Players whose great stints at United are often forgotten

[TheReligion]

Ronny Johnsen seems the most obvious one, totally forgotten figure of the treble-winners.

Superb shout. Very talented player.

 

[Giggsy13]

Henrik Larsson..

IMO remembered far too often and too much for a reasonably decent loan spell.

 

[Giggsy13]

Rooney! Often we only read about his swan song seasons.

It was never the same after his contract standoff with the club in 2010. Pulled a scouse and tarnished his legacy.

 

[Biggins]

I will go with a little bit controversial option and throw Kuszczak to the fold. Very reliable back up keeper and performed very well when VDS was out in 2009/2010 season.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

Phil Neville, key to many a dirty win against Arsenal.

 

[90 + 5min]

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.

One of my favorite players. Great to see that people haven't forgot him.

 

[pogbasformerbarber]

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.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Zlatan. He was really, really good for us yet you'd think he was terrible because people only seem to remember his missed chances. 27 goals in all comp's and a couple trophies.

Unironically I think Pogba fits into this category as well. Many seem to remember him as only having a good game 1/5 games but he had several fantastic stints of form while with us in largely dysfunctional midfields. The last being basically saving us in the 20/21 run in along with Cavani and Greenwood when the entire team was pretty poor.

 

[Suedesi]

David May, Luke Chadwick

 

[The Cat]

Lee Sharpe. Possibly my favourite winger ever.

 

[Nico87]

Kanchelskis was great for us but because he was replaced by one of our most iconic player who after a long stint was himself replaced by another all-time great he is somewhat overlooked, would be an absolute killer for us right now.

 

[AlPistacho]

RvN - The club didn’t win as much with him here but he himself was such a fantastic goalscorer.

De Gea - Gets plenty of stick now due to his contract but he’s been a superb keeper and one of the very best in the world at points.

Definitely de Gea, also read something on the news that a lot of the contract was Mendez adding stuff without him knowing… and once De Gea found out he signed the next day.

 

[SungSam7]

RvN - The club didn’t win as much with him here but he himself was such a fantastic goalscorer.

De Gea - Gets plenty of stick now due to his contract but he’s been a superb keeper and one of the very best in the world at points.

People quickly forget to ask themselves why he got the contract in the first place.... he was deserving of it at the time

 

[Marwood]

Some good shouts.

I'd add Paul Parker.

Basically a few of those players who got pushed out by the 98/99 gen.

 

[SungSam7]

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.

Don't bother, the amount of people who claim this myth to be true is appalling... considering he was given the number seven shirt because of his great performances after.

 

[Oranges038]

Players I've seen

Brian McClair
Paul Parker
Kanchelskis
Ronny Johnsen
Paul Ince

Probably a few more before that I never saw during their playing days but have seen quite a lot of over the years like Coppell, Albiston, Buchan or Whiteside.

 

[Red Rash]

Denis Irwin, I don't hear him mentioned anywhere near as much as he deserves

 

[Oranges038]

Denis Irwin, I don't hear him mentioned anywhere near as much as he deserves

 

[acolyte]

Gabriel Heinze. He was so good here it was commonly questioned why we felt the need to buy the (at the time) relatively low-profile Patrice Evra.

Maybe a bit early for this, but Jesse Lingard. I don't know what happened with his personal life but for a few years he was not just a reliable performer, but could be counted on for the big occasions. It's sad how it turned out with him.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Rooney. One of the best United players ever is very underestimated among fanbase.

Diva no7. Regarded as legend but in reality he had only 2 great seasons in United

 

[Tommy79]

Raimond Van Der Gouw was always reliable when called upon to replace the big Dane, gutted AF never gave him a chance after the Dane ran away due to the pressure he said he was feeling playing for us from 98.

 

[iHicksy]

Gabriel Heinze. He was so good here it was commonly questioned why we felt the need to buy the (at the time) relatively low-profile Patrice Evra.

Maybe a bit early for this, but Jesse Lingard. I don't know what happened with his personal life but for a few years he was not just a reliable performer, but could be counted on for the big occasions. It's sad how it turned out with him.

Are you drunk? Great stints at United? Seven years is a little more than "a stint". The guy was here 95% of his career and was absolutely a non entity for the majority of it. He currently at the peak of his career has 10 matches, 0 goals and 0 assists in the front 3 for a relegation candidate.

148 premier league games / 22 goals and 10 assists in the premier league as an attacking mid. That's a goal every 6.7 games and an assist every 14.8 games. This is the same guy who went an entire year without providing a goal or an assist. To put him in the same thread as people like Heinze, Johnsen etc is laughable. He's not forgotten, he's well remembered as being a very poor player who got a free ride here for years.

 

[Jippy]

Yorke was top 5 player in the league for his first two seasons here. Rarely gave the ball away and scored loads too.

