7 most overrated Premier League Players

Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel has been rated amongst seven most overrated individuals currently masquerading as Premier League footballers.

The rating according to FTB pro www.ftbpro.com was assembled by taking into account unwarranted praise, undeserved accolades and the vast wealth certain players have managed to attract for doing diddly-squat.

As you’d expect given the hullabaloo that surrounds the English national team, a number of those players feature, but there may still be a few surprises!

Number one is Theo Walcott
He might move faster than a cheetah on Red Bull (other energy drinks are available), but Theo Walcott’s pace doesn’t mask his clear shortcomings as a footballer.

Whenever I attended football trials as a young lad the coaches would always lay out the key attributes they were hoping to see on the day – vision, technique, attitude, etc. How on earth then did Walcott get selected?

The man can’t trap a bag of sand! I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve shifted forward in my seat in expectation as Walcott has run onto a beautifully weighted through-pass, only for him to then slice the cross wildly into orbit! I guess running and kicking at the same time does take practice.

In addition, he held Arsenal to ransom with exorbitant wage demands, is seen in the attached photo provoking Tottenham fans and continues to believe he’s the reincarnation of Thierry Henry.

He’s an England international, a millionaire and occasionally gets a run out for Arsenal. For all this and much more Theo has to top this hall of shame .

Number two Marouane Fellaini
A £27.5 million transfer to Manchester United – Bill Kenwright must have been laughing all the way to the bank! Moyes wanted the best midfielder in the world… he didn’t even get the best midfielder at Everton!

Employed as a support striker to benefit from his aerial ability, Fellaini was at least effective, if not pleasing on the eye whilst at Everton. Since moving to the champions and shifting into a holding role in midfield, the Belgian Sideshow Bob look-a-like has appeared more lost than a musician at an X-Factor audition.

He’s immobile, poor on the ball and cost more than Manchester City paid for the talismanic Yaya Toure! Ouch.
The footballing world is waking up to Fellaini’s limited abilities, but he’s still operating above his station… David Moyes clearly sees something in him though.

Number three is Tom Cleverley
There have been some illustrious figures in the history of Manchester United’s midfield; Nobby Stiles, Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes… Tom Cleverley. Hang on.

Cleverley’s not a tough tackler, doesn’t fulfil the playmaker role, isn’t a natural leader and won’t contribute goals… so what is he actually doing in there? Besides making regular appearances for both club and country! Answers on a postcard to Old Trafford.

Clearly held in high regard by someone, Cleverley absolutely must warrant a place in the list of overrated Premier League players.

Number four is Aleksander Kolarov
There aren’t too many foreign players in this list due to the fact that the British press and public tend to get too caught up in the fan-fair surrounding their own home-grown [lack of] talent. This has allowed Kolarov to slide almost unnoticed into the list of overrated players.

Granted he has a left foot like a traction engine and scores the type of goals Tony Yeboah would be proud of, but so would you or I if we took a shot EVERY single time we received the ball within a 60 yard radius of goal. It’s the cluster-bomb approach.

Furthermore, he’s employed as a left-back – unless I’m much mistaken that’s a defensive position. What’s he doing loitering on the edge of the opposing box for 90 minutes!? A defender’s primary responsibility is to, well, defend. I don’t think I have ever seen him carrying out his designated role.

Regardless of these fatal flaws, Manchester City paid Lazio £19m for his services and he’s forever touted around the gossip columns over potential moves to other European heavyweights. I just don’t understand it!

Number five is Andy Carroll
An old school centre forward fittingly plying his trade at a club Mourinho described as playing “19th Century” football.

The trouble is that the transfer fees paid for this 6 foot 4 inch battering ram are very much 21st century – £35m from Newcastle to Liverpool and a subsequent £15m when he moved on to West ham.

All this money for a 25-year-old who has scored less than 50 league goals in his career – a portion of which were in the 2nd tier of English football – and worse still, he has a ponytail! Unforgivable.

A guaranteed starter for the Hammers and a likely candidate for further England call-ups…Andy Carroll, you are overrated (though given his size and combative nature I’ll let you tell him).

The sixth is Charlie Adam
Charlie Adam is a prime example of a player whose blockbuster strikes detract from his inherent lack of fitness and influence.

Sporting a smile that looks like a broken piano, this stocky Scot has great vision and a proverbial wand of a left foot. The frustration, however, is that people won’t stop going on about it!

He’s an all or nothing merchant that contributes very little 99% of the time and then steals the headlines in the 100th game – see Stoke’s recent win over Manchester United.
For me, he found his level at Blackpool as the big fish in a small pond and has subsequently flattered to deceive.

Adam is continuing to attract the praise of certain pundits devoid of charisma and opinions of their own.

While John Obi Mikel is the seventh
John Obi Mikel continues to rack up appearances and trophies in Chelsea blue whilst contributing little to nothing on the field.

Some players are unsung heroes, a la Makelele or Flamini, others could just pull up a chair and watch the 90 minutes go by.

Mikel is most certainly the latter! I’ve not seen such callous free-riding since his captain, John Terry, donned the full Chelsea kit (armband, shin-pads… vapour rub) and perched himself at the centre of the Champions League winners photo 2012.

Surely it is time Mikel was moved on… or maybe he already has… after all, no one would really notice!

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