Players who gave a misleading first impression

chomsky89

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The players that either had:

1. Some of their very best/worst games in their first game(s)/the first game(s) you personally saw them in.

2. Looked like they were far better/worse at a specific attribute.

-Adam Green.
You probably do not remember this guy, but he had a very good game against CR7 when he played for Fulham, aged 21.
6 Years later, he failed a trial for a Norwegian third-tier club.
 
John O'Shea. I remember him bullying Hasselbaink at Stamford Bridge as a center back at the start of 2002/03, then spent the rest of the season being a nimble footed, marauding left back, nutmegged Figo. He was a very good squad player for us but that first season he seemed like a mix of Phil Jones and Duncan Edwards, our two greatest ever players.
 
Patrice Evra - Spent his first half season in the PL looking like the worst United player in living memory. Turned out to be insanely good (as in he was good and also insane)
 
Marco Negri. Striker for Rangers in the 90s.

Scored 23 goals in his first 10 games. Ended the season with 32 goals overall, looking like the next big thing.

He then suffered an eye injury, never regained his form and only played 3 more times for Rangers. He didn't play a single game for one season. Then Rangers sold him and he disappeared.
 
Alberto Moreno for us. Had a really good debut at Spurs and scored a great solo goal.

Then he turned out to be dreadful.

Voronin was alright for us initially as well in 2007, then drifted into oblivion.
 
Very early days obviously, but the Zirkzee that played against Fulham is not the same player who has played every time since.
 
Irrational. said:
ADM.

That chipped goal vs Leicester had me drooling. Then it all went to shit.
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Louis and him like where like oil and water, quite a pity

Mou more than probably would have made it work (at least for a time if his missus continued to complain about the City). It's quite suprising that in plain numbers he still had 10 assists and 3 goals in 27 matches, not bad at all.

Alexis also looked like a perfect player for Man Utd
 
From most recent history: Zirkzee with his goal against Fulham.

The kind of goal he scored and the hunger he showed would make you think that he was gonna be a beast of a striker. He's been anything but. It's too soon to say if he is a good player or not, but at the very least we have not seen anything like his first cameo, since then and it's starting to look like - even if he is a decent player (?) at the very least he is not an out-and-out striker and may be candidate for the position behind the striker... the one that we have too many candidates for in the current squad
 
Yagami said:
Marco Negri. Striker for Rangers in the 90s.

Scored 23 goals in his first 10 games. Ended the season with 32 goals overall, looking like the next big thing.

He then suffered an eye injury, never regained his form and only played 3 more times for Rangers. He didn't play a single game for one season. Then Rangers sold him and he disappeared.
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Good shout. His form was interesting to see at the time
 
Gazza said:
John O'Shea. I remember him bullying Hasselbaink at Stamford Bridge as a center back at the start of 2002/03, then spent the rest of the season being a nimble footed, marauding left back, nutmegged Figo. He was a very good squad player for us but that first season he seemed like a mix of Phil Jones and Duncan Edwards, our two greatest ever players.
Click to expand...
I see what you did, there, Phil.

Eric Djemba-Djemba, the Cameroonian midfielder who after his debut vs Arsenal’s incincibles in 2003 (we won on pens) drew the headings ‘The New Roy Keane’, ‘Another magnificent Eric for United?’, and ‘So Good They Named Him Twice’.

Then spent most of his playing carreer at Odense BK in Denmark.
 
Irrational. said:
ADM.

That chipped goal vs Leicester had me drooling. Then it all went to shit.
Click to expand...

Fobal said:
Louis and him like where like oil and water, quite a pity

Mou more than probably would have made it work (at least for a time if his missus continued to complain about the City). It's quite suprising that in plain numbers he still had 10 assists and 3 goals in 27 matches, not bad at all.

Alexis also looked like a perfect player for Man Utd
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Think Di Maria was very much right player wrong time.

Very talented and would actually be ideal in an Amorim side in the wing back role.
 
Yagami said:
Marco Negri. Striker for Rangers in the 90s.

Scored 23 goals in his first 10 games. Ended the season with 32 goals overall, looking like the next big thing.

He then suffered an eye injury, never regained his form and only played 3 more times for Rangers. He didn't play a single game for one season. Then Rangers sold him and he disappeared.
Click to expand...

