Also Claudio Pizarro, Mateja Kezman.
Players who fell from grace almost overnight
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Aquilani was never good (he was bencher at Roma, you could ask why he cost Liverpool so much) and Roque Santa Cruz was one season wonder. Arshavin too, actually.
cnut scored two against us in one game after not scoring in about 4 years
Don't really remember tbh. I do remember this though
Is it just me, or does Valencia look a bit more mobile there? Maybe I'm just looking for a reason to explain his decline
Pizarro is a good call. He was so good in PES 06. Makaay and himself.
Agbonlahor, can't say I watched much of Villa 4/5 years ago so I don't really know if he was moved out wide but from the ages of 20-23 he scored 45 league goals for Villa over 4 seasons, at one stage he looked like a potential England player, now he's just a fast impact sub for a team fighting relegation every season.
Raul. At age 19 he scored 26 goals in all competitions which was an incredible amount for a top striker at the time, let alone an up and coming one. He reached a high level very early on and was world class by his early twenties and achieved so much so early in his career. By the time he was 25 he had won three la ligas and three CLs(as well as many top scorer and individual awards in both the league and CL and broke many records in both too) and was one of the main players for a Madrid team that had a revolving door of great players coming in and going out and was a fan favourite. By the time he was 26 there was the beginning of a decline although he was still at a high level, but by age 27 it hit him full-on.His gioal scoring and all-round performances were not what they were, not even close. In 2007 he had a bit of a revival for a while and his goal scoring took off again but he was still not the same as before. It is so hard to say what happened to him and nobody really knows for sure but I would say it was a mixture of burn-out and loss of pace (due to playing so many games since 1994), injuries, playing out of position and lack of motivation after having very little left to achieve in the game.
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Le Tallec? Was apparently going to be one of the world's best when Liverpool signed him in 2001. Only made 17 appearances for them between his arrival in 2001 and his departure in 2008 (yes he was there for that long), and was loaned out to 5 clubs in that time. Eventually one of those loans became permanent and he's spent his career since leaving Liverpool getting relegated from Ligue 1 three times at 3 different clubs.
Getting auld cuz I remember that fairly well too and thought he had the right work rate and ability to work well in the Premiership. Must have been a right wally to deal with.cnut scored two against us in one game after not scoring in about 4 years
Don't really remember tbh. I do remember this though
Is it just me, or does Valencia look a bit more mobile there? Maybe I'm just looking for a reason to explain his decline
As for Valencia, yeah, looked gamey there but he got lucky a little during that passage of play. He's solid but nothing special and I've thought that for years; even before we signed him. Still though, as a wing back he's not the worst person to have in your squad.
Micah Richards?
Sure he did. He started brilliantly for us in his first season and then he had one season (maybe 10-11) where he was one of our best players.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that Nani went from George Best to Gabriel Obertan, but he had a moment where he was one of the first names on the squad sheet after Ronaldo left.
Fellaini.
It hasn't worked out yet but I'm sure he'll come good. The guy was a monster for Everton
It hasn't worked out yet but I'm sure he'll come good. The guy was a monster for Everton
I
Yep, have to agree with you there although - and I'm going to whisper this!- seems like a nice enough lad. But yeah, Giggsy destroyed him a few years ago. Remember that vividly.
He never quite hit the heights expected but he's not had a bad career. Been consistently in some of the better top flights and was a regular for Atletico when they finished 4th in La Liga in 2009. Currently at Rostov in the Russian premier league. They're in the Europa league this year after winning the Russian cup last season. Certainly had a better career than le Tallec
Can't argue with that.
Denilson
Adriano
Robinho
Heinze
Bojan
Van der Meyde
Drenthe
Viana
Bentley
Mutu
Adriano
Robinho
Heinze
Bojan
Van der Meyde
Drenthe
Viana
Bentley
Mutu
Well he did suffer a double leg break.. That may have had a lot to do with it! He kind of did the exact same thing he does a lot of the time there. Pull up in a 2 on 1 and not try and go around it.Is it just me, or does Valencia look a bit more mobile there? Maybe I'm just looking for a reason to explain his decline
Torres has to be the main one, went from being one of the most feared strikers in the world to dog shite soon as he put a shirt blue shirt on.
