Pick your united flop 11

Class of 63

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Exactly.

World Record fee and massive salary for five years - probably the most expensive mistake any club will ever make.
Pogba, Di Maria and to a lesser degree Shaw should be first on most lists not a raft of cheap punts who were brought in mainly as squad filers.

I d love to know what folks expectations were of Prunier, De Laet, Obertan, Dong Fangzhuo, Bellion, Manucho et al.
 

berbasloth4

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taibi

fabio
prunier
jones
buttner

wallace
kleberson
djemba
obertan

bebe
falcao

special mentions for
ferguson
schweinstegier
scniederlain
possebon
dong etc.
 

berbasloth4

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i dont think its fair to put kids who were signed and didnt make it cause you were hardly expecting world beaters its the supposed elite or established players with big hype that are more flops
 

GenZRed

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What has happened to Dalot anyway? I remember him playing great vs PSG away in the Champions Legaue last season but since then has dropped off the radar a bit.
 

Class of 63

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Ok get your point. Wasn't my intention. Have you never "taken the piss" on here??
Not having a go at you mate, United fans have been doing it since the beginning of time as i'm sure fans of other clubs have, it just leaves a bad taste that's all, now best XI's ....

Yes often, mainly myself, but also Pogba and Shaw of the current players, plus Herrera, Rooney and Wio.
 

Foxbatt

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You say that like the idea that Veron was a flop isn't a widely held opinion. I mean fair enough if you want to argue he wasn't but the reality is that he regularly pops up in "Fergie's worst flops" or "Top 10 PL flops" type lists. It isn't in any way an outlandish opinion. Just google "Veron flop" and see.
That's because most people have no clue. Listen to what Rio says about Veron. Veron did not succeed he says because of Roy Keane. Gary Neville compared Bruno to Veron. People who have played with him do not even consider even for a moment that he was even close to a flop. Rio says that the best goal he has ever seen scored was by Seba Veron during a practice.
 

Alex99

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Based on expectations:

Fergie XI:
GK - Fabien Barthez - World Cup winning goalkeeper. Enormous liability.
DR - Phil Bardsley - Looked set (at least to me) to break through into the first team. Turned out to be a bit naff.
DC - Laurent Blanc - Veteran defender, way past his best.
DC - William Prunier - Sigh.
DL - Gabriel Heinze - Could have had two of the best left-backs in the world in our squad but Gabby decided he wanted to move to Liverpool.
MC - Juan Sebastian Veron - Record transfer at the time. Never settled.
MC - Kleberson - Apparently the first name on the Brazil teamsheet circa. 2002. Absolutely useless. Definite nonce.
MR - Karel Poborsky - The poster boy for "don't buy off the back of a good international tournament".
ML - Gabriel Obertan - Saw someone say he had "Henry-like" qualities. Perhaps they were talking about a hoover.
ST - Diego Forlan - Took an age to score his first goal. Ripped his shirt in the celebration. Cult-hero, but showed his class after leaving.
ST - Federico Macheda - Shot onto the scene in dramatic fashion. Fell out of it almost as quickly.

Post-Fergie XI:
GK - Victor Valdes - What was the point?
DR - Matteo Darmian - Got this useless bastard's name on the back of a shirt.
DC - Marcos Rojo - Not exactly a standout during the World Cup that we signed him after. Somehow worse.
DC - Eric Bailly - Perpetually injured. Great in bursts. Massive liability in at other times.
DL - Luke Shaw - Still shows flashes of ability but he's been here a number of years and looks set to be overtaken in the pecking order by a child.
MC - Morgan Schneiderlin - The answer to our midfield woes, so we thought. Couldn't hack it.
MC - Bastian Swinetiger - The answer to our midfield woes, so we thought. Long past his best.
MR - Henrik Mkhitaryan - The answer to our right-wing issue, so we thought. Couldn't hack it.
ML - Alexis Sanchez - The answer to our right-wing issue, so we thought. Turns out he's better on the left. Also turns out he's shite.
ST - Radamel Falcao - Never seen such a well-regarded player be so consistently awful.
ST - Romelu Lukaku - Apparently clocked out mentally after his first month at the club. Twat.

