People were ready for Ronaldo to be sold at one point, just like Nani...so..yes.
Luis Nani | 2011/12 Performances
- Thread starter Kelvin
- Start date
- Status
I don't think many are hard on Nani these days, at least those associated with United.
But Ronaldo got plenty of scrutiny and harsh judgments in his first 100 games for the club and I don't think many had any foresight into the player he would develop into(the 40 goals a year forward).
That said, the comparison is for a variety of reasons not a very good one.
Was it last season where Phelan said the penny dropped for him?
I think he's made his mark in this team as a first choice mazy winger, if he can maintain high levels of assists and get 10-20 goals a season I would be happy with that.
Why are the commentators talking about Nani at last coming good? He's been fecking brilliant for about two and a half seasons.
MOM for me today.That wizardry he did to control some difficult pass on the flank.....
Definitely flicked off Tevez (all the videos demonstrate this - would get a link if I was on my computer) but it was a great goal anyway.
Nani was absolutely immense yesterday. What a performance. When he plays like that there is pretty much feck all you can do about him.
Some players get stuck with a stigma and it takes time to shake it off. It's ridiculous that Nani is still not properly appreciated as a brilliant football.
And it's a season and a half Plech.
He's too angular to be a really brilliant football.
It's longer than that. He's continued improving and really took off last season but he was highly productive before that.
He's always been productive but also extremely inconsistent in the past. He's been excellent now since the mid way point of the 09-10 season. He was the best player in England in the 10-11 season and has started this season great.
Can we do a deal at two years?
yep some of those long balls to him where over hit and made it look easy!
also liking how he is standing up to a lot of physical challenges and hardly got pushed off the ball
No.
The nani being inconsistent bit and the recently coming good thing are such cliches. its like people will say the same even after another couple of seasons.
Nani showed again why he should have played in the UCL Final and not Antonio Valencia - Valencia may be more consistent overall in a game, but Nani is a match-winner, and that's the player we needed on the pitch at Wembley - the fact that Tony had a 'mare just compounded the decision.
It's all well and good saying that now, but at the time most people thought Valencia's pace and power would cause them all sorts of problems at the back. Hindsights a wonderful thing.
Was simply sublime against Chelsea. Brilliant player!
That was class
The last time Valencia started against the same opponents he ran rings round Ashley Cole and was arguably MOTM. Not sure I see the connection between playing Chelsea and playing Barcelona.
He's been brilliant for a couple of seasons. Kick-started when he violated Arsenal at the Emirates - you know dribbling half their defense, and lobbying a ball for Almunia to put it in him. Also a brilliant assist for Wayne a few minutes later
This rings true now more than ever:
I think the point he's trying to make is that Nani simply has more on his repertoire than Valencia - but Antonio is more consistent. Too bad him and Javier chose the CL to have the worst games in their Utd careers (not that it would have mattered).
He was fantastic. He was a constant threat and when he gets his man they have to either double team or triple team him because he can beat the first man almost every time.
That one play where he skinned two players (cole and meireles?) along the right touchline was fantastic and deserved the goal he scored. Well in Nani
That one play where he skinned two players (cole and meireles?) along the right touchline was fantastic and deserved the goal he scored. Well in Nani
See, I totally agree with this.
I just disagree with people being wise after the fact to claim that Nani would have been a better option against Barca, at a time when he wasn't proving to be a better option against much weaker teams, just because he played a blinder at the weekend.
If we were playing Barca this weekend, with Nani playing as well as he is, then it's a no brainer to start him. In fact, I go with Nani and Young, leaving Valencia on the bench. However, when we played Barca he was in the middle of a run of very poor form, while Valencia was on top of his game, Hence it was a no-brainer to make the opposite decision.
I have said before Nani can be the best in the world. On raw talent alone he is in the calibre of Messi and Ronaldo (feel free to flame me I dont care Nani will prove me right) its just that up until now Messi and Ronaldo have had freakish levels of consistency (54 goals in a season each!) that nobody could get close to...Key words: Until now. Nani is on an upward curve and if just keeps up the monetum he´s been building he´ll be unstoppable. I hope when we play Liverpool next month that he utterly embarasses Carragher for that dirty tackle last season and rips the Kop to pieces.
Nani was poor towards the end of the season though, he does have that unpredictability about him which makes him a match winner but i thought he lost that towards the end of the season, whilst valencia remained consistent and pushed him out of the line up
wtf?
