Footballers you honestly felt gutted for

Isotope

Ten Years a Cafite
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Michael Carrick. Main CM in one of the biggest Club in the world, and winning everything there. Only 34 fecking caps for a nation like England, just because its manager(s) preferred Gareth fecking Barry or Scott fecking Parker.
 

Frank Grimes

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Newbies 15/16 FPL Champion.
Phil Jones is a good shout. People ridicule SAF for his comment about Jones being one of the most naturally talented footballers he had seen but who knows where Jones would be without the injuries?

Some footballers get one or two bad injuries and it ends them. Jones has barely strung together 15 games his entire career and yet still, when he is fit and does play, you can see what natural talent he has
He's as awkward as a sack of chisels though. He lacked the balance to be a world class player, way too clumsy.
Don't get me wrong he always came across as a nice bloke and I wish him well but he's being paid extraordinarily well for a man who hasn't done anything for a long time.
 

RedRonaldo

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Baggio in 94 WC - missed crucial penalty in final, despite being the hero carrying Italy through to the final

Maradona in 90 WC - still in the peak of his power, everyone expecting him to shine, especially on the back of his GOAT performance in 86 WC and having won titles in Serie A, somehow he end up failing to score a single goal in the whole tournament, his overall performance is also disappointing/underwhelming as compared to his 86 WC

Cantona at Man Utd - never manage to win CL for us, mainly due to stupid foreigner rule

L.Ronaldo in 98 WC - being by far the best player i the world playing for the best national team, everyone expecting him to dominate/win this WC for Brazil, like Pele did in the past. He has amazing tournament prior to the final game, then went totally missing in the final (due to medical issue?), play poorly and then losing badly to France.

Ronaldo in 18 WC - before the start of WC, he has a great season with Real winning CL, leading in contention for Ballon D’or. In his first WC game, he scored a great hattrick against Spain, look set to finally have a great WC tournament and win his 6th Ballin D’or. But somehow, he end up losing in last 16 and also losing out Ballin D’or to Modric
 

Black Adder

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Also Cristiano Ronaldo, doing his best to be best ever only to be second fiddle to Messi. Hehe
 

erikcred

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He's as awkward as a sack of chisels though. He lacked the balance to be a world class player, way too clumsy.
Don't get me wrong he always came across as a nice bloke and I wish him well but he's being paid extraordinarily well for a man who hasn't done anything for a long time.
Ironically SAF didn't buy Jordan Henderson because he runs funny and we went for Phil Jones in the same transfer window!

And Nedved for me. For the Euro semis and missing the CL final before that.
 

Stack

Leave Women's Football Alone!!!
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Roberto Baggio.
He was Italys outstanding player and almost single handedly got Italy through to the final. That penalty miss was a heartbreaker.
 

stefan92

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If this is a joke it's disgusting, if it's not, it's even worse. Are you an 11 year old with zero maturity or understanding of the world?
To be honest I don't have an issue with someone feeling gutted for a player that has so much talent but is such a despicable human being. That's a sad story and the fact that someone else suffered because of him makes it even sadder.
 

JakeTheRed

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Christian Eriksen, when he died on the pitch.

So glad we have him as a player now though he's been great!
 

EtH

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John Terry. When the CL slipped away from him.

And Steven Gerrard. When the PL slipped away from him.

The poor, brave lions.
 

RoyH1

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Jonathan Woodgate. His injury woes and surreal Madrid debut are always perched in my mind
 

Sandikan

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Cole is criminally underrated these days. He's up there on the PL all time goalscorers list and is barely mentioned when people talk about the great strikers that have played in the league. Has there been any shouts for him to be inducted in that PL hall of fame?
4th on the all time list, ahead of Aguero.
And the bit most miss/ignore, is that he didn't ever take the pens. Imagine the extra 30-40 goals on his tally from that.
 

Morty_

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Juanfran penalty miss against us, he was about to break down after that, really felt bad for him.

Atletico-fans hopefully cheered him up a bit though, class response from them.
 
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Feel sad for Sergio Aguero's heart attack
I had no idea, that sucks.
Michael Carrick. Main CM in one of the biggest Club in the world, and winning everything there. Only 34 fecking caps for a nation like England, just because its manager(s) preferred Gareth fecking Barry or Scott fecking Parker.
Tbf, I can see why he was considered a bit of a lightweight earlier in his carreer compared to Barry, having to accomodate the dysfunctional star trio. But when Parker started playing, Carrick was amazing for United, so that made zero sense to me.
 

