Mark Viduka, underrated Premier League and Elland Road Legend?

[Cjay]

" Dacourt, threading it through to Mark Viduka, still Viduka, Still, BRILLIANT!!!!, SIMPLY BRILLIANT".

"Here he is again, its Viduka, its 4!!!!!.

God bless Martin Tyler, amazing commentary.

One of the best individual performances from a Premier league striker in history.

When Sky Sports Monday Night Football had Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher (who played in that game) analyse the match recently the two former Premier league defenders were full of praise for Mark Viduka.

“I think [Viduka] would grace the Premier League today if he was playing, he was such a great player. Technically, he was brilliant. I always thought he was ahead of his time in terms of the way he played the game, he would have enjoyed it a lot more today than he would have done back then.” said Neville

Neville also revealed that Alex Ferguson would give specific instructions to his players for certain opposition key players, Mark was one.

Looking back now and watching clips of Mark its easy to see what Neville is saying.

These days Mark would thrive in the Bamford role, he may not do the hard running but in every other way he would be as good as anyone in the world.

For a 6ft2 powerhouse big Mark had remarkable technical ability (as shown by the turn vs Liverpool or a goal he scored vs Arsenal). That sort of deftness is incredibly rare in larger players and that is what sets Mark Viduka apart.

Viduka isnt a member of the Premier league 100 goal club, he ended his career after being ravaged by injuries aged just 33 with 92 Premier League goals.

An impressive enough total but evenmore impressive when you remember he wasnt playing for teams up near the top for most of his time in England.

2 seasons playing for us when we were top 5 in the league and in Europe.

But also 2 seasons, one where his 20 goals, 1 of which vs Arsenal which effectively saved us from relegation and of course despite his efforts the following season we went down.

He then had 1 season at Boro where he helped them finish 7th and contributed to there European campaign (although injury ravaged).

The following season Boro slid down to 14th but Mark scored 6 goals during their run to the Uefa Cup Final.

Then the following season Mark again reached double figures for a mid table Boro before departing for Newcastle.

Injuries had nearly ruined him by this time, he still managed 7 premier league goals for a mid table Newcastle but the following season Viduka barely featured as the years of injuries has caught up with him and Newcastle were relegated.

So in 9 Premier league seasons Mark only played for a side that finished higher then 10th 3 times.

During his time in England he spearheaded our run to the Champions League semi finals with 4 goals and 4 assists.

He probably made a bigger contribution then anyone else in saving us from relegation the year before we went down by scoring 20 league goals.

He was Boro's top scorer in Europe the season they got to the Uefa Cup final with 6 goals.

He is our Premier league all time top scorer with 59 goals (1 goal every 189 minutes).

He spent most of his career in England playing for midtable or even relegation fighting clubs.

Despite that he has a better minutes to goal ratio then players like, Jermaine Defoe, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Teddy Sheringham, Nicolas Anelka, Dwight Yorke and Dennis Bergkamp.

His 1 goal every 198 minute Premier league record isnt to far behind players who spent a lot longer playing for better teams.

Eric Cantona-195
Berbatov-186
Adebayor-185.

Big Mark Viduka never seemed entirely comfortable in the media glare that comes with being a Premier league player.

He could be moody and temperamental.

But for a time he was one of the most highly rated strikers in Europe.

There are quotes from people high up at Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan praising him and expressing interest during his time with us.

Maybe because Mark doesnt seek the limelight these days he gets forgotten a bit.

He doesnt pop up on tele or in papers doing interviews like some ex players.

But he saved us from relegation, he helped fire us to the Champions league semi final, vs Liverpool he played one of the best games a Leeds forward has done ever.

He is our Premier league all time top scorer.

He scored some beautiful goals while playing in England for us, Middlesborough and Newcastle.

For me Mark Viduka is a genuine Leeds legend up with the all time greats

Not only that, when talk of the best premier league strikers ever starts up again then Mark Viduka must be in the discussion.

Ask Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher.

[Ellandback1]

He had a great first touch for a big man.

I think we signed him for 6m, WOW, what a bargain.

Surely 30-40m in today's World!!!


My only negative - didn't he deliberately get himself sent off a game or two before the end of the season, so he didn't have to complete the season?

[Peter in Blackpool]

He had a great first touch for a big man.

I think we signed him for 6m, WOW, what a bargain.

Surely 30-40m in today's World!!!


My only negative - didn't he deliberately get himself sent off a game or two before the end of the season, so he didn't have to complete the season?

yes he did and i seriously fell out pernanently with the man that day.

It was our relefation season, viduka was our star striker, and although we could ill afford him to be missing, his father was seriously ill back in oz, so we allowed him to go be at his father's bedside....which coincided with a disastrous run in the league.

he finally returned and our penultimate game of the season which we had to win to have a chance to avoid relegation, away at bolton.

I was at the match and we started well, won a penalty that viduka converted, shortly after that he brought down a player in the middle of the pitch, a clear and obvious yellow card......a few minutes later he did exactly the same, and we all feared the worst, but he got away with a good talking to.......Unbelievably he repeated the same offence and gave the referee no option but to send him off.

In s pite of Alan Smith covering every peice of turf on the pitch and a very young milner doing the same, the sending off was the turning point and we lost the game 4-1 and were relegated.

Rather than just going home on this occasion i decided to comisserate with the players as they got on the team bus.

I asked Viduka, what the hell was all that about, he shrugged his shoulders and said, these things happen, I had to be restrained from attacking him and told him he was not fit to wear the shirt, later a 16 year old Milner boarded the bus in tears.

Viduka did not play again for Leeds.

Sorry, but I have still not forgiven him, he did not give a s**t for the team, he would be ok.

[gessa]

I have never come out of the ground with such a buzz, as I did for that 4-3 what a game.

[Peter in Blackpool]

yes, he was a great player, but not a team player. He returned from oz determined to have the rest of the season off, to hell with what that meant for his team