Top players who bounced back from a two (or more) year decline in form

sullydnl

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For obvious reasons this thought is now on my mind.

Are there any/many players who did what we'd be hoping De Gea will do and bounced back from a multiple year decline in form? Bonus points if they were being actively written off at their worst.

In terms of goalkeepers the comparison I've had in mind was VDS, who lost his place at Juventus after a nightmare spell but then had great success with us. As far as I'm aware that was only one bad year though.

So, any examples?
 

BigDunc9

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Anelka is a good example of this but you could say he lost his way quite young before he bounced back.
 

sullydnl

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Falcao is a good shout but those injuries were always a mitigating factor.
 

Chipper

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Forlan?

Before and after United he was banging them in.
 

diarm

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How many keepers have come back at the club they fell apart at? A change of scenery worked for Van der Sar and it may well work for De Gea, but I don't see him bouncing back here. It's too much pressure and I can't see him overcoming it with the knowledge that Henderson is breathing down his neck and any mistake will be under the microscope.

He's been an incredible servant to the club and was our best player when we were at our worst, but there's no room for sentiment at a club who want to be challenging for titles. At the minute he's not good enough for a side challenging for top 4.
 

KirkDuyt

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Dennis Bergkamp was shite in Italy after being brilliant at Ajax wasnt he? Van der Sar went from winning the CL as a youngster to being a midtable keeper for about a decade and then hitting great heights at you lot.
 

Pogue Mahone

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How many keepers have come back at the club they fell apart at? A change of scenery worked for Van der Sar and it may well work for De Gea, but I don't see him bouncing back here. It's too much pressure and I can't see him overcoming it with the knowledge that Henderson is breathing down his neck and any mistake will be under the microscope.

He's been an incredible servant to the club and was our best player when we were at our worst, but there's no room for sentiment at a club who want to be challenging for titles. At the minute he's not good enough for a side challenging for top 4.
Agreed.

I’ve never got this extreme reluctance managers have to drop a keeper who’s playing badly. It’s crazy that Romero can play so well while De Gea keeps him out of the team.

Henderson is probably the long term solution but the short term solution involves sticking DDG on the bench pronto.
 

P-Ro

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Cech was very poor for the 2 years after that bellend from Reading kicked him in the head. Ashley Cole was also pretty poor for his first 18 months at Chelsea.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Andy Cole. First 2 seasons here were relatively poor, made huge improvements after that, forged an incredible partnership with Dwight Yorke, and was instrumental in us winning everything possible.

I've not known a goalkeeper to come back from the brink though. Certainly not without it coinciding with a new challenge and new surroundings, like Van Der Sar. Has a goalkeeper ever played his way back in to form after at least 18 months of regression?
 

diarm

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Agreed.

I’ve never got this extreme reluctance managers have to drop a keeper who’s playing badly. It’s crazy that Romero can play so well while De Gea keeps him out of the team.

Henderson is probably the long term solution but the short term solution involves sticking DDG on the bench pronto.
Yeah unfortunately I think you're right. When it's just a couple of mistakes, I get the desire to stick by your top keeper and not destroy his confidence.

But Ole has more than stuck by De Gea at this stage and the mistakes are getting worse and more frequent.

At this stage he's not doing the lad any favours leaving him out there with his confidence shot.
 

SAFMUTD

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There have been some that regained form, but I cant remember one that did it on the same team.
 

Red Stone

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Torres looked like he'd been permanently Space Jammed at Chelsea, but managed to redeem himself a bit at Atletico at the end of his top level career. He wasn't spectacular, but at least he looked like a footballer again.
 

Chipper

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De la Pena? Not quite a top player though, just a very good one. Suppose the thing with him and Forlan who I mentioned earlier is that they weren't completely established when they had the decline. It was more that they were still on the way up, stalled, then fulfilled potential later. In Forlan's case it was just perhaps a move to the wrong club, wrong time or wrong country.
 

harms

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Pirlo, Scholes & Giggs. All had their own reasons. It's much harder for a keeper to reinvent himself though.
 

Megadrive Man

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The old adage is that Goalkeepers get better with age, but there are many examples where that isn't the case. Reina, Hart and De Gea off the top of my head.

In answer to the question, David James recovered well after leaving Liverpool, but there aren't many that go up, down then back up. Particularly at the same club.
 

