How Good Was Matt Le Tissier Really?

Loyalty.

It comes in many forms. Some players are loyal to success, other to chaos, and others to hamburgers.

However, some are loyal to badges. And when you are the best player in a relatively poorly performing team, that definitely means something.

Matt Le Tissier.

A player that is not talked about all that much nowadays. In fact, many amongst the younger generations or even just people that are new to football very likely have not even heard about the guy.

Which kinda makes sense, I guess. He never played for an elite tier team, he never won any major trophies whatsoever, and he had a work rate that uh, was not so impressive.

However, get this. The man scored 47 out of the 48 penalties he took in his career, was the first midfielder to score over 100 goals in the Premier League and had all the top teams in the English Football begging for his signature at the height of his career.

He also only received 8 caps for England and scored 0 goals for them.

So, what gives? There must be a reasonable explanation for this. Let’s find out. With that being said, how good was Matt Le Tissier, really?

Table of Contents

Early life

“His talent was simply out of the norm. He could simply dribble past seven or eight players but without speed – he just walked past them. For me he was sensational.”- Xavi Hernandez

That’s right, the great Xavi Hernandez had this to say about the great Matt Le Tissier. Even if you do not know all that much about the man, hearing that should help in painting a picture.

Born in Guernsey in 1968, Le Tissier began his footballing journey playing for Vale Recreation football club around the age of seven. It was here the that he stayed until about sixteen years of age. From then on, after being scouted, a move to England with Southampton was on the cards.

Bear in mind, phrasing it like that makes it sound like he had to travel far and wide. However, he only had to travel about 200kms (125 miles) to get to the shores of Southampton.

But let us not forget that firstly, he was 16 years old. Moving away from home at any age is a significant step, let alone at that age. And secondly, two of his older brothers, Kevin and Carl Le Tissier turned down similar opportunities to move over to the Saints. Both opting not to leave their hometown.

Matt Le Tissier was stepping into unfamiliar territory indeed.

In any case, you are probably wondering why he was scouted in the first place; long story short, the man was brilliant.

He was not particularly gifted in the pace or stamina department, even from a young age. However, early on, he was energetic when his tank was not running on empty. Regardless, what he lacked in those departments, he more than made up for in several other categories.

His quick feet and ball control helped him beat the press and got him out of trouble frequently. His positional awareness meant that when out of possession, he was always able to put himself in a favourable spot to receive the ball. His vision and selflessness meant that his teammates were frequently served fantastic balls in dangerous areas. And finally, his ball striking technique and scoring ability meant that almost every other goal he scored was a goal of the season contender.

This guy was something special.

Breakthrough seasons

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And in his first few years at Southhampton, he showed the world what he was all about. He made his debut for the club in 1986 and, although the club was firmly a midtable first division side at the time, he managed to shine very brightly.

And for context’s sake, the Southampton squad he played in early on was not lacking in terms of talent. They had a young Alan Shearer, a pacy David Wallace, a seasoned Peter Shilton and many more.

Initially deployed as a winger, he made his move into the attacking midfielder spot as time went on.

By 1990, at 21 years of age, he had bagged himself 20 goals in the league in 35 appearances. Only bested by John Barnes and Gary Lineker. He also picked up the PFA young player of the year award.

Unsurprisingly, he caught the eye of just about every top team in the country. And amongst those interested was the club he supported as a child. Tottenham Hotspur.

And according to everyone involved, at the height of their interest, Le Tissier’s transfer seemed as though it was basically a done deal. Signed contracts, agreements between the club and the player. We are talking fine margins here.

However, seeing as Le Tissier was engaged and soon to be married, it seems his better half just did not really fancy moving over to London.

So, that was that. Just like that, the hopes and dreams of casuals and spurs fans alike were tarnished. The prospect of having an attacking trio of Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Matt Le Tissier was all but ruined.

Alas, what could have been…

Anyway, the season after that, he scored 19 goals in 35 appearances. I don’t think he was feeling all that bad about the failed transfer.

Unreal numbers and career peak

On the downside of all of this, despite a seventh-place finish in the 1989/90 season, Southhampton were frequently clinging on for dear life in the seasons that followed. They finished as low as 18^th in the league for two seasons straight in 1993 and 1994.

Seriously, these guys were down bad. In the 93/94 season they conceded 66 goals and only scored 49.

And…

Le Tissier scored 25 goals and made 9 assists in the league this season. No, you’re not hearing incorrectly. This guy either scored or created about 70% of Southhampton goals this season. A midfielder made 34 goal contributions in 38 games for a team that avoided relegation by 1 point.

So, he clearly was not all that important to the team. A fringe player if you will.

The very next season, he went ahead and equalled his combined numbers, contributing to 34 goals in 41 appearances. Although this time, Southampton had a better season, finishing in 10^th. And Le Tissier only directly contributed to about 56% of their goals this time around.

They did not call him Le God for nothing.

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Now, although these are unreal numbers, they make complete and total sense when you understand the environment that Le Tissier was in at this point in his career. Under manager Alan Ball at the time, Southampton were firmly built around their star man.

According to Le Tissier himself, Ball once even went as far as saying to him:

“Do what you’re good at. Don’t bother defending, because we know you’re rubbish at that, but when we are defending, get yourself in a position where, when we get the ball, we can pass to you”.