He's seriously underrated for me. Was world class in the treble season and way more more skilful than he's given credit for. He scored a good variety of goals too and a big game player too.
His volley with the outside of his boot in the FA Cup QF replay away at Chelsea was exquisite.

 

[nakpodiareuben]

Danny Blind? Always present in our defence and was becoming a leader before Jose came. He played his part in such a short time

 

[Pughnichi]

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.

crazy ability Saha.

Ferdinand once said in interview that Saha was his toughest opponent and he’d be his blue print for an elite striker. Quick, strong, great in the air, both feet.

Such a shame injury ruined what would surely have been an epic career with us

 

[DJ Jeff]

10-11 Nani was a top 10 player in the world

 

[Lentwood]

Henning Berg and Ronnie Johnsen, both had huge roles to play in our treble-winning campaign. Berg is seemingly a very underrated CB in general when you look at his CV! What would a player with his record fetch in the market nowadays?

Louis Saha, an excellent CF who had everything but unfortunately suffered from injuries at key moments in his career. Compare how he his remembered against someone like Carlos Tevez/Dimitar Berbatov, for example, and I feel he should be AT LEAST seen as being on-par with them

Nani. Another excellent player at a time when we were so spoilt by having world-class players in every position that he went under the radar and actually got criticism at times. If you'd put prime Nani in the United side at any point in the last decade he'd have been one of our best players.

Wes Brown. Another fantastic player who suffered badly from injuries but still played a tonne of games and a key role in us winning many major trophies. On his day he was capable of turning in performances that were nothing short of world-class. In fact, many speculated that he'd have been Rio Ferdinand-good without major injuries in his late teenage years

 

[SATA]

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)

 

[Shez]

RvN - The club didn’t win as much with him here but he himself was such a fantastic goalscorer.

De Gea - Gets plenty of stick now due to his contract but he’s been a superb keeper and one of the very best in the world at points.

Sigh - give us one RvN right now and we are instant title challengers imo

 

[Bondi77]

There have been a few but I just don't remember them.

 

[davisjw]

Sheringham

This. Especially for the 99 CL Final.

Ole gets all the praise because he scored the winner. But Teddy came off the bench and scored then assisted. Much more than Ole, without Teddy we lose that game.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Henrik Larsson..

That’s a terrible shout, you’d think be pulled up trees here with how often his spell is mentioned, in reality it flattered to deceive.

Another Swede Blomqvist deserves much more of a mention for having 38 games in the treble season. Was so unfortunate he couldn’t build on that due to a terrible injury.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

This. Especially for the 99 CL Final.

Ole gets all the praise because he scored the winner. But Teddy came off the bench and scored then assisted. Much more than Ole, without Teddy we lose that game.

For the FA Cup final also when he came off the bench earlier and was MOTM. He then went on to become our best player in 2001 and the best player in the league.
You’d think it the other way around with how folk talk about Ole.

 

[Lay]

Yorke was phenomenal. Biased because he was my favourite non United player (along with R9) at the time. Never would have thought he would be a United player. I recall reading the gossip on teletext and thinking nah.. don’t get excited, it won’t happen!

Anyway, that first season especially. Pure class. One of the best seasons from a forward that we’ve had

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

John O'Shea, Phil Neville and Darren Fletcher were all unsung heroes in their time. Good squad players who never seemed to complain no matter what their role was.

 

[NoPace]

Antonio Valencia.

Imagine him playing for Conte. Would have been special. He did very well here, but if he'd gone to the right team playing 3 at the back I think he'd have been even better.

 

[NoPace]

Ronny Johnsen seems the most obvious one, totally forgotten figure of the treble-winners.

Reading Fergie's book (I think Managing My Life?) the guys who stand out as underrated were Johnsen and Cruyff, who was okay but I think is seen as a complete failure. Maybe

 

[DJ Jeff]

Kanchelskis was great for us but because he was replaced by one of our most iconic player who after a long stint was himself replaced by another all-time great he is somewhat overlooked, would be an absolute killer for us right now.

Yep wonderful player with huge talent let down by agent BS that he didn't step on

 

[NoPace]

Welbeck for me. Yes, his goal record wasn't great but he always seemed to elevate the team when he started. Think it was the 11/12 season when he and Rooney started the majority of games together up top. The season we lost on GD but also the season we scored the most goals in the EPL (99).

If Nani isn't given that red card and we beat Madrid and get their Galatarasay draw, we'd have been in the semis against Dortmund and there's a chance (even against that strong Dortmund side, slight underdogs against Bayern) he'd have been a hero here like Park. Did brilliantly against Alonso.

 

[Becks_VII]

Henning Berg and Jesper Blomqvist.

People also tend to forget how good Nicky Butt was, mainly due to being back up to Keano and Scholesy.