Paul Scholes's 2012 return - What do you make of it ?

[Luke1995]

It's (probably) pretty much a majority agreement that up until 2008-2009 season, Scholes was one of the best players in the world. At least due to his consistency.

Some say that in 2009-2010 his form took a turn for the worse compared to previous standards, while I suppose most would agree that 2010-2011 was not really a good season for him.

So, what was your reaction when you found out he was returning in January 2012 less than a year after hanging his boots ?

And your thoughts on his performances in that last half of that season plus the further year in 2012-2013 ?

 

[mancan92]

I don't think Scholes was one of the best players in the world at any time in his career. Atleast never top 10-15.

He's my favourite united player of all time.

 

[Offside]

2009/10 he was fine. At the very start of 2010/11 he was amazing. It was the second half of that season he dropped off. When he came back in 11/12 he was utterly brilliant, the only reason we got as close to the title as we did. 12/13 was probably a stretch too far as he obviously gave everything at the end of 11/12.

 

[Skills]

If I remember right, he got off to a pretty good start on his return. But I feel like his return harmed Carrick's form that season - Carrick started that season in great form (once he got in the team), then he kind of fell in the second half of the season after Scholes' return.

He was pretty done by 12/13 though. Carrick's form picked up again the following season and that's when he had his best season for us - and that was mostly when Scholes was not featuring.

Overall his return probably cost us 90m. We finished his first season trophy-less, and could've used that gametime to entice Pogba to signing on for us.

 

[pacifictheme]

I was there for his first goal back, a tap in v Bolton. Was so happy he was back.

Loved him, was gutted when he retired. Joyous when he came back, an absolute club legend, the best of the co92 in my opinion.

 

[tentan]

He just carried on where he left off - its almost like he never left.

 

[Luke1995]

2009/10 he was fine. At the very start of 2010/11 he was amazing. It was the second half of that season he dropped off. When he came back in 11/12 he was utterly brilliant, the only reason we got as close to the title as we did. 12/13 was probably a stretch too far as he obviously gave everything at the end of 11/12.

Well, not a stretch too far for Giggs! He even stayed one additional year for 2013-2014... and he is older than Scholes! Crazy, right ?

 

[Luke1995]

People mention that when he came back Carrick's form took a turn for the worse and in the following season Carrick was better than Scholes, why they couldn't play together ?

 

[Ramshock]

I don't think Scholes was one of the best players in the world at any time in his career. Atleast never top 10-15.

He's my favourite united player of all time.

Say what? Peak Scholes wasnt Top 10-15??

 

[Handré1990]

I don't think Scholes was one of the best players in the world at any time in his career. Atleast never top 10-15.

He's my favourite united player of all time.

There is always one...

 

[Garry Buck]

Just proved what a genius Sir Alex was. The midfield we had towards the end of his time was truly abysmal. The fact that we had to bring Scholes out of retirement proved how desperate things was. I was happy he came back as he was the only player in our midfield at the time who could smack an insane goal into the top corner at anytime.

 

[Tarrou]

he was quality when he came back

we were so shite in midfield though we couldn't rest him much, which was a problem at his age

 

[Irwin99]

We won something like 13 out of 14 games when he came back. Don't think we'd have even have been in the title race that season if he hadn't returned.

I remember a game we lost 3-0 to Newcastle before he came back and our midfield was woeful. Also remember that was the match with a Phil Jones own goal

 

[Yagami]

Loved seeing him back and seeing him play for another season and a half.

Him coming on as a sub against City is a favourite moment of mine. I still remember the joy and bewilderment at seeing his name back in the squad for the first time.

 

[RUCK4444]

An absolute boss on the pitch, one of my all time favourite players.

I was absolutely buzzing when his comeback was announced, he didn’t let us down, he was unbelievable.

The type of player that you could throw into a PL game right now with no fitness and he would give you a good 20 mins through class and ability alone.

 

[Greck]

Throughout December of his return season there were murmurs he was coming back. Many heard the murmurs but no one knew for sure or believed. When it was announced everyone was elated. Still remember his first game back. His first touch off of a throwing actually lost the ball and saw us concede a goal. From there onwards Scholes set up one of the best case studies I ever saw for how much difference one man can make in a football match.

