{"id":74,"date":"2011-09-14T10:01:44","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T10:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.30yardsniper.co.uk\/?p=74"},"modified":"2011-09-14T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2011-09-14T21:20:08","slug":"30-yard-snipers-guide-to-the-ultimate-premier-league-footballer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.30yardsniper.co.uk\/?p=74","title":{"rendered":"30 yard sniper’s guide to…The Ultimate Premier League Footballer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Whether it’s mazy dribbling, electric pace, foxishness in the box, lots of deflected shots from midfield, or all-around brilliance, 30 yard sniper takes the best bits of players from the last 20 years and transmogrifies their composite parts into The Ultimate Premier League Footballer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Section 1: The Head
\n<\/strong>Beginning as all things should, we start at the top. The ultimate cerebral footballer was of course, Teddy Sheringham, able to gain a mystical advantage over his opponents, since he had “the first yard in his head.” Apparently that rendered the other 10 or 20 yards he trundled along at irrelevant. David Beckham is well known as having a great “football brain”, whilst it would be remiss of me not to mention definitive 90’s target man John Hartson.<\/p>\n

All things considered, we will choose to decapitate Niall Quinn<\/strong> for the purposes of this nefarious experiment, king of the flick on and able to compose a sentence or two in the real world as well. Not to mention those\u00a0 <\/em>Disco Pants.<\/p>\n

Section 2: The Upper Body
\n<\/strong>A difficult selection, this, since there are so many excellent torsos out there. The extra girth carried by Frank Lampard hasn’t hampered his glittering career of over 150 goals from deflected free-kicks and penalties. D-Beck also must be mentioned again, along with fellow former Gillette alumni Thierry Henry.<\/p>\n

There can be only one, however, and once you think about it, it’s a no brainer. The fastest player over a yard. The ‘tache. Micky Quinn.<\/strong> I wonder who’d win in a 1 yard race between him and Teddy Sheringham?<\/p>\n

Section 3: The Legs
\n<\/strong>Crucial to any player. Legs.<\/em> Before Owen Hargreaves turned into a good player at the 2006 World Cup, England lost a qualifier to Northern Ireland 1-0 at Windsor Park. Explaining the ineffective introduction of Hargreaves, manager Sven-Goran Eriksson said: “We needed more legs…. Hargreaves has legs.” Unfortunately he doesn’t have knees anymore, and they’re important.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, 30YS’s own Jez MacBlain lauded Aston Villa’s recent signing of Jermain Jenas on our first podcast, saying they “lacked legs” in midfield. Peter Crouch’s long legs are impressive, whilst pre-geriatric Michael Owen was super-fast. But for all-around pace, grace and general leg-tastic excellence, Thierry Henry <\/strong>gets the gong.<\/p>\n

Section 4: The Feet
\n<\/strong>Possibly the hardest category to choose from. The genius of Dennis Bergkamp. The wizadry of Gianfranco Zola. The wankery of Cristiano Ronaldo. Kanu in his late 90’s prime even made Martin Keown<\/em> chuckle. Plus there’s Paulo Di Canio, Paul Gascogine, L’Oreal’s David Ginola, one-foot wonder Georgi Kinkladze…I could go on.<\/p>\n

But it comes down to one man, one man who defines <\/em>feet. He kept Southampton in the Premier League for years. He was quite literally amazing. Matt Le Tisser, <\/strong>take a bow.<\/p>\n

Section 5: The Result
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The ultimate <\/em>footballer.<\/p>\n