Anyone Remember Matthew Le Tissier??? I think I would be a millionaire by now if I got a quid for every time I heard some call him a lazy git! but by god could he score amazing goals and play golf with a football!!!
Used to make me laugh when people would go on about him being a lazy player. Then he'd pop up, win the game or save the day, and they wouldn't be able to appreciate his genius because for the previous part of the afternoon they'd been saying what a waste of space he was. I don't think I've ever come across a player who left me so regularly speechless or gasping for air, after my body had forgotten to breathe. Let's set aside the wonderful goals - we know all about those. The times he'd hit an inch perfect 30, 40, 50 yard pass, either right to the player's foot, or to the receiver's pace, if he was running. You want to see someone appear to have the ball tied to his laces..? Just look at the number of times he'd waltz around a few players, and because he often took his time, the first one would have another go, only to be tackling the air again. You want a perfect cross from either foot on either wing - he's your man. Saints never needed one footed Beckham on the right. We had a bloke who did it every bit as well and with far less palaver. Want a free kick bent round, over or through a wall, to score or become a ball to be headed..? Matty was that provider. He was simply the best.
If I'm going to criticise anything about MLT, it's not his apparent lack of ambition; he was happy and that's ambition enough. Nor was it his inability to tackle. Plenty of players can't do that. Nope, it's that he eventually took it a little too easy, even for his own good. In his early career, after he'd established himself, say 1989 -1994, he was in pretty good shape, 99% of the time, and did a fair bit of running about and work of the kind that doesn't allow the
lazy player tag to start. After those years he was uneven, let's say, in his fitness, despite having plenty of his best moments. And I think he shortened his career because of it. By the same token, if you want runners, there's upto a potential nine headless chickens available, if you want. And not one of them with the ability to unlock a game.