Mark Viduka (!) on Sky Sports this morning

Nobby_Barnes said:
Yeah Yeah I'm agreed on this one Indeedido but Slaven has a better goalscoring record...
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Slaven was an excellent goalscorer, and of course never took penalties, I think maybe 3 in his career and he missed one. But of course he only had one proper season in the top flight, a decent season mind, but to be on Viduka's level he needed to play and prove it more in the top flight
 
Redwurzel said:
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.
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could be true, he was struggling with his mental health at celtic partly due to the war in his families homeland. It really disturbed him.
 
Loved that game - MU were top of old Division 1. We were in Division 2. MU looked full strength - we must have taken 10,000 for a mid week game. From the highlights we actually looked the better team - wasn't Ripley excellent. What a bargain Blackburn got when we sold him.
 
I don’t think it’s a big secret that viduka had to be handled in a certain way and he did have an ego to match but that’s what great strikers have it about like lead vocalist in a band everyone else is there because of them and everyone knows it - it’s kind of what makes them so good.
 
Viduka was no doubt an excellent player, but that game against arsenal when Henry scored a hatrick and Viduka went over and high five him. Really gauled me. As for yak, very powerful player, but if people remember. That cold Tuesday or Wednesday night away game against Wigan if I recall, when he wanted a transfer, so he didn't bother at all. In fact he let the players run to the ball whilst he walked to it. We got beat 1-0. As for Jimmy, that's what we need. Someone who will shoot at the goal if they are within 25 yards. Chase rebounds if they don't go in
 
BoroMart said:
Slaven was an excellent goalscorer, and of course never took penalties, I think maybe 3 in his career and he missed one. But of course he only had one proper season in the top flight, a decent season mind, but to be on Viduka's level he needed to play and prove it more in the top flight
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One goal fewer than rav wasn't it? Who did take pens. And he didn't have Juninho.
 
Redwurzel said:
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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Ah, the famous...nintchdbpict000001637271.jpg
 
Redwurzel said:
I am glad I am not the only one who thought you got a mixed bag with Mark Viduka - one day a world beater, the next a passenger.
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Towards the end of his contract he was unplayable on his day and it was disappointing to see him leave, regardless of where he went, but prior to that season my recollection is that he was gernerally disappointing, with a lot of injuries and not much form.

My take on the clubs view, was that he played well towards the end of his contract for that reason, but that may be being unfair to him. He did go to Newcastle on a big shiny new contact and proceeded to do nothing mind, so it does make a me a bit suspicious.
 
LowMoorBoro said:
One of our biggest mistakes not just offering him what he wanted, could have been the difference between staying up and going down.
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He's my favourite striker in 30+ years watching Boro, but he would not have made a difference to our relegation.

That team had many problems, and a good centre forward was not the difference between survival and relegation. No experienced keeper, and being reduced to Matt Bates in midfield would still have cost us, even if MV had been fit and playing. MV's wage demands were also very high; keeping him would also have meant sacrificing one or two other squad members at least, and not necessarily the ones you'd want to get rid of...

As it was, he didn't do much to keep NEwcastle up that year.
 
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If he had stayed fit in his first season, I think we would have qualified for the campions league. He was a superb player, the best CF I've seen at Boro by a decent distance, and if we had beaten Everton instead of losing to them we would have qualified. It was that close for us.
 
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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how many of Yakubu's goals were penalties though? Dont recall Viduka taking many or any for that matter
 
BoroMart said:
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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missed one against Bristol City, literally passed it to the keeper!


8m 10s in (made this clip myself)

EDIT we missed some pens in 94-95 didnt we??!!
 
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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 did more work with the ball holding it up and bringing others into play. That is also just their league totals Viduka 16 cup gaols in 24 starts, Yak got 10 in 21 starts. Viduka was much better in those competitions, equal in league goal output per minutes, and a better all around player.
 
Davey_C said:
how many of Yakubu's goals were penalties though? Dont recall Viduka taking many or any for that matter
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I'd also add that those are just league goals.

Both played 103 games in total for Boro. MV scored 42 and Yak 35, so the cup games stretch MV's lead. Needless to say MV's role in some of the big European nights is a big part of why he's remembered more fondly.
 
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