Eric the King is not regarded by the French as a legendary player

Originally Posted by carlosartorial

Bullshit Duncan. 10 x the player most of his contemporaries were (Bergkamp for instance).

Underrated if anything.

Your glasses are tinted in a rouge hue.

Quality he was, nowhere near as good as United fans like to think though. Right place, right time, right club, right player.

Originally Posted by dunk

Right place, right time, right club, right player.

Not really sure what that explains.

Same could be said about Zidane, Maradona, Henry, Messi...pretty much anyone.

Originally Posted by carlosartorial

Not really sure what that explains.

Same could be said about Zidane, Maradona, Henry, Messi...pretty much anyone.

Nah, they all did it at various stages of their career/international career, at different clubs* and in Europe as well as domestically.

*Messi aside.

Originally Posted by carlosartorial

Not really sure what that explains.

Same could be said about Zidane, Maradona, Henry, Messi...pretty much anyone.

It's like when people say about successful bands 'they came along at the right time'. Utterly meaningless statement designed to make the speaker sound clever.

Originally Posted by Zorg

It's like when people say about successful bands 'they came along at the right time'. Utterly meaningless statement designed to make the speaker sound clever.

Hasn't worked in Dunk's case

Originally Posted by signed dc

Hasn't worked in Dunk's case

obviously

Originally Posted by Zorg

It's like when people say about successful bands 'they came along at the right time'. Utterly meaningless statement designed to make the speaker sound clever.

United were about to make the breakthrough and win the league, we need a little more firepower, didn't matter if it was Cantona, Shearer or Dublin. Just happened to be a moody and charismatic Frenchman who caught the imagination of the fans and pushed us over the line. He was quality, again, but his status is as much to do with his behavior as his ability.

Originally Posted by dunk

United were about to make the breakthrough and win the league, we need a little more firepower, didn't matter if it was Cantona, Shearer or Dublin. Just happened to be a moody and charismatic Frenchman who caught the imagination of the fans and pushed us over the line. He was quality, again, but his status is as much to do with his behavior as his ability.

'Pushed us over the line'.

Try 'completely transformed'.

Originally Posted by carlosartorial

'Pushed us over the line'.

Try 'completely transformed'.

From a team that fell a few points short, to a team that didn't.

1992 - 78 points, 4 points off the top.
1993 - 84 points Champions.

Pushed over the line.

As for 10x the player Bergkamp was, I call bullshit. Maybe 10x the character...

Originally Posted by dunk

From a team that fell a few points short, to a team that didn't.

1992 - 78 points, 4 points off the top.
1993 - 84 points Champions.

Pushed over the line.

And where were we in the league at the point Eric signed?

Originally Posted by dunk

From a team that fell a few points short, to a team that didn't.

1992 - 78 points, 4 points off the top.
1993 - 84 points Champions.

Pushed over the line.

Ha. United were 8th in the league with 6 wins out of 16 in Nov 92.

We had a shit start to the 92/93 season and looked a million miles off winning it. Eric came and sorted our shit out. Legend of a man and made us into the team we are. Over rated? Some £#%&!ing mentalists on here

Has to be taken into account that the standard of the PL during the Cantona era was low, the league was mostly domestic players and cheap northern European imports. That started to change towards the end of his time at Utd, Wengers arrival at Arsenal helping the process. Utd were pretty much the only English team who were even competitive in Europe through the 90's and Cantona rarely shone in those campaigns. He retired too early, was only 31, the class of 92 were just starting to look comfortable in Europe, in a way that the 94 side never did

Hardly surprising that the French do not rate him that high, wasted potential on the international side and was trouble throughout his days in France.

Bergkamp is a good comparison, though around the footballing world I doubt many would rate Cantona on his level, Bergkamp had outstanding moments in international tournaments.

Henry and Ronaldo are by a distance the 2 best foreign players in the short history of the PL.

Originally Posted by dunk

United were about to make the breakthrough and win the league, we need a little more firepower, didn't matter if it was Cantona, Shearer or Dublin. Just happened to be a moody and charismatic Frenchman who caught the imagination of the fans and pushed us over the line. He was quality, again, but his status is as much to do with his behavior as his ability.

