He was never a regular for Poland. He was first choice understudy when Sousa was in charge. The new bloke wasn’t as keen so it was always unlikely that he’d make the cut. He has been in good form this season at a good level, but as we’ve seen with England this week, it doesn’t always matter, form. Mich didn’t go to Huddersfield purely for Poland, but it was a factor (World Cup ambitions). He genuinely loved the area, the country. He turned down a move back to Poland a few weeks before the Huddersfield move. And Palermo in Italy as well as a French club (can’t recall the club) bid as much as Town got him for. He is a great bloke. And gave everything for the shirt. Mads is better though. In my opinion. And Kitching will eclipse them both in the next couple of years.
That's your view. It's not childish, he's left and **** on his self. Just because you think any different means **** all.
I think he's quite a good defender. His positional sense has improved a lot imo since he first arrived. Problem in my opinion is he wastes so many potential opportunities in attack with his really poor passing at times, gets in really promising positions but 7 times out of 10 it's either overhit or under hit. Doesn't seem as prevalent as it was at the start of the season though, and he hasn't been doing those lung-busting runs as much as the season has gone on, and perhaps that's because Duff has noticed it. It's weird because out of the blue he'll do a world class diagonal ball and he looks a world beater at it
Seems like a really nice bloke but he was no good. He looked good because we had a really good manager who managed him well. I wish him all the best but he's not going to the World Cup because he's not very good at football. And that's it. Huddersfield have paid way too much for a player who isn't all that great but is really nice. I don't think we should feel guilty about that.
Seems like we're wasting our time Gord & Jay, because apparently nobody is allowed to say anything negative about him!.
I think that Val's system made some very limited footballers look much better than they really were, because they were playing as part of a system. Romal Palmer would definitely be on that list for me, as would Big Vic. But I can't agree about Helik, I honestly think he's the real deal. Six goals from centre back at Championship level, plus caps for Poland, would indicate that he's very good. Having said all that, I'm not sure he'd get into my top ten centre halves I've seen playing for us, but that's only because we've been so spoilt over the years by the quality we've had in that position. He'd be close, though.
It's difficult when you're talking about the quality of a footballer because it's always comparative. When I first started watching we had Derek Bell up front. We were promoted, Derek scored loads of goals and he looked excellent. Then we sold him. He wasn't poached by a bigger club, it was a calculated decision by the manager to generate funds to bring in better players because our top scorer in Division 4 wasn't any good in the division above. Bell went to Lincoln in the league below and we put a strike partnership together of Aylott and Parker. And we became a team who could beat just about any other side in the country. It took the European champions two games and Greame Souness committing GBH to stop us. In the context of this thread the comparison is the World Cup. I don't think Helik is anywhere near that kind of quality. I'd still like Helik in the opposition box when we have a corner but it's no surprise that he didn't continue his scoring rate the following season when we lost Mowatt whose delivery from set pieces during the Val era was immaculate. Hourihane quality. If you offered me a choice between Helik and Cundy then there's no choice to be made. Helik is miles better. We'd be a better team this season with Helik in it. But there's a reason why Morris went at the start of the transfer window and Helik and Styles went at the end after heart to heart talks with managers and strange loan deals. Morris would look good in any team. Helik and Styles didn't stand out as any better than the rest of the dreadful side that were relegated last season. They were very much part of it while Morris was above it. It would have been nice to see Helik at the world cup, it would have added extra interest to some other games. I like Helik, he performed very well under Val, but I'm not surprised he isn't going because in 40 games last season I don't remember him playing very well at all. We've had some rubbish teams in the last 20 years but within those teams were players like Foster and Hassell who always gave you a 7 out of 10 performance. I'd put them both above Helik but there's no way I'd argue either should have ever gone to a world cup.
I view him differently. I've always thought he looks to be a terrible defender. I've lost count of the times I've seen quite limited players just ghost round him. It usually ends up with Kitching commiting a horrible foul as he tries to get back. This season he's ventured forward a lot more and to my great surprise he can actually play a bit. He can run with the ball and cross and pass and stuff. He tries to do too much and plays too many Hollywood balls but he looks more energetic and more accomplished than our midfield who are very pedestrian at times. I don't know where that leaves him. Maybe Whitey is right and he's going to be this brilliant centre half. I think it's more likely that someone will look at him funny and Kitching will knock his block off and be banned from football.
Lol......he definitely got a fight him in that’s a fact......I do think if he channels that aggression in a good way then he has a chance of being a decent defender for us in future
In my time watching since the Mel Machin early 90s he would be right up there. Top tier you'd have Arjan, Pinnock and Stones. I would have Helik in the next tier down with the likes of Andersen and Lindsay.
Agree that comparing across teams, divisions and eras is tricky. Some excellent players shine in poor sides, but it doesn't change the fact that the team as a whole was not very good. Others excel with certain players around them or under a certain manager. Helik is a curious case, as he was part of one of our best and worst sides at second tier level in quick succession. At his best he looked better than either Foster or Hassell in my opinion. Last season he was the best of an awful bunch, but there were such deep-rooted problems it's hard to make a fair judgement on his abilities basing them on that season alone.
