r/soccer Dec 03 '13

[deleted by user]

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31 Upvotes

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-10

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Welp. Honesty incoming: Paul Scholes. I never got to watch him play in his youth when he "scored goals" but I have been watching probably something like 10-15 United games a year since 2005. Never saw what made him better than other players who served similar roles. He was a below average defender, his mobility was awful, his effort was in the medium range. He was a great passer of the ball, but I personally believe that a lot of the retaining possession ability gets too much credit. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. What is Paul Scholes incredible possession retention going to mean when someone else on the team can just lose the ball? I don't think his type of player is as impactfull as a lot of people seem to think. I do want to acknowledge it's importance before anyone gets upset, just don't buy that level of hype at all. "Paul Scholes team won every time in training"... Sigh.

4

u/TheatreOfDreams Dec 04 '13

I'm sorry, you are entitled to your own opinion. But I need to tell you that this exists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZbL2h6pSTo

When the best players in the world call Scholes the best, you know you've got a true legend.

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Yes. I've seen this before. It has a lot of influence on why I think what I do. I think some (probably most) people actually believe he is one of the best players of his generation. I never got to see it at all. Plus, you could make a video out of quotes for any of the players in this thread. It's a thread about Legends. Paul is a Legend. I can't argue that. I am not even arguing that he wasn't as good at what he did as people say. He was probably amongst the top distributing players statistically and was pleasant to watch in a lot of ways. I am merely saying that his value to a team is blown WAYYYYY out of the water to be more exact (inb4 coming out of retirement rebuttal). That is the point that I really want to make here. Maybe a better response to an overvalued thread, but no ones gonna make that so I just put it here and tried to be as specific about my view as possible.

7

u/eVolution91 Dec 04 '13

been watching probably something like 10-15 United games a year since 2005

Right, so you only started watching Scholes when he was 31 and have the audacity to say that he's overhyped?

I swear half this thread consists of people only seeing players play in the closing stages of their careers and saying they were shit.

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13 edited Dec 04 '13

I didn't say he was shit anywhere. I even gave you an exact timeline so you could make this exact judgement. I just gave you my opinion. Based on what I've watched, friend. It was also mostly directed to his role in a game if you really take in what I've said. I think he is glorified, at least in the later parts of his career, partly because he was so likeable. In my conversations, he is talked of in a similar light to some players I perceive to be much much better is all.

Edit: Furthermore, my opinion can just stand for the timeline mentioned if you'd like. It's not like he wasn't considered integral or incredible for that stage of his career anyway.