His impact was on another plane from Carrick. Yeah Carrick suffered because everything was going through Scholes all of a sudden but the end justified the means. A rejuvenated Scholes almost shot us to the title. Carrick was never hitting that peak

 

[The Red Thinker]

I don't think Scholes was one of the best players in the world at any time in his career. Atleast never top 10-15.

He's my favourite united player of all time.

I can understand why you say that, but i couldn't disagree more. You can rate a player by 2 measures in my book. Either you make statistical impact: goals, assists et al, which Scholes had quite a few of. Or... you can judge him by thinking if the great United teams over the years would have been great without him.

Scholes made the team tick. The greatest of opposition midfielders from Xavi to Zidane to Luis Figo have come out and claimed that Scholes is one the greatest midfielders they've ever seen.

So in my book: He easily makes Top 10-15 from the late 90's to the 2000's.

 

[izec]

Happy obviously. He was bossing games as usual

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

I don't think Scholes was one of the best players in the world at any time in his career. Atleast never top 10-15.

He's my favourite united player of all time.

It’s all revisionism with Scholes, great player though he was. Only after Veron left did we start even seeing the Paul Scholes many remember, and then that eye problem cut out a massive chunk of that prime deep lying Scholes.
And remember post-Veron were Fergie’s worst years, the days of Djemba twins, Kleberson, Liam Miller.

I’d argue the very best of Paul Scholes was actually after the eye injury, in 2006-2007, that season he was truly World class. I think he then missed a huge chunk of the following season through a knee injury which possible stole us from seeing 3 seasons of an epic Scholes. 2006-2007 was the year for Scholes and the only season I’d have considered him our best player.

Yet many will now have you know he was “the best of the co92”, as already mentioned in this thread. Many will even try convincing you he was better than Keane

The opposite has happened with Giggs since he finished playing.

 

[McGrathsipan]

Just proved what a genius Sir Alex was. The midfield we had towards the end of his time was truly abysmal. The fact that we had to bring Scholes out of retirement proved how desperate things was. I was happy he came back as he was the only player in our midfield at the time who could smack an insane goal into the top corner at anytime.

Well it's Fergies fault the midfield was in tatters. He's not getting credit for the desperation of bringing scholes back.

 

[Stacks]

I can understand why you say that, but i couldn't disagree more. You can rate a player by 2 measures in my book. Either you make statistical impact: goals, assists et al, which Scholes had quite a few of. Or... you can judge him by thinking if the great United teams over the years would have been great without him.

Scholes made the team tick. The greatest of opposition midfielders from Xavi to Zidane to Luis Figo have come out and claimed that Scholes is one the greatest midfielders they've ever seen.

So in my book: He easily makes Top 10-15 from the late 90's to the 2000's.

All the midfielders in the big 4 were top but Scholes was the one we could win the most games without, as he was the one often sacrificed by the manager, rotated or dropped.
In 1996 season we won the league with Nicky Butt playing 31 league matches and Scholes starting just 16. in 1997 season Scholes only started 16 league matches again. Butt played more and we won the league and reached the CL Semi (He also didn't start any CL games).

 

[Stacks]

In answer to the question. It was nice but highlighted our lack of investment, options and sheer neglect in midfield. I think having time off and getting refreshed allowed him a temporary new lease of life. He is someone that still probably has his quality so you would just have to manage his minutes later in his career.

 

[Adisa]

Love Paul but was a testament to our lack of investment. Between 2008 and 2013, we did not buy a single CM. Criminal.
Fills me with a bit of irritation tbh. Our slide did not start in 2013.

 

[Pughnichi]

It was good to have him back and he clearly still had great ability.

I can’t help but think it was however short sighted. Pogba was ready or at least close to being ready and should have been given Scholes’s returning game time. In doing so we wouldn’t have endured the Fellaini saga and then paying 90m to get him back.

not a slant on Scholes. He was my favourite player...being a fellow ginge. His return though I put up there with one of SAFs bigger mistakes. One that had a long term impact on the club.

