Players whose great stints at United are often forgotten

TheRedDevil'sAdvocate said:
Ronny Johnsen had a more than decent career at United before he damaged his knees. He had formed a great partnership with Stam, who gets all the plaudits, for the treble season. Quick feet, adequate at 1v1 defending and more than capable to play in Fergie's often frantic tempo of choice in the 90s, which left a lot of spaces for the centre-halves to cover. In the second half of the 90s, he was also one of SAF's go-to players when we needed more "steel" in the midfield battle. I still remember the game in Milan, on the road to the treble, when he was deployed next to Keane to help us deal with the movement of Ronaldo and Baggio between the lines.

John O'Shea was the epitome of a utility player. Not the most talented footballer to wear the red shirt, and certainly not the most naturally gifted. I still remember how awkward and clumsy he looked during his first appearances for the club. I couldn't understand what the gaffer was seeing in him. But, of course, the great man knew better than anyone. He was rewarding his effort, determination and his commitment to the cause. By the end of his decade at the club, O'Shea could do the job in all positions across the back-four, and he could also fill in as a DM whenever that was needed of him. I appreciate him even more now, in the age when players like to moan on SM about their favourite positions and about how they feel "mistreated" and want to get revenge. O'Shea shut up and did his job. And after he had been shown the door, as a Sunderland player, on the "Aguerooo" day, he was inconsolable in the dressing room. Oh, and he scored that chip at Highbury.

Brian McClair is a personal favourite. It doesn't help that his heyday was during the late 80s/early 90s period, when the club was still trying to figure out a way back to the top of English football. His partnership with Hughes never really kicked on, and Sparky was the big fan favourite. After that, Robins nearly got his spot, and then Cantona arrived. He survived by transforming into a midfielder for Ferguson, who always rated him. Choccy was a robust, strong forward, but also an intelligent footballer who managed to remain useful when others got his spot up front. Either as a forward or as a midfielder, McClair was loyal, hard-working and a class act. He registered 127 goals/49 assists for the club and he was the only player to score more than 20 league goals from 1968 (Best) to 2000 (Yorke). I always think of his as one of the most pivotal players in our transitioning period from the first tough years under SAF to the glory days that followed.
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My choice too.

Would also add

Buchan
Coppell
Cruyff
Sharpe
 
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Shai-Hulud said:
Chicharito was excellent for a couple of years.
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He was always criticised for not being much of a passer in his first season despite being a great goal scorer. But it was never really acknowledged how much his passing improved in his second season for us.
 
Owen Hargreaves had a great season in our quest for our 3CL trophy. Tevez is also seriously underrated. Not getting into why.
 
Zlatan maybe? Won trophies with us in arguably one of our worst teams.
 
Raimond van der gouw. 6 seasons with us as backup Gk. And always played superb when needed.
 
Dwight Yorke, played a massive part in us winning the treble in his 1st season
 
arthurka said:
Owen Hargreaves had a great season in our quest for our 3CL trophy. Tevez is also seriously underrated. Not getting into why.
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Tevez played a great role. He was a monster. Really felt bad we could not tie him down and rather kept berbatov. I remember him playing all 120 mins and scoring in the penalties in a match that Rooney was subbed off. Great player for us
 
People are just listing 2nd tier players.

for me players who fit the description of playing avaluable role but not being spoken about would be:

Teddy - He brought something very different to all the other attacking options. Also despite a terrible task, did a good job of replacing Cantona.
Silvestre - he put in good numbers and was dependable despite people not favoring him.
Fortune - he kinda did a less impactful version of what Park later did.
Valencia - he should be in the upper tiers of our players, but his lack of skill in some areas is often spoken about more than how dependable he was.
Bruce - people see the manager, but what a player he was for us.
 
I used to like Henning Berg a lot when I was a kid, but I can't actually remember if he was any good or not. Rarely see him mentioned
 
Zlatan- gets spoken about more often, but don’t think we value him as much as we should. He was one of those older strikers that actually showed his ability across a full season.
Phil Neville - he should be spoken about in the same way we do O’Shea, but etc
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Except that plainly isn't true.

His best season came AFTER his ankle break in 2011/12 (16 assists 6 goals in all comps - both our player of the year awards)

And he was a very good right back - easily one of the better RB's in the league at one point and won our Players POTY and 2nd in the Sir Matt POTY in 2017.... think he was also nominated for the FIFA Pro XI at RB that year too.
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Totally agree here. Valencia was one of the best right backs the club has ever had. He was solid.

