Craigieboy Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Mentioned on another thread. What is people's opinion of him? I recall him being kind of idolised at the time but now he's coming in for some stick. My brother in law has little time for him, even going so far as to say he was shite. A poster on the other thread said he was an important cog in Burleys team, allowing Hartley & Skacel to play. This is my take on him. I liked him. A no nonsense player. Discuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingofHearts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Was a great fan of Brellier in his time at Hearts. I recall he had a bit of bother with Vlad however and this hampered his success in a maroon jersey. Nonetheless, would take a player like Le Juge back in a heartbeat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
18Jambo_dave74 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I really liked him, was one of my favourite players in that side. We were such an attacking side and he allowed the likes of Rudi, Hartley and Miko to get forward to support the strikers. His job was to cover for them and tidy up any breaks. Also knew his limitations on the ball so kept it simple and gave it to our more attcking players to go and create chances. I'm not claiming he is/was a world beater but I think many people forget what an important role he had in the side. People use his failure's at other sides to knock him but to be honest I only care about what he did for us. For example, Rudi has generally never really replicated his form for us with his other sides (decent for Southampton and Slavia perhaps) but nobody, quite rightly, uses that against him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Very solid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyRightPeg Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Was probably my favourite player, simply because he broke Scott Brown's leg in an Edinburgh derby. Nah in all seriousness I was a massive fan of him, he was a simple player, win the ball back and play it simple. Seemed a massive fan favourite at the time, don't know why that would've changed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generic Username Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Some will say he was "Le Thug", others will class him as a "destructive" player - put in the team to sit in front of the defence, breaking up the play and allowing those in midfield to press the game further up the park without leaving the team exposed at the back. Technically he was nothing to write home about. He wasn't going to trap a ball, take on 3 or 4 players then put the ball into the top corner but what he would do is stick to his instructions, meticulously, all for the benefit of those in front and behind him. Possibly the last of a dying breed in terms of a real "hatchet" man, given his love for smashing idiots into a fine paste but it wasn't all boots up arses. Think he paved the way for some fans understanding and appreciating what a good deep lying midfielder could bring to a team - I don't think there's much debate to be had that Karapidis was excellent in this role for us & I'm not sure we've ever really replaced him/been able to fill that role properly since. Obviously the game has evolved in recent years and teams favour loading the midfield with players who're able to retain possession with ease, almost eliminating the need for someone of Brelliers mould. File under "Palazelous" - no bad, no great, certainly not the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantjambo Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I liked him. Similar to Salvatori in that he did all the unglamorous work while those around him grabbed the headlines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Rom?n Riquelme Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Not a particularly talented player but did his job in the team and let the more talented players do theirs. Funny that at that time that type of player was all the rage with folk calling it the Makelele role etc. Not too long ago but defensive midfielders are expected to have far more technical ability in their locker these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 As many of you know, I was a huge, HUGE fan of 'Le Juge'. Probably idolised him a bit too much at times, but he was a quality player and very effective in our successful team of 05/06. He was a hard player, which is maybe why some people didn't always like him - in a similar sort of way that Ian Black gets stick. He broke up play superbly and did the simple stuff well, allowing the likes of Hartley and Skacel to focus on attacking. He was also a better player technically than many gave him credit for, he was just aware of his limitations and kept things straightforward by giving the ball to Hartley or other more creative players after he won possession. The fact he injured Bruno in training got a few on his back as well, although unwarranted in my eyes. Unfortunately his career stalled after leaving Tynecastle and injury forced him to retire from professional football before he was 30. Would take a fit Julien Brellier back at Hearts in a second! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pans Jambo Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I liked him. Similar to Salvatori in that he did all the unglamorous work while those around him grabbed the headlines. This (& I called them both "chopper") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory House M.D. Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 An over-rated player. He may well have played a decent role in the 05/06 side but nowhere near as vital as people make out. Hartley for one regularly tracked back and any mistakes made by Brellier were covered for in the main by an outstanding back 5. His challenges were often awful and cynical and he regularly went out to rough people up with terrible tackles. Of course, this is somehow admired in Scotland. God knows why. His career was summed up by what he did to Aguair and I for one won't be rushing forgive that scummy move because he made some important tackles at times. It's funny, the arguments about Brellier are very, very like the arguments about Robbie Neilson. The only difference is that Neilsons limitations are screamed from the rooftops as why he is shite despite being an absolutely solid defender. Yet the argument for Brellier is he was good defensively and allowed people to get forward so he is hailed as great and treated like a cult hero. It's pretty bizarre actually. Sure, Brellier done a lot of good for the team but his thuggery and his massive limitations made him an average player for me. Don't like him, never have and never will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesni Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 He was a very good holding midfielder and did the ugly side of the game very well. The wheels fell off his career after Hearts, unfortunately it happens, but that doesn't mean he was a bad player for us! Also Spoke with him in St James, he was buying pro evo at Game, Was happy to speak, seemed a nice guy and loved Edinburgh/Hearts! Shame his career never worked out in the end! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
