he isn't or that MAYBE he isn't. You rule out that last possibility. Yet you've seen nothing of him so what's your basis for your comparison?

From his comments he doesn't sound scared of much so why would he wimp out of playing a must win game?

Ince didn't know much but I'd argue he did understand the requirements for being a good midfielder. If you take Andrews and think back to his Wolves days he was tipped as being a top young prospect. Unfortunately he suffered from the same disease of many other talented young lads - impatience eg the Dunny/Souness combination and the Bentley/Hughes thing. He thought he'd prove his point by moving out and playing regularly. Ince rated him and everyone else rated him when he was that top prospect. Ince promised to let him have a go should he ever get to the Prem and he kept his word, he bought him as a SQUAD player with a view to taking a look see what he could do at this level. At 1 million it was a bit of a no-brainer, who wouldn't have done it? Was it Andrews fault that he was thrown in with the heavyweights without any training when the 'A listers' got injured. The guy does his best and will get better, he was never intended to be good from the get go. I'll say again Ince was a crap manager for us but he knows a good midfield player.

Grella is a tough talented Aussi scrapper, I wouldn't like to square up to him. To accuse him of being gutless on nothing but your gut feeling is a nonsense. Hence I thought you'd be drinking. Now tell me you weren't!!

[philipl]

The £1m amortization of Grella's transfer fee this season has bought us about seven full games worth of Grella in which he has been abysmal in three, ok in three and very good in one.

[broadsword]

Which one was he good in?

Boro?

[LDRover]

Whoa, down tiger. I never considered your maturity, I'm no kind of a judge to comment. I think I had in mind a bottle of alcohol not milk as I thought you must have been drunk to post such a damning opinion.

I can't be bothered to look back and read your posts now but the gist was gutless, useless, no heart and a waste of money. You seem pretty convinced but based on what - absolutely nothing other than its your opinion. How does anyone argue against that? Well its my opinion he isn't those things and I tried to illustrate why I felt that. You're saying he's rubbish but that leaves open the possibility that he isn't or that MAYBE he isn't. You rule out that last possibility. Yet you've seen nothing of him so what's your basis for your comparison?

From his comments he doesn't sound scared of much so why would he wimp out of playing a must win game?

Ince didn't know much but I'd argue he did understand the requirements for being a good midfielder. If you take Andrews and think back to his Wolves days he was tipped as being a top young prospect. Unfortunately he suffered from the same disease of many other talented young lads - impatience eg the Dunny/Souness combination and the Bentley/Hughes thing. He thought he'd prove his point by moving out and playing regularly. Ince rated him and everyone else rated him when he was that top prospect. Ince promised to let him have a go should he ever get to the Prem and he kept his word, he bought him as a SQUAD player with a view to taking a look see what he could do at this level. At 1 million it was a bit of a no-brainer, who wouldn't have done it? Was it Andrews fault that he was thrown in with the heavyweights without any training when the 'A listers' got injured. The guy does his best and will get better, he was never intended to be good from the get go. I'll say again Ince was a crap manager for us but he knows a good midfield player.

Grella is a tough talented Aussi scrapper, I wouldn't like to square up to him. To accuse him of being gutless on nothing but your gut feeling is a nonsense. Hence I thought you'd be drinking. Now tell me you weren't!!

Fair play Timmy, I'm basing my view that he's a poor player on what I've seen from him on the very few times he's played for us. I think he's gutless and a bottler because the injuries he cries off with appear to be minor and that he had to be subbed at West Ham after 45 minute because he was 'tired' and was consequently not seen again until a couple of months after.

I think he's a waste of money because, based on what I've seen, if we were to sell him today we'd recoup 25% of what we paid (if we're very lucky).

You say Grella is a tough talented Aussie scrapper, what do you base that on? It can't be what you've seen from him in a rovers shirt surely? Or I'll have to question if it's you who's been drinking!

[CrazyIvan]

He was fantastic yesterday. He got stuck in and produced some excellent passes, was in the right place to break up play more often than any other player we have. He seems to have an instinct for that which is invaluable.

[thenodrog]

He was fantastic yesterday. He got stuck in and produced some excellent passes, was in the right place to break up play more often than any other player we have. He seems to have an instinct for that which is invaluable.

Jury's still out on his fitness but personally he 'fills up' our midfield well and I've only seen him have one bad match and that was 1st half against Everton at Ewood.

[47er]

Certainly no-one could accuse him of shirking a tackle and he passed the ball quite well. If only he could be fit from game to game!

[Rovermatt]

Some of his passing was a bit ropey but I was impressed by Grella's physicality yesterday. He really broke up Wigan in midfield.

[The Prof.]

I think he's good but we need a 10 game run to see how good. He isn't a shirker and the only midfielder we have who does put his foot in and wins the ball. He isn't a ducker - RSC has that title at the moment.

[Hughesy]

Much improved, strong in the challenge and not scared to get stuck in either. With a quality attacking midfielder alongside him, he could become a big player for us.

[LDRover]

He did OK yesterday, can't point to anything he did that was above and beyond the call of duty but he didn't shirk anything and the fact that he didn't get injured was obviously a bonus. I also thought Tugay did as much 'breaking up' of play as Grella did during the course of the game.

I think Nicko and Den have it spot on in the Wigan thread, especially the value for money bit.

Like I've said before, I will be willing to take back my criticsm of him but to do that he has to string some games together...let's see what happens in the coming weeks.

