Best United 11 that peaked elsewhere

Barthez
Pique Varane McGrath
Di Maria Casemiro Schweinsteiger Sanchez
Veron
Zlatan Ronaldo

Valdes, Blanc, Zaha, Hargreaves, Pogba, Forlan, Larsson, Falcao, Cavani​
 
Everyone overlooking that the OP put treble winning Stam in there.

While he went on to be great after he left, his best years were definitely at United.
 
Cristiano - Ibrahimovic - Sanchez
Veron - Schweinsteiger
Casemiro
Heinze - Blanc - Varane - Anderson
Goram
​
So many options in attack, but I think that three would work well together.
 
Wow, I have no recollection of Goram playing for us, @Gio . Just checked and he only played twice, and didn't finish the full 90 in either game.

Wasn't long ago I was on a classic Rangers binge of that Gascoigne/Laudrup team, and Goram was pretty much Rangers best player in every European game. It's also why Marco Negri came to mind in t'other thread.
 
———————-—Howard
————-—Blanc-Pique-Varane
Di Maria-Veron-Schweinsteiger-A.Sanchez
————————-Pogba
—————Forlan———-Falcao


Edit: I’m going purely by middling to flop status, no point including Ronaldo
 
Scandi Red said:
The following are undebatable, right?

Varane
Casemiro
Schweinsteiger
C. Ronaldo
Zlatan
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The holy trinity 68 said:
Do you mean no debate as in they should be in everyones 11 or no debate that they were better elsewhere?
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Scandi Red said:
Both.
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Fair enough. Zlatan is not a dead cert, I know I had him in mine, but there is an argument to be made instead for Cavani, Tevez, Berbatov, Owen, Falcao or even a different formation and have Di Maria in his place.
 
Onana

De Ligt
Maguire
Martinez

Mazraoui
Casemiro
Ugarte
Antony

Eriksen
Mount

Zirkzee
 
Parma Dewol said:
Diego Forlan, never managed to hit double figures in any of his three seasons with us. Hit double figures for two consecutive seasons prior to joining us, then same again in his next seven campaigns in La Liga, often netting over 20 goals each campaign.
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Forlan was a brilliant striker.
 
I'm not sure Ronaldo peaked elsewhere to be honest, his peak was just really long. He was the best player in the world at United when he won the Ballon d'Or, he became a different but not necessarily better player later
 
Now this is a fun thread idea.

Valdez
Darmian - Pique - Varane - Blind (?)
Pogba - Casemiro - Schweinsteiger
Ronaldo - Ibra - Alexis

The forward line was very tough to pick three of, and there are many close contenders like Falcao, Cavani, Di Maria, Forlan, Tevez, Owen

Pogba may be considered a hot take, but in my opinion the best Pogba ever was was at Juventus. That was a player worth breaking the world record transfer fee for.

Full backs are a bit lacking but I couldn't really think of anyone else.
 
Ibi Dreams said:
I'm not sure Ronaldo peaked elsewhere to be honest, his peak was just really long. He was the best player in the world at United when he won the Ballon d'Or, he became a different but not necessarily better player later
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Ronaldo was very good at United, but his game went up a level at Madrid. The Ronaldo that we had would not put up the kind of numbers he was putting up there. I would also argue he became a lot more of a "clutch" player after he left United, both for club and country. One of the best examples of this I can give is that Ronaldo at United missed arguably the two biggest penalties of his United career, the one against Barcelona in the CL and the one against Chelsea in the CL final. Whereas Ronaldo at Madrid was probably the most reliable penalty taker in the world. I would also say that at Madrid, he improved his heading quite a lot. The airtime he would get when he was going for headers was insane, and for me he is the best I have ever seen at headers.

You might argue that he was a less entertaining player at Madrid, and there is a discussion to be had there, but I definitely think he was a better player there than he was at United.
 
-------------Ronaldo---Ibrahimovic
------------------------Veron
Blind-Casemiro-Schweinsteiger-diMaria
--------Varane-----Blanc------Pique
-----------------------Valdes
 
Tim howard (Everton)

Bardsley (sunderland)
Michael Keane (Everton)
Matteo darmian (Inter Milan)
Gerard pique (Barcelona)

Peter Beardsley (Newcastle/liverpool)
Diego Forlan (Villarreal)
Andy Ritchie (Wolves)
Paul Ince (Inter Milan/liverpool)

Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
 
From immediate memory - the later bloomers (of course in 3-4-3):

Bosnich

Smalling McGrath Evans

Strachan Pogba Wilkins Darmian

Beardsley Forlan Ronaldo


Didn’t find space for Platt


Vs The Sunshine Years Team:

Valdez

Varane Blanc Mühren

Hargreaves Casemiro Veron Di Maria

Mata Ibrahimovic Cavani


The midfield here is a veritable burying ground of candidates: Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Matic, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan, Kleberson, Webb
 
Red the Bear said:
McGrath had his best years at Villa didn't he?
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I wouldn’t say so personally. He got more recognition (talking about his POTY) and was way luckier with injuries but personally I prefer a more mobile younger version. He was absolutely world-class for us.
 