We_are_the_Hearts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Was decent in a good team but left himself walking a tightrope with silly bookings early in games, even games when we were winning comfortably after 15 minutes. Clever players who play that role intercept more than tackle. Salvatori was a far better player and could start moves with a great range of pass as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samster Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Mentioned on another thread. What is people's opinion of him? I recall him being kind of idolised at the time but now he's coming in for some stick. My brother in law has little time for him, even going so far as to say he was shite. A poster on the other thread said he was an important cog in Burleys team, allowing Hartley & Skacel to play. This is my take on him. I liked him. A no nonsense player. Discuss. This is my take on him too Craigieboy. He clearly wasn't a brilliant player as he has failed at pretty much all other clubs he's been at since and I believe he's now retired and playing amateur football. However, for us he did a specific job at a specific point in time and was very good at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walrus Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Was probably my favourite player, simply because he broke Scott Brown's leg in an Edinburgh derby. Nah in all seriousness I was a massive fan of him, he was a simple player, win the ball back and play it simple. Seemed a massive fan favourite at the time, don't know why that would've changed? Does anyone have the footage of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nookie Bear Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The Aguiar tackle: did anything ever come out to prove or disprove Brellier's intent? Had a quick look and Aguiar says he 'hopes' it was not intentional and I doubt Brellier has done a Roy Keane and publicly admitted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Wiseau Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Right player at the right time for Hearts, not one Hearts supporter didn't rate the guy in the first half of 05/06. Aguiar signed and I personally rated him higher; got slaughtered for it at the time, both on here and in real life. I think I was conclusively proved correct on that one, but that doesn't mean that Brellier wasn't a good player for us. That red card in Athens though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beats Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Vital part of the 05/06 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The Aguiar tackle: did anything ever come out to prove or disprove Brellier's intent? I passed a message on from him on JKB a couple of years ago after this particular subject arose. It read: I will always remember my time at Hearts. Thanks to you and all the fantastic jambos fans for supporting me...great memories for me! I have two things to ask you to do for me please: First one is to thank all the supporters for me... Second one is to tell them that I never wanted to crunch Bruno,it was a normal but unlucky challenge in training. At that time I knew my time at Hearts was over so there was no point in doing a stupid thing like this! People who think I did this to play don't know me as a person, in my career I never injured a team mate to play and I felt really sorry and I told him so! Bruno's interview some time ago was really stupid... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
:shitwine: Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Very useful player, but overrated. I think he was used as a symbol of the anti-Vlad brigade as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Drago Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I passed a message on from him on JKB a couple of years ago after this particular subject arose. It read: I'm sure Bunter knows what really happened, no need to ask either of the players involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimus Prime Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 A vital cog in that team. His role allowed Hartley and Skacel a virtually free reign to support the attack by holding the midfield and shielding the back 4. He was our Claude Makelele. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nookie Bear Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I passed a message on from him on JKB a couple of years ago after this particular subject arose. It read: Cheers Laurie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Albert Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Vastly overrated The 2005/06 squad did far more for brellier than he did for it. Supreme stupidity cost us any chance in athens and on other occasions would have cost us more if not for the quality around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Ian Malcolm Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Was an effective player in a very, very good midfield. Not sure we'd have gotten away with playing him in some of our poorer teams. Salvatori is still the modern benchmark for Hearts' defensive midfielders. He was class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GhostHunter Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I passed a message on from him on JKB a couple of years ago after this particular subject arose. It read: You should have asked him why he gobbed in the face of one of the youth players coming off after training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammy T Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Nearly always the sort of player that is vastly underrated. Would massively improve the current team for example. Any good/successful team in Scotland needs a decent defensive midfielder. Brellier was that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Right player at the right time for Hearts, not one Hearts supporter didn't rate the guy in the first half of 05/06. Aguiar signed and I personally rated him higher; got slaughtered for it at the time, both on here and in real life. I think I was conclusively proved correct on that one, but that doesn't mean that Brellier wasn't a good player for us. That red card in Athens though Aguiar wasn't the right player in that 'Burley' side though. He proved himself to be a very good player further forward later on at Hearts but he wasn't the player for the defensive midfield that we needed. With Skacel often right up with the strikers, Chesney or Miko pushing right up the park and often