Unfulfilled Potential/Crap Youth XI:
GK - Ben Foster - Thought we'd found our new number one for years to come, and England's to boot. Plays for Watford.
DR - Paddy McNair - Fairly sure LVG said he was going to be our right-back for the next ten years. Alright in the Championship.
DC - Phil Jones - A monster for football. The next Duncan Edwards. Injured. Shite. Injured and shite.
DC - Jonny Evans - Looked an excellent prospect next to Vidic and Ferdinand. Looked not so excellent after they'd left.
DL - Fabio da Silva - Once started a Champions Leage Final against the best Barcelona side ever to man-mark Lionel Messi. Got relegated with QPR. Got relegated with Cardiff.
MC - Anderson - Future Ballon Dor Winner. Great craic. Loves food.
MC - Tom Cleverley - The next Paul Scholes. Plays for Watford.
MR - Memphis Depay - The next Ronaldo. Gave him the number 7. Good against lacklustre Belgians.
ML - Adnan Januzaj - The next Ronaldo. Gave him the number 11. Took a lass to Nando's in a tracksuit.
ST - Danny Welbeck - England's next big thing. Plays for Watford.
ST - James Wilson - England's next big thing. Plays for Salford.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Taibi

Darmian
Jones
Prunier
Fabio

Schneiderlin
Kleberson
Djemba-Djemba

Di Maria
Falcao
Sanchez

subs:
Barthez
Rojo
Buttner
Schweinsteiger
Mkhitaryan
Bebe
Obertan
 

SAFMUTD

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Barthez
Darmian - Bailly - Shaw
Schneiderlin-Mikhytaryan
Di Maria - Mata - Januzaj
Depay- Falcao


Special mention to Depay, Di Maria and Mihkytaryan I though they would be legends when first signed, turned out huge flops.
 

paulscholes18

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Barthez a flop? Yes he made some blunders in his time, but you don’t win 2 PL’s if your starting keeper is a flop

Taibi
Darmian Jones Prunier Blackett
Kelberson Schneiderlin Djemba-Djemba
Sanchez
Falcao Lukaku
 

Vidyoyo

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It's actually quite difficult naming a defence...

------------------- Bosnich -----------------
Darmian --- P. Jones --- Rojo ---- No idea
------- Kleberson --- Schneiderlin -----
Di Maria ------ Poborsky ------ Depay
------------ Falcao ----- Sanchez -----------

Subs: Barthez, Zoran Tosic, Forlan, Schweinsteiger, Bebe, Anderson, Obertan
 
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Toad

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You can’t call Fellaini a flop. He scored important goals and to be honest we knew what we were getting when we signed him. I for one liked Fellaini.
 

Fitchett

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Taibi
Hargreaves, Prunier, Buttner
Di Maria, Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba, Schweinsteiger
Birtles, Falcao, Sanchez
Subs: Bebe, Dong Fangzhou, Mkhitaryan
Manager - Moyes.
 
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PowerupMushroom

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This is based on my expectations when signing them.

My XI

I feel bad for including Blind, because he was decent in 3 positions. Was sure he would do much better for us than he did at LB, especially after the World Cup he had. Couldn't fit Di Maria, so honorouble mention for him. Louis Van Gaal in the manager seat, because 7 out the 11 in my team were signed by him. The boring football was a huge let down aswell, always associated him with attacking football before he came here.
 
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OleGunnar20

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In line with the OP, nothing to do with transfer fees.

Foster
Darmian - Jones - Rojo - Buttner
Schweinsteiger - Schneiderlin - Ando
Sanchez - Lukaku - Di Maria

Love Jones, Ando & even Buttner in their own ways mind you. But a car crash if a united team right there, despite some big names.
 

cyril C

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Bosnich
Dalet Darmian Rojo Buttner
Schneiderlin Schweinsteiger Klberson
Bebe MkHit Sanchez
Falcao

Sub Topic, Anderson
 

thepolice123

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Veron failed to perform because we didn't know how to use him. Fergie thought we were getting someone like Redondo when they were vastly different players. It was clear that Fergie and the team back then had regrets on how Veron turned out because he was pure class.

Compare him to people like Hargreaves and Saha who had mental barriers when it comes to injuries, who was the bigger flop? Fergie almost sued Hargreaves at one point and revealed that Saha had imaginary injuries.
 

V.O.

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Amazing seeing the lack of Schweinsteiger in this thread early on. Bloke was dead set the second coming of Roy Keane
Not sure what the reaction was like on here, but I knew that Bayern would never sell him to us unless they knew he was over the hill and/or crocked. Couldn't believe the club would be quite that naive and never had any expectations other than what ended up happening.
 