Good shout. There’s a few of these kind off centre forwards over the years.

Remember Zaki at Wigan? Michu at Swansea? Asamoah Gyan? Berahino was another.
 
Antony Martial. He seemed capable of being the next Henry in his first few games. Fast, brave and wants to take people on, pretty strong, good finisher. I still think he actually did have a lot of the tools. What a shame

Another is Luke Chadwick. I can’t remember the first time I watched him play, but he weaved his way through players as if they weren’t there in that game. I thought we’ve got a white Denilson on our hands.
 
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Powell debuted with a nice goal from 25m, didn't he? against Wigan.

he was playing for Wigan year after.
 
TheReligion said:
Think Di Maria was very much right player wrong time.

Very talented and would actually be ideal in an Amorim side in the wing back role.
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Yeap, but also he is a very old fashioned winger/mediapunta that would clash with many coaches. He needs someone that gets what he gets and that includes him sometimes risking too much the ball...did Louis wanted him? was his call? because it's mental if it's the case, Di Maria it's more of a Rikjaard player if we keep the coach Dutch.
 
Dennis Bergkamp seemed to struggle in the very early days at Arsenal and went on to do fairly well in the Premier League.
 
Yagami said:
Marco Negri. Striker for Rangers in the 90s.

Scored 23 goals in his first 10 games. Ended the season with 32 goals overall, looking like the next big thing.

He then suffered an eye injury, never regained his form and only played 3 more times for Rangers. He didn't play a single game for one season. Then Rangers sold him and he disappeared.
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Did he have some sort of mental health problems, or lose his appetite for the game? Sure I've read something along those lines.

He'd also scored 15 in Serie A the season before. A tough feat in 1990's Italy, especially for a relegated team. The same amount as Mancini and Signori.

Edit: Could be sullen as well. Didn't really celebrate or seem to care when he scored.
 
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Bole Top said:
Powell debuted with a nice goal from 25m, didn't he? against Wigan.

he was playing for Wigan year after.
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To be faid Powell was always like that. Not great, but a cracking shot. Darron Gibson regen
 
I remember most of the caf fawning over Mudryk after he did one nice dribble on his Chelsea debut against Liverpool.
 
Hojlund looked like he'd never make it right up to early 2025 then registered a 30 plus goal season after that summer and the rest is history!
 
Glorio said:
To be faid Powell was always like that. Not great, but a cracking shot. Darron Gibson regen
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I guess so.

it was mostly the fact that Fergie paid 6 mil. pounds for a League Two midfielder in "no value" era that made me believe he was something special. and then he debuted with a screamer...
 
I feel like boys like Chris Eagles and Luke Chadwick had very good early games in the cups. Possebon looked mint, Brandon Williams too (hasn't done too badly for himself).
 
Michu for swansea comes to mind.

Some of the youngsters: Wilson, Macheda, … had great debuts
 
led_scholes said:
Macheda. Not such bad career as the player in OP. But still..
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This was before the years of massive hyping of youngsters, but based on that goal against villa and I’m pretty sure he scored a couple of others as well he looked like he’d be incredible. Shame it didn’t turn out that way.
 
Fobal said:
Yeap, but also he is a very old fashioned winger/mediapunta that would clash with many coaches. He needs someone that gets what he gets and that includes him sometimes risking too much the ball...did Louis wanted him? was his call? because it's mental if it's the case, Di Maria it's more of a Rikjaard player if we keep the coach Dutch.
Click to expand...

From what I understand about him and how his teammates talked about him, the issue isn't tactical, he is a team player and disciplined. If I understand the issue correctly, after a while he thought that LVG was too negative and didn't provide any positive reinforcement, all his interactions were criticism aimed at players even after good performances. Now the interesting part for me and I don't know if you heard the same thing with the national team is that Di Maria is allegedly extremely reserved, he doesn't like confrontation outside of the field and doesn't talk much.
 
don't know if Herrera counts. he assisted 2 or 3 time in preseason debut and from my memory he looked almost as good with the ball as Mata but with much better engine.

the engine was pretty much all that he offered in coming years but it was also what helped us in nullifying certain teams (Liverpool, Chelsea). closer to Spanish Fletcher than to Mata.
 
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