Hartley moving past the strikers - and Fyssas going forward too ... we needed a player to hold his position and cover for the others. Brellier was expert at that. Yes he often gave away fouls - but again often they were 'good' fouls. I remember seeing the statistics for the games he played versus the games he didn't - and there was a marked difference. He was crucial to that side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musemic Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Never really latched on to the 'love-in' with him tbh. Pretty limited player and a bit of a liability at times on the park. We will, though, need a player like him next season for sure. Possibly the only player ever to have been sent off when a contributary factor was him wearing an earring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generic Username Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 No one start a thread on Neil Berry/Pasquale Bruno or Bunter's heid might pop off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest C00l K1d Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I cant remember the brown incident. Did he actually break his leg? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argyjambo Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Was decent in a good team but left himself walking a tightrope with silly bookings early in games, even games when we were winning comfortably after 15 minutes. Clever players who play that role intercept more than tackle. Salvatori was a far better player and could start moves with a great range of pass as well. Absolutely correct! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taffin Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I'd kill for him in our current team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolf's Mate Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 A vital cog in that team. His role allowed Hartley and Skacel a virtually free reign to support the attack by holding the midfield and shielding the back 4. He was our Claude Makelele. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Allen Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 What is people's opinion of him? Brellier was top class, one of the several 05/06 team with a European pedigree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Plissken Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I liked him, he did an important job for us in 2005/06. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyRightPeg Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I cant remember the brown incident. Did he actually break his leg? I say break, Brown played through it and after the game it turned out he had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMHearts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Perfect foil in midfield playing the holding roll allowing Hartley and rudi to move forward to such good effect. Yes limited in what he did but he did it perfectly well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.J Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Poor man's Neil MacFarlane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCrae Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Very important player in the team..... You need players who can will the ball. Technically I thought he was very good, did the basics very well. An intelligent player that you could depend upon to deliver week in week out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudiboy Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I loved him at Hearts during that period. He was such an important player for us, he allowed the likes of Hartley, Skacel, and Miko to bomb forward at every opportunity. When he wasn't in the team I felt we suffered as a result. Something was always missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GhostHunter Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I say break, Brown played through it and after the game it turned out he had. Eh ? I thought he went off pretty much straight away ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walrus Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Eh ? I thought he went off pretty much straight away ? I seem to remember him getting cheered off the park . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamboozy Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 teams all need a player that the opposition fear, they usualy create that fear with the 1st hard tackle, it sets the stall out so to speak, Brellier was like this, so was pasquale Bruno, Salvatori,Jimmy Bone etc, I would love a player like that to run interferance for the youngsters in the team just now, imo there would be less injuries on our team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nookie Bear Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Eh ? I thought he went off pretty much straight away ? Replaced on 40 minutes, according to London Hearts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Pal Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I felt that when he came on in the Gretna cup final he steadied the ship. We were in danger of losing that game up till then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Palmer Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I cant remember the brown incident. Did he actually break his leg? Think he might have been carrying the injury before that game (memory might be playing tricks there), Brellier went through him and he had to go off before half time. Although he did play against Rangers the following week.... http://www.londonhea...20060415056.htm Whether Brellier's tackle caused a weakness can only be a matter of conjecture but Mowbray today insisted it was felt the break occurred in the Rangers clash. He said: "We had his leg x-rayed after the Hearts game and everything was fine but it was scanned again following the Rangers match and there was a break so we believe that's when the break happened." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Tucker Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 His tackle on Brown really wasn't that bad. He went in pretty heavily and caught him awkwardly. As I recall he never even get booked and it was right in front of the referee. Onto the man himself, I liked him. He was a good player to have alongside some brilliant midfielders in that team, and he added the sort of strength and defensive qualities that allowed Hartley/Skacel/Miko/etc to play their own game. Could do a job IMO.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armageddon Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Vital part of the 05/06 season. Yip. Absolute key part of our success, done the dirty work very very well. Done Scott Brown a beauty. One of my faves, Sir Paul, Rudi and JB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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