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Worst SWFC Player of the past 10 years (Owlstalk Ratings)


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10 minutes ago, mcmigo said:

Lewis wing was such a strange one.  Looked great for toytown but was a different player with us. Looked nervy and dare I say it a bit weak.  
 

This is exactly why I try not to get too whelmed or underwhelmed by a signing. Sometimes it is just right club right time. Sometimes a manager or a system will get the best out of a player. Sometimes a manager or a system will absolutely NOT bring anything out of a player.

 

Wing being poo here doesn’t really mean a huge deal. His career will tell the story though.
 

And it’s why I’m not yet that excited about Michael Smith. As free transfers go it’s a good one mind, im just not automatically expecting him to keep up his Rotherham form in this team. 

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1 hour ago, sage owl said:

What personal problems did Abdi have?.

Serious question. 

Thought he was better than bench material, didn’t like it and didn’t handle it well - his words:
 

It continued. You get frustrated, you lose confidence. You don’t work as hard anymore. It was very, very disappointing. But if a manager doesn’t trust me, doesn’t let me play, then I can’t. It’s like life in general — you need this trust.

"You need someone to give you confidence and I didn’t get that at Sheffield Wednesday, so it didn’t work out so well. Towards the end of the first season, I came back into it, I felt better again. And then I got injured. It was my meniscus. So it was very unfortunate.”

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42 minutes ago, GlossyOwl said:

Thought he was better than bench material, didn’t like it and didn’t handle it well - his words:
 

It continued. You get frustrated, you lose confidence. You don’t work as hard anymore. It was very, very disappointing. But if a manager doesn’t trust me, doesn’t let me play, then I can’t. It’s like life in general — you need this trust.

"You need someone to give you confidence and I didn’t get that at Sheffield Wednesday, so it didn’t work out so well. Towards the end of the first season, I came back into it, I felt better again. And then I got injured. It was my meniscus. So it was very unfortunate.”

They sound like excuses rather than problems. 

For me he's the biggest disappointment ever in a Wednesday shirt all the ability and the heart of a mouse. Perhaps only matched by wim jonk. 

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What about Stevie ' bloody ' May ?

I can remember all the excitement about signing him after all the goals he scored in Scotland, came here looked more like a Sunday league footballer, I remember him hitting the ball a few times and the lad just couldn't get any power behind the shots.He didn't last long here and I think he ended up back in Scotland.

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On 31/05/2022 at 07:31, Brookhouse1867 said:

Shouldn’t this thread be titled “The Jay Bothroyd Award”?

Having checked Wikipedia and Soccerbase apparently Bothroyd made 14 appearances for us. I’m bracing myself for a This is Your Life style reveal at the end….”you may have forgotten this man and you haven’t seen him since 2012, but tonight we’ve flown him in, to be re-united with his adoring Owlstalk fans”…..

 

At no. 1 it’s….

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8 hours ago, sage owl said:

They sound like excuses rather than problems. 

For me he's the biggest disappointment ever in a Wednesday shirt all the ability and the heart of a mouse. Perhaps only matched by wim jonk. 

That’s a fair one. I’m sure there was something at the time about him having some other issues, but it all comes out in the wash and it turns out, he’s just a huge fanny. 
 

jonk was one of them ‘wow’ signings that really was painful to watch. Him and most of the signings at that time. Petrescu stood out as being a silver lining 

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Carlos Carvalhal was said to have scouted more than 200 centre backs before settling for Joost Van Aken as his 201st choice. Our second Dutchman in this hall of shame, lest we forget that briefly, Van Aken looked like he was going to be a revelation. Wednesday won his first two games and Van Aken was awarded Man of the Match in his third game, a 1-1 draw away at Cardiff.

