Wayne Bridge pedigree

[Geekins]

Everyone forgotten his mistake to lead to Blackpool's goal? We've played better since Drenthe hasn't been playing.

[Gordons Cumming]

Wayne's very good.

[St. Brynjar]

Player of the season so far for me. Class above this league which he proved last season with Brighton and now this season with us. Our shrewdest signing at left back since Nicky Shorey

[Nameless]

Your quote is like saying Adnan Januzaj at Man Utd after six appearances is better than Eric Cantona.

Of course it's nothing like that.
Bridge has plenty of pedigree from before he joined us, won a few things, had a few seasons in the top division, chalked up a few international caps. Clearly he was a far better player than Shorey at their respective peaks. At the moment it's hard to tell , Shorey was part of a great side and I suspect if you put Bridge in that side you wouldn't have weakened it at all. Likewise if Shorey was still at the club he would not be pushing Bridge for his place.

So you can compare Bridge of today with Shorey of 106 era and probably find it hard to chose, or compare Bridge of today with Shorey of today ( Bridge wins) or Shorey of 106 against Bridge of that era and again Bridge wins

[Hoop Blah]

I think Nameless has it pretty much spot on there.

Bridge at his best was good enough to challenge Ashley Cole and almost force England to play with two left backs (dearth of left wingers obviously the main cause). In those days Bridge was pretty nippy and I can't say I've seen him struggle for pace this season either.

Basically, for my money, Bridge has looked by far the best left back I've seen in the Championship over the last few seasons we've been in it and he's infintely better than Harte was when we went up. Is he better than Shorey was for us at his best? Probably not, but they're quite different players and Shorey was just a joy to watch and more my kind of player, so I'd probably say he edges it for me.

[higher]

Class act and could still be plying his trade right at the top.Privileged to have him in the hoops.

[melonhead]

Player of the season so far for me. Class above this league which he proved last season with Brighton and now this season with us. Our shrewdest signing at left back since Nicky Shorey

its up for debate tbf
and may change by the end. bridge has been almost faultless, pog is going to be up there if he keeps up current form and attitude.
id agree its guthrie by some way at the moment though

[melonhead]

Agreed. In fact I was about to post something similar:

He's been here 4-5 months and he's supposedly a better LB than the left back from our greatest team ever? Big fan but he has a way to go before he catches up with Shorey.

Right now I'd say he's close to Ian Harte as a left back nearing the end of his career, who has played at the highest level and has stepped into the team seamlessly.

but hes always been a better left back than shorey. regardless of what team he was or is playing for

[sandman]

And? I'm talking about Reading and Shorey is our best left back ever. Twelve games does not make him better for Reading.

Besides, I acknowledged Bridge's pedigree in the last part when comparing him with Harte as a player who has played at the highest level and has stepped into our team.

[melonhead]

And? I'm talking about Reading and Shorey is our best left back ever. Twelve games does not make him better for Reading.

Besides, I acknowledged Bridge's pedigree in the last part when comparing him with Harte as a player who has played at the highest level and has stepped into our team.

i understand your point. i just think youre maybe being a bit misty eyed about shorey there, and didnt really make it clear you were only talking about them in terms of achievement for us.
goes without saying that shorey wins that one. which is why i didnt think we were debating that.
but it seemed we were talking about who is the better left back, not who did the most while with us.

imo in terms of ability wayne bridge is and probably has always been a better left back than nicky shorey.
there was a year or two where shorey peaked, and possibly gave bridge at his best a run for his money, but in terms of consistency, achievement etc, shirley its bridge all the way

[Ian Royal]

And? I'm talking about Reading and Shorey is our best left back ever. Twelve games does not make him better for Reading.

Besides, I acknowledged Bridge's pedigree in the last part when comparing him with Harte as a player who has played at the highest level and has stepped into our team.

i understand your point. i just think youre maybe being a bit misty eyed about shorey there, and didnt really make it clear you were only talking about them in terms of achievement for us.
goes without saying that shorey wins that one. which is why i didnt think we were debating that.
but it seemed we were talking about who is the better left back, not who did the most while with us.

imo in terms of ability wayne bridge is and probably has always been a better left back than nicky shorey.
there was a year or two where shorey peaked, and possibly gave bridge at his best a run for his money, but in terms of consistency, achievement etc, shirley its bridge all the way

It's a no brainer that Bridge has been comparatively better than Shorey at the same point in their careers. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about Shorey when he played for us and Bridge when he played for us. How good Bridge was in 2005 is irrelevant. How good Shorey is now is irrelevant. We're comparing Bridge for us, versus Shorey at his best for us.