As a right winger in the first part of his career at United he was similar to what Gnabry is for Bayern now. Could play at the very top level in big games despite not been seen as a star player.
 
Valencia. I thought he was a great solid player before he took the number 7. Then it went downhill
 
AndersB said:
I don't know if this is a caf-specific phenomenon (probably not), but it often amazes me how some players' contributions are erased from the collective memory on here.

1. To me, the best example of -current- players is Luke Shaw. It is often referred to "that one good season" (as part of a more general roasting of him), while he has in fact had several great runs for us, such as before the leg break, the year he won the POTY, the previously mentioned season - and also his current run of form. By all means, when he is out of form, he seems a complete shadow of himself, and seems the textbook definition of a confidence player. But when he is on it, he's a very stable performer, and one of the best full-backs in the league.

2. Another example is Chris Smalling, who people in here ripped into constantly as part of the "chuckle brothers" during his last years here. But Smalling was truly great for several seasons, around 2014-2015 and at the end of SAF's reign (except when playing as full-back, which he was dreadful as). I'd even argue he was our best player for at least one season.

3. Somewhat different, as very few criticize him, but I also feel it is easily forgotten how good Michael Carrick actually was for us - at least underappreciated due to him playing alongside much "flashier" players (and in a less flashy way). He is exactly the kind of player we have been sorely missing for such a long time now.

Other good suggestions here?
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Agree with the Shaw one. Also, this weird narrative that he needs competition to drive a fire under him. He came back after his leg break at the start of 2016 season and Jose quite clearly didn't favour him those 2 seasons as he hardly played. From the 2018/19 season he established himself in the team ( helped by Jose's sacking) and was our POTY. Next year he lost his place briefly to Williams but was more or less first choice the full season and then despite Telles' signing, Shaw was always first choice. Even in Telles' debut game against PSG, Shaw had started as LCB in a back 3.

Last season he was undoubtedly poor and had a poor couple of games at the start of this but is back to his best now. He is someone who is prone to loss of concentration while defending, especially holding lines, and that happens even when he is supposedly in top form. Don't think that has anything to do with us buying other LBs. We buy them because we lack depth there. He's always been our best LB since 2018 and is easily levels above the likes of Williams, Telles or Malacia.
 
Ronny Johnsen is a great shout tbh, mentioned by several on here. He was awesome even in his debut season (96/97), somewhat overshadowed by a certain other Norwegian coming into the team that year.

And jeez, how could I forget Nani? He's practically the definition of this. Absolutely amazing for a couple of seasons, world class in at least one or two. And is often spoken about as if he had a couple of good games here and there, with some nice tricks and flicks
 
Andrei Kanchelskis - was nothing more exciting than seeing him run at defences with the ball, he could litrally run it into the net.
was here for our first title win after 26 years.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Except that plainly isn't true.

His best season came AFTER his ankle break in 2011/12 (16 assists 6 goals in all comps - both our player of the year awards)

And he was a very good right back - easily one of the better RB's in the league at one point and won our Players POTY and 2nd in the Sir Matt POTY in 2017.... think he was also nominated for the FIFA Pro XI at RB that year too.
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Even though his best season did came indeed after the injury, it seemed the next season he lost pace. Iirc, he did a great run vs Lpool in 2012-2013 but after that he never did anything exceptional. After all, that's why he went to RB, because he couldn't do it as a winger. I do feel that Valencia should never have been a winger. I think he should have been trained as a DM instead.
 
Another one for Tevez. He scored so many important goals which made up for his lack of prolificness. Wish things went better there. He outperformed Rooney in the UCL final against Chelsea. He was also responsible for the melee that got Drogba sent off. :D
 
SATA said:
Nicky Butt. Never lets the team down and was a quality player himself. And he had 3 great midfielders ahead of him when he emerged (Keane, Ince and Scholes)
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Nicky Butt is a great shout. People seem to think of him as just being a backup to Keane and Scholes but if you check the stats for the treble season for instance he had more or less as much time on the pitch as Scholes and was an essential part of the team.
 
nakpodiareuben said:
Tevez played a great role. He was a monster. Really felt bad we could not tie him down and rather kept berbatov. I remember him playing all 120 mins and scoring in the penalties in a match that Rooney was subbed off. Great player for us
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Agree, gritty and industrious for us.
 
philnguyen1994 said:
Didn't Saha score nearly a goal every game in his first dozen or so games for Utd? Pretty sure he reached 20+ PL goals that season with Fulham and us and was only behind Henry for top scorer. Then injury ruined him, although he continued to have a purple patch for a few months every other season. Such a shame.