Johnny Giles is another interesting one but couldn’t quite fit him in considering the amount of big-name flops we’ve had in midfield over the years.
 
Yagami said:
Wow, I have no recollection of Goram playing for us, @Gio . Just checked and he only played twice, and didn't finish the full 90 in either game.

Wasn't long ago I was on a classic Rangers binge of that Gascoigne/Laudrup team, and Goram was pretty much Rangers best player in every European game. It's also why Marco Negri came to mind in t'other thread.
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He played for us, the Strettie chanted " There's only two Andy Gorams".
 
Mark Bosnich

Viv Anderson
Ian Ure
Lauren Blanc
Alex Buttner

Alan Smith
Gordon Strachan
Johnny Giles

Gary Birtles
Alan Brazil/Joe Jordan/Ted McDougal
Laurie Cunningham/Peter Barnes
 
simonhch said:
Everyone overlooking that the OP put treble winning Stam in there.

While he went on to be great after he left, his best years were definitely at United.
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So you were happy when we sold Jaap Stam?
 
Barthez
Varane Blanc Pique
Alexis Casemiro Pogba Di Maria
Veron
Ronaldo Tevez​
 
I don't really get the Zlatan inclusion. Of course he peaked elsewhere he was fecking ancient by the time we signed him
 
Should this not exclude players who were already over the hill by the time we signed them?
Alexis, falcao, Cavani etc.
 
Longlivekeano said:
Tim howard (Everton)

Bardsley (sunderland)
Michael Keane (Everton)
Matteo darmian (Inter Milan)
Gerard pique (Barcelona)

Peter Beardsley (Newcastle/liverpool)
Diego Forlan (Villarreal)
Andy Ritchie (Wolves)
Paul Ince (Inter Milan/liverpool)

Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
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Don’t think Andy Ritchie played for Wolves? I remember him playing for Leeds and Oldham
 
Was RVP at his peak at United? Loved RVP, seems quite classy as well. I'd have him over Zlatan who is full of himself.
 
It's harder to pick an XI that peaked after leaving United.

Forlan - Tevez
Ronaldo - Pogba - CM - Zaha
LB - Pique - CB - RB
Howard/Foster

I considered Evans but think he was good at United and merely maintained that level elsewhere. Heinze was as good here as anywhere else. Same for P.Neville. Could include some players who left us as youngsters like K.Richardson (LB/CM), or Bardsley, Shawcross, M.Keane but none particularly standout.

Howard was actually good for us for one season. Foster was good whilst we were loaning him out but had some mares when actually playing for us.

Edit: Angel Gomes hasn't been mentioned I don't think. He's in my midfield for now.
 
Ibi Dreams said:
I'm not sure Ronaldo peaked elsewhere to be honest, his peak was just really long. He was the best player in the world at United when he won the Ballon d'Or, he became a different but not necessarily better player later
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Yeah I agree, don’t think him, Tevez or Stam should really be included, though I get why some might.
 
It’s amazing because baring Ronaldo the 11 can be filled entirely of signings other the past year who flopped or past it strikers we signed. Ironically the second coming of Ronaldo could put him into that category. How about players who peaked or had better years after leaving United? That would be pretty difficult.

The easy ones would be Pique, Pogba, Ronaldo,
 
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Fulham Loius Saha, Dortmund Sancho pre United and also Arsenal Sanchez
 
-----------Cristiano----Cavani------Sanchez-------------
Di Maria-Casemiro-Schweinsteiger---Darmian
------------Pique-----Blanc----Varane----------------------
-----------------------Barthez-----------------------------------

The non-obvious calls:
-No left back since I think Heinze's peak was probably here, so went 3-4-3 to get Di Maria in
-Still wanted 4 defenders out there with Di Maria at LWB, so the versatile, complimentary Darmian gets in the team, Pique will have to play some LB, but young Pique would be fine
-Up top, Cristiano is the main man and with the question mark of Di Maria at LB, I wanted maximum effort and defensive work and guys who would compliment Cristiano, so that's Cavani up top over Ibra. On the right, it's a tough call. Ideally you'd want someone who can help out in the midfield battle a bit but also be the chief threat on the right. Sanchez was better on the left, but he's probably the best option here, though Tevez might work. Di Maria would start here, but I couldn't find a decent left back.

Or you just stick Darmian at LB, Hargreaves at RB, drop Blanc and play like this:

Cristiano--------Ibra---------Cavani-----------
--------Di Maria----------Schweinsteiger---
----------------Casemiro----------------------
Darmian-Pique-Varane-Hargreaves

and Di Maria is in his CL winning/starring role providing width and creativity on the left, Casemiro is in his best role, Schweinsteiger a good enough fit there, Darmian has coped okay at LB when asked to by Italians, Cavani on the right for effort and goals and good connection with Ibra at PSG, but Arsenal Alexis Sanchez would do fine here too.
 
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