The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
Weirdo.
The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
I used to watch that youth team.....I may not be Eric Harrison but there's no way Thornley was ever going to be better than Giggs, as good as he was Thornley he wouldn't have been in that class of player injury or not. Giggs as a teenager was a generational talent.
This comes out here and there but it's impossible to quantify and to me sounds like it makes a better story to talk of what could have been.
Not exactly unusual for young players not to fulfil their potential though, for various reasons.
I've heard that before, definitely from you as well. My take is he would be talking about the fledglings, Giggs aside. They typically get branded Class of 92 when Giggs had made his first team debut in 1991 (at the other end, Scholes didn't even feature in the 92 Youth Cup side), as opposed to the others which mostly got their debuts two and even three years later.I can't really answer to that. What I can say is that there were many people at the club who thought that Ben was the best of the bunch. Also note that they said so before he suffered that injury, so their judgement wasn't influenced by romanticism or pity.
Viv Anderson won 2 European cups and played under Brian Clough so he's probably got a few more stories.I've read that before somewhere. Viv has been living off that story for years.
Yeah, that's why I shared it, most wouldn't have the faintest idea of the sort of player he was if they are under 30/40.I love the part about Giggs's reaction to nutmegging him, how it was just so natural, in the moment and situation. We have seen a lot of wide players come in with stepovers/flip flaps/etc all the flashy tricks that catch the eye, but no understanding of how to really dribble and use feints, body swerves, constantly putting the defender off balance.
Pretty sad that many of our younger fans don't realize just how talented Giggs was.
I've heard that before, definitely from you as well. My take is he would be talking about the fledglings, Giggs aside. They typically get branded Class of 92 when Giggs had made his first team debut in 1991 (at the other end, Scholes didn't even feature in the 92 Youth Cup side), as opposed to the others which mostly got their debuts two and even three years later.
You can hardly be referring to someone who was already an integral part of the first team setup when referring to the "best of the bunch" there. He wasn't part of the bunch. In fact, by the time Thornley makes his first team debut Giggs had well over 100 games for United.
Yeah, that's why I shared it, most wouldn't have the faintest idea of the sort of player he was if they are under 30/40.
I love the part about Giggs's reaction to nutmegging him, how it was just so natural, in the moment and situation. We have seen a lot of wide players come in with stepovers/flip flaps/etc all the flashy tricks that catch the eye, but no understanding of how to really dribble and use feints, body swerves, constantly putting the defender off balance.
Pretty sad that many of our younger fans don't realize just how talented Giggs was.
It depends on how early you get exposed to football and can discern what makes a great player. It's probably 35 or less.Under 30 maybe! Under 40 would certainly be able to remember his early to mid 90s stuff!
The point isn't realising he was a great player, what he is getting at is most younger people's views would be warped by the later more cerebral player, or the perma injured not as electric one before reinventing himself.I can't believe anyone who hasn't lived in a cave wouldn't realise.
I mean, most of us have only seen a tiny amount of clips of Charlton, Law and Best, and we haven't missed their level.
So it'd take some doing to not recognise it for Giggs, in this day of vast archives and huge social media reminders.
Don’t know about that. I’m (just) under thirty and I remember well how Giggs would make defenders dizzy. That goal vs Arsenal in 99 epitomizes the player I remember him as the best. He was clever as all hell as well. Remember a couple of early freekicks from him that went in, while keepers were organizing the wall, waiting for Beckham to step up. He scored with both feet, headers, could pass like the best of them, not even mentioning his blinding speed and dribbling skills.Yeah, that's why I shared it, most wouldn't have the faintest idea of the sort of player he was if they are under 30/40.
Noticed last week many hadn't seen the Fletcher article on the Arsenal game with the tunnel bust-up.
Pretty much everyone at the club at the time says Adrian was the best player they seen and ahead of Giggs,Adrian Doherty?
Yeah, he was a fantastic player either way but we very rarely/briefly got to see the crossover of his ability and the football brain that kept him useful well past that (that Juve game comes to mind).Don’t know about that. I’m (just) under thirty and I remember well how Giggs would make defenders dizzy. That goal vs Arsenal in 99 epitomizes the player I remember him as the best. He was clever as all hell as well. Remember a couple of early freekicks from him that went in, while keepers were organizing the wall, waiting for Beckham to step up. He scored with both feet, headers, could pass like the best of them, not even mentioning his blinding speed and dribbling skills.
