Weststander
Well-known member
Do explain what your definition of a DECENT English player is then?
Obviously a player who has won:
FA Cup: 2000–01, 2005–06
League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03;
FA Community Shield: 2001, 2006;
UEFA Champions League: 2004–05;
UEFA Cup: 2000–01
UEFA Super Cup: 2001, 2005
In a team in which, more often than not, he was far and away the best player is only HALF decent.
Just in case you need any more convincing that he was in fact THE best English midfielder of his generation, and probably for a while before him, he won a few individual awards to:
FWA Footballer of the Year: 2009
PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2006
PFA Young Player of the Year: 2001
PFA Fans' Player of the Year: 2001, 2009
PFA Team of the Year: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
FA Premier League Player of the Month: March 2001, March 2003, December 2004, April 2006, March 2009
Liverpool top goalscorer: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2005
UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match: 2005
UEFA Team of the Year: 2005, 2006, 2007
FIFA/FIFPro World XI: 2007, 2008, 2009[100]
FA Cup Final Man of the Match: 2006
Goal of the Season: 2006
England Player of the Year: 2007
I for one can't wait to see a player - who in various periods in his career - was among the top 2 players in the world, play at the AMEX.
Anyone who says he is over-rated as a player is literally MENTAL.
This.
Not just the facts. Ferguson (yes of ManU), Pele, Cruyff ... all have lavished praise on him before.
It is possible to support the Albion, and praise/not hate England/PL players from clubs where there is no grudge with the Albion!