Nani played in the era of Rooney and Ronaldo. It was difficult for him to be top dog. If he demanded the ball as much as Ronaldo and took as many shots he'd have been better thought of.
Nani
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My type of a winger. Skill, pace, shoots with both feet, excellent technique. 7 years later he is still not replaced. Unbelievable
yet that really doesn’t make him comparable to Ronaldo ? Perhaps that type of player, kick and rush, was more of a problem for ashley Cole than skilful two footed players.
As a winger myself, the amount of times I’d see Valencia in the prime position, ball at feet, between halfway and the penalty box, one on one with a defender, and not have a go at his man. Just stop pause for four seconds and pass it back. People call Nani mentally weak?
wingers I’ve seen at United better than Valencia :-
Sharpe
Kanchelskis
Giggs
Beckham
Ronaldo
Nani
He was better than Wallace, Jesper Olsen, Blomqvist and Cruyff though.
Think your judgement is based on the Valencia of the last 3 or so years.
Go back to when we signed him, before his injury. (At his peak).
Whilst this is true, he was never really in their league for consistency.
Consistency was the only weakness in his game really, shame as that is obviously a key attribute at the top.
His goals compilation on YouTube is about as good as it gets! Unreal collection of goals.
113 G + A in 230 appearances!
He was great at individual moments of quality and goal contributions. The 1st moments player that I witnessed at Man Utd in my time supporting
He was great at individual moments of quality and goal contributions. The 1st moments player that I witnessed at Man Utd in my time supporting
Bayern Munich would disagree, and there was definitely debate about where he was best.
1 match where he played 1/3 of it up front
There was no debate whatsoever about where he was best. People argued that it doesnt matter if hes on the left, and people argued that he's at his best on the right
Also in that match Valencia and Nani were better than Ribery and Robben. Would Bayern fans say Valencia and Nani were better wingers in their career than Ribery and Robben based on that 1 match as well?
It was an immediately recallable example, it was one of his best overall performances for us and came from the left. It wasn’t an anomaly.
You said he never did well on the left which is false.
He was actually far more consistent when he did play on the right. His top level was fairly even on both sides, but when he was on the left his form would be all over the place and he'd have a poor game straight after a great one.
He was fully capable of being brilliant from the left, just as good as he was on the right. If we took his best 10-15 games there would be a fairly even spread between the two sides. It was his average performance and bottom level that was far better on the right.
The guy you responded to exaggerated a bit, but you also can't take his form against one player as a sign of the opposite. Otherwise we'd be talking about Aaron Lennon being great since he was the one player who constantly gave Evra hell.
Its the only game of note you can recall because it was the only time he played just as well as he did on the right
The most dangerous parts about Nani's game were, some great crossing from the right where there is a goal on a plate if a striker just directs it towards the goal and coming inside from the right onto his left foot with which he scored more goals from range than his right foot.
On the left he couldnt get the knack of in-swinging crosses ala Young and he scored less goals coming inside onto his right foot. So no he was never just as good.
Its like suggesting Beckham would be just as good on the left, despite all his strengths being on the right side of the pitch
How about Messi? Would he be just as good on the left wing as well?
The 2nd goal v City in the 2011 Community Shield was ridiculous. The third wasn't far behind.
There were times I felt he was more skilled than Ronaldo, at least with the ball. He can be ridiculous. But unfortunately he was way too inconsistent for me. Still a good servant and fun to watch, mind.... I really miss the days when we had two dangerous, skillful wingers on either side.
From a stand still he was probably better at beating a man than Ronaldo. I'd say his passing was largely underrated as well.
Excellent player. His "inconsistency" overrated by United fans who conveniently ignored the inconsistency of other players in the team at the same time. Look at his stats.
"Inconsistency" seemed to mean something else when applied to Nani than to other players
It's more about his inconsistency that kept him from becoming truly world class, rather than knocking him with that tag. At one point I really thought he would surpass Ronaldo, who was also young and inconsistent before he cut out the tricks and turned into a beast.
He wasn't that good and you couldn't even rely on him on tough occasions.