Agree on the Herrera shout, best CM signing since Carrick for me, better than the likes of Matic, Pogba and Blind. Hopefully, Casemiro will be even better.
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pogbasformerbarber said:
I agree with an earlier poster on Herrera. I felt like it was a massive loss, and I was surprised how few felt the same way. I thought in aggregate he played at a much higher level than say...Pogba...or some others with higher profiles.
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I liked Herrera, I used to often be frustrated by multiple managers not trusting him. But I wondered if my memory was hazy and that in fact he’d been a first pick for us. I also then wondered if I was mistaken and he had played at a much higher level than Pogba.

So I looked back at their time here :

Herrera PL

Squad Start Subbed not used
25 16 6 3
32 19 7 6
34 27 4 3
32 17 10 5
33 13 13 7
———————————————
156 92 40 24
59% 26%. 15%

Apps. Goals. Asst. mins per
189 20 27 266 mins


Pogba PL

Squad Start Subbed Not used
31 29 1 1
27 25 2 0
37 34 1 2
16 13 3 0
29 21 5 3
———————————————
140 122 12 6
87% 9% 4%

Apps. Goals. Asst. mins per
233 49 54. 171

I remember also looking back twelve months ago at MOTM ratings on CAF (which hated Pogba) and he was second only to Martial for MOTM awards per games played in his time here.

Herrera was a decent player for us but it’s not true he was a better player for us than Pogba. Multiple managers refused to play him for 40% of his time here and he spent the equivalent of 2/3rds of a season not even getting off the bench.

Ridiculous revisionism based on feelings rather than fact.

Great shouts on Ronny Johnsen and Chicharito.
 
Jeppers7 said:
Herrera was a decent player for us but it’s not true he was a better player for us than Pogba. Multiple managers refused to play him for 40% of his time here and he spent the equivalent of 2/3rds of a season not even getting off the bench.

Ridiculous revisionism based on feelings rather than fact.
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Better signing than Pogba for sure, considering the performances we got for the respective transfer fees and wages (Pogba cost us about x3 Herrera in both). Also very harsh to use goals and assists to compare them when they played together a fair amount, with Herrera often doing the dirty work for Pogba who roamed around a lot. By that logic, Pogba must have been a better signing than Carrick too if you only consider goals and assists. MOTM also tends to favor more attacking players.
 
philnguyen1994 said:
Better signing than Pogba for sure, considering the performances we got for the respective transfer fees and wages (Pogba cost us about x3 Herrera in both). Also very harsh to use goals and assists to compare them when they played together a fair amount, with Herrera often doing the dirty work for Pogba who roamed around a lot. By that logic, Pogba must have been a better signing than Carrick too if you only consider goals and assists. MOTM also tends to favor more attacking players.
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What about not getting picked by your managers 40% of the time you’re available and spending 2/3rds of a season getting splinters in your arse ? Whatever spin you want to put on it he wasn’t better for us. His managers didn’t play him nearly half the time.

I’m pretty sure Martinez has more MOTM votes than anyone this season and Shaw has won POTY too.
 
Ibi Dreams said:
I used to like Henning Berg a lot when I was a kid, but I can't actually remember if he was any good or not. Rarely see him mentioned
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He made an outstanding save against Inter in the CL in 99. Kept us in the game.
 
Mike Duxbury. Many on here won't have heard of him but he was a very valuable player when teams could only name one sub. It was often him as he could play many positions but he was probably best as a right back.
He won a cup medal, maybe two, and back then that was a big thing!
Solid, dependable player who got a good few England caps (again, back when there weren't as many international games).
 
To me, Sergio Romero was always good enough to be #1. Never gave United any grief as #2 (until he got booted out) and always stepped up when called upon. 10x better than Henderson who a lot of fans are wanking themselves silly for, yet he never gets the same respect. Was gutted when he left.

Also, Alan Smith was great until he got crocked. Very underrated time at United.
 
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