Jimmy cranky
Fri Jul 25 08:39AM
Under the Premier League's intense spotlight, it has become difficult for decent players not to get noticed.
Such is the relentless hype that ordinary players like Scott Parker and Jermaine Jenas acquire reputations far exceeding their actual ability.
Some 'big' club - usually Chelsea, Spurs or Newcastle - believes the propaganda and splashes out for a bright young thing who actually turns out to be a bit rubbish.
So how come, when a couple of snappy tackles or decent through-balls are a passport to a top-ten club, nobody good wants to buy Jimmy Bullard?
Consider this:
He kept Fulham in the Premier League almost single-handedly.
He is a positive dressing-room influence (translates roughly as 'banter merchant').
He is that rarest of birds, the creative English midfielder.
He's really, really, ridiculously good at free-kicks.
If Tom Huddlestone can get in the England squad, Bullard should be a shoo-in. And yet the only side trying to buy him are Wigan - a club he left in 2006.
Bullard is an unashamedly old-fashioned footballer. He's got the kind of lop-sided face only a mother could love, topped off with a mop of blond curls teleported directly from 1976.
He exudes precisely zero arrogance and seems like a genuinely nice bloke - the perfect antidote to an age dominated by image and posturing.
Put it this way - you wouldn't see an oiled-up, marmite-coloured Bullard sunbathing on the front of a tabloid newspaper.
Is football really so shallow that Bullard gets overlooked by the big boys simply because he's not up his own backside?
Anyone who has paid even the slightest attention to ED over its lifespan will know the answer is a resounding yes.
- - -
Luiz Felipe Scolari has taken to English football like an ex-pro to Scotch.
Since taking over at Chelsea, Big Phil has quickly made himself part of the furniture - metaphorically not literally, as was the case with the wooden Avram Grant.
You know you have truly arrived when Alex Ferguson targets you for mind games - in Scolari's case for having a very slightly older squad than Manchester United.
What has impressed Early Doors the most is his effortless adoption of English percentage inflation.
Take the statement Michael Ballack would miss a meaningless friendly against a Malaysian Select XI on Saturday, having joined up late with the squad following his wedding.
For Scolari, it was more than a piece of rather boring team news. It was an opportunity to inject hyperbole to an otherwise mundane situation.
Ballack was not just going to miss the game, nor 100 percent or even 110 percent likely to sit it out. He was "one million percent" not going to play.
A million percent! Imagine being that certain about anything. Scolari is a man who truly knows his own mind.
Problem is - his claim that Didier Drogba was "200 percent" a part of his plans doesn't sound so impressive any more, does it?
In fact, Scolari is saying that Drogba is 5,000 times less likely to stay at Chelsea than Ballack is to miss the Malaysia game.
- - -
Many of this morning's papers feature front-page pictures of both Barack Obama and Cristiano Ronaldo, whose skin tone rather calls into question whether Obama can really be described as 'black'.
Ronaldo's mahogany varnish is truly astonishing but, Early Doors would love to see him naked.
Not, perhaps, for the reason you would imagine, but just to see the luminous glow of his pasty white right foot - currently in a cast - and the 'area' underneath those ubiquitous metallic mini-shorts.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Marcus Bent (11 clubs in 10 years) comes up with a new way to say 'bad blood' and has a pop at Wigan Athletic: "I was promised a contract and it didn't evolve. There isn't good blood between us."
FOREIGN VIEW: Barcelona weren't kidding when they said they were more than a club. They are now a purveyor of Pringle-style clothing after releasing their own tartan. Los Cules celebrated their love of all things Scottish with a 6-0 romp against Hibernian last night before heading out for a night of stereotypical merriment featuring Tennants Extra, deep-fried Mars bars and bye-election upsets.
TALKING POINT: claire881 endears herself to ED by revealing a sociopathic streak: "I hate Help the Aged, why isn't there a 'Help The Young' that's ageist in itself... hypocrites!"
Today - Who is the most under-rated player in the Premier League?
FANTASY FOOTBALL: Our Fantasy Premier League game is free, fun and any other adjective beginning with 'f'. Just click on the link and take a look. No obligation.
Sounds like Bullard is a million percent certainty to start in my fantasy team
My stratergy is to only choose players who have been on the WHUFC pay roll. Shame I might have to put David James in goal Er what happened to the good old fashioned 5 - 3 - 2 formation I want my mid fielders to play hoof it up to the front attacking footie ?
If I wanted to be a comedian 6 ees I would applyies to the bbc likes everyones else
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 09:42AMmorning jude, .... liverpool has a new contract with mascherano, doesn't some agency still own a part of tevez?
From jcpotvin on Fri Jul 25 09:46AMI agree, i would swap looks for bullards cash. I also agree C-Ron is a prize pillack and if i was in charge of Utd, I would sell him and by two or three quality players.