[jim mk2]

Jury's still out on his fitness but personally he 'fills up' our midfield well and I've only seen him have one bad match and that was 1st half against Everton at Ewood.

You weren't at the Hawthorns then.

Grella needs to put in a good season and a half free of injury to justify his transfer fee. A club such as Rovers with limited resources cannot afford to sign players like him and Dunn with poor injury records.

[philipl]

West Ham away was so bad he got subbed at HT.

The big news is that it looked like we had a midfield yesterday with Grella in there and that cannot be said of the games at Stoke and Liverpool.

There was a barrier actively stopping the opposition passing, dribbling and running through us at will at last and when we had posession there was some sharp passing and a bit of player off the ball movement which was good to see.

[thenodrog]

I think Nicko and Den have it spot on in the Wigan thread, especially the value for money bit.

Hang on a moment I don't think that he decided his own value. Do you?

[DE.]

This season is pretty much a write off as far as Grella is concerned, he needs to come good next year to start justifying his transfer fee. Dunn's injuries I can deal with, because we paid very little for him, and he's a local lad who loves the club and we know he has the passion and the desire and would be out there if he could be. Grella I'm not going to be so forgiving of, he's going to have to have a good run in the side (I mean both in terms of games and quality of play) before I consider him a decent buy for us. Here's to hoping he can do that.

[Hughesy]

Sams says there is much more to come from Vince Grella

Here - We'll see his outstanding passing moves

[BRFC1995]

This season is pretty much a write off as far as Grella is concerned, he needs to come good next year to start justifying his transfer fee. Dunn's injuries I can deal with, because we paid very little for him, and he's a local lad who loves the club and we know he has the passion and the desire and would be out there if he could be. Grella I'm not going to be so forgiving of, he's going to have to have a good run in the side (I mean both in terms of games and quality of play) before I consider him a decent buy for us. Here's to hoping he can do that.

they ain't gonna be relied on next year and can see both being squad players next season as sam brings in a central 2 he thinks can play 80% or more of the games. if the possibility to sell grella arises it should be capitalised on as i can't see him getting less injury prone as he gets older.

[DE.]

they ain't gonna be relied on next year and can see both being squad players next season as sam brings in a central 2 he thinks can play 80% or more of the games. if the possibility to sell grella arises it should be capitalised on as i can't see him getting less injury prone as he gets older.

Perhaps, but the only way we can justify Grella's fee is to have him play a number of games and play them well. Otherwise it's a huge waste of money that a club of our budget really can't afford to sacrifice. If we could flog Grella for 3M and make a 1M loss I'd take it.

[pg]

Nate, as much as I would like it, Grella isn't a prem player. To be honest, he's a bit of a plodder, relying on the players around him to make him look better.

If he can't stay fit, why have him?

Dave - did you actually watch any of the 2006 World Cup games?!?!

The worrying thing IMO is that before he joined Rovers, he was rarely injured in Serie A. Now this can be attributed to

1) The pace of the premier league catching him about from a physical point of view

2) The back-room staff at Ewood being run by a bunch of numpties.

Hopefully its a little bit of both. Hopefully he adapts to 1), and with a bit more professionalism under the new back-room staff, factor 2) improves.

[dave birch]

Dave - did you actually watch any of the 2006 World Cup games?!?!

The worrying thing IMO is that before he joined Rovers, he was rarely injured in Serie A. Now this can be attributed to

1) The pace of the premier league catching him about from a physical point of view

2) The back-room staff at Ewood being run by a bunch of numpties.

Hopefully its a little bit of both. Hopefully he adapts to 1), and with a bit more professionalism under the new back-room staff, factor 2) improves.

Paul, that was three years ago, and if anything his game has gone backwards. Remember he was surrounded by some pretty good players.

Let's see how he goes without Cahill, Neill, Emerton, Bresciano around him. (In fact I'd suggest that the aussies will be doing it tough in SA. I hope I'm wrong, but there isn't the quality that there was at the last WC)

edit: I suppose this might say more about the players around him at Ewood than it does about Grella

I think you're right in point 1. The pace has surprised him and he hasn't been able to adapt as well as he would like. That in itself is enough to cause injury, by over trying. (That's badly worded, but I'm sure you know what I mean)

As for the backroom staff, you could well be right there; that and training methods. (didn't Souness have problems in this area?)

Don't get me wrong, I'd love nothing more for him to become a top player, but at his age he isn't going to suddenly become a consistently brilliant midfielder.

For me, he's a squad player at best, he'll pull out a good performance every now and then.

[tony gale's mic]

Dave - did you actually watch any of the 2006 World Cup games?!?!

The worrying thing IMO is that before he joined Rovers, he was rarely injured in Serie A. Now this can be attributed to

1) The pace of the premier league catching him about from a physical point of view

2) The back-room staff at Ewood being run by a bunch of numpties.

Hopefully its a little bit of both. Hopefully he adapts to 1), and with a bit more professionalism under the new back-room staff, factor 2) improves.

From wikipedia:

During his one season in Turin, he was a regular member of the side, although his season was interrupted by injury on several occasions.

[Sparky Marky]

Grella's not the answer to our midfield problems...he was slow and 2nd to the ball most of the time on sunday...let's be fair, this was one of the Premierships weaker central midfields that he played against and I'm not sure he has the mobility to play in there for us next season. If we can sell him on, that would be the best bet.