Sandikan

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How can anyone put 25 goals in season one Lukaku in there, when we've had guys like Falcao who could barely stay on their feet?
 
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How can anyone put 25 goals in season one Lukaku in there, when we've had guys like Falcao who could barely stay on their feet?
In the OP he talked about expectation: Lukuku was bought for £75m, rising to £90m and was United’s focal point single striker. He went months without scoring even in his first season, and finished with a record of 1 goal in 23 appearances against the top 6 in the PL, was overweight due to his pathetic attitude and fitness, was a virus in the dressing room, refused to play in pre-season and sold at a loss - and we were astonishing lucky to get that fee from him. That’s not what you expect from £75-90m player. Flop every day of the week.

Falcao was a poor signing, but the lad was injured. He had just come back from a horrific injury, and he was on loan. We had Rooney and RVP as least at the time, and he was a squad player. The expectation was very different. Poor signing, as we had no plan for him, and he was recovering from a major injury. Flop, yes, nowhere near the magnitude of Lukuku.
 
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Veron failed to perform because we didn't know how to use him. Fergie thought we were getting someone like Redondo when they were vastly different players. It was clear that Fergie and the team back then had regrets on how Veron turned out because he was pure class.

Compare him to people like Hargreaves and Saha who had mental barriers when it comes to injuries, who was the bigger flop? Fergie almost sued Hargreaves at one point and revealed that Saha had imaginary injuries.
There is some revisionism here. He was slow, and couldn’t get up to speed in the PL. He didn’t fit it with the way we played. Clearly there were adaption issues on both sides, but he was poor. He obviously has class, and there were some moments of brilliance, yet poor overall. He was poor at Chelsea as well.
 

Vooon

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Based on players who actually played a few matches for us and came with big boots to fill, high expectations or spectacular transfer fee. In my opinion that excludes the likes of Taibi and Prunier. Bosnich did for instance take over from Schmeichel, and failed spectacularly.

Bosnich

Darmian - Jones - Rojo - Buttner

Poborsky - Veron - Kleberson - Depay

Sanchez - Falcao - Di Maria

We've had a few interim GKs, the period between Schmeich and VdS was our worst. I think Bosnich was the worst of the lot, the rest (except Taibi) had decent runs. I think the back four issues have been something of a post SAF thing, we almost always had a great back four under SAF, while we've failed to replace any of those guys after his departure. The midfield and strikers has been our worst area in my opinion, it's almost impossible to pick among all the mediocre candidates over the years. I'm pretty happy with my mid four, all had high expectations when they arrived. Pob and Kleb came from success in international competitions, Veron was an established and expensive world beater, and Depay was assumingly a great prospect. The strikers cost a shitload, even Falcao's loan was expensive wasn't it?

Other good candidates would be Jordi, Djemba, Miller (the next Keane), Anderson, Bebe, Zaha as well as 90% of our signings post SAF. I'd even throw Pogba in with the lot. It's only with Ole we seem to have started to actually apply a strategy.
 

devilish

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----------------------Taibi------------
Darmian---Jones---Blanc------Rojo
----------------------Bastian---------------------
----------Schneiderlin------Kleberson
-------------------------Kagawa-----------------
-------------Sanchez-------Falcao--------

Reserves

1. Bosnich
2. Buttner
3. Poborsky
4. Djemba
5. Depay
6. Veron
7. Cruyff
 

berbasloth4

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on Veron I believe when we signed veron the premiership was going through a bit of transitional phase from tough tackling to more technical. I believe if we were to sign veron at 28 (or whatever he was) now he would rip the premiership to shreds. In europe for us he was amazing
 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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Team should be...

------------------Howard------------------
Darmian-Jones-Blanc-Heinze-
-Schweinsteiger-Schneiderlin-
Di Maria-------Mata-------Sanchez
-------------------Falcao-------------------
Picking Mata is extremely harsh. Regularly played out of position by 3 different managers and has never once kicked up a fuss about it. Over the years he's produced moments of quality more often than most.
 