 

[Acole9]

He retired too early, even Scholes knows that.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

United are horrible when it comes to buying midfielders. Other then recent days with Herrera and Pogba. When the last good one? Carrick? But yeah it is what it is, when I heard Scholes come back to help united out. Was delighted to see him back to just pick up another PL medal

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

United are horrible when it comes to buying midfielders. Other then recent days with Herrera and Pogba. When the last good one? Carrick? But yeah it is what it is, when I heard Scholes come back to help united out. Was delighted to see him back to just pick up another PL medal

To be fair, think everyone's starting to warm to Fred, and Matic has mostly been okay but you're right it has been pretty bad the years earlier, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger etc.

 

[Antisocial]

I accepted his decision to retire when he made it, though I think most of us thought he could’ve carried on - I suspect Giggs’ evergreen years made it seem like playing until you’re 40 would be the norm

But it seemed like when we heard from him after he retired (when he was beginning as a coach) that there were stories about him regretting his decision; I certainly remember one of the rags leaking that he was going to return before he actually did.

Hearing that he had gone to Sir Alex and asked to comeback wasn’t therefore a surprise in itself, even though actually seeing him back on the team sheet (particularly against City) of course was unexpected.

I loved having him back for that extra year - he wasn’t a passenger and contributed plenty to the team, and given that Sir Alex had weirdly decided not to invest in central-midfield ever again then it was a blessing that Scholes gave us that extra year.

 

[TheReligion]

Was worth it for this

 

[POF]

Say what? Peak Scholes wasnt Top 10-15??

Not even close. I can't even remember a time when Scholes was in the top 3 players at United.

I loved him as a player and he was very underrated during his playing career but the revisionism since is absolutely absurd.

As for his return post retirement, I always felt he should have been used off the bench. He could still impact games when the team was chasing the game or to control possession when in front but he struggled to get through 90 minutes and his lack of athleticism was a real weakness.

I still remember Bale breezing past him at OT like he was 100 years old.

 

[POF]

Was worth it for this

Wasn't that before he retired?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Not even close. I can't even remember a time when Scholes was in the top 3 players at United.

2006-2007 was the only season for me where he was in our top 3, was sensational that year, his best ever.

 

[ROFLUTION]

I was totally in shock when seeing him in that lineup.

 

[TheReligion]

Wasn't that before he retired?

I thought the OP said that season was a bad one for him?

Edit yeah sorry you're right! That said I don't think he was all that bad before he finished.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Was worth it for this

It's pretty bad but when I think about Scholes's return I just remember the 6-1.

 

[rcoobc]

Throughout December of his return season there were murmurs he was coming back. Many heard the murmurs but no one knew for sure or believed. When it was announced everyone was elated. Still remember his first game back. His first touch off of a throwing actually lost the ball and saw us concede a goal. From there onwards Scholes set up one of the best case studies I ever saw for how much difference one man can make in a football match.

His impact was on another plane from Carrick. Yeah Carrick suffered because everything was going through Scholes all of a sudden but the end justified the means. A rejuvenated Scholes almost shot us to the title. Carrick was never hitting that peak

Yeah he did not play well in that first game back. Was quality after.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

So, what was your reaction when you found out he was returning in January 2012 less than a year after hanging his boots ?

And your thoughts on his performances in that last half of that season plus the further year in 2012-2013 ?

1) Excited at fist, one of my top 5 fav players.
But then worried if he can still be that good and can still hack it. Also, I question the club and Fergie as to why are we not getting a newer top class midfielder, we've been ignoring that and it's showing more and more on the pitch. That said, Scholes is still that good and looking at the current midfielder department at that time, yeah, he'll improve it, but should be used selectively.

2) And... well, not too surprising. It is as it is. He's not Giggs. Fun at times but it's honestly getting sad we still had to rely on him for far too much imo.

 

[Pughnichi]

Was worth it for this

this was before he retired.
Young had taken his squad number
He came back with a mid 20s number I believe

 

[harms]

It's pretty bad but when I think about Scholes's return I just remember the 6-1.

 

[El Zoido]

I seem to remember he was absolutely awful near the end, he played on too long and was clearly well off the pace and was a detriment to the team. Opposition players were running through him in midfield. Incredible in his prime though.