The game that comes to mind
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8609064.stm
Best chance of the game came to him - A one v one vs the keeper which he fecked up
Ended up drawing the game - lost the title to Chelsea by 1 point
I can agree with that point but too often it was (and is) used as a stick to beat him with, instead of a general point as to why he wasn't better than he was (which was a top 5 winger in the PL)
I always felt that he was the kind of player that needed to be coddled and told he was the best.
He plays like one of the top players in the world when on form and just tried too hard to make things happen when he's not which results in people calling him selfish.
He plays like one of the top players in the world when on form and just tried too hard to make things happen when he's not which results in people calling him selfish.
Majority of people who called him inconsistent were Rooney's diehard fans who himself was even more inconsistent than Nani during their peak.
The chip he scored vs City might be one of the best team goals I've ever seen.
My best moment was of course the hilarious goal against Spurs. Pure genius. Nani, and Anderson suffered when Quiroz left. I do not think Mike Phelan knows how to handle player like that. As Rooney mentioned last month if SAF had a go at Nani instead of Nani, he would not have been able to come out for the second half. Quiroz knew how to handle these players. I said the same thing even then.
I always felt Rooney constantly shouting at Nani when he made a wrong pass ruined him, pure confidence player
He wasn't as amazing as some of you on here are trying to portray him to be. He was a good winger who went to shit after he received the #7 jersey. But we being the charity club instead of replacing him played him as a fullback. It's been what 7 years? And we still don't have a proper right wingerOh....
I forgot about that miss. Silly me.
So he's shit.
Brilliant at times, but Nani really was too inconsistent. It's fair to say Nani never lived up to his potential, but he still had a very productive career. Happy Birthday, Nani!
I loved that game, we played such sexy football in the second half with Anderson and Cleverley pulling the strings, looked like we were set for a stunning season with lots of youth. Injuries destroyed us that year
Loved the kit too
He has also won a lot more honours than most players ever could dream.
I read a quote from something with Rooney recently, either an interview or his new column, where he looked back on how SAF used to shout at him instead of the likes of Nani, as he knew Rooney could take it. It made me laugh to remember how Rooney obviously had the insight to know that was happening, but the lack of self-control to then go out on the pitch two mins later and scream at Nani for doing something Nani-ish.
His goal against Arsenal will always be one of my favourite goals, incredible skill.
Just on a side note with Nani, he might be one of the most impressive athletes Utd have had in recent times. Quick, surprisingly strong, remarkably agile and springy, great natural balance and coordination. Sneakily great athlete.
Nani was a very good player for us and our 2nd best player in the 10/11 title win (after Vidic).
Unfortunately for him, Old Trafford doesn't really like flair/skillful players. Even Ronaldo got a lot of shit before he became a more boring version of himself.
Unfortunately for him, Old Trafford doesn't really like flair/skillful players. Even Ronaldo got a lot of shit before he became a more boring version of himself.
Yep
I saw the same. Felt Rooney came across as a form of bully listening to him. Seemed to revel in his alpha male role.
Yes I think that was the discussion.
Nani definitely had good games on the left. On his debut season we mainly used him on the left. I also recall him destroying Chelsea and Ivanovic at the Community Shield.
He was definitely talented enough to play on either side but his consistency let him. He had plenty of stinkers on the right as well.
He did have a few very good matches on the left but every great run of form was on the right where he could actually use his strengths. On the left he never quite got the hang of crossing and put the ball too close to the keeper and while he could come inside and shoot from range, he scored more goals with his left than right foot. So he was coming onto the wrong foot.
I loved that game, we played such sexy football in the second half with Anderson and Cleverley pulling the strings, looked like we were set for a stunning season with lots of youth. Injuries destroyed us that year
Loved the kit too
My little kid (who obviously now is a United fan) was born that day... and when I returned home from hospital, we were trailing 0-2 at half time. What a second half!! Nani's first goal was pure sexy football!!!
https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...n-ronaldo-giggs-scholes-messi-and-moscow-2008
Great read. Love reading up on the good old days... they'll return. Right?
On the 4-0 v Arsenal:
Great read. Love reading up on the good old days... they'll return. Right?
On the 4-0 v Arsenal: