Is Max the best RB we've ever had?

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

Danny Mills played for England at a World Cup, which is a level that will be hard to match, though he reached that level long after he left us. Russell Martin did very well for us as an attacking full-back, but largely moved to CB at the top level. Edworthy I have seen mentioned in a blog. Pleny of memorable left backs. Not too many great right-backs. Is Max therefore the best we've ever had?

[Gibbo 131]

No Ian Culverhouse in your list?

He'll most likely develop and become better than anyone we'd ever had play at RB (including his current self).  He'd already be in the top 2 for me, but imagine what he'll be like in another 2 or 3 seasons after playing against Europe's elite...

 

[FenwayFrank 2,717]

He’s no Paul Haylock 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,791]

16 minutes ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Danny Mills played for England at a World Cup, which is a level that will be hard to match, though he reached that level long after he left us. Russell Martin did very well for us as an attacking full-back, but largely moved to CB at the top level. Edworthy I have seen mentioned in a blog. Pleny of memorable left backs. Not too many great right-backs. Is Max therefore the best we've ever had?

Culverhouse was a great player for us . Played in the side that had our highest ever league position. 

[Chelm Canary 404]

Errrr Daryl Sutch?

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

Get back to me when he wins us an EFL and or FA cup and then i'll vote yes

Edited May 30, 2021 by cambridgeshire canary

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

14 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

Culverhouse was a great player for us . Played in the side that had our highest ever league position. 

I did think about Culverhouse but if Im honest he's just a little bit before my time. I started supporting City when David Phillips was in the side (91/92?) and I was only young. Whislt Culverhouse was in my sticker collection and very much a name in my brain, I cant really say much about him

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

2 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Get back to me when he wins us an EFL and or FA cup and then i'll vote yes

So which right-back before him has done that? (and is therefore greater?)

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

25 minutes ago, Gibbo said:

No Ian Culverhouse in your list?

He'll most likely develop and become better than anyone we'd ever had play at RB (including his current self).  He'd already be in the top 2 for me, but imagine what he'll be like in another 2 or 3 seasons after playing against Europe's elite...

 

Your top 2 is him and Culverhouse? But you wont be drawn on who's better?

[Alex Moss 2,167]

Culverhouse was great, but when Max’s career is done and dusted I think we’ll see that Max was comfortably the very best RB we’ve had, at least in the last few decades anyway. 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,791]

11 minutes ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

I did think about Culverhouse but if Im honest he's just a little bit before my time. I started supporting City when David Phillips was in the side (91/92?) and I was only young. Whislt Culverhouse was in my sticker collection and very much a name in my brain, I cant really say much about him

Fair Enough Mass . I’d love to be young enough not to remember him 🙂. My knees wouldn’t hurt so much ! 

[chicken 3,086]

1 hour ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Danny Mills played for England at a World Cup, which is a level that will be hard to match, though he reached that level long after he left us. Russell Martin did very well for us as an attacking full-back, but largely moved to CB at the top level. Edworthy I have seen mentioned in a blog. Pleny of memorable left backs. Not too many great right-backs. Is Max therefore the best we've ever had?

Mills is an odd one. Not technically gifted and a workhorse of a player. Circumstance had him in that England side and starting. Namely injury to Gary Neville and other choices in that position. He was part of that overpriced, overpaid Leeds side that almost led to their destruction.

That sounds harsh, but you need to consider the difficulty Aarons has of getting into the England side right now. The following players all have a good shout or are currently in the England set up:
- Trippier
- Walker
- Wan-Bissaker
- Walker-Peters
- James
- Alexander-Arnold

Who did Mills have to get past?

[CDMullins 498]

Thomas Helveg?

[CDMullins 498]

4 minutes ago, chicken said:

Mills is an odd one. Not technically gifted and a workhorse of a player. Circumstance had him in that England side and starting. Namely injury to Gary Neville and other choices in that position. He was part of that overpriced, overpaid Leeds side that almost led to their destruction.