Is it too early to say Ozil?
Is it too early to say Ozil?
A little early but yeah, he hasn't been great for awhileTorres has to be the main one, went from being one of the most feared strikers in the world to dog shite soon as he put a shirt blue shirt on.
Is it too early to say Ozil?
Harry Kewell. Shit hot at Leeds, shit at Liverpool.
Remember Lee Hendrie? Got an England cap or two, scored a few goals for Aston Villa, and then his career completely petered out.
Adriano.
Seriously, the fall on this one was quite a spectacular free fall.
Seriously, the fall on this one was quite a spectacular free fall.
Hmm Arturo Vidal and Carvalho spring to mind. Were on the path to greatness but alas it just wasn't to be for them. Such a pity.
His career took a massive nosedive. He wasted all of his Aston Villa money and for the past 4 years has been playing non league football, since 2007 he's been at 15 different clubs.
Not the level of some of the others mentioned but Ron Earnshaw lose it pretty quickly.
No he's not. Started both of Villa's games this season and started 29 last year.
Emmanuel petit and overmars, became shite at Barcelona.
A reverse case would be forlan who became shit hot in la liga
Denilson on became shite in la liga from brazilian trickster
Could argue the case for most Real Madrid players like robben, kaka, huntelar, Michael Owen, cassano, woodgate
A reverse case would be forlan who became shit hot in la liga
Denilson on became shite in la liga from brazilian trickster
Could argue the case for most Real Madrid players like robben, kaka, huntelar, Michael Owen, cassano, woodgate
Michael Ricketts, Karel Poborsky and Toto Schillaci come to my mind spontaneously.
The PSG transfer for David Luiz and the Barca transfer for Zlatan are the two other transfer cock ups that spring to mind.
He's had the most successful period of his career since he left Madrid, so no.
Rafael if you go by some of the comments in his thread.
Kaka
Bojan
Bojan
John Barnes. He was World Class- One of Liverpool's best ever players at his peak, then he suffered unfortunate injuries and he fell from grace quite a bit- coincided with Liverpool's fall off their perch.
Franny Jeffers?
Us reds of a certain age still get a bit down when the name Garry Birtles is mentioned.Hopeless git.Neil Webb was also a good signing for us until he snapped his achilles playing for England only a few weeks after joining and he was never the same player on his return.
Jardel and Tristan never had the drive to sustain their time at the top. In fairness to Jardel he scored heavily till he was about 30. Kezman was never really good enough.Kezman - had 122-105 score for PSV and then... well, Chelsea.
Jardel - same story, just different clubs.
Bojinov - injuries ruined him.
Milevskiy - once a ukrainian best player (he even got awarded for that twice in a row), now only a drunken clown...
Mendieta - got his 50 million euros move to Lazio and was a total failure.
Valeron - his fall from grace was mostly due to injuries, I'd say... always thought he was Iniesta before Iniesta
Diego Tristan - was also brilliant for Deportivo and then just turned to shit for some reason. wasn't even that old...
as for managers... Juande Ramos, Javier Irureta and Hector Cuper.
He had a few injuries during his last season at Barcelona and his legs went quickly after the 2002 World Cup. Still showcased a lot of ability in Greece and at times at Milan whenever Ancelotti started him and Kaka. Much the same thing happened to Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo post-2002, but Real just ploughed on with them regardless.
Alan smith? Started well for us and looked like he was going to fit in well, then a combination of Rooney signing, injuries and fergies sheer insistence on turning him into a bloody midfielder ruined him
Also.... Gazza?
Remember reading somewhere that no-one could fathom it - even Veron. He said he used to wake up in the middle of the night troubled by it and go for long walks trying to work out what was wrong. Pity really because he was a superb player, except for us.
How did Pizarro fall from grace, not to mention "overnight"? The guy is almost 36, still plays for Bayern Munich and is beloved by coaches and fans. Not called upon too often, but when he's on the field, he still delivers.
I used to watch Lazio a lot back in the day, not least to get a glimpse of Veron. He was incredible for them. I was completely over the moon when he signed for United and can still not understand what the hell happened to him.