by bigmick » Wed May 24, 2006 10:28 am
Agreed on Bellamy. A couple of seasons ago he was the type of player who when you were losing 1-0 at charlton with half an hour to go, would have row with one of his teammates before getting himself sent-off and scuppering any chance you had of getting back into the game. These days, he's more than likely the man who will channel his anger into getting us an equalizer then wind-up the centre-half and win us a match-winning penalty.
I have this theory about footballers and football which says it is 4/5 a game which is played inside the head. Often, when a player becomes a fantastic talent, his rise is not a gradual parabolic curve up through the ranks with average performances followed by good then great ones over three seasons or so. What you get most of the time is either a meteoric entrance as a youngster where you announce your arrival on the scene with aplomb, or you get a bloke for whom it suddenly just seems to click.
Sissoko has been such a player for us this season. We could all see that he could run around a lot and put a few tackles in, but just before he got his eye injury he put in a copuple of huge performances in which he had a massive influence on the game. It was almost as if he visibly thought "jesus I can really play this game and be massive" and since then he's been a different player. My suspicion is with him that we ain't seen nothing yet. Similarly Crouch, after kicking around in Southamptons reserves eighteen months ago now finds himself a likely starter in Englands opening World Cup match. Bellamy I see more as a type of bloke I watched a few times who statrted his career in the parks of South West London. Got himself signed by a league club and broke through. Like Bellamy he was tetchy, small, pacy and not everybodys cup of tea. He had a good game against Liverpool in a cup game as I remember before going to big club and then the penny really dropped for him. Funny thing was, when the big club signed him nobody really wanted to know because of his dodgy temperament, which meant the club were able to pick him uo for a then knockdown 2 million quid. Very similar situation if you ask me.
The player? Thierry Henri has just broken his scoring record at Arsenal, must have been the best two million quid the club ever spent. Those who poo-poo the idea of signing Bellamy are in my opinion calling it wrong. If we don't, somebody else will and benefit from a player who for whom the penny has finally dropped.
Last edited by
bigmick on Wed May 24, 2006 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".