'Pushed over the line'

Originally Posted by wiganste

We had a shit start to the 92/93 season and looked a million miles off wonning it. Eric came and sorted oushit out. Legend of a man and made us into the team we are. Over rated? Some £#%&!ing mentalists on here

this

wonning it

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Has to be taken into account that the standard of the PL during the Cantona era was low, the league was mostly domestic players and cheap northern European imports. That started to change towards the end of his time at Utd, Wengers arrival at Arsenal helping the process. Utd were pretty much the only English team who were even competitive in Europe through the 90's and Cantona rarely shone in those campaigns. He retired too early, was only 31, the class of 92 were just starting to look comfortable in Europe, in a way that the 94 side never did

Hardly surprising that the French do not rate him that high, wasted potential on the international side and was trouble throughout his days in France.

Bergkamp is a good comparison, though around the footballing world I doubt many would rate Cantona on his level, Bergkamp had outstanding moments in international tournaments.

Henry and Ronaldo are by a distance the 2 best foreign players in the short history of the PL.

an Arsenal mate of mine insists Bergkamp was miles better than Henry, don't think he's alone in that view around crybaby towers...bizarre

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Has to be taken into account that the standard of the PL during the Cantona era was low, the league was mostly domestic players and cheap northern European imports. That started to change towards the end of his time at Utd, Wengers arrival at Arsenal helping the process. Utd were pretty much the only English team who were even competitive in Europe through the 90's and Cantona rarely shone in those campaigns. He retired too early, was only 31, the class of 92 were just starting to look comfortable in Europe, in a way that the 94 side never did

Hardly surprising that the French do not rate him that high, wasted potential on the international side and was trouble throughout his days in France.

Bergkamp is a good comparison, though around the footballing world I doubt many would rate Cantona on his level, Bergkamp had outstanding moments in international tournaments.

Henry and Ronaldo are by a distance the 2 best foreign players in the short history of the PL.

Yup.

United had a slow start to the season and a new signing gave them a fillip? Well blow me down. I said he was quality, I said we needed more forepower. Had it have been Shearer or had Dublin stayed fit it probably would've been enough*, the league was shite back then, £#%&!ing Villa ffs. Eric being the one to do it, coupled with where he came from, solidified his status. It all just fell perfectly for him and us. Still doesn't make him 10x the player Bergkamp was.

*Probably not if it had been David Hirst though

The fact we started so poorly and still won it highlights what a shit league it was btw.

Originally Posted by £#%&! KFC

an Arsenal mate of mine insists Bergkamp was miles better than Henry, don't think he's alone in that view around crybaby towers...bizarre

Class act Bergkamp, even to his mid 30's but Henry for around 4 seasons was the most dominant player in the league, 30 goals and 20 assists a season. People used to say he bottled it on the big occasion but his goalscoring record in the CL is superb, think he 5/6th all time top scorer.

Originally Posted by dunk

United were about to make the breakthrough and win the league, we need a little more firepower, didn't matter if it was Cantona, Shearer or Dublin. Just happened to be a moody and charismatic Frenchman who caught the imagination of the fans and pushed us over the line. He was quality, again, but his status is as much to do with his behavior as his ability.

Oh come off it, Dunk. Cantona was extremely talented; a wonderfully gifted footballer technically. Any Frenchman who knows anything about the game will tell you that. It's why, despite being a psycho who fell out with everyone, his time in France was spent hopping around the best sides in the country. Marseille - the dominant club at the time - kept hold of him for years. He was a liability in terms of his temperament, yet top managers/clubs kept taking a chance on him, because of his talent.

He was looking for the right club/manager to get the best out of his ability. He found it at United.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Oh come off it, Dunk. Cantona was extremely talented; a wonderfully gifted footballer technically. Any Frenchman who knows anything about the game will tell you that. It's why, despite being a psycho who fell out with everyone, his time in France was spent hopping around the best sides in the country. Marseille - the dominant club at the time - kept hold of him for years. He was a liability in terms of his temperament, yet top managers/clubs kept taking a chance on him, because of his talent.

He was looking for the right club/manager to get the best out of his ability. He found it at United.

I never said he wasn't. The Legend of Cantona is still as much about his strutting arrogance and Gallic Charisma as it is about his football.