Chelsea just couldn't handle him out there. His close control with the ball is amongst the best players in the world... easily. He can beat players at pace, from a standing start and uses his body strength and sleight of foot to retain possession, then pick a pass even if he's surrounded by opponents. It's genius really.
When his confidence is sky high he's simply unplayable.
When his confidence is sky high he's simply unplayable.
wtf?
It's a now legendary quote from the newbie forum. Hilarious.
If you watch Nani closely, throughout the game you see almost two or three people picking him up. For his goal, only two were and he destroyed them both. I think if you could hear team talks and tactics he'd be mentioned as much as Rooney (nearly atleast) because he's so explosive and frankly, so fecking good.
Nani.
Nani.
This has always been my favorite thing about him. Tony V has his own set of skills, and that's fine, but the ability Nani has to beat his man from a standing start and in tight spaces is incredible.
In his first season I believe he lead the team in assists, or very nearly, and he was mostly a sub. I think his infuriating side has caused a lot of people to judge him harshly, but for me he's been improving every step of the way, so I've never lost patience.
The skill on the ball is there for all to see. He's a bit like Giggs in that he likes to try a lot of fairly high risk passes, and shot, so they both can seem to be playing quite badly if they aren't coming off, because with no margin for error they will be turnovers every time.
Then suddenly they score or assist a goal and people seem to think he's finally turned it on for a moment. But that's unfair to all the work he does, to make sure that a few of those moves come off and produce good chances.
Of course his decision making has been getting better with everything else, and it's getting quite good now, and that's a big part of it too.
The skill on the ball is there for all to see. He's a bit like Giggs in that he likes to try a lot of fairly high risk passes, and shot, so they both can seem to be playing quite badly if they aren't coming off, because with no margin for error they will be turnovers every time.
Then suddenly they score or assist a goal and people seem to think he's finally turned it on for a moment. But that's unfair to all the work he does, to make sure that a few of those moves come off and produce good chances.
Of course his decision making has been getting better with everything else, and it's getting quite good now, and that's a big part of it too.
Snippet of a conversation with a 'United fan' in my office this morning:
Him: I watched the highlights of the Chelsea game last night
Me: Not bad, eh? That Nani goal was a bit good
Him: Yea great strike
Me: and the one that hit the bar in the build up to the pen
Him: yea it looked like he had a good game for once
Me: for once?
Him: yea, he only ever does anything in 1 in 5 games, and then he just dribbles past a few players and doesn nothing for the rest of the game.
Me: he averaged almost a goal or assist per game for most of last season and his stats for his first 100 United games are better than Ronaldo's were.
Him: I just don't like him.
Football fans.
Him: I watched the highlights of the Chelsea game last night
Me: Not bad, eh? That Nani goal was a bit good
Him: Yea great strike
Me: and the one that hit the bar in the build up to the pen
Him: yea it looked like he had a good game for once
Me: for once?
Him: yea, he only ever does anything in 1 in 5 games, and then he just dribbles past a few players and doesn nothing for the rest of the game.
Me: he averaged almost a goal or assist per game for most of last season and his stats for his first 100 United games are better than Ronaldo's were.
Him: I just don't like him.
Football fans.
Change your job
Heh, well "I just don't like him" would sum up the true feelings of the majority of the people on this board who give him stick, but they just won't admit it.
I just dont understand why you can say that about any United player.
I've given up talking to football fans outside of the caf (and close friends and relatives obviously), honestly, its quite sad. I wont talk about anything more than the scoreline.
I heard someone say the other day that Welbeck is their most hated player in the league. He's played what...3 league games this season? I'm not sure what he's done to deserve that kind of tag.
He frustrated the living feck out of me (still does sometimes) and if we sold him 2 years ago I wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
But now - what a player we have. He's got almost everything and is definitely the most dangerous player in the league. That goal on Sunday was stunning. No other word to describe it. I still think he can improve re: decision making but once he sorts that out, we can say we have a truly world class player on our hands.
But now - what a player we have. He's got almost everything and is definitely the most dangerous player in the league. That goal on Sunday was stunning. No other word to describe it. I still think he can improve re: decision making but once he sorts that out, we can say we have a truly world class player on our hands.
He probably saw his interview too (when he went and answered the question, the cnut).
- Status