 

A few nuggets of praise for our majestic Dutch centre-back at the time included:

 

  • “This Van Aken kid looks like a belter, he’s got a forwards vision when he picks a pass” – legendaryswan
  • “Players with energy like Van Aken, Reach, players we can build our team around for years to come” – S36 OWL
  • “Looks like a cracking signing already. Seems composed and no doubt will chip in with a fair few goals for us over the course of the season.” – Ronio
  • “Have Wednesday pulled off the best signing of the season?” – theowlsman
  • “Van Aken looks very promising indeed though, his confidence shone through and it is rare. Not seen it since Bougherra and Lees where quality was evident right away.” – Bluesteel
  • “He’s going to be a fan’s favourite. Stands out due to his stature and his unbelievable confidence on the ball” – frastheowl
  • “Transfermarkt are suggesting we paid 2.7 million for him. If so, that could turn out to be a very good bit of business” – Almat
  • “He’s going to be a MASSIVE player for us I have no doubt” - crookesowl
  • (Apologies for digging a few people out, I’m sure I would have been saying the same if I had been posting more on here at the time!)

 

Then, of course, the derby game happened. Caught flat footed for the second goal, turned inside and out for the third and left trailing in Leon Clarke’s wake for the fourth, Van Aken had an absolute shocker.

 

It was probably that he wasn’t very good to start with, but any confidence he had completely drained away from him after that. Playing for Wednesday you have to be able to deal with any negativity and bounce back. And Van Aken looked like a train wreck for the rest of the 17/18 season.

 

His 2.8 rating versus Sheffield United was his worst score of the season, but scores of 3.6 (vs Barnsley) 4.0 (vs Bolton), 4.3 (vs Norwich) and 4.5 (vs Hull) weren’t too clever either.

 

2018/19 started even worse. A rating of just 2.6 at Wigan (dragged off at 3-1 down) and 5.4 (at Sunderland) before limping off and missing the rest of the season. He spent the next season on loan at VfL Osnabrück in the German Second Division. Tied down on a four-year contract with hefty wages, we were forced to give him another go in the 20/21 season.

 

This year again started promisingly, with two clean sheets in the first two games – but then a familiar cycle, of making mistakes, losing confidence, then losing his place in the team resumed. His red card (at 0-0) in the home 1-0 defeat to Luton started a spiral of bad results that cost Monk his job. Pulis even briefly tried to recast him as a left-back.

 

But wherever he played he just didn’t fit in, and the injuries came back and he didn’t play again after Boxing Day 2020.

 

Bizarrely enough, Wednesday’s defensive record with Van Aken in the team was actually very solid. In his time on the pitch, among 32 starts and 1 sub appearance, Wednesday conceded only 35 goals (we did only score 31). Without having the time to go through all 35 goals, I suggest a large number of these 35 were down to errors by Van Aken – either being turned inside out, or being caught flatfooted.

 

So, completing the holy trinity of being a) expensive, b) always injured and c) dreadful, Van Aken is a strong entry into this worst ten. Welcome Joost!

 

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I maintain he wasn’t scouted.

 

if you dig out those old threads I saw straight away there was an issue with his feet, i may have even said it on his debut on owlstalk .  He did this weird thing in those first couple of games where he looked ok , where he kind of drove off from the wrong foot a few times .  I haven’t seen it happen before , it was weird as if he had an injury. It meant he was ‘ flat footed’ - in the air and also whilst running back.  I just didn’t understand it, as it was really basic stuff.

 

i said best thing is take him out of the team for 6 months. Just work one on one with Bullen on it and we might have a player one day: we never did , he got worse . 

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Anyone who makes Leon Clarke look like prime Benzema is worthy of the list.

 

Cannot believe he was the best of the 200 we scouted. 
 

For what it’s worth. I think he was better at left back when he played there. Kinda like when we moved Reda who was a bomb scare at CB. Alas. JVA didn’t have the pace or power of Reda so it still wasn’t great

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JVA. One of, if not the, worst signing we ever made - pounds for ability.

Basic flaws in his movement and balance should have been spotted.

Turning circle of a cointainer schip. Seems he inherited his mother hips.

Great at diagonal balls.

Schitt at defending.

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Was massively overhyped after his debut vs Forest where he did some nice passes but not very good defensively.

 

Looked very good vs Cardiff - think he played a part in the goal bringing the ball out of defense?

 

Then terrible after the game vs United, woeful signing, no character.

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