Yeah, I understand. Obviously I don’t remember him from his teenage years, but I do remember being confident that Giggs could always produce some kind of magic, very often on his own, no matter the opponent!Yeah, he was a fantastic player either way but we very rarely/briefly got to see the crossover of his ability and the football brain that kept him useful well past that (that Juve game comes to mind).
Earlier on it was more about sheer instinctive brilliance with end product. In a teenager. Cristiano had us hoping but often frustrated with the latter, Ryan just hit the ground running from Day 1 which is very very rare.
A mix of injuries and lack of international exposure (Wales, much like NI for Best) has probably landed him in a tier alongside someone like Robben (for a neutral), when he should have been toe to toe with a Garrincha or Jairzinho in the GOAT stakes.
Here I am hoping all the talk on Greenwood leads to something even remotely as exhilarating
Same, do you remember Giggsy's 2nd goal against Juventus in Turin 02/03? ran through the whole team and scored on his weak foot past Buffon, the look on his face was hilarious. I remember fans and media claiming he was finished at the time, how ridiculous, but what a way to shut everyone up. His celebration was simply just pointing to his name on the back on his shirt! I Loved it!Don’t know about that. I’m (just) under thirty and I remember well how Giggs would make defenders dizzy. That goal vs Arsenal in 99 epitomizes the player I remember him as the best. He was clever as all hell as well. Remember a couple of early freekicks from him that went in, while keepers were organizing the wall, waiting for Beckham to step up. He scored with both feet, headers, could pass like the best of them, not even mentioning his blinding speed and dribbling skills.
I do I don’t remember the part about him being finished, though, but it wasn’t such a globalized world back then, so I got my football news from Norwegian papers and commentators. The latter called it vintage Giggs, the Welsh magician. He really was special.Same, do you remember Giggsy's 2nd goal against Juventus in Turin 02/03? ran through the whole team and scored on his week foot past Buffon, the look on his face was hilarious. I remember fans and media claiming he was finished at the time, how ridiculous, but what a way to shut everyone up. His celebration was simply just pointing to his name of the back on his shirt! I Loved it!
The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
Adrian Doherty?
Pretty much everyone at the club at the time says Adrian was the best player they seen and ahead of Giggs,
He's not even in full speed in 99. He wrecked his hamstring in 97-98 season and we lost the league as a result. He was never ran full speed again after that. 92-97 Giggs was a fecking sight to beholdDon’t know about that. I’m (just) under thirty and I remember well how Giggs would make defenders dizzy. That goal vs Arsenal in 99 epitomizes the player I remember him as the best. He was clever as all hell as well. Remember a couple of early freekicks from him that went in, while keepers were organizing the wall, waiting for Beckham to step up. He scored with both feet, headers, could pass like the best of them, not even mentioning his blinding speed and dribbling skills.
The sad thing is that he wasn't even our best young player coming up. Ben Thornley was
That I do remember. My little league coach was an Arsenal fan and was giving me a lot of shit. I started watching every game that season (97/98). Got the 96/97 season review on vhs «Champions again!», Ole’s first and Cantona’s last.He's not even in full speed in 99. He wrecked his hamstring in 97-98 season and we lost the league as a result. He was never ran full speed again after that. 92-97 Giggs was a fecking sight to behold
He's not even in full speed in 99. He wrecked his hamstring in 97-98 season and we lost the league as a result. He was never ran full speed again after that. 92-97 Giggs was a fecking sight to behold
I've heard that before, definitely from you as well. My take is he would be talking about the fledglings, Giggs aside. They typically get branded Class of 92 when Giggs had made his first team debut in 1991 (at the other end, Scholes didn't even feature in the 92 Youth Cup side), as opposed to the others which mostly got their debuts two and even three years later.
You can hardly be referring to someone who was already an integral part of the first team setup when referring to the "best of the bunch" there. He wasn't part of the bunch. In fact, by the time Thornley makes his first team debut Giggs had well over 100 games for United.
Yeah, I've always said that young Giggs was the best Giggs. The early to mid 90s Giggs was the most exciting player I'd ever seen for us until Ronaldo came along.
When on form young Ryan Giggs was unstoppable. Juventus had one of the toughest defences in the world and Lippi used to triple mark him by adding a defensive winger as well and yet, they couldn't stop Giggs running the show. I remember one game in particular. Prior to the game SAF said that Giggs was injured only to field him up just the same. The Welsh wizard destroyed them only for Lippi to come out saying (sacrastically) that thank god Giggs was ill else they might not have bothered playing in the first place.
Unfortunately his hamstring kind of hurt his career.