Who is worthy of staying in the Premier League?
NEwcastle played a goalless draw with Portsmouth, and it was a result I had predicted exactly, due to the scoring form of both teams of recent. Newcastle have good scoring power in Obafemi Martins, Mark Viduka and captain Michael Owen, but they all failed to score. I wondered, if Newcastle were to be relegated, whether Owen would remain at St. James' Park. I then wondered if there were any opinion on any player, playing with a team still at threat of relegation, who one would consider worthy of remaining in the Premier League. Teams as in Blackburn, Sunderland, Hull, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and West Brom.
Now, for me, the likes of Jonas Guttierez, perhaps Mark Viduka, and arguably Owen, are worthy of staying on, worthy of interest from a Premier League club. Owen has the instincts he has been renowned for, but he seems to have lacked in receiving the kind of service his ability requires. Guttierez has shown ball control I've rarely seen in the EPL, he can go on runs and hardly lose the ball, and as such is quite useful in assisting chances. Viduka enters into the realm of football where retirement may seem the next near step but I think he can hold up the ball and play players in very well.
Others like WBA's Chris Brunt, who has a firm shooting left-foot and an eye for a through-pass; Boro's Stewart Downing, England international with good pace, attacking ability on the wing and good assists; Sunderland's Djibril Cisse, Steed Malbranque or even Kenwyne Jones; Hull's seasoned Kevin Kilbane, Geovanni, or Andy Dawson; Blackburn's Benni McCarthy, Matt Derbyshire, or Stephen Warnock?
Who, out of those sides, would you consider worthy of staying in the Premier League, were their respective clubs to suffer relegation?
RedsMan.
posted by RedsMan at 4/28/2009 10:16:00 pm
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19 Comments:
From Newcastle - Owen, Martins, Gutierez, Bassong, Enrique - are the only 5 players I'd say are good enough or have enough potential to warrent premierleague football after this abysmal season. We will lose all 5 if we go down, Owen will go regardless.
4/28/2009 11:34 pm
I would add Beye, Barton and Taylor to that list.
4/28/2009 11:56 pm
This is a good one. ~There are some good players fighting for their premiership lives and they dont suit down in the championship. Owen is becoming now a relic, he cant get about like he did before, ntohing to dow ith the service he gets. Move around long enough and quick enough and he'll get the ball. I like Greening at west brom and meite.
4/29/2009 12:02 am
id say malbranque, cisse, jones, richardson, ferdinand and probably gordon are all premiership players. If we had a manager who understood them and knew how to make them wok together sunderland would easily be a top half club.
4/29/2009 12:35 am
Cisse,Richardson,malbranque,ferdinand, edwards,gordon,bardsley,jones,cisse all capable premier players, rest r best left to the championship, out of above they will prob lose cisse and jones next season. Newcastle has ryan taylor, Gutierez,Bassong and Martins, rest r good for championship only (inc owen). Boro has just Downing, West brom -nobody, hull-nobody.
4/29/2009 1:25 am
hull-nobody? You don't think Michael Turner is good enough to play in the Premier League?
4/29/2009 6:22 am
Boro's Tuncay is definitely a Premiership player. Skill, class and a workrate to rival classic Premiership "water-carriers".
4/29/2009 8:06 am
Tell you what, Derbyshire is a better prospect for any team in the lower 10 thanin bloody Turkey or greece or whatever. Young player, international, scorign goals and what does Allardyce do - ship him out. They need him. I'd have Folan from Hull and Cousin - big Folan should be another Crouch under the right manager. Cousin was scoring for Rangers.
Owen going down with Newcastle - hah!! Man City will come in for him, right up his street, get paid big money for producing nothing!
4/29/2009 8:13 am
I can't believe anyone would take Owen (imagine his contract price) and Viduka (how many injuries recently?) or Enrique (purely for the fact he's abysmal). From the teams that seem likely to be relegated, I don't think any of their players will be missed from the Premier League.
4/29/2009 10:47 am
Blackburn have plenty of Premier league-standard players: Warnock, Samba, Nelsen, Ooijer, Emerton, Grella, Pedersen, McCarthy, Santa Cruz, Diouf. Maybe even Robinson.
Not too sure about Derbyshire, Tugay just too old and Dunn too injury-prone. Roberts would have his admirers but I'm not sure about him either.
4/29/2009 12:13 pm
i think liverpool will resign owen in the summer for free.
4/29/2009 1:21 pm
Great question Redsman - and good responses!
West Brom: Koren, Brunt.
Newcastle: Martins, Viduka, Owen, Gutierrez, R Taylor, Bassong
Boro: Downing, Tuncay, Adam Johnson, Digard (possibly Wheater)
Hull: Geovanni, Turner, Myhill, Mendy
Sunderland: Cisse, Malbranque, Richardson, Ferdinand,
Blackburn: too many to mention.
