Is Heskey grossly under-rated?

For most of his career, Heskey has been laughed at by fans, pundits, media etc.
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Heskey?











Yeah, you're not wrong

5 stars, I agree completely. Heskey although never a top player has always been a good player and deserves nowhere near the level of abuse he recieves from ordinary football fans, just because you don't agree with his selection at international level does not make him a useless donkey.

He is a tireless and selfless worker for the team who cares not for personal glory so for some this makes him a donkey, for me this makes those people idiots!

Heskey > Everyone on this forum.

Heskey was just something different. He's not on the pitch for his individual footballing talents (which can sometimes be suspect) but he is constantly favoured by managers because, despite his shortcomings, his presence could get more out of his team mates.

There can be no doubt that he formed an impressive partnership with Owen. He did relatively well with Morrison at Blues, too.

Of course, that's in the past. His efficacy can be questioned nowadays. I reckon he could do a job for a lot of Championship teams but I don't think he's been Premier League quality for a while now.

He's got skills. There were moments in the City match where, in the centre of the park, he showed them. But when he gets near goal he hesitates.

He was at his best playing with a regular partner like Owen, where he had time to anticipate what was going to happen. He's the opposite to Bent, who knows exactly what to do and where to put the ball when the slightest opportunity came his way. In theory he could form a good partnership with Bent, except I think he's now too slow.

He is a tireless and selfless worker for the team who cares not for personal glory

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Equally, you could say the same for players like Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, who are immense team players and work tirelessly all game. However, they still manage to score on a regular basis and are the heartbeat of their team (Tevez was). Heskey might work hard, but that doesn't take away the fact that he is an extremely limited footballer who never had the talent to play at the top level.

Having players like Heskey in our current squad shows everything that is wrong with the set-up at Villa Park these days. This guy should have been either sold or released a long time ago, but instead he's getting in the team to play City. Unbelievable.

If I could choose three players to get out of Villa, Heskey would be the first, closely followed by Collins and Warnock.

why hes liked by many is because he really is a nice guy with good heart, but that's about it as from a football sense he really shouldn't be first choice as the message it sends for all the young midfield players trying to cut teeth at villa is the wrong one in my book.

Don't get me wrong Villa Heskey isn't brilliant now but he was a very good player at his peak, even had some good goalscoring seasons till he became more the support man in a strike force, he was forced out onto the left wing for England as well, something people seem to forget when looking at his goal records.

I just feel he does a lot of unappreciated work on the football pitch, no star now for sure but at his peak he was a really good footballer and I would have had him in the United squad (probably not first XI)

To call him never talented to play in the premiership (which is what I assume you mean by top level) is absolute rubbish and brands several good managers as clueless.

Yes Heskey is grossly underrated, he is way worse than we think he is

Then he's overrated

Opposition managers must love to see his name on the teamsheet. It means they are up against 10 men.

Why Villa hang on to the chump I can't imagine.