Mark Viduka (!) on Sky Sports this morning

Redwurzel said:
He did nothing when he left us so probably right decision to let go in 2007.

I liked him overall and would add he was very skillful for a big guy, but he was injured a lot, and somedays did not look as interested as he could have been. Remember him throwing kisses to fans booing him after a 4-0 home defeat to Villa in 2006.

He also was relelgated with both Leeds and Newcastle, both clubs should be not getting relegated.

We should have held on to Yak longer as he was younger. Not sure what went wrong there.
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Viduka was miles better than Yakubu. We got a good fee for Yakubu.
Leeds didn’t go down because of Viduka.
 
Yak scored 25 goals for Boro in 73 games

Viduka scored 26 goals for Boro in 72 games

Stats are about similiar but Yak did it in 2 years opposed to 3 years for Viduka.

Yak left for £11.5m Viduka left on a free.

Viduka was more skillful, but Yak scored more goals per season and was better value.

Their primary job was to score goals.
 
Redwurzel said:
Yak scored 25 goals for Boro in 73 games

Viduka scored 26 goals for Boro in 72 games

Stats are about similiar but Yak did it in 2 years opposed to 3 years for Viduka.

Yak left for £11.5m Viduka left on a free.

Viduka was more skillful, but Yak scored more goals per season and was better value.

Their primary job was to score goals.
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Yak didn't create and 7 of his goals were penalties won by Viduka, Jimmy, Downing etc. The penalties artificially inflate YAk's goalscoring prowess.

So Yak scored 18 goals in 2 years , plus 7 pens and one miss

If Viduka had been given penalty duties instead, even if he only scored half of the 8 penalties, then you would looking at Vids 30 in 72 and Yak 18 in 73.

Being the chosen penalty taker is the only reason Yaks stats make him look as good as Viduka, and why you need to look a little bit deeper than one simple statistic when validating the value of a players contribution.
 
Is my memory playing tricks? I remember Yak taking those lazy-looking placed penalties where he'd stroll up and wait for the keeper to move, then stroke it into the other corner. Everyone always had kittens in the runup but he'd never miss 😁

Couldn't find any on YouTube though, have I got that wrong?
Redwurzel said:
We should have held on to Yak longer as he was younger. Not sure what went wrong there.
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True but I think the Yak definitely had a "football age". He was scoring hattricks in the Champions League for his third club Maccabi Tel Aviv aged 16, while looking for all the world like a 28 year old man.

He's only "38" now! 😂
 
Viduka was brilliant and in my opinion the best Boro forward during my time. I've said this before, but I remember getting to Villa Park for the Semi Final in 2006 late and finding out the line up didn't include Viduka (injury). He was in such brilliant form I just knew it was going to be a bad day. As good as Hasslebaink and Yakubu were Viduka had something else.
 
Redwurzel said:
Yak scored 25 goals for Boro in 73 games

Viduka scored 26 goals for Boro in 72 games

Stats are about similiar but Yak did it in 2 years opposed to 3 years for Viduka.

Yak left for £11.5m Viduka left on a free.

Viduka was more skillful, but Yak scored more goals per season and was better value.

Their primary job was to score goals.
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Viduka was a complete centre forward. He was good in the air, could take the ball at any height, could hold it and intelligently bring others into play. His passing and awareness of others was great; his balance, grace and ability to turn and create space for himself fabulous and his finishing was sublime. He had unbelievable technique for a big man.
Yakubu was hard to shake off the ball and scored penalties. 7 of those 25 you quote were penalties.
Viduka actually scored 42 in 103 matches in all competitions. No Viduka, no European final.

I'm really surprised that you would seriously put Yakubu anywhere near Viduka.
 
indeedido said:
Viduka was a complete centre forward. He was good in the air, could take the ball at any height, could hold it and intelligently bring others into play. His passing and awareness of others was great; his balance, grace and ability to turn and create space for himself fabulous and his finishing was sublime. He had unbelievable technique for a big man.
Yakubu was hard to shake off the ball and scored penalties. 7 of those 25 you quote were penalties.
Viduka actually scored 42 in 103 matches in all competitions. No Viduka, no European final.
I'm really surprised that you would seriously put Yakubu anywhere near Viduka.
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Yeah Yeah I'm agreed on this one Indeedido but Slaven has a better goalscoring record...
 
He used to frustrate me at times with his lack of effort especially away from home and when we were not the better team. But what a player when he was on form and up for it. I think we did the right thing letting him leave when he did it was not replacing him properly that was the problem.
 
I base analysis mainly on stats - Viduka appeared better, but when you add in the stats analysis there was not a big difference between the 2 strikers. the stats are affected because Viduka was available less, but that really matters to a team's results and achievements.

Our memories also like to remember the best bits not the poor games. Juninho for example was sublime at times, but I don't think he scored away from home in his first season at the Boro 1995/6 and he was an attacking midfielder. He debuted in November and the team's form dipped after Xmas and we went from around third to the bottom half. I even started to think we should just play him at the Riverside that season.

I agree Viduka had a excellent touch for a big man and he could head the ball better than Yak, but the prime analysis is goal scoring. OK Yak scored a lot of penalties but I could have said Viduka got a lot of goals in the UEFA Cup and no dispect to some of those defences, many were not of Premier League standard. Also some Yak's season was often disrupted by the African Nations Cup and he performed very well for Nigeria in his career compared with Viduka for Australia.

Money talks - Mark Viduka never commanded more than £6m in the transfer market - why was that?
 
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Reports suggest he was quite a difficult man to manage.
Look at his time at Celtic.
I've heard he wasn't 'keen' to appear for us in cup matches and had to be persuaded to play in so-called lesser matches.

Probably one of the most naturally gifted players to have graced the Riverside turf.

Don't think it is fair to say he was badly treated here in relation to his contract not being extended.
Think we should just thank our lucky stars he played for us at all.
 
Slaven's goalscoring record was very good and I was surprised no one bought him in 1989. There may have been bids. One consideration with Bernie were his goals were generally not in the top flight and he was a late developer not turning pro till he was almost 25. Yak spent most of his career at the top level and Viduka also had 9 years in the Premier League.
 
There is a rumour that Viduka threw his boots in the rubbish bin at Celtic at half time and refused to play the rest of the game when they lost 3-1 at home to Inverness who were a lower league team. At the time the result was a a massive shock. Celtic never lost to Scottish lower league teams especially at home.
 
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Bloomin' loved Bernie me!
Imagine how many more goals he'd have scored with those tweaks to the offside rules!

IIRC his last (or one of his last goals) was at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Semi.
He beat his mate Pallister to the ball.
What I love is the fact that Pally was younger and in his pomp but Bernie was still too quick for him.

2:28 just onside
 
jonny_greenings_sock said:
Is my memory playing tricks? I remember Yak taking those lazy-looking placed penalties where he'd stroll up and wait for the keeper to move, then stroke it into the other corner. Everyone always had kittens in the runup but he'd never miss 😁

Couldn't find any on YouTube though, have I got that wrong?
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No, he had a very decent technique for penalties, and I guess that was an art in itself, but it when you look at his career, his goalscoring, getting into scoring opportunities and clinical finishing was no better than average and his creativity, hold up and link up play was relatively poor compared to Viduka.
 
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