Players losing all their form out of nowhere

[Mr Smith]

So I've been thinking about this recently as we've seen a few really glaring examples in the league this season of players going from top form (indeed the best form of their careers), one season, to awful the next. Martial is the most obvious example for us, but Sadio Mane for Liverpool is another. You could also argue Timo Werner is a third, but there are a lot of extra variables there (new league, new team, etc).

I'm wondering if people can think of other examples of where players have just suddenly lost all their form for no apparent reason. Specifically, I'm trying to exclude players where there has been an obvious variable that has impacted this, such as physical decline (with Rooney), changing a club or environment (Werner), or injuries (Hazard). Basically, players who are in their prime, who go from being brilliant one season to absolutely dire the next.

What I'm hoping we'll discover is whether these dramatic dips in form can be recovered from, or if it's so damaging to your confidence that you never quite go back to what you were.

 

[Irrational.]

I’d say Dele Alli is another example. He absolutely exploded onto the scene at Spurs. Some posters were rating him higher than Pogba.

He went from looking like one of the best talents in world football to looking like a knock-off Randall from Recess.

 

[Cast5]

So I've been thinking about this recently as we've seen a few really glaring examples in the league this season of players going from top form (indeed the best form of their careers), one season, to awful the next. Martial is the most obvious example for us, but Sadio Mane for Liverpool is another. You could also argue Timo Werner is a third, but there are a lot of extra variables there (new league, new team, etc).

I'm wondering if people can think of other examples of where players have just suddenly lost all their form for no apparent reason. Specifically, I'm trying to exclude players where there has been an obvious variable that has impacted this, such as physical decline (with Rooney), changing a club or environment (Werner), or injuries (Hazard). Basically, players who are in their prime, who go from being brilliant one season to absolutely dire the next.

What I'm hoping we'll discover is whether these dramatic dips in form can be recovered from, or if it's so damaging to your confidence that you never quite go back to what you were.

Torres springs to mind, He was easily one of the best strikers in the world and he absolutely fell off a cliff and never recovered, he was going downhill even before that ludicrous transfer to Chelsea. That miss against us at old Trafford when he missed an open goal epitomised his downfall, his confidence was completely shot.

 

[Mr Smith]

Torres springs to mind, He was easily one of the best strikers in the world and he absolutely fell off a cliff and never recovered, he was going downhill even before that ludicrous transfer to Chelsea. That miss against us at old Trafford when he missed an open goal epitomised his downfall, his confidence was completely shot.

Yeah that's true, a great example of one where I feel confidence played a huge factor. He had a bad world cup in 2010 and just never looked the same since, which was obviously one of the reasons Liverpool agreed to sell him to Chelsea in the first place.

 

[simonhch]

Gianluca Vialli was quality but he had a couple of seasons at Juve where he was just unstoppable. Then fell off a cliff, when to Chelsea and was okay at best. Maybe a function of age but the drop was so quick, PEDs we’re always suspected.

Some others: Tony Yeboah, immense for one season. Amir Zaki, looked like the reincarnation of Shearer, then nothing.

 

[Moby]

I’d say Dele Alli is another example. He absolutely exploded onto the scene at Spurs. Some posters were rating him higher than Pogba.

Remember this thread by @Brwned

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/dele-alli-is-englands-best-young-midfielder.411356/

 

[Mr Smith]

Remember this thread by @Brwned

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/dele-alli-is-englands-best-young-midfielder.411356/

Speaking of young English players who experienced a rapid decline, I just thought of Sterling. Two years ago there were threads talking about him as the best English player, now I'm not sure he'd make the top 10. Most City fans calling for him to be sold. Will be an interesting one to watch to see if he ever recovers his form.

 

[tenpoless]

It seems to me like Martial gained form last season than losing it this season. He's always been struggling with consistency, on average his performance is somewhere between this season and last season, just average and nothing out of ordinary. Even championship strikers have their moments/seasons at some point.

Also I could think of Rooney nearing the end of his Utd career where he seemed to decline rapidly. Still a quality player but I was kinda gutted when he was so bad that people wanted him out. Nothing like the Rooney we knew.

