Mendieta

He was brilliant at times but his fitness is what let him down. He needed to be played in the middle to be most effective but he couldn't really do it in a 2. We played a strangely defensive setup in his first season with Boateng and Doriva as a midfield 2 and then Zenden and Mendieta wide (and neither of them were great wide). It's hard to believe that's the season we won a trophy considering the calibre of players we had in other seasons. Job, Maccarone, Ricketts and Christie were our choice of strikers. In the following season he had a bad injury early on and then never really got back to his best other than the odd game (like the Utd match). He played the same number of matches in his loan season as he did in his 4 years after he signed permanently.

I wonder if he had not signed permanently and we only had the league cup winning loan season to look back on whether he would be held in higher esteem. I don't think it's wrong to say he was massively underwhelming as a permanent signing but he was still brilliant in flashes. He was always technically very good.
 
Best player in the world for a short spell at Valencia, and whilst I don't think he ever consistently reached those heights again in his career, his natural ability far surpassed the majority of players ever to play for our club.
 
changingman said:
Best player in the world for a short spell at Valencia, and whilst I don't think he ever consistently reached those heights again in his career, his natural ability far surpassed the majority of players ever to play for our club.
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How short was this spell? I don't remember him ever being better than Rivaldo, Zidane or Figo for very long. And that's just midfielders, before we start talking about all the forwards and defenders of the day.
 
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He was our best midfielder, he was played out of position, in my opinion. He was fantastic when he played the middle.
 
atypical_boro said:
How short was this spell? I don't remember him ever being better than Rivaldo, Zidane or Figo for very long. And that's just midfielders, before we start talking about all the forwards and defenders of the day.
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He was UEFA Midfielder of the year 2 years running but that is only based on the Champions League. He came 8th in the 2000 Ballon D'Or, behind those players you've mentioned. He was definitely in their bracket at that period of time but I wouldn't say he was ever better than them.
 
NoloBoro said:
He was our best midfielder, he was played out of position, in my opinion. He was fantastic when he played the middle.
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This was the common belief at the time. I remember him getting a bit of a run in CM after the United 4-1 and although he looked good for a few games he quickly tailed off again.
 
Nano said:
He was UEFA Midfielder of the year 2 years running but that is only based on the Champions League. He came 8th in the 2000 Ballon D'Or, behind those players you've mentioned. He was definitely in their bracket at that period of time but I wouldn't say he was ever better than them.
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Agreed. I'm not doubting he was a fantastic player during that spell, but 'best in the world' is a reckless claim in my opinion, no matter how short a period we're talking about.
 
weststandwally said:
Got to agree but I blame McClaren as he preferred a more defensive duo in centre midfield even though we alredy had one of the best in Boateng who Mendietta should have played alongside and provided better ammunition for the some of best strikers we've had available.I just think McClaren didn't trust flair players in midfield, see also his treatment of Juninho
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He played Zenden in centre mid. Was he not a flair player. Then Rocky. He played players like doriva there before we had decent strikers who were able to hold the ball up front a lot better.
 
He is listed in Wiki amongst the famous people with Yarm connections
They were clearly struggling as they only listed 5 and Mendieta was the only one I'd heard of
 
Loved Mendieta's ability, and is probably up there with one of the greatest technical players ever to have played at the club, but I think we have rose tinted glasses on.

He wasnt consistent enough, but when he was on his game, wow he was some player.

Lets be honest, its the reason he came to us in the first place, he had lost his way a bit.
 
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MichaelDebeve said:
Loved Mendieta's ability, and is probably up there with greatest technical players ever to have played at the club, but I think we have rose tinted glasses on.

He wasnt consistent enough, but when he was on his game, wow he was some player.

Lets be honest, its the reason he came to us in the first place, he had lost his way a bit.
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I discussed Mendieta with a couple of Lazio fans in Rome, during his spell here.

They were not impressed with him at all.
 
1finny said:
He is listed in Wiki amongst the famous people with Yarm connections
They were clearly struggling as they only listed 5 and Mendieta was the only one I'd heard of
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There's a part of me that wonders if his 'love for the area' is partly why some are remembering him so fondly. The fact he stuck around in Yarm after retiring etc and loved parmos and went to Blaises a few times (probably) and stuff.
 
NoloBoro said:
He was our best midfielder, he was played out of position, in my opinion. He was fantastic when he played the middle.
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He was definitely played out of position on the right but the few times he played through the middle, he didn't really do enough to make that spot in the middle his own.
 
atypical_boro said:
There's a part of me that wonders if his 'love for the area' is partly why some are remembering him so fondly. The fact he stuck around in Yarm after retiring etc and loved parmos and went to Blaises a few times (probably) and stuff.
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Mendieta was every hipsters dream at the time as well. That 100% played a part in how he's been remembered.
 
MichaelDebeve said:
What does that mean? ... genuine question 😂
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:ROFLMAO:... it was cool to throw Mendieta's name around as a beacon of your football knowledge. He played for one of the less fashionable clubs in Valencia but was causing a bit of a storm around europe and was relatively unknown to the masses in England for a while.
 
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