Irwin99

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There is some revisionism here. He was slow, and couldn’t get up to speed in the PL. He didn’t fit it with the way we played. Clearly there were adaption issues on both sides, but he was poor. He obviously has class, and there were some moments of brilliance, yet poor overall. He was poor at Chelsea as well.
Looking back, other than offering a bit more creativity in European matches it's hard to see where you'd fit Veron into that side and what he could bring that wasn't already there. I looked at Keane's OPTA stats in Veron's first season 01/02 and he had over 2400 in just 28 games at an 88% success. It's pretty obvious that Keane was the metronome and the midfielder who dictated our play and Veron was never going to displace him in that role. Rio seems to think this anyway.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/24/rio-...ian-verons-manchester-united-career-12449899/

Then you had Scholes who could get goals and assists. Nicky Butt also added tenacity and aggression when he played and partnered Keane. Sad to say but I think Veron was a bit of a flop :(
 

RedRonaldo

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Taibi
Darmían Bailly Jones Rojo
Schneiderlin
Kleberson Anderson
Di Maria Falcao Sanchez





 

always_hoping

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Taibi without doubt the goalkeeper choice. Had the misfortune to be at the Southampton game in 1999.

Jones the biggest flop of a defender when you consider the high praise he was getting from the media and Fergie. With each passing season he has got more injury and error prone. A mystery that he's still at the club, then again who else would want him?

Between Di Maria, Sanchez as the biggest flop signing as both promised so much but delivered so little.
 

204Red

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For some perspective Gary Birtles must be considered THE biggest flop in the clubs history... 2nd most expensive transfer in England at the time, coming off a season where United had pushed one of the great Liverpool sides all the way before settling for 2nd place the season before, expectations were high going into the 1980-81 season. Birtles for his part was a sought after prospect, young with a decent scoring record and came with TWO European cup winners medals as a key part of the Notts Forrest side which carved out back to back European Cups.

Birtles signed in Oct, he didn't score a league goal for the rest of the season, and only managed 1 poxy goal in an FA cup match. His record for the season 28 games, ONE goal... Injuries were not a factor. He improved the next season to 11 goals in 33 games, but was dropped like a rock for a 17 Norman Whiteside at the start of the 1982-83 season and sold back to Forrest for less than 1/4 of his original fee. He won nothing in a United Shirt.

Again, this is what a real flop looks like.
 
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FrankDrebin

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Underwhelmed 11

Barthez

Fabio
Jones
Blanc
Shaw

Di Maria
Schwienstieger
Hargreaves
Depay

Sanchez
Lukaku

Special mentions Falcao,Veron, Poborsky,Tosic,Anderson
Rubbish 11

Goram

Darmian
Prunier
Rojo
Butner

Kleberson
Gibson
Schniederlin
Djemba-Djemba

Manucho
Bebe
 
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led_scholes

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That's because most people have no clue. Listen to what Rio says about Veron. Veron did not succeed he says because of Roy Keane. Gary Neville compared Bruno to Veron. People who have played with him do not even consider even for a moment that he was even close to a flop. Rio says that the best goal he has ever seen scored was by Seba Veron during a practice.
I think Roy Keane admitted that he was wrongly pressuring Veron, too much. For me he was not a flop but a major disappointment. He had some really good games but overall he was a 6.5 while he could be, and was supposed to be a 8. Never bad, just not one of the best players as he was.
 

Lowkey

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Putting a young player still finding his feet like Dalot in the flop 11? What a joke.
 

charlenefan

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Picking Mata is extremely harsh. Regularly played out of position by 3 different managers and has never once kicked up a fuss about it. Over the years he's produced moments of quality more often than most.
Never produced the same 2 year form he did at Chelsea though
 

Inter Yer Nan

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I'll do my team based on my expectations and the perceived quality of the player not just some bum that we signed who played accordingly. I've see Veron, Heinze, Hargreaves and those are a little surprising. Veron wasn't bad he just wasn't world class for us bar a few games here and there especially in Europe. Heinze was brilliant in his first season as was Hargreaves who I felt was superb in that 2007/2008 season.

Barthez

Darmian
Blanc
Jones
Rojo

Schneiderlin
Kleberson
Di Maria
Depay

Falcao
Alexis
 

Foxbatt

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I really don't understand why Anderson and Hargreaves are flops. Both had terrible injuries and both contributed massively to our success and trophies. The fact they didn't kick off from their early days doesn't mean they were flops.
Taibi was a flop. Di Maria, Falcao and even Forlan though he is a cult hero.