DRJosh

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Greenwood. What he did off the pitch was unforgivable but he could have been truly world class and his finishing was astoundingly good in what was an average United side then
 

Snowjoe

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Why would anyone feel gutted for Greenwood? He’s the only person to blame and he’s a complete feckwit he doesn’t deserve anyone feeling gutted for him
 

AndySmith1990

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Greenwood. What he did off the pitch was unforgivable but he could have been truly world class and his finishing was astoundingly good in what was an average United side then
Unless you're misreading the OP I don't understand why you'd feel sorry for him. It's his own fault
 

pacifictheme

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OG Ronaldo. Had it all apart from non exploding knees. What a player he could have been without horror injuries.
 

kafta

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Ledley King.

Also, Baggio, but not for the penalty miss. For having to play through the pain and injections. Still had an excellent career, but i think he could've been even better if he was playing healthy.
 

sugar_kane

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Michael Carrick. Main CM in one of the biggest Club in the world, and winning everything there. Only 34 fecking caps for a nation like England, just because its manager(s) preferred Gareth fecking Barry or Scott fecking Parker.
I always felt gutted that Steve Bruce never got capped for England. Was a cracking defender.
Bruce never being capped once despite being captain and starting centre back for the best team in England is absurd.

Three Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and a League Cup as captain and not a solitary England cap. He scored 19 goals in the 1990-91 season from Centre Back!

Meanwhile England were failing to qualify for World Cup 94 or win a single game at the Euro Championships in 92.
 

Rnd898

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Marco van Ginkel immediately comes to mind.

After a couple of good seasons in the Eredivisie he got his big move to Chelsea at the age of 20 and looked like a player Mourinho would really fancy in his midfield. Around a month into his first season at the club he did his ACL and it all went to shit for a few years.

After a few problematic seasons it started to look like he was finally getting his top level career back on track when he had a wonderful season out on loan at PSV, leading them to the Eredivisie title with 14 league goals from midfield and even having been made the club captain despite being just a loanee, he then did his ACL again and was out of the game for almost 3 full years with multiple knee surgeries in between. Can't even imagine how gutting it must be for a player who's supposed to be entering his prime years as a footballer to then lose that much time with a horror injury when he had enjoyed just about the first uninterrupted season of his career.

After 3 years out he joined PSV on a permanent deal in the summer of 2021, played some games last season and now has again missed the entirety of the season so far with injuries. Still only 29 but I wouldn't be surprised if he hung up his boots at the end of the season because he just doesn't seem to be able to keep himself injury-free. What a shame, had all the makings of a really good player early into his career.
 

SirReginald

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Ballack. Only ever managed to get a losers medal in footballs biggest competitions. At his peak he was easily one of the best midfielders in the game and past his peak he became a terrific 6. Chelsea still haven’t replaced his shithousery and cynicalness.
 

poleglass red

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Bruce never being capped once despite being captain and starting centre back for the best team in England is absurd.

Three Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and a League Cup as captain and not a solitary England cap. He scored 19 goals in the 1990-91 season from Centre Back!

Meanwhile England were failing to qualify for World Cup 94 or win a single game at the Euro Championships in 92.
that was always a weird one for me, as during that time Gary Mabbut was capped 16 times and the mighty Keith Curle even managed 3, yet a tough, comfortable on the ball leader who was a genuine attacking threat managed none.
 

Zlatattack

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Jack Wilshire. I know nobody likes him, but he was a very talented player - just plagued by injuries.
 

Belisarius

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Owen Hargreaves,the man had some crazy good games his first season in United especially his freekick goal against Arsenal. Sadly he rarely played after that season.



Manchester Utd: 2007-2008 Played 23 Scored 2 goals (Premiership)
2008-2009 Played 2 Scored 0 goals (Premiership)
2009-2010 Played 1 Scored 0 goals (Premiership)
2010-2011 Played 1 Scored 0 goals (Premiership)
Free transfer to Man. City on 31/8/2011.




Owen Hargreaves only played 2 league games for Man City.
Yeah, Hargreaves injuries were brutal. He could have been a much bigger part of a great team and won so much more if his knees hadn't given out.

I haven't read the whole thread but in the parts I've read I haven't seen anyone mention the keeper who was destroyed by Real Madrid in the champions league final. Ramos elbowed him in the head and while he was still woozy he let Benzema take the ball off him for an easy goal. He seems to have been mentally destroyed by that game and his career has gone into a total tailspin since. I think his name was Karius or Karus or something like that.
 

Yorke to Cole

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They underrate him because Glenn Hoddle butchered him in public with the whole “he needs 5 chances for 1 goal” comment.
Absolutely, spot on. I remember being school age at the time and when he played the one premier league season 93-94 with Newcastle, everyone loved him. As soon as he went to United, people were waiting for him to fail.

Then Hoddle opened his trap. As Cole himself said "England were playing against Macedonia and Moldova, I was playing against Inter Milan, Juventus and Barcelona."