Most overrated ex Manchester United players

ScholesyTheWise said:
The term 'overrated' seems to mean different things to different people.
The way I see it, it is possible (technically/linguistically/what have you) to both be brilliant and overrated.
Though he's my favorite player ever, I can understand why people would say that Scholes is overrated by some of the fanbase.
It's been claimed by some fans that he was as good as Xavi, or the best English midfielder of all time. These for me are over-rations of him,
Even thought we was obviously brilliant.

This thread seems to aim more at players that were though to be very good but were actually 'not all that' in the eyes of some-
Fletch, Herrera, etc...
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Agree completely. It would be blasphemous to say on RedCafe but it’s probably a valid view that Roy Keane is a bit overrated depending on how you view the term.

Cult heroes are somewhat tougher to define as overrated because I’m not sure anyone said Park was top class or one of the best at his position, rather that he was an important player in some of our best teams. So maybe the nostalgia overrates him a bit because you just see him on the counter against Arsenal but forget the often mediocre performances he put in as a starter in forgettable league matches.

Just depends on how each person looks at it I guess.
 
I personally think Solskjaer was over-rated, often regarded as the best finisher we've ever had and someone that replaced Becks on the right... he was good, a handy sub for sure and a club legend for his CL goal but over-rated nonetheless and he only replaced Becks via Fergie's ragebait.

I'd also say Nani who despite a few absolute belters IMO never really produced to a level that he influenced the game, he always felt more like a luxury player that we could afford to accommodate.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Agree completely. It would be blasphemous to say on RedCafe but it’s probably a valid view that Roy Keane is a bit overrated depending on how you view the term.

Cult heroes are somewhat tougher to define as overrated because I’m not sure anyone said Park was top class or one of the best at his position, rather that he was an important player in some of our best teams. So maybe the nostalgia overrates him a bit because you just see him on the counter against Arsenal but forget the often mediocre performances he put in as a starter in forgettable league matches.

Just depends on how each person looks at it I guess.
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There is no world where Roy Keane is overrated.

Perhaps he wasn't the best at any particular skill but (IMO) he was the most influential player we've ever had. He was a one man army.
 
cpresc said:
There is no world where Roy Keane is overrated.

Perhaps he wasn't the best at any particular skill but (IMO) he was the most influential player we've ever had. He was a one man army.
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This is sort of what I mean. I think oppo fans or neutrals would argue he is, simply because United fans all largely agree he’s our greatest midfielder ever (depending on how you see Robson) and would make all time PL XI’s easily but I’m not sure others would agree.

It’s not unlike how we mostly all agree as United fans that Gerrard is overrated by Liverpool supporters. Similar concept( and takes nothing away from either player, just more so speaking to my point on the thread depending on how you classify and think of “overrated”)
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
This is sort of what I mean. I think oppo fans or neutrals would argue he is, simply because United fans all largely agree he’s our greatest midfielder ever (depending on how you see Robson) and would make all time PL XI’s easily but I’m not sure others would agree.

It’s not unlike how we mostly all agree as United fans that Gerrard is overrated by Liverpool supporters. Similar concept( and takes nothing away from either player, just more so speaking to my point on the thread depending on how you classify and think of “overrated”)
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Yeah, we share the same view it seems.

I'd think that United fans would (conciously or not) underrate pretty much every Liverpool player of high prominance, and vice versa.
Same goes for any 2 fanbases who share a rivalry/hatred.

Neutral football fans are probably a better source of perspective [just how many neutral fans there are in England towards Man United is another question worth asking, mind).
 
ScholesyTheWise said:
Yeah, we share the same view it seems.

I'd think that United fans would (conciously or not) underrate pretty much every Liverpool player of high prominance, and vice versa.
Same goes for any 2 fanbases who share a rivalry/hatred.

Neutral football fans are probably a better source of perspective [just how many neutral fans there are in England towards Man United is another question worth asking, mind).
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Yeah the most unbiased opinion would probably be someone who watched a ton of PL but isn’t in the country and supports a club from a different league.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Yeah the most unbiased opinion would probably be someone who watched a ton of PL but isn’t in the country and supports a club from a different league.
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That would be me, yet not even in that case, I gave a similar opnion dividing the "types of overrating" yet like any human being I'll still have some bias in my taste.

Nonetheless it's true that many EPL fans are a bit too much insular and only start to respect or praise someone when that player trashes an EPL or English team. Lots of fans around the globe, specially from traditional countries, does not put some EPL legends as high, or even coaches like Fergie are not that often seen as the barometer like in many ways it's seen in this Forum at least, against which every coach historically must measure against.
It's understandable too because in many ways the EPL (and the old format too) it's fantastic, but at the same time it does not make any other player nowadays or historically, not proven if it doesn't play in The Isles or didn't face "english" teams.
Many of "shocks" regaridng the NT or even some ocasional Arsenal agaisnt Porto come from this kind of distorted view regarding the rest of the world.
 
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Overrated to me doesn't mean a player isn't great. Seeing Fellaini and Cleverley here to me is just absurd tbh. I've never seen a Utd fan rate either of these highly. For me some that come to mind are Park (just a decent player honestly as much as I respected his work rate), Gary Neville (by Utd fans, he's actually become underrated by neutrals), Nani, Pogba, Matic, Mata (for Utd, thought he was fantastic at Chelsea).

On the extreme end where they are world class but still not quite as high in the all time rankings as most put them, I would list Schmeichel. He made a lot of mistakes that people gloss over whereas DDG by comparison has compilations made of mistakes by people with an agenda. I'd say VDS was the most consistent of the 3 with DDG having the highest highs in performance imo. I reiterate, Schmeichel was still an amazing keeper. I'd also put Bruce in as a very good cb but not at the level of the likes of Pallister, McGrath, Stam, Rio and Vidic.

I'd be more interested in an underrated thread tbh since there are far more that I'd like to list in that.
 
RedDevil [NC] said:
Seeing Nani mentioned so much is crazy considering how good he was, I still hate the absurd red card in the Real Madrid game. We were so good that season with him as one of the main catalysts
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As someone who listed him, I'll give my reasoning. Nani only really had 2 decent seasons between 2010 and 2012. He was very good for these couple years but didn't deliver enough throughout the rest of his career. 17 of his 25 goals and 24 of his 43 assists for us came in just these 2 seasons. The other 5 seasons really weren't particularly good. He also got 3 goals and 9 assists in his 1st season with us (and I wouldn't say he was particularly great that season tbh). 5 goals and 10 assists across his other 4 seasons simply isn't good enough for how highly most Utd fans rate him imo.
 
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