I am the biggest Whitley fan out here.
I have been singing his praises long before everyone jumped on his bandwagon (See: Whitley could be the X-factor posted months ago)
Having said that, I have seen all the games and can't conclude that he marshalls the middle like Latapy. No way, no how.
His touch and vision, while outstanding, aren't up to Latapy's today.
Of course there are things that Latas at 37 that Whitley can't do at 28. It have tings Latas could do that Lampard, Gerrard, Joe Cole and Beckham can't do between them. Latas is a genius. However, the fact is when we was down against Mexico Whitley was the man who say he was going to take things into his own hands and created the goal. and is whitley hustle that set up the 2nd goal for stern too.
All I am saying is that Whitley is up to the task offensively, with a lil help from his friends Carlos, Dwight, Stern, Birchall, Spann etc, even if he eh have that special Latas magic. Not only that but you could reasonably count on him being able to do it for the full 90 minutes and help out more defensively.
I like how after one bad game (Bahrain) ppl ready to make the man warm the bench
Iz really shocking to me how fickle the Trini community is
after that Guatemala game ppl were singing his praises
Look what we have come to now
I not talking bout one bad game. Fact is fact. 9 times outta 10 yuh read a Falkirk match report they does say his performance fade over the last half hour. Occasionally it does say that he never quite got into the game and Falkirk loss. that is to be expected. the man is 37. Falkirk have to live and die with him, we have the luxury of not having to make him the focal point of our team.
Looking at our current team right now, Stern is not known for his high work rate, Yorke is known for his workrate but he is a step slow. Dog is a real hero but he is also a step slow when it come to matching up with high level strikers. Birchall might also prove to be a little on the slow side amongst higher level competition. This world cup is going to be a serious step up in the quality and athleticism of the opposition (the best team we play recently was a good Mexico team that you have to admit was missing some of their best players). We have to be very careful about putting the correct combination of players on the field, or else we will end up trying to compensate for too many players' weaknesses simultaneously. All the skill and vision in the world wouldn't count for anything if we getting beat to every ball.
Anyhow, we go agree to disagree. at least I will. I trust beenie more than anybody on the forum to make the decision.