Quote:
Originally Posted by silverlining
This isn;t directly related to Bentley's quality (or lack thereof), but while I do love to see us signing players like Torres and Mascherano, we can't really expect to have players like Gerrard and those two in EVERY single position.
It just isn't that feasible.
Now, before I get burnt at the stake, in no way am I suggesting our squad and first team XI is good enough yet, but castigating the likes of Bentley simply because he isn't at the level of Joe Cole/ Quaresma/ Robinho/ Ribery/ whoever is unfair and unrealistic.
There is NO TEAM in the Premiership that has blisteringly superb players in every position. Arsenal have Eboue and Flamini in their first XI. We'd hardly fall over ourselves to buy them. Chelsea still can't find a top-quality RB and give the lumbering Alex games. United won the title last season with a half-fit Saha after selling their world-class finisher. They played Fletcher now and then. Carrick gets plenty of games.
Look at the last truly great team we had, way back in the late 80s: Ray fucking Houghton at RM.
So that's why we need to be cognisant of the fact that it's the *team* that wins you titles, and no team can have a superstar, multi-million pound talent in every single position, in every single game.
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You're right but that team had John Barnes on the other wing. We have enough good players IMO but we have too few top players who can consistently hurt the opposition. It is clear that we need at least one more genuine match winner and Bentley whilst a good player isn't at that level IMO. I am sick of watching us play without a genuine top class wide player it makes us predictable and at times easy to defend against. If Babel was definitely ready then I would happily have Bentley as he does have some very good attributes but unfortunately Babel looks very raw - inconsistent first touch, variable confidence, often chooses wrong option, unable to last 90 minutes etc (That isn't a criticism of Babel by the way it is just an acknowledgement that he has alot of developing before he is at the level we need).
So for me if we have a raw inconsistent young talent developing on one wing we need a player who can be relied upon to help us win tight games on the other flank.