Bridge of today has a little to do to equal Shorey between 2005 and 2007 for us, let alone surpass him. He might manage it, but I doubt it. Shorey was massively important to the 106 side. All you have to do is look at the Middlesborough game the next season to see that. Shorey started nervously and sliced his first pass. We played badly and go 2 down. Shorey steps up, jinks inside and charges forward, Reading rally and go on to win 3-2.

He not only brought defensive quality, passing quality and attacking quality. He also provided excellent freekicks. It's those that really tip the favour to Shorey for me and Bridge isn't going to match that area at least.

There's fine margins in it though I guess.

[bcubed]

And? I'm talking about Reading and Shorey is our best left back ever. Twelve games does not make him better for Reading.

Besides, I acknowledged Bridge's pedigree in the last part when comparing him with Harte as a player who has played at the highest level and has stepped into our team.

i understand your point. i just think youre maybe being a bit misty eyed about shorey there, and didnt really make it clear you were only talking about them in terms of achievement for us.
goes without saying that shorey wins that one. which is why i didnt think we were debating that.
but it seemed we were talking about who is the better left back, not who did the most while with us.

imo in terms of ability wayne bridge is and probably has always been a better left back than nicky shorey.
there was a year or two where shorey peaked, and possibly gave bridge at his best a run for his money, but in terms of consistency, achievement etc, shirley its bridge all the way

+1

The RTGs must be on for those who think Shorey was better

[Nameless]

Shorey was the left back in our best ever team. Undeniable.

Bridge is playing in a totally different teAm, hence me pointing out that you could put Bridge in our 106 side and not weaken it.
It's hard to pluck a full back out of two very different sides and compare them.

[NewCorkSeth]

Player of the season so far for me. Class above this league which he proved last season with Brighton and now this season with us. Our shrewdest signing at left back since Nicky Shorey

its up for debate tbf
and may change by the end. bridge has been almost faultless, pog is going to be up there if he keeps up current form and attitude.
id agree its guthrie by some way at the moment though

What about McCarthy? He has the potential to be in the mix

[melonhead]

its up for debate tbf
and may change by the end. bridge has been almost faultless, pog is going to be up there if he keeps up current form and attitude.
id agree its guthrie by some way at the moment though

What about McCarthy? He has the potential to be in the mix

generally dont think a Goal keeper will win POS in a succesful year
but yeah, he'll be up there if he comes back soon enough and gets past feds

[NewCorkSeth]

generally dont think a Goal keeper will win POS in a succesful year
but yeah, he'll be up there if he comes back soon enough and gets past feds

Dont you mean get around Feds?

[melonhead]

he should just nip in at the near post, should be easy enough etc etc

[Ian Royal]

[SCIAG]

And? I'm talking about Reading and Shorey is our best left back ever. Twelve games does not make him better for Reading.

Besides, I acknowledged Bridge's pedigree in the last part when comparing him with Harte as a player who has played at the highest level and has stepped into our team.

i understand your point. i just think youre maybe being a bit misty eyed about shorey there, and didnt really make it clear you were only talking about them in terms of achievement for us.
goes without saying that shorey wins that one. which is why i didnt think we were debating that.
but it seemed we were talking about who is the better left back, not who did the most while with us.

imo in terms of ability wayne bridge is and probably has always been a better left back than nicky shorey.
there was a year or two where shorey peaked, and possibly gave bridge at his best a run for his money, but in terms of consistency, achievement etc, shirley its bridge all the way

The conversation started when I said something like "he's not as good as Shorey at his peak". Clearly I meant "he isn't as good", not "he wasn't".

Although I think Shorey matched Bridge for about a season when we first got promoted, maybe even surpassing him (I'd be surprised if Bridge ever set up four goals in one match) and that was why Shorey beat him to the England squad. Over the course of their whole careers there's no doubt Bridge is comfortably ahead. It's just Bridge now isn't as good as he used to be, and we had Shorey at his peak.

[From Despair To Where?]

generally dont think a Goal keeper will win POS in a succesful year

1995.