Now if you've just read that last post, I'm sorry. Having read it back, the sentiment and the message are there, but in all honesty...it just wasn't very good. So lets try again, but this time I've got my cheerleaders in place and I'll play Kasabian's Underdog on a constant loop to keep me in the zone.
My epic failure on the last post made me think...what is it that makes certain players cult heroes and why are some just inherently more popular than others. There are the obvious ones, Messi, Kaka, Xavi, Ronaldinho, Brazilian Ronaldo, Zidane etc. etc. who are popular because they are/were frankly just better than everyone else. We all love to see a player who can put the opponent on his arse with a little bit of magic. But what about the others? Those of us who spend Saturday afternoons in the stands around the lower leagues can only dream of watching a Kaka or a Zidane on a regular basis, I can't really see big Jon Parkin going on a jinking run past three men before pinging one into the top corner, but we have our heroes too.
We British invariable like a grafter...someone who would die for the shirt, and lucky for me, the lower leagues are full of these. You get used to seeing 5yard passes go astray the further down the league structure you go, but what will always cheer you up is to see that same player who just gave the ball away got charging in at full pelt to make a challenge and regain the ball. Sometimes with younger players this can bubble over, but this only adds to their standing in the eyes of the fans...take Fabian Delph as an example, when he was at Leeds (dirty Leeds) the fans loved him, he (as he's proved at Villa) is an above average player, but is nothing special, what the fans loved though is the rash and occasionally malicious tackling technique. Tommy Taiwo and Liam Noble are two more examples of this, both players have been given their marching orders for going in a "bit" heavy in a tackle only to be given a standing ovation from their fans.
These players do exist further up...Lee Catermole, Scott Parker, Wilson Palacios, Jack Wilshire...and to be honest I'd happily take any combination of those four for a central midfield combo. Maybe its just me, but I do like a player who doesn't mind going in where it hurts (for either them or the opponent), I have been known to defend fairly obvious sending offs on the basis that "the went in hard, there was nothing malicious in it"...not one for trying to defend Paul Scholes getting his sending offs though, those are just comedy...he's not that type of player (apparently). Those guys could definitely hold their own down the league if they weren't as talented as they are, and thats what we love to see more than anything else, the player who despite having obvious talent isn't just a luxury player...you can keep your sulking strikers, and you temperamental wingers...give me Richard Keogh lumping someone up in the air one minute and then going on a trademark barnstorming run any day of the week.
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