Kyle Walker - One of the world's best right backs?

[tobi]

If your an attacking full back and play in a system that relies heavily on you providing the width/overload/outlet (whatever you want to call it), I fail to see how you can be thought of as the 'best' in the world or 'world class' when you consistently make wrong decisions in the final third, give the opponent's an easy time by being passive more often than not and don't have the ability to cross the ball.

Walker and Rose have improved a lot, they deserve credit for that. I think Rose (and Davies) can still improve further but there's no shame in simply being a very good full back.

 

[tiger666]

Walker and Rose have improved a lot, they deserve credit for that..

Which is all Ferdinand is doing yet, people keep coming in here and shitting on it. He didn't say he was 'world class' or the 'best' in the world.

 

[tooey]

I've always thought Walker was a brilliant player, he's always had the athleticism and work rate, what he's added to his game (along with Rose) is increased defensive nous, he's never got enough credit for the defensive side of his game. As a side note, I keep hearing "poor final ball" levelled at a lot of wide players these days, especially in the last 3-4 years, neither Walker nor Rose have a poor final ball.

 

[FreddieYid]

“If you look at Kyle Walker's pace and intensity, he is like a machine,” Ferdinand told the BBC.

“He puts the opposition full-back under pressure. He asks whether you are ready to run with me and if not, he will motor past you.

“There might be questions on how he plays in his own third, but as for when you are on the front foot, I don't think there are many better in the world. He is like a winger.”

Where did the word world class come into this?

This. What Rio says about Walkers game is hard to question.

He doesn't call him world class, he says he's currently among the best in the world at the parts of his game he mentions.

It's not like there are many around at the level of Lahm, Thuram, Zanetti, G Neville and Cafu in their prime.

 

[Disconosebleed]

“If you look at Kyle Walker's pace and intensity, he is like a machine,” Ferdinand told the BBC.

“He puts the opposition full-back under pressure. He asks whether you are ready to run with me and if not, he will motor past you.

“There might be questions on how he plays in his own third, but as for when you are on the front foot, I don't think there are many better in the world. He is like a winger.”

Where did the word world class come into this?

"I don't think there are many better in the world". That bit. Again (for the third time), I do accept that 'world class' is not very well defined as a term, which makes arguments over whether someone qualifies pointless. I would say that line from Ferdinand is him saying he's one of the best in the world, ie. he is world class, but appreciate that you might see it differently.

 

[Disconosebleed]

Cole? Seen enough really bad mistakes from him too.

Cole was an astonishingly good left back to be fair, comfortably England's best player over the 'Golden Generation' period and the only one who came out of every major tournament with credit - it's only his personality that has denied him legend status at club and international level.

 

[Hotspur33]

Defensively, has improved over the past few years, but his athleticism is wasted going forward because he is so wasteful.

He needs to add variety to his game. He doesn't shoot enough, never drives into the box, and his crossing is poor. He is a good player, nothing more.

 

[Spurrific]

Defensively, has improved over the past few years, but his athleticism is wasted going forward because he is so wasteful.

He needs to add variety to his game. He doesn't shoot enough, never drives into the box, and his crossing is poor. He is a good player, nothing more.

Bollocks.

 

[guiltyparty]

1) He doesn't say that - he says on the front foot, he's one of the best in the world
2) I disagree, I actually think, as others have said, his lack of end product is generally his biggest annoyance for someone who can so easily coast past players. His speed to cover defensively is actually invaluable, hampered by his occasional brain farts
3) He's having a storming Euros and is bang on form

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

1) He doesn't say that - he says on the front foot, he's one of the best in the world
2) I disagree, I actually think, as others have said, his lack of end product is generally his biggest annoyance for someone who can so easily coast past players. His speed to cover defensively is actually invaluable, hampered by his occasional brain farts
3) He's having a storming World Cup and is bang on form

I hate when clever ****s point out the obvious, but i'm not clever so I feel i'm half allowed.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

depends what you consider "one of" to mean i guess. one of three? five? 10? i think he's probably up there but it's more down to the lack of quality than anything, walker still has a glaring weakness in his game(and it's not defensively as seems to be the general opinion, outside of spurs fans anyway) but his lack of end product inGla the final third.