Loyalty tested. And passed

There really is no sugar coating it. At the peak of Le Tissier’s career, Southampton were heavily playing to his strengths as one of their core mandates.

This is something that Le Tissier really did take to heart. The fans loved him, and the manager loved him. And he definitely remembered that support when both Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers came through with £10 million pound transfer offers, in 1995.

If any of these had gone through, Le Tissier would have been the most expensive English football player of all time. He, of course, swiftly rejected them.

Now, to put this rejection into perspective, The highest basic wage that Le Tissier earned in his career at Southampton was reportedly just under £4000 per week. During his time at Blackburn Rovers, Le Tissier’s former teammate, Alan Shearer, was reportedly earning £10,000 per week.

If Rovers were willing to make Le Tissier the countries most expensive player, I see no reason why he would not be able to negotiate a better deal than what shearer was earning.

Adding onto this, Shearer ended up signing on for Newcastle only one year later in 1996, in a deal that saw him earn £34,000 per week. This leaves me with little doubt that Le Tissier could have easily multiplied his earnings with a move to bigger club if he really wanted to do so. I have no doubt that he and all those around him were well aware of this.

But that’s the thing, he didn’t just want to. His love for Southampton was just too strong.

I can see why Saints fan think so highly of him. The man not only talked the talk, but also walked the walk. When speaking about his time at Southampton, he once said:

“I played the game the way I wanted to play it, and had I gone on to a bigger club, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

To be fair, I do not think he was wrong.

England snub and retirement

On the flipside of all of this, despite the joy he got in helping keep Southampton from the drop and being given the freedom to do so, he did experience his fair share of disappointment in his career.

One such area that he experienced disappoint in was with regards to the England national team. Or rather should I say with regards to his lack of appearances with the English national team.

Time and time again, he was snubbed by managers who did not feel he was the right fit for the national team. Which is evidenced by the fact that he only received 8 caps with England.

Throughout his entire career, he was never called up for any major tournament. And bar the 1994 World cup, that England did not qualify for, England played in every major tournament that took place while he was an active player.

The most scathing omission came in 1998 when the manager at the time, Glen Hoddle, left him out of the 1998 World Cup squad.

An omission that surely stung Le Tissier quite a bit, as not only was he still putting in decent performances in the league, but he idolized Hoddle as a child.

In addition to this rather negative part of Le Tissier’s career, the dark side to his work rate, or lack thereof throughout his career, was that he failed to impress several of his own former managers and teammates alike. Which is understandable.

For example, from a teammate’s perspective, I suspect having to run twice as hard to make up for a player that you believe was not pulling their weight would rub most people the wrong way.

Carlton Palmer, a former teammate of his, confirmed that suspicion in an interview with Stadium Astro in 2016.

And from about 1998, his career began to wind down and he finally retired from professional football altogether in 2002.

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Did Matt Le Tissier underachieve?

So having gotten that out of the way, it is clear that Le Tissier was an insanely talented individual. However, evidently, he did not do enough to impress a few individuals, such as the decision makers in the English national team setup, for example.

Maybe this is not so relevant nowadays with the adoption of foreign coaches and coaching techniques, but there was previously a strong belief that England did not produce technical, creative, attack orientated operators. Instead, heavily favouring hard working, “all or nothing” type players.

This is something that has been clearly reflected in the national team in the years gone by. Between about 1990 and 2015, some of the most prominent members of England’s midfield consisted of the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, and David Platt, among others. While these players were all exceptional, well rounded players, none of them can make the claim to being pure creative, attacking midfielders.

Matt Le Tissier was an incredibly attack minded individual. Silky smooth skills, supreme playmaking ability and goals to boot. A player that did not contribute to defence very much and preferred to operate in the hole more often than not. A classic number 10.

Only thing is, even to this day, this role, at its core has never really been used by the English national team and it does not really exist in top teams in the Premier League.

A classic number 10, a trequartista, an enganche, whatever you want to call it, is very much a concept that is foreign to English football.

I have actually written an article on this very topic previously, if you’re interested in giving it a read.

In any case, the top playmakers in the Prem today are all very hardworking players that cover substantial ground in each match.

Now, I’m not going to pretend like I know the exact reason for Le Tissier’s omissions from England over the years, but I’m willing to bet that his work rate, playstyle and preferred position were among the main reasons for this.

Perhaps if he were born in another country or had a different work rate, this would not have been an issue. However, if my Grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bike. Anything is possible with hypotheticals.

In any case, despite his lack of silverware and the widespread believe that he underachieved, he had an incredible career, all things considered.

He helped the club that he loved stay afloat during some of their darkest hours in the Premier league era, broke some incredible records and inspired so many over the years.

At the beginning of this article, I shared a quote from Xavi Hernandez regarding Matt Le Tissier. However, that quote only told half the story from Xavi’s perspective. The Barcelona and Spanish legend also went on to say:

“We used to say: ‘This guy, Le Tissier, is outrageous and he never goes to a big team. He stays at Southampton. It’s incredible. He could play for anyone.”

This quote, along with the person who delivered the message, pretty much sums up what this man was all about over his 16-year career.

Le Tissier himself even admits,

“I’ve no regrets whatsoever. From seven years old I had an ambition to be a professional footballer and I had an ambition to play for England, and I fulfilled both at Southampton.”

Despite what anyone says, he very much earned the name, “Le God”.