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Xavi was obsessed with Matt Le Tissier's ability









Pogue Mahone

Well-known member
Apr 30, 2011
10,721
How come he never received more caps?

He played for Southampton. He refused to go elsewhere, and was forever being dismissed as 'unambitious'.

At the time it seemed obvious that he was BY FAR the best English player around, but he was rarely given a chance. when selected, he was never given the freedom to express himself that is so evident in this video.

As you say, a massive mistake.
 


Uncle Buck

Ghost Writer
Jul 7, 2003
28,071
He played for Southampton. He refused to go elsewhere, and was forever being dismissed as 'unambitious'.

At the time it seemed obvious that he was BY FAR the best English player around, but he was rarely given a chance. when selected, he was never given the freedom to express himself that is so evident in this video.

As you say, a massive mistake.

Also he was around the same time as Gazza, who was in the England side and when he was on the wane, Scholes came along.
 






Mackenzie

Old Brightonian
Nov 7, 2003
33,508
East Wales
He played for a small club. If he'd been at Liverpool or Manchester United he'd have got many many more caps. Very talented player.
 






Mowgli37

Enigmatic Asthmatic
Jan 13, 2013
6,371
Sheffield
Did he ever score a normal goal?! Incredible player.

I do always chuckle though when I see how he nearly scuffed that last one versus Chelsea.
 




Pogue Mahone

Well-known member
Apr 30, 2011
10,721
Could have won so much more if he'd moved clubs.

Absolutely.

But he had that old fashioned idea that it wasn't all about joining the massive club and chasing the silverware. He was probably the last player of real class to stay with a club where he was happy, where he felt at home and to refuse big money moves.

Good for him, it's something that makes me like him all the more. He was an unbelievable player who would not prostitute himself. He loved Southampton, and would not leave them.

Can you even begin to imagine how much he was loved down there? The Bruno thread brings it into focus, but Le Tissier was on a different level.
 




DavidinSouthampton

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jan 3, 2012
16,540
One of the pundits who could actually "do it" pretty well himself. I saw one of the last in that sequence, where he gently lobs it over the head of a defender, having already beaten someone else, and then hitting it when it came down. I was behind the goal with my daughter.

Still lives locally over here and is a member of my wife's golf-club, not that she has ever seen him there. We have also seen him in a local pub twice on Sunday lunchtimes - the White Swan at Mansbridge. We wondered if they gave him and his family a free lunch as a marketing ploy.
 




Monkey Man

Your support is not that great
Jan 30, 2005
3,156
Neither here nor there
Even when he played in the blue & white at Jimmy Case's testimonial, he was a different class. Could have won so much more if he'd moved clubs.

I remember the sight of Le Tissier in the Sandtex stripes and wondering if I'd ever see a Brighton player with even half the guy's ability. Even he couldn't score on the night, as I recall.
 




Puppet Master

non sequitur
Aug 14, 2012
4,055
He played in that 1-0 defeat to Italy at Wembley 1997, got tore to shreds by the media despite the whole team being gash then Hoddle didn't take him to the World Cup the next year. Doofus. I recall he scored a hat trick for England B just before the squad was announced too.
 




Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
61,674
Location Location
I bet he wouldn't.

And with him in the team, they weren't likely to be relegated.

Bet he would.

He'd have had to, to keep going with his spread-betting match scams. I doubt they did 2nd division games back then.
 











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