Glad someone has noticed this. When people that are fans of other teams speak about England RBs (before the Euros at least), the consensus was that Clyne is better defensively so it would be better to go with him, even though Walker is better offensively. When Spurs fans know that Walker is actually good defensively, but has a lack of end product at the other end of this pitch- although I think he has been good going forward for England.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

"I don't think there are many better in the world". That bit. Again (for the third time), I do accept that 'world class' is not very well defined as a term, which makes arguments over whether someone qualifies pointless. I would say that line from Ferdinand is him saying he's one of the best in the world, ie. he is world class, but appreciate that you might see it differently.

Not really. You said your definition of world class is someone who would get into every team in the world - that means you'd be talking about the outright best in the world, not just one of the best. Walker is the latter, not the former.

Not to mention the fact that you're excluding quite a key part of the sentence. "On the front foot, there's no-one better" is very different from "there's no-one better".

 

[nailsy]

His footworks been brilliant so far. He's clearly been working on it in training.

 

[guiltyparty]

I hate when clever ****s point out the obvious, but i'm not clever so I feel i'm half allowed.

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Could he be better? Yes.

Is he one of the best in the world and a crucial member of Spurs? Yes.

Could we realistically do much better? No.

 

[aquanard]

It is interesting how marmite he is to everyone. How much would the haters be happy to sell him for? For a player not much loved, most probably wouldn't be happy selling him for less than 20m

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

If Walker had just given away the freekick that Jusnfran has, he'd be roasted.

 

[Syn_13]

I'm a bit love/hate when it comes to Walker. Some things he does brilliantly, but the things he's not good at really do stand out. In a bizarre why I get why Rio says he's one of the best right backs in the world. Firstly, it helps that he's having a great run of form and relishing his national call up. Secondly, and more importantly, it's because there just aren't that many great full backs. I don't mean anything against Kyle by saying that, it's just that his competition isn't as strong as it may have been years ago.

It's a weird position nowadays. When I was a nipper it was always nosebleed if you go past the half way line when it came to full backs. I played there quite a bit as a kid and was always coached that you're a defender first and foremost. Then over the years it became a somewhat an auxiliary role where you were required to provide more support and overlap the wingers back in the 4-4-2 days. Now it's pretty much an attacking role. Wingers are often more like wide or inverted forwards who tuck in to join the attack so the full back provides all the width whilst the holding mids fill out the spaces in defence if needed. Full backs nowadays are pretty much the wing backs of the Cafu/Carlos Brazil days.

I'm glad Kyle's doing well at the moment and I hope he continues this purple patch into next season.

 

[Disconosebleed]

Not really. You said your definition of world class is someone who would get into every team in the world - that means you'd be talking about the outright best in the world, not just one of the best. Walker is the latter, not the former.

I didn't say that, I said world class to me is someone who would be good enough for any team in the world. I specifically mentioned the idea of them not being out of place in a team of that standard. That's not the same as saying they're the outright best in the world. Suarez is the best striker in the world, but you wouldn't say Lewandowski wouldn't be good enough for Barca, even if he wouldn't displace Suarez. I have no doubt that David De Gea would be a fantastic goalkeeper for Bayern, but he wouldn't get into their team because Neuer is better.

Not to mention the fact that you're excluding quite a key part of the sentence. "On the front foot, there's no-one better" is very different from "there's no-one better".

Those two things are very different, yes (incidentally,he's wrong on that count IMO - I'd say Walker is a better defender than attacker). However, as we've already gone over, he also said "I don't think there are many better in the world" which (fourth time now) would by my, but not necessarily your interpretation of what world class means define him as world class.

 

[Chimbo1]

The guy has an incredible engine. For me he still lacks quality with his final ball into the box. If he had that he would be incredible. Still 10/10 for effort.

O