From st.whittle on Fri Jul 25 09:46AMits 2 in mornuung i mist be the modt commit =d blogrr in here. just got hime and i talkn to yi u guys! yeah
From bencornelius23 on Fri Jul 25 09:47AMApparently the Jains were the first to discard the idea that all infinites were the same or equal
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 09:47AMBetter have a fried mars bar and get some sleep ben your keyboard skills might improve in the morning
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 09:49AMhttp://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/130/
130093_youll_never_walk_alone_is_our_song.html
Chec
k out that article early doors and please have a poll
From alicaffrey on Fri Jul 25 09:50AMFunny how all of Man Utd's best players come from WHUFC isn't it Mr Smurf
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 09:51AMhow dart yu jude. no pisd. yes, lots gorls.on calld judy.i will go for her
From bencornelius23 on Fri Jul 25 09:54AMsamuel@#$%s would swap his cash for a day trip on the River Tyne, being groomed by jimmys hitstabber, !!! hahaha !!!
From nikyates on Fri Jul 25 09:57AMchelsea has some pretty good west hammers, frank lampard and joe cole wouldn't be bad in midfield for them, one would think. they're also holding on to ballack, who i'm sure would love the greenstreeters, his kind of people
From jcpotvin on Fri Jul 25 09:58AMsamuel@#$%s is now qualified up to post-graduate level.
A Phd. in shelf stacking, eh Sammyboi.
From nikyates on Fri Jul 25 09:59AMnever mind deep fried mars bars, try this. One cream egg wrapped in buttered bread, battered,and deep fried then served with icecream! It'll kill ya. anyway i think Nigel Reo-Coker is quite under rated, every team needs a hatchet man.
From martsssss on Fri Jul 25 10:04AMApparently Samuel Banks is a PHD but not a shelf stacker
Well that wot he said yesterday
For an impromtu poll does any body believe Samuel Banks is not a shelf stacker ?
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:05AM-Our best players are home grown but getting old - might be a little ageist Mr Smurf, be honest they are fully fledged coffin dodgers like Becks
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:09AM1. Most underrated player in the league is Ledley King. Or Steed Malbranque.
2. ED sounds like the spokes person for Hull citys fan club today. He was asked if he wanted Cristiano Ronaldo in Hull and said: "Absolutely not! I would much rather have Dean Windass." He said that Hull had better use of his qualities. It's time Hull, ED and all other english people out there realize something. You don't win matches by having "heart" or "lojalty". You don't win EPL by having players like Bullard, Windass, Scott Parker or Peter Ramage. You win with Drogba, Ronaldo and Berbatov.
From richard.ekman on Fri Jul 25 10:12AMI bet Hibs are wondering which F(explitive)kwit thought it was a goad idea tae warm up against Barcelona this morning
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:13AMwhats everyones 1st pick for the fantasy football then?
From sav46e on Fri Jul 25 10:14AMLooks like the 'Ladies' are all working hard for there cash this morning
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:14AMWould love to see the Toon go for bullard he is an awesome player and very under rated, would be an excellent addition to our squad
From stevenmitchell1984 on Fri Jul 25 10:16AMagreed, reo coker is a solid hatchetman, but i don't think there's a lot of playing time for him beyond a club of villa's status.
young english players haven't had a lot of success breaking in at the big clubs, aside from rooney, but that's because most of the them needed a little more seasoning before making a move to a big side.
From jcpotvin on Fri Jul 25 10:19AMI see Fabio Capello has opted to take the monkey and run after 2010
The NOTW better get it's skates on if it wants to terminate his career first
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:20AMLedley King should be in Englands starting eleven when fit.
And I don't really know what a punk is jude, so that didn't really hurt.
From richard.ekman on Fri Jul 25 10:22AMi think ashley young from aston villa is the most underrated player in the league, no one seems to acknowledge how good he was for them last season ~ i'm surprised no one is after that kid.
From jcpotvin on Fri Jul 25 10:24AMAre you saying there are no punks in Sweden Richard ?
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:24AMIt's a good point about Jimmy, why no one comes in for him, but as a Fulham fan I've got to say the comment about him single-handedly keeping us up is way off the mark.
Jimmy was pretty poor at the tale end of last year. Danny Murphy did more to keep us up than Jim, who worked as hard as he always does, but his touch wasn't there. And his corners were diabolical. He's also developed a habit of setting off on what would appear to be one of his creative runs, but with no real plan in mind, and just ends up getting to the end of the run and playing a square pass.
And he's started this year's pre-season in the same way and is currently under serious threat of losing his automatic first team place to Zoltan Gera, who is looking, at the moment, more creative and more of an attacking threat.
I'd like to see Jimmy stay. As stated in the article he is a great bloke and well-loved by everyone at Fulham. But equally I don't think he's currently deserving of automatic inclusion in the starting 11 at the moment.
From a_d_lye on Fri Jul 25 10:25AMnever thought my country would be mention in this article...harhar
From izzfp9802 on Fri Jul 25 10:26AMMy first pick was R Green it was a close call over David James
From arttidesco on Fri Jul 25 10:26AMhibernian got killed by barca hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
From dannickbates on Fri Jul 25 10:29AMdunno artti since I don't know what it is. Something bad I guess since Clint Eastwood said it to someone.
From richard.ekman on Fri Jul 25 10:29AM
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