Premier League X1 Underrated

[Mike E]

Name your Premier League all-time X1 of players that never got the plaudits/rewards they truly deserved and would never make your average PL all-time X1, but you admired them. Any formation allowed with at least 1 GK.

Non-Rovers encouraged (although Rovers are ofc allowed), as I'd love to start seen PL players named that I've long forgotten about. The more random/obscure, the better!

To get the ball rolling, I'm picking no ex-Rovers:

Here's mine, 433:

                     Schwarzer

Hibbert   Radebe   Southgate   Riise

       Palacios   Barry   Krancjar

     Valencia    Saha   Malbranque

[DeeCee]

Are you up with the baby Mike? 😂

[Upside Down]

Basically any players that didn't play for the 'big six' were underrated and didn't get the plaudits they deserved. 

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Not going to think about a full XI but for entertainment value I’d include Kinkladze, Juninho, Robert, Huckerby, Lua Lua and Okocha.

[Sparks Rover]

One of my favourite all time players..Mousa Dembele....the one at Spurs.  Absolute genius.  Underrated by the public, not by his teammates. 

[Mike E]

6 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Basically any players that didn't play for the 'big six' were underrated and didn't get the plaudits they deserved. 

Bur six of those I chose DID play for the big six.

[Darrenbot]

I don't know if he was really underrated but i remember liking watching Georgie Kinkladze and him  being the only good player City used to have before the foreign investors came into the league.

[Oldgregg86]

                  Jaaskelinen

richards.     Haangaland  .  Gardener

Bowyer.   Dempsey.  Cahill  Sinclair

                 Okocha    Taarabat

                        Michu              

Bench

unsworth, barmby , Berger, speed , whelan, Atkinson              
   
just a couple off top of my head with no real thought

i still think friedel was the most under rated player of all time 😂

Edited November 25, 2022 by Oldgregg86

[simongarnerisgod]

youri djorkaeff terribly underrated,don`t know how big sam managed to bring him to bolton tbh,an oasis of class in a team of thuggish diving cheats,i.e campo,davies etc

[Oldgregg86]

Kevin Nolan could be a shout for under appreciated 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Okacha was brilliant at Bolton under Sam. Nearly in the Bryan Douglas class.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Okacha gets mentioned everytime that there is a discussion about who is the most skillful or the likes so I;d argue that he was not underrated. Tugay very seldomly even draws a mention outside Rovers fans so Id argue he was truly underated in comparison.

[Upside Down]

And Friedel. He was the best keeper in the league for a period of time. 

The petulant and envious media don't even mention his time at Rovers. 

[RoverDom]

James Milner

Ryan Nelsen

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

If we’re talking centre halves Chris Samba must in there. A one man defence in his prime.

[Dreyski]

On 25/11/2022 at 12:47, Oldgregg86 said:

                  Jaaskelinen

richards.     Haangaland  .  Gardener

Bowyer.   Dempsey.  Cahill  Sinclair

                 Okocha    Taarabat

                        Michu              

Bench

unsworth, barmby , Berger, speed , whelan, Atkinson              
   
just a couple off top of my head with no real thought

i still think friedel was the most under rated player of all time 😂

Berger is a good shout.

Alan Mahon was never going to displace Duff, but always looked good when called on.

I always thought John Curtis was a better player than Lucas Neill. Probably more one-footed though.

[oldjamfan1]

I know there are a few ex Rovers in this but they excelled at other clubs too

                                          Brad Freidel

  Stephen Carr          Lucas  Radebe      Ugo Ehiogu     Leighton Baines

  Craig Bellamy         Mark Noble       Kevin Nolan    Jason Wilcox

                                   Tim Cahill      Yakubu

 

Honorary mentions to Shay Given, Gareth Barry, James Milner and Mark Viduka

Edited December 1, 2022 by oldjamfan1

[Admiral Nelsen]

Difficult one this - I think some players become so associated as the 'good' player for a non-elite team, that they eventually become in danger of being overrated in a strange sort of way. I'd put Okocha in that category. Obviously brilliant, but people knew it. And he probably got the disproportionate amount of the credit for what was a generally very strong Bolton side. As much as I loved MGP, he was similar in that he was a quality match of the day player whereas some of our others went under the radar. 

 

On 25/11/2022 at 10:12, Sparks Rover said:

One of my favourite all time players..Mousa Dembele....the one at Spurs.  Absolute genius.  Underrated by the public, not by his teammates. 

 

Dembele is a great shout. Fabulous player. 

 

[Sparks Rover]

Loftus Cheek has always been a funny one for me. Looks unplayable at times but never really fulfilled his potential 

[speeeeeeedie]

2 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Loftus Cheek has always been a funny one for me. Looks unplayable at times but never really fulfilled his potential 

Injuries robbed him. He is still good, but his progress was stalled just as he was really on the up.

I agree on your Dembele take - I never saw him lose possession. He was superb.

Moyes' Everton had a good few; Baines (although did play a game or two for England), Pienaar, Cahill, Carsley, Jagielka. Even Leon Osman did a good job.

Arjan de Zeeuw is another one. Never put a foot wrong for Wigan or Portsmouth.

Edited November 30, 2022 by speeeeeeedie

[Blow-in]

Dennis Irwin.

[davulsukur]

Friedel for sure has to be one of the most underrated players the PL has ever had. 

Not only was he a brilliant keeper but practically an ever present.

[GHR]

11 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Friedel for sure has to be one of the most underrated players the PL has ever had. 

Not only was he a brilliant keeper but practically an ever present.

Still holds the record for most consecutive PL games I believe: his final few seasons here, three seasons at Villa where he never missed a league game (!), then a short while at Spurs before Lloris came along. 300 and something all in?

Interesting question in all that: how many other players have played every league match possible during their tenure at a club?!

Growing up in the early 00s, he and Tugay were my heroes. I didn't care about Cech, Lehmann, Dudek and whoever; we had the American Yashin.

[speeeeeeedie]

18 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Friedel for sure has to be one of the most underrated players the PL has ever had. 

Not only was he a brilliant keeper but practically an ever present.

Every Rovers fan around to see him appreciated how good he was. 

His only weakness was his kicking. 

[Mike E]

15 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Every Rovers fan around to see him appreciated how good he was. 

His only weakness was his kicking. 

I thought his kicks were fine, it was how he set his walls that always bothered me.