Stuart Holden - The new Paul Scholes and better!!!

[David Lee's Hair]

I like Holden from what I've seen, I think he's a cracking player in fact, but you can tell we've been lumbered with a pedestrian midfield for the last few years.

A midfield with the most attacking player being McCann or Cohen has led to mass hysteria and claims of grandeur in Holden's case.... He's not a patch on the dirty ginger manc, and unfortunately for us, never will be.

[Soldier_Of_The_White_Army]

Holden's a long way to go before being compared to Scholes, but he's showing the porential to be. Taking nothing away from Holden at all because he's going to be a top player in the Premiership for us (or other) of that I've no doubt. Yet a great central midfield player of his ilk can only be great if he has a natural working partnership with his midfield partner (Lampard/Gerrard anyone?). Holden has been able to show his talents due to the selfless, unglorifide work Muamba puts in, match after match. Forget for a minute Lee's oncoming potential, Elamander's sudden rebirth and Knight's constant underrated lable under Cahill's shadow. The most obvious reason for our sudden seige of the premier league's top half, after Coyle's confident self belief in his style of management and play, is the central midfield partnership of Muamba and Holden. At the moment, Holden's showing to be the player we are all hoping Mark Davies can become.

Due to today's media arselickers, for every Rooney,Terry, Cole, Drogba etc, there's are players like Holden ready to rub egg on their faces. Being grounded in this day and age is as important as having the skills to be great, and god knows he's at the right club for that!

That's half the reason Scholes has always been as good as he is.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Like he said...
Holden and Muamba get through a hell of a lot of work stopping teams playing.Holden's great strength tho is that as soon as he wins the ball he has his head up and is looking for the quick simple pass.He's not trying to do anything showy but does the basics of tackling passing and moving exceptionally well.He's probably not what people envisaged when they were dreaming about us signing a playmaker(which we'd never have been able to afford) but he knits the team together exceptionally well sets a tempo with his approach and has made an immense difference to the way in which the team can now play.

[Lord Kangana]

Holden is more akin to the new Gary Speed, than the new Scholes. And thats nowt to be ashamed of.

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

From what I've seen, Holden's good at the fundamentals of football without possession - when, where and how to press and tackle. He's proactive at finding these situations as well, which is why he eclipses Muamba in number of tackles made. He's still a little lightweight, as we saw when Fellaini swatted him away a few times at Everton, but he never stopped. As Ianmooreslovechild says, he's unfussy on the ball - it's never long and ranging, it's simple and possessive.

If you need to compare him to a United player, compare him to a fit Owen Hargreaves.

[William the White]

I think i agree with the above four consecutive posts from SOTWA to KB...

We have a central midfield partnership that works - cherish. And LK's comparison to Gary Speed makes sense to me - but with a bit more joy to his game and the extra bustle younger legs allow...

[bando]

Holden isn't like Scholes at all. Totally different players.


btw..how poor is Scotland's scouting when they decided not to give Holden a call.

[hisroyalgingerness]

Our lad can tackle to start

[SonsOfThunder]

Holden isn't like Scholes at all. Totally different players.


btw..how poor is Scotland's scouting when they decided not to give Holden a call.

He wasn't starting for the USA either, so can you blame them?

I'm sure as hell he's going to be starting now...

[Bruce Rioja]

I was in the Happy Shop this afternoon and asked the girl doing the shirt-printing whose name is currently the most popular. She said "Holden, followed by Chung Yong".

[SonsOfThunder]

I was in the Happy Shop this afternoon and asked the girl doing the shirt-printing whose name is currently the most popular. She said "Holden, followed by Chung Yong".

I have a very strong urge to get a Home and Away shipped to me through the bwfc online store. And those are the two names I want to get.

There's also a really great football shop in New Jersey (onionbag.com) that does Lextra printing, they have an 06/07 Away (red with the RBK sponsor logo) on sale for $40. I've always wanted to buy it and get Davies printed on it, even though the printing would be anachronistic I still think it would be pretty awesome.

[CAPSLOCK]

I was in the Happy Shop this afternoon and asked the girl doing the shirt-printing whose name is currently the most popular. She said "Holden, followed by Chung Yong".

Was also int Happy Shop today

That 1877 Vintage range

They've not quite nailed it yet but they're getting there with this badge




Big red rose, Supera Moras and el fell ants

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Love it! Did I ever mention bringing back the elephants?

[midnitefooty]

Nope, sorry. Don't agree. I think the OP is making this statement based on theri positions alone. The two have very different playing styles. Holden is not the new Scholes and he certainly is not "better" in any sense except maybe defensively.

[CarlosHernandez]

His USA position is an interesting one. Am I right in saying he only made one sub appearance at the World Cup? I know he didn't feature heavily. Surely he is the best performing American in the Prem at the moment, maybe even the world?

[bando]

His USA position is an interesting one. Am I right in saying he only made one sub appearance at the World Cup? I know he didn't feature heavily. Surely he is the best performing American in the Prem at the moment, maybe even the world?

fractured leg from nigel de jong in a friendly last March. Made the WC squad but wasn't fit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQbTu1wS4Gg

[kt22cliffjumper]

Clint Dempsey is probably "better' player in the Prem at the moment though Holden and Dempsey are not exactly playing same kind of role even though both are listed as MF's. Dempsey will score more goals than Holden. I think Holden got held back by De Jong broken leg and with the fact that 3 slots in the USA MF are/were locked up by Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and the coach's son.

His USA position is an interesting one. Am I right in saying he only made one sub appearance at the World Cup? I know he didn't feature heavily. Surely he is the best performing American in the Prem at the moment, maybe even the world?

[jmjhb]

Doesn't he play right mid for the USA team?

[SonsOfThunder]

Clint Dempsey is probably "better' player in the Prem at the moment though Holden and Dempsey are not exactly playing same kind of role even though both are listed as MF's. Dempsey will score more goals than Holden. I think Holden got held back by De Jong broken leg and with the fact that 3 slots in the USA MF are/were locked up by Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and the coach's son.

His USA position is an interesting one. Am I right in saying he only made one sub appearance at the World Cup? I know he didn't feature heavily. Surely he is the best performing American in the Prem at the moment, maybe even the world?

I think based on current form you would have to argue that Holden is the best. But before this season those three that you listed were ahead of Holden on the pecking order, the coach's son based on merit too.

[Svenia]

So underrated. One of the best midfeilders of the league this season.