That sounds harsh, but you need to consider the difficulty Aarons has of getting into the England side right now. The following players all have a good shout or are currently in the England set up:
- Trippier
- Walker
- Wan-Bissaker
- Walker-Peters
- James
- Alexander-Arnold

Who did Mills have to get past?

Still, to be England's second best RB is an incredible achievement.

His podcast on Undr The Cosh is quite interesting

[Terminally Yellow 2,614]

My feeling is Max isn’t our best ever right back defensively, but as an offensive outlet is probably the best to have played in that position. 

[chicken 3,086]

2 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

Still, to be England's second best RB is an incredible achievement.

His podcast on Undr The Cosh is quite interesting

To be honest, I have very little time for Mills. Very outspoken. Despite being a Norfolk boy he has no loyalty to the area and is usually incredibly critical of the club when he is asked to comment on it or happens to be a pundit for a game etc. Just comes across as very bitter and self inflated.

He was solid enough on his day. But I don't think he really achieved the position of 2nd choice right back as much as a lack of competition and injuries left him as the best other option. Like I said, that may sound harsh, but it's not like he had to beat off a wrath of other challengers.

 

[chicken 3,086]

2 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:

My feeling is Max isn’t our best ever right back defensively, but as an offensive outlet is probably the best to have played in that position. 

I just wish he could cross as well as Steen Nedergaard...

[CDMullins 498]

1 minute ago, chicken said:

To be honest, I have very little time for Mills. Very outspoken. Despite being a Norfolk boy he has no loyalty to the area and is usually incredibly critical of the club when he is asked to comment on it or happens to be a pundit for a game etc. Just comes across as very bitter and self inflated.

He was solid enough on his day. But I don't think he really achieved the position of 2nd choice right back as much as a lack of competition and injuries left him as the best other option. Like I said, that may sound harsh, but it's not like he had to beat off a wrath of other challengers.

 

Agree, he's not likable at all.

Say what you want about why he was the 2nd best English RB, but he was.

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

Danny Mills was a very average player who managed  to play at a much higher level than his talent merited. Sport works like that sometimes.

 

Can’t think of anyone as good as Max in that position for us so he gets my vote.

[chicken 3,086]

31 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

Agree, he's not likable at all.

Say what you want about why he was the 2nd best English RB, but he was.

Yes, but that was your argument for him being our best... it's also not much of a compliment really. That's a bit like saying you're the fastest man in England at the 100meters after winning a race only four others were able to enter because a bout of food poisoning wiped all of the main competitors out.

In fact, two of the other four starts we still suffering with it and were weakened and the other two didn't originally qualify for the heat but were called in at the last minute.

But yes, you're the fastest man in England... 

I agree with ICF - average but hard working, solid but unspectacular, not particularly technical, not especially great. Better than Aarons? Perhaps a bit defensively, certainly not for pace or for going forward. 

[Crabbycanary3 994]

2 hours ago, FenwayFrank said:

He’s no Paul Haylock 

and an honorable mention for John Ryan

Marc Edworthy anyone?

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

47 minutes ago, chicken said:

Mills is an odd one. Not technically gifted and a workhorse of a player. Circumstance had him in that England side and starting. Namely injury to Gary Neville and other choices in that position. He was part of that overpriced, overpaid Leeds side that almost led to their destruction.

That sounds harsh, but you need to consider the difficulty Aarons has of getting into the England side right now. The following players all have a good shout or are currently in the England set up:
- Trippier
- Walker
- Wan-Bissaker
- Walker-Peters
- James
- Alexander-Arnold

Who did Mills have to get past?

 

As a season ticket holder at Leeds in 01/02 I am perhaps uniquely placed to comment. At Leeds Mills was competeing for the right back slot with Gary Kelly, who was much the more favoured player amongst the fans. Leeds played with Kewell/Wilcox operating as a traditional left winger, and Bowyer as a wide midfielder. Kelly was the better more reliable defender I think, but because Leeds didnt have a right winger as such, Mills' powerhouse charges forward from right back became important and he was a much more exciting player than Kelly, and a lot more aggressive.