Must agree with the point about Derbyshire's absence from Blackburn. For me he is a very good prospect, and one that I don't like see lining up against my team. He is hungry, pacy and a good finisher. Why he is on loan when against Liverpool the one person up from was Samba is a question that begs to be asked.
Another question although unrelated: why did Southgate sell Cattermole to Wigan where he is now currently captain(in the absence of Melchiot). He is just what Boro needs in CM - and especially doesn't make sense given Southgate's policy to give the youth team players a good chance to play regularly in the first team.
4/29/2009 5:44 pm
Good points, all. and T - Cattermole had the armband which shows how much Bruce thinks of him and that is to Southgate's loss - how he could do with his attributes.
Matt Derbyshire, for me, had the touch almost every time he came on. I stress "came on" as he was on the bench, and out of him, Roberts, Santa Cruz and McCarthy, Derbyshire would be one of my choices every time to start. How he has been considered worthy of being loaned out and not starting for Blackburn is something else.
Out of Boro, I would look at Downing, Tuncay (have been admiring his touches since he joined), and why not Alves? Aliadiere maybe. Big 'maybe'.
Newcastle I would look at Guttierez, Owen at the last chance saloon, Viduka for a season or two, Martins for a season or two to prove himself, and maybe, a big maybe, on Ameobi.
Hull, I would look at Geovanni, Mendy, and at a long stretch Folan. Caleb Folan. I think his height and his tenacity should be nurtured and make him more of a formidable player.
Blackburn, it's Derbyshire, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Warnock, Robinson for a season or two. Gamst Pedersen has gone down in quality and needs to buck up some to prove himself again a EPL player. Blackburn have missed his usual left-foot application on goal and assisting this season.
Sunderland, Cisse, Jones, Richardson, Malbranque. Craig Gordon needs to prove his worth to remain in the EPL.
WBA definitely Chris Brunt, like his touches on the ball as well, and Bednar. That is about it.
RedsMan.
4/29/2009 8:49 pm
I am a west brom season ticket holder n the person who said meite is a premiership player must be havin a laugh hes awful. Fortune, olsson, zuiverloon, brunt, morrison are the only prem players there. Dorrans is defo 1 for the future
4/29/2009 11:29 pm
Alves has totally lost his confidence at Boro in my opinion. I thought he was going to have a good season - and he started off well with an excellent free kick against Stoke and generally looking dangerous. Than Southgate decided to drop him and its been downhill ever since for both Alves and Boro. I remember writing on EFT an article specifically asking Southgate to bring Alves back against Fulham in December with reasons why this should be - alas it was not heeded.
I believe Alves is a top league player - but given his confidence level in this league I think it should be elsewhere and that's why I didn't nominate him.
I would same the same for Aliadiere - a player I like but somehow is just falling below what is needed in the Premier League.
Caleb Folan: not for me. He could be a good championship player but from the little I've seen of him is a tad too limited to be a premier league level striker. I would place Fagan ahead of Folan... and Marlon King who was at Hull earlier this season ahead of both.
4/29/2009 11:37 pm
West Brom anon - is Koren rated by the WBA fans? He always looks a skilful and inventive player to me.
Yes, forgot about Morrison - he is another player I was surprised to see Southgate let go of. He is Prem level. And thinking some more about WBA players I think Greening is a Prem level player.
Agree that Meite is falling below the required level for Prem football.
Fortune came across my mind - but I was placing a high threshold on my decisions so I couldn't get him in. But he was close.
I'll bow to you better judgment on Zuiverloon, Olsson and Dorrans - and will keep an eye out on the latter.. he looked good to me the one time I saw him play. Should say I liked the look of Barnett in his first appearances- but he has had some tough games and could do with more development in the Championship if WBA go down.
4/29/2009 11:49 pm
lol all meite is good for is puffin his chest out....the lads awful. i say carson is good enough for the premier. the stats show he's made the most saves in the league, yet conceded the most which tells u how shocking the defence in front of him is. if he cut out the odd mistake and was behind a good defence, he'd be top drawer. koren, morrison and brunt can all play at this level but they need a holding player in midfield to win the ball back and break things up when possession is lost. again olson and zuiverloon can play at this level, but sometimes the lack of experiance has let them down. to be fair the whole baggies side is good enough for this league, but silly mistakes through inexperiance has cost them. watch out for them in the future because mowbray will turn them into a force
4/30/2009 1:25 am
Agree West Brom is a good side for the EPL - and that poor mistakes regularly have cost them to the degree they're bottom. They all are, hence why we can choose a few players from their respective clubs worthy of remaining in the EPL.
Someone mentioned Owen being re-signed by Liverpool. Tongue-in-cheek, but were Newcastle to go down and Owen went on the market, his most suitable team would be...Man City. A club in Europe, finances, up-n-coming....
RedsMan.
4/30/2009 9:34 am
The relegation battle is tough. I fear for Newcastle.
4/30/2009 11:29 pm
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