I think that article someone posted on here before has relevance here from the
The 10 most sought-after Euro 2008 players post:
http://www.manutdtalk.com/forums/foo...8-players.html "...The Portsmouth manager, Harry Redknapp, is one of those who agrees with Wenger's maxim (although Arsenal did break it themselves in 2002 in buying after Brazil won the World Cup). "I've been watching the European, but I don't know if I will be going for players out there," Redknapp admitted. He said that the stagnant transfer market was partly due to the Euros taking place. "There may not have been a lot of movement for players so far because of the competition," Redknapp explained. "But I don't know how many players there are out there who we could go for, who would make a difference. "It's difficult when it comes around to a tournament and you are looking to bring in people. You turn up and see a player play brilliantly in one game. Just because he does enough in one game doesn't mean he's the right player. Someone may have a brilliant European Championship, but that doesn't mean he will be right for the Premier League. "We've seen it happen so many times before. Someone plays well in the competition and lots of people are interested in him. His value goes through the roof and he ends up going for a lot of money, but doesn't do anything again," Redknapp explained. The name of Karel Poborsky springs to mind...."
Basically what I am trying to stress is that yeah some people might have an excellent tournament like say Kleberson did in the 2002 World Cup but then he did end up being a flop afterwards with us. Some people can be a star and a great footballer and still manage to flop at tournaments like Henry showed us this Euro 08 and some people are saying Ronaldo and Torres were also apart of that group of underacheiveing stars this tournament; but we all know that they are not flops just because they did not perform to their usual standard in 2 games or so.
So yeah just 1 tournament or just few games cannot be the sole thing we judge a player on. Like for example Huntelaar barely played and so does that make him not suitable for the EPL? Same was the case with Petric and some people are dismissing him so then I guess one may also dismiss Huntelaar as well.
I always believed that a player should be looked over a period of time and that period must be larger then just a 3 game tournament (for some/most nations) before we make judgements. My perfect example would be Evra; mostly everyone after his debut thought he was a flop but look at him for the past 2 seasons. He was outstanding! He also cannot start into the national team thanks to Abidal but does that mean he is not good enough like some people made that assumption with Petric.
Petric did ok but looked quite tired in the latter parts of the games which I would say is because of his lengthy club football season he had and he was used near the end of the season more and perhaps that is why he looked at times jaded or he just might not have a good level of fitness (I really do not know) but yeah Olic did manage to score and play more than him but overall he did not perform better than him. There is more to football than goals people. Some people on here would just state that Olic had a better tournament because he scored vs. the Germans and Petric was hopeless thanks to his no goal show but they would not realise that Olic was very wasteful especially vs Turkey and overall he did have pretty much the same tournament as Petric. Some people would conclude that Modric had a great tournament and even scored one goal but Rakitic had an equally impressive campaign but failed to score but that doesn't make his display some what lesser than Modric's if you get what I mean..?
Yes a strikers job is to score and benzema, Toni and Gomez did have high expectations and did not live up to that but look at Rooney last season...he should and could of scored bucket loads more but he didn't but that doesn't make his whole season a flop now does it? He worked really hard and credit is given to him for that and in the case of Torres that is what has happend this tournament imo. He is not the lone striker up front where the game only revolves around him (like Henry at Arsenal and like Torres at Liverpoo) but instead now there is a different type of football being played and Villa is next to him and he becomes that second striker creating for the main striker Villa kind of like how Rooney was when playing with Ruud.
Basically a single 3-6 game tournament cannot be the sole way to judge a player but other things should also be seen (other seasons) like in the case of Huntelaar and Benzema. We cannot just dismiss a player after just few games (like Evra). Now I know this thread was just to see who floped in this particular tournament and that is fine and maybe I went a little off topic but for people who know think the likes of Petric, Benzema and Huntelaar are not good enough for the EPL or Man Utd just after this tournament should maybe take a longer and deeper look than just this Euro 08.
I do not believe Petric is a must buy and I think his standard of play is most suitable for say teams finishing near the mid table of the EPL and would do well in clubs such as West Ham, Birmingham or Wigan and etc but I think he would do ok in the EPL. But the reason why I even thought he could be considered as a potential buy for us is if we need a player who would sit happily on the bench and would just come on when asked and just as squad depth like Fletcher is and the reason why we bought Manucho, but not signing Petric as a first team regular.
My flops for this Euro 08 would be:
Toni
Gomez
Huntelaar (expected goals like crazy from him but he didn't play much!)
Anelka
Benzema (expected goals but his display vs Romania was good)
Italian National Team
Franch National Team bar Ribery and Evra the only highlights (Thanks to their crap coach. Next time bring Mexes, Sagna, Trezugeut, Ben Arfa and leave the too old to walk;Thuram, Makalele and inexpereinced players Gomis home and bring in people who are playing well for their clubs like the ones I stated before and do not play with two dmc!!)
And Arshavin was NOT a flop...he was quite outstanding imo! The likes of Greece and the hosts did crap but they imo are not flops because I expected them to do crap so hence they lived up to my expectations lol.
A good article my mate sent to me via msn about Anelka lol
Biggest Flop: Nicolas Anelka The ruthless among us would be tempted to blast the French team as a whole as they crashed out of Group C with only one point, while 2006 World Cup winners Italy received their quarter-final comeuppance for refusing to recognise that modern football has moved on. However, Anelka earns especial criticism following his lacklustre performances in Austria and Switzerland. After playing only 111 minutes in which he did not appear to break sweat, Anelka misses out on his infamous 'Le Sulk' nickname and is instead branded 'Le Flop'. The Chelsea striker has struggled at Stamford Bridge since a £15million move from Bolton in January and that fee continues to be greeted with a slight hesitancy from all in blue, at club and international level.
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