duncan's pigeon
Player Valuation: £950k
Leon Osman is one of the most technically gifted players I have seen play for my beloved blues over the 40 plus years I've been going to the game. From the first time I saw him in the 1998 fa youth cup I thought he was fantastic. One thing I was told before he even made his first team debut was that he may not play 1st team football, not because of his size but because of a multitude of injuries he had suffered in his early career. The guy who told me was a mate of mine who worked at the club and in particular with the youth setup, he said that Leon was a great lad and so talented but he could be knackered because he was too brave at times and would for example stick his head in the way of a shot or boot while on the floor.
He was not blessed with speed or size and yet never shirked a challenge and was in my opinion criminally under rated and unappreciated by far too many of our supporters. David Moyes left him on the right hand side far too long where his lack of speed was often exposed, when he played in the centre his natural balance, ability with both feet and reading of the game shone through.
Two games in particular I remember him playing centrally and showing us what he was capable of; Fiorentina in the home leg where he was absolutely fantastic and for me our best display under Moyes against Manchester utd in Feb 2010. The BBC match report is linked below and Leon was rightly picked out as the games outstanding performer in what was a greatime display against a top end Utd team, not like the dross they've had since SAF left. I remember coming out of the ground on each occasion asking who thinks Leon is too small to play centre midfield now!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8518117.stm
I for one am glad to have seen his carer at Everton and would like to say thanks.
The season before last I saw some stats on distance ran in games for the blues. Leon had 8 out of the top ten distances covered when his legs had gone!!
He was not blessed with speed or size and yet never shirked a challenge and was in my opinion criminally under rated and unappreciated by far too many of our supporters. David Moyes left him on the right hand side far too long where his lack of speed was often exposed, when he played in the centre his natural balance, ability with both feet and reading of the game shone through.
Two games in particular I remember him playing centrally and showing us what he was capable of; Fiorentina in the home leg where he was absolutely fantastic and for me our best display under Moyes against Manchester utd in Feb 2010. The BBC match report is linked below and Leon was rightly picked out as the games outstanding performer in what was a greatime display against a top end Utd team, not like the dross they've had since SAF left. I remember coming out of the ground on each occasion asking who thinks Leon is too small to play centre midfield now!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8518117.stm
I for one am glad to have seen his carer at Everton and would like to say thanks.
The season before last I saw some stats on distance ran in games for the blues. Leon had 8 out of the top ten distances covered when his legs had gone!!
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