Aboutreika18

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Savo Milošević was pretty mediocre for a good few years at Aston Villa before he joined Zaragoza and got his goalscoring touch back, leading them into Europe (finishing above Real Madrid in 1999/00) and also winning the Golden Boot at Euro 2000.
 

TheLord

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I hope we can say the same about David de Gea next year, if there is a significant improvement in his form. Big if.
 

Zehner

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Boateng was the first that came to my mind
 

Decomposing In Paris

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I get that De Gea should have saved the goal last night, & I get that he’s not been consistent under Solskjaer... but sometimes you need a bit of luck in football & I don’t think he’s had much recently (for example the fact that the Everton goal actually went in the net, how many times have you seen keepers just get away with stuff like that?). Sometimes fortune is the simple thing that turns first, & then the confidence grows. Of course it might not.
 

Raees

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Can think of a few players who struggled with injuries for a couple of seasons but eventually came good. Not sure I can think of anyone coming back from a De Gea length slump in any other context. Certainly not without changing club.
Yeah the change of environment is key. Very few recover from such slumps without a radical change in their surroundings. Giggs and Scholes were rejuvenated only because the squad around them drastically changed and their roles within the set up did too.. that sparked them back into life.
 

Gentleman Jim

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Edin Dzeko was poor in his last couple of seasons at City but became a very dangerous striker in Serie A.
 

Dante

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How many keepers have come back at the club they fell apart at? A change of scenery worked for Van der Sar and it may well work for De Gea, but I don't see him bouncing back here. It's too much pressure and I can't see him overcoming it with the knowledge that Henderson is breathing down his neck and any mistake will be under the microscope.

He's been an incredible servant to the club and was our best player when we were at our worst, but there's no room for sentiment at a club who want to be challenging for titles. At the minute he's not good enough for a side challenging for top 4.
Unfortunately, I think DDG's goose is cooked.

VdS was always a goalkeeper who had a well-rounded game which meant he could improve certain aspects with greater experience.

DDG is a different breed. His game is built almost entirely on his reaction times. It's why he was world-class in his early twenties. But once that started to go, it's a sad reality of getting older that there'll be no way to get it back. If he had other elements to his game like fantastic organisational skills or brilliant physical command of his area (like VdS did), I might be more optimistic.
 

Tarrou

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I don't think there is one. All the examples involve injuries or changing clubs.

De Gea is still young for a keeper though, so he does has that going for him
 

GhastlyHun

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The first name that came to my mind and the most apt example for comparing with De Gea.
I personally don't think he compares with De Gea that much. His decline from the top was fuelled by several factors. First, i'd say, was a personal slump after the prime years with the CL, WC and the Guardiola years. After Pep left, imo a constant need for intensity that was present for the ~5-6 years before left with him and the drop began, with the EC 16 being the first clear example, and then of course the 2018 WC and the Kovac tenure. By then, the second factor had come into play, which was lacking trust from the coaches (mostly Löw and Kovac). When Flick took over, Müller was burning to prove himself again, and he got games from a coach who knows how to utilize him.
De Gea has not, as far as i can tell, lost his place in the planning of any of his managers so far, so his decline is for now personal.
 

charlenefan

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I get that De Gea should have saved the goal last night, & I get that he’s not been consistent under Solskjaer... but sometimes you need a bit of luck in football & I don’t think he’s had much recently (for example the fact that the Everton goal actually went in the net, how many times have you seen keepers just get away with stuff like that?). Sometimes fortune is the simple thing that turns first, & then the confidence grows. Of course it might not.
DDG has always been an unorthodox keeper so it might just be his luck and fortune has run out, some of the saves he's made down the years have been the best ever but you always need luck

In theory it's not like an outfield players slump where they psychically can't do it anymore, DDG's I feel is more about concentration and the mental aspect, being prepared for a shot like last night I've just got no idea why technique wise he tried to punch it away?

Didn't we change goalkeeping coaches once Ole came in? Maybe that's something to look at? We need to do something because unlike a few years ago most clubs now have a top keeper so they won't be looking at DDG especially with the wage he's on
 

diarm

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Unfortunately, I think DDG's goose is cooked.

VdS was always a goalkeeper who had a well-rounded game which meant he could improve certain aspects with greater experience.

DDG is a different breed. His game is built almost entirely on his reaction times. It's why he was world-class in his early twenties. But once that started to go, it's a sad reality of getting older that there'll be no way to get it back. If he had other elements to his game like fantastic organisational skills or brilliant physical command of his area (like VdS did), I might be more optimistic.
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