My enduring memory of Mills in yellow and green was the wet anaemic weedy boy getting turned inside out as the last man as the opposition ran in on goal and scored. Honestly I thought he was crap for us and and thought we'd done Charlton for the £350k I think we got for him. It was at that point his game changed though, and at Leeds he was an animal, unrecognisable.

That Leeds team was superb, but thats what happens when you spend beyond your means. (Though at the time our motto was 'prudence with ambtion')

[daly 551]

Footballs changed but anyone remember NCFC’s captain 

Ron Ashman great player and dedicated professional 

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

1 hour ago, Terminally Yellow said:

My feeling is Max isn’t our best ever right back defensively, but as an offensive outlet is probably the best to have played in that position. 

Difficult really because that position has changed so much in 20 years. Full backs used to keep a flat back 4 and defend tightly without offering much more. The modern full back has largely replaced the out and out winger and therefore needs to be both athletic and techincally proficient - whereas this was less of a requirement in years gone by.

I was watching a video on fastest footballers and seeing how Max and Placheta matched up (Placheta clocked 35.2kph by the way, the same as Kyle Walker), and it struck me that it used to be that if you were quck, you got made into a forward, but if all the quick players are forwards, how do you defend aganst them? Hence the evolution of the quick full back. As it becomes harder to find these supremely quick athletes who can also play at the top level, it makes sense to combine the need for speed into one position (ie wingback or attacking full back), so you only need 1 plyer like that on each side as opposed to both a quick full back and quick winger.

Interesting then that in my reading I came across an article when Placheta had just signed, and it stated that the coaches he worked under in Poland eventually saw him evolving into a left-back/wingback.

Edited May 30, 2021 by The Great Mass Debater

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,791]

21 minutes ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

and an honorable mention for John Ryan

Marc Edworthy anyone?

Both decent. 

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

1 hour ago, chicken said:

To be honest, I have very little time for Mills. Very outspoken. Despite being a Norfolk boy he has no loyalty to the area and is usually incredibly critical of the club when he is asked to comment on it or happens to be a pundit for a game etc. Just comes across as very bitter and self inflated.

He was solid enough on his day. But I don't think he really achieved the position of 2nd choice right back as much as a lack of competition and injuries left him as the best other option. Like I said, that may sound harsh, but it's not like he had to beat off a wrath of other challengers.

 

 

He was crap for us though, yet blossomed at Charlton and then Leeds. You have to ask why that was. Maybe the feeling of bitterness and rejection made him, but Id venture that Norwich didnt nurture the ability he did have and made the most of elsewhere, and he understandably feels bitter about that.

He does come across as a bit of a **** but that doesnt mean his dislike of the club wasnt based on something he experienced. 

[FenwayFrank 2,717]

45 minutes ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

and an honorable mention for John Ryan

Marc Edworthy anyone?

Clive Payne ? 

[Deptford Yellow 295]

Marc Edworthy was very good indeed and he was unattached and didn’t cost us anything ...

Russell Martin was a pretty good right back too...

In answer to the question I’d say Max is our best right wingback ...

[BigFish 2,282]

21 minutes ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

 

He was crap for us though, yet blossomed at Charlton and then Leeds. You have to ask why that was. Maybe the feeling of bitterness and rejection made him, but Id venture that Norwich didnt nurture the ability he did have and made the most of elsewhere, and he understandably feels bitter about that.

He does come across as a bit of a **** but that doesnt mean his dislike of the club wasnt based on something he experienced. 

Mills had a crap time at the club, was monstered by the fans & some on here thinks he should show affection to City because he came from Sprowston. Grow up, 19 England caps and Champions League experience speak for themselves. Loved Culverhouse, but he couldn't get into an average Spurs team. Here his football brain was a cut above and somewhat covered for his other limitations. Max is the best since, but the Farke role he plays is very different to a traditional RB. He is not the best.......yet. Ten years time is when to answer this question.

Edited May 30, 2021 by BigFish

[Ken Hairy 4,272]

Culverhouse for me in my lifetime.