[Albion] Vicente under Chris Hughton

Exile said:

This post in the Poyet thread made me think...



... just what would we have got out of Vicente, if he'd played under Chris Hughton?

My view is that the sublimely talented but chronically fragile Vicente was clearly exceptionally high maintenance. I imagine he needed constant attention from the management team - cuddles, sympathy, daily reminders of how lovely and special he was, promises to set things up to get the best from his special talent. Gus Poyet's ego was NEVER going to stand for all that - not a chance.

Now, ignoring that it was almost certainly Gus' self-confidence and charisma that actually persuaded El Punal to come here in the first place, and without that we'd not have had a hope of signing him, just how might things have panned out under a different Amex-era manager?

I think that Oscar and Vicente might well have 'clicked' to the benefit of all, though with the pair of them being rather unstable, there would probably be a train-wreck at the end of it.

Sami would have played him at centre-back or in goal, resulting in permanent 'head's not right' status.

Nathan Jones could have found a way to get the best out of him I think, but would his lack of pedigree / experience have earned him sufficient respect from Vicente for him to listen to his ideas?

Then Chris Hughton - he is clearly a very good man manager. Good enough to have got Vicente on the pitch more than a dozen times a season, and then used his skill to actually AFFECT rather than just EMBELLISH matches?

thoughts?

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Rohan Ince's Python said:

Yeah I saw that. Absolute stunner. A rare example of what a quality footballer he could be, and let's face it he was technically excellent, but people talk as if he was some sort of Messi like figure which is nonsense.

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aolstudios said:

He was footballer of the year in Spain, ahead of Zidane. He was beyond 'technically excellent'

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Arundel_Seagull said:

Would have liked to see him have played more than he did. Not sure what was going on behind the scenes and fairly sure he was a "pay per game" player? Not sure how much input Poyet would have had on that. For all we know the final decisions could have been coming from the top and not Poyet himself. Which would also explain the "glass ceiling" comments. Just speculating...

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hans kraay fan club said:

This is nonsense.

When the guy DID actually play he was nothing close to 'lazy'. Effort isn't only about tracking back. He was constantly on the move, getting himself in space, demanding the ball from his team-mates.

If you think the Vicente gamble was a complete failure, you just don't get it, and never will.

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Codner's Wallop said:

I appreciate you already have a highly inflated opinion of self-worth and often dismiss perfectly valid points with 'nonsense', 'rubbish' ad nauseum, but actually your posting is exactly that - nonsense, You seem to have selective or impaired memory because I can remember for the best part of Vicente's early Albion career he was vilified in the north for being lazy and and an injury-prone show pony. For the wages spent, he was particularly poor value. He did have some magic moments, as I already mentioned in my initial posting but for anyone to elevate him to some deity who transcended all others, is plain silly.

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