 

[guardiolafan]

Almost the entire Barcelona team in the whole month of march in 2016. I remember only Suárez still playing well in that period. Barcelona suddenly started to play like shit in that month, including the likes of Messi, Neymar and Iniesta. Barcelona had been the best team in Europe in that season, with exception of Guardiola's Bayern maybe. But that sudden terrible form in march, out of nowhere, almost completely ruined that Barcelona season. They were eliminated by Atlético in the UCL and almost lost their once gigantic lead at the top of La Liga, eventually still winning it, but only by 1 point over Real. And as suddenly as the horrible form came, it went away. Barcelona returned to play at an amazing level since the end of march until the end of the season. But that terrible form in march had already cost any chance in the UCL. So bizarre.

 

[BaillyBaillyBailly]

I would say that in the case of Martial and Mane it could just be that their exhausted after playing non stop football for a long time. This I think is particularly true for Mane, who is the hardest working of Liverpool's front 3 in Klopp's all action system.
Werner I just think is completely lacking confidence, his passing and movement still looks really good he just has a mental block when it comes to finishing at the moment.

Torres was injured and never recovered.

Really surprised to not see Alexis Sanchez mentioned yet.

 

[SATA]

Shevchenko. Came to the Prem with a huge reputation, started well then fizzled out

 

[Shark]

Michael Essien could be another mention. Seemed to go from one of the highest rated midfielders in England to becoming rather average. Probably down to injuries.

 

[rollingstoned1]

DDG is a good shout for this thread, nothing really explains the sudden decline other than that he is dependent on reflexes but he isn't even that old nor are all his mistakes due to just that. It is eerily similar to what happened to Casillas though.

 

[Gazza]

Barthez for us. He was always a touch eccentric, but he fell off the rails completely early in the 2001/02 season and was rickety thereafter.

Funnily enough he was also known for his agile shot stopping a la De Gea. In fact De Gea these days reminds me of Barthez in several ways.

 

[Gazza]

Samir Nasri looked like a baller of the highest ilk for a spell and then became more known for getting photographed in some medically-themed sex shop.

 

[Dancfc]

Barthez for us. He was always a touch eccentric, but he fell off the rails completely early in the 2001/02 season and was rickety thereafter.

Funnily enough he was also known for his agile shot stopping a la De Gea. In fact De Gea these days reminds me of Barthez in several ways.

Keepers are no different to outfielders in the sense that the ones who rely on their athletic qualities more are the one's most susceptible to decline.

Shay Given is another example, by the time he wound up at Stoke he was so bad to the point it looked like sabotage.

 

[peacefulwarlord]

Mendieta
Berahino
Collymorea

 

[(...)]

Gourcuff. I have never seen anything like that. He went from being the next Zidane to being too bad for a starting spot in Ligue 1. It's a complete mystery how it happened so fast and it seems purely to be a mental issue. He just lost it.

 

[Klopper76]

Firmino. Great player until 19/20 then he suddenly became completely inept as a goal threat. It’s partly because he’s playing deeper but he looks terrible most of the time now.

In 17/18 he scored 27 goals with 17 assists. That player is long gone.

Owen used to have runs where he couldn’t score if his life depended on it.

 

[Ole's screen]

Can believe nobody has mentioned Martial yet. Looked on fire towards the end of last season, I was sure this was going to be the season he finally became a big boy but alas he's looked like he loses all sense of his feet in front of goal this season.

 

[The Boy]

I'm wondering if people can think of other examples of where players have just suddenly lost all their form for no apparent reason.

Liverpool FC

 

[The Boy]

Martial is the most obvious example for us

It seems to me like Martial gained form last season than losing it this season. He's always been struggling with consistency

I would say that in the case of Martial and Mane it could just be that their exhausted after playing non stop football for a long time.

Can believe nobody has mentioned Martial yet.

 

[Ole's screen]

Oops. My bad. Still relevant.

 

[flappyjay]

Can't believe no has has mentioned Aubameyang yet. 60 in the past 2 seasons and this season he has been nowhere near that

 

[Wittmann45]

Adriano was supposed to be the next big thing at Inter and then just fell off at the beginning of his prime

I feel like this applies a little to Kolo Toure as well. I don't remember exactly when he fell off, but it was before his move to City. Maybe he benefitted from having Campbell next to him for much of his early Arsenal career, but even with Gallas he wasn't that bad

 

[Gazza]

Dwight Yorke, Amazing for us in his first season, still pretty good in his second, then shagged out by all accounts and ending up looking out of his depth at Blackburn, all within about 3 years of joining United.

