Nani

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

It seems he has got better with people’s fading memories.

“Insanely good”? “world class”?

In brief moments he could be, but he was very frustrating and incredibly inconsistent over his career at United. I remember a lot of people looking to him to step up and be the star man after Ronaldo left but he left them disappointed.

He scored some great goals and I imagine his highlights reel will be great viewing but he had the talent to be so much more.

I mean he was world class in 10/11

Or would you say 10 goals and 20 assists is still inconsistent?

 

[criticalanalysis]

He scored 41 goals and added 71 assists in 210 games, goal and assist around every 140 minutes. Ronaldo's record for us was goal or assist every 127 games, including penalties and he was basically a striker for half of his time here.

I think Nani was definitely our player with biggest expectations from our fans for some reason, everything he did was regarded as something he should do, and that he should do much better than that for some reason.

He was a high risk/high reward flair player at a time (the peak Fergie era) when moderation and consistency were the expected norm, hence the frustration of some fans at the time. And yet it was that flair that often ignited a new creative dimension to our late 2000s early 2010s success and was a crucial cog of creative continuity after CR7 fled for Spain.

Agree. The truth is, in that period under Fergie, whilst we were incredibly well managed and were successful, it was still a team largely made of monster mentalities and brilliant man managing. We were free flowing but not exactly precision football with established patterns of play. I'm not criticising Fergie per se but more to highlight that Nani was being a creative force (with freedom I will agree) in not exactly the best conditions. It's why some of us fans acknowledge how brilliant he was. It's was mercurial stuff imo. He wasn't a one man team but at times it was very close creatively/attacking wise.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

That's a shame.

14:50

 

[Red the Bear]

14:50

What a disgrace, good thing I forgot about that game.

 

[CloneMC16]

I always loved Nani. He was one of my favourite players.

Some of the abuse he used to get from our fans was insane.