 

[tenpoless]

Dan James looked promising at first and then he became a meme.

 

[berbatrick]

This season, Martial, Mane, Aubameyang, and to an extent Richarlison.
Weirdly, all of them play the same-ish positions.

 

[SWE-Chucky]

Veron
Andre Schurrle
Götze
Marin Marin
Ballotelli
Micha Richards
Kepa

 

[UpWithRivers]

Some players need consistency and Martial is one of them. He has had an on off season due to injuries.

The whole Liverpool team fell off a cliff this year baring maybe Salah

 

[Pickle85]

Mangala from Porto to City. Guess it's a simple explanation of moving from an easier league to the Prem, combined with the fact that he was never all he was cracked up to be despite being hyped to the heavens. Still, I thought he'd be better than the absolute horror show he turned out to be.

 

[Pow]

Torres didn't lose form. He was sold broken

 

[Karel Podolsky]

Diego Tristan
Mario Jardel

 

[Isotope]

Mendieta
Vidic
Kevin Phillips
Michu
Mario Gomez
Diego Milito
Robinho
Ozil

 

[Isotope]

Diego Tristan
Mario Jardel

Kalimantan?

 

[Berbasbullet]

Anyone mentioned Kaka yet?

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

It seems to me like Martial gained form last season than losing it this season. He's always been struggling with consistency, on average his performance is somewhere between this season and last season, just average and nothing out of ordinary. Even championship strikers have their moments/seasons at some point.

Also I could think of Rooney nearing the end of his Utd career where he seemed to decline rapidly. Still a quality player but I was kinda gutted when he was so bad that people wanted him out. Nothing like the Rooney we knew.

Nah Martial has mostly been class at this club with the exception of the horrible management of Mourinho. This is just revisionist in the extreme. If Rashford nose dives off a cliff next season would you say the same thing? Because up until this season Martial has always been the better player.

 

[GhastlyHun]

Thomas Müller from ~2016 to 2018.
The 'nowhere' in his case probably had to do with exhaustion after the relentless intensity from the 12/13 season onwards through the Guardiola years, which were then followed by coaches who a) didn't keep up that intensity and b) didn't know what to do with him.

 

[Pickle85]

Nah Martial has mostly been class at this club with the exception of the horrible management of Mourinho. This is just revisionist in the extreme. If Rashford nose dives off a cliff next season would you say the same thing? Because up until this season Martial has always been the better player.

This is just not true. I liked Martial as a player but to say he's always been a better player than Rashford isn't right for me. Stats wise they're very, very similar. Thing is, Martial's worst is worse than Rashford's. When he's not at it, he may as well not be on the pitch. When people say things like 'he has always been the better player' I can only assume it comes down to an aesthetic preference as I can't see what else it could possibly be based upon.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

This is just not true. I liked Martial as a player but to say he's always been a better player than Rashford isn't right for me. Stats wise they're very, very similar. Thing is, Martial's worst is worse than Rashford's. When he's not at it, he may as well not be on the pitch. When people say things like 'he has always been the better player' I can only assume it comes down to an aesthetic preference as I can't see what else it could possibly be based upon.

If we just ignore the massive drop off this season for one moment and focus on their careers up to this stage. Martial in no way had a lower bottom level than Rashford. Martial is technically on a different level to Rashford as as a result would always do the fundamentals well, passing, control, hold up, dribbling. When Rashford is bad he’s absolutely shocking and he doesn’t have the technical skills to fall back on. Martials issue is he can be made invisible through lack of service by the wider team but that’s only partly his fault and partly poor team performances. Ultimately when push came to shove in the dark days under Mourinho it was Martial who came to the front and saved him his job on multiple occasions with some massive goals and assists.

Look hes had an awful year to the point his Utd career may well be over but there’s no need for revisionist takes.Remove the English bias and Martial was better than Rashford up till this season.