Players that have come good after 2 seasons of bad/average performances

Originally Posted by Stickman

Vidic was already looking good by the end of his first season, superb performance at home to Arsenal in the 2-0 (Rooney, Park)

Evra started 06-07 brilliantly and never looked back.

I’m racking my brain for players that came good after 2 poor seasons. Fletcher to a degree…(Edit - just seen him mentioned above)

Yeah both vidic and evra came good quite quickly as far as I can remember.

Stam had a shaky couple of months at the start.

Originally Posted by AK14

Stam had a shaky couple of months at the start.

Sancho's big problem is that he doesn't seem to have any balls.

Going forward, i don't see how he's going to overcome this obstacle.

Say what you like about Fletcher et al, but they had balls. Fletcher didn't have a functioning small intestine, but he wouldn't be @#%&!ing out of 50/50s.

I hope he does. He's a good footballer. I just can't see him sprouting a pair of gonads though.

I was reading that Erik went mental at Sancho after the cup final for having too much respect and not even laying a finger on a blue shirt his entire time on the pitch. No idea how you rectify that, skilled or not he’s too £#%&!ing nice and soft.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

Cole is probably the one. Really struggled from his arrival in Jan 1995 and that carried into the following season. He was dropped for Scholes by the end of 95/96.

Got the horrendous double leg break and missed most of 96/97. Only really got going once Eric left IMO.

A combination of settling in and injuries, not unlike Sancho and his time away last season.

Admittedly, there aren’t many examples and I think it’s fair to say most players won’t turn it around. It’s case-dependent though and I still hold out a little hope for Sancho. There were signs last season and we’re yet to have the best conditions for him: in terms of either us being a unified team or him having his head screwed on.

If he does stay, he has absolutely no more leeway and has to hit the ground running. He’s got a lot of competition in his favoured positions and the club has been very accommodating for him.

I recall it was a 7-0 win over Barnsley which really kick started Cole. He hit a hatrick, then followed it up with one in Europe.

Nani.

Originally Posted by Ethers

Nani.

I was tempted to include him when he was good he was brilliant. Just very inconsistent.

Edit - I thought this was the aesthetically pleasing thread

There won't be many at Utd, as they didn't last long. One of the reasons why we were a top side.

Veron would have probably got a testimonial had he been here post Fergie.

Originally Posted by browser

De Gea

Fair shout but I think he was probably there his second season. That was just as good as he was at that time.

Originally Posted by ryanMUFC

Darren Fletcher

Good shout, that one - the "Fergie's lovechild" sniggers looked a bit silly once he (finally!) did.

Originally Posted by NedKelly

I’ve lost the faith but I’d love him to come good. He was brilliant at Dortmund.

Tbf so were Kagawa and Targaryan or whatever he was called.

They very rarely exist. 2 seasons is a lifetime in professional football: may be examples of a player like Henry coming back from a bad season at Juve, but very rarely do these ruts extend over multi seasons.

Fletcher is a good call. Park is an even better one: evolved from something of a figure of ridicule to a vital player in big games (at the heart of Ronaldo's counter attack goal against Arsenal in European Cup for example .. best goal of its kind I can actively remember ..).

Vidic & Evra don't work: a few patchy early games but that's nothing.

Sancho's too slow, doesn't have the physical tools to succeed: he won't be making this list.

Originally Posted by ErikvanHaaksbergen

They very rarely exist. 2 seasons is a lifetime in professional football: may be examples of a player like Henry coming back from a bad season at Juve, but very rarely do these ruts extend over multi seasons.

Fletcher is a good call. Park is an even better one: evolved from something of a figure of ridicule to a vital player in big games (at the heart of Ronaldo's counter attack goal against Arsenal in European Cup for example .. best goal of its kind I can actively remember ..).

Vidic & Evra don't work: a few patchy early games but that's nothing.

Sancho's too slow, doesn't have the physical tools to succeed: he won't be making this list.

Park didn’t vastly improve imo, he was still pretty useful in his first season.

Originally Posted by Stickman

Park didn’t vastly improve imo, he was still pretty useful in his first season.

Went 20 odd league appearances or whatever it was without scoring & barely got on the pitch for a campaign when we were dumped out of the group stage when he first came in, then had the knee injuries .. don't think many would have taken the bet that he'd soon after be pivotal in a run to two European Cup finals at that point. Definite vast improvement in my book.

Sancho seems too far gone ?

Was given a load of time off and full support came back much the same....

Two seasons is a long time in a premier League footballers career, he probably had till January...

Originally Posted by Coracao

There won't be many at Utd, as they didn't last long. One of the reasons why we were a top side.

Veron would have probably got a testimonial had he been here post Fergie.

Great post which just about sums it up.

We can't think of too many in the past because Ferguson would quickly identify who wasn't up for it and get rid of them. Edwards and the board always went with what he said.

Now we've got loads because the standards have been allowed to drop and you had woodward handing out new contracts like confetti.

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

Good shout, that one - the "Fergie's lovechild" sniggers looked a bit silly once he (finally!) did.

I’m pretty sure the famous Keane MUTV interview was weighing in on the likes of Fletcher. It makes you think how good some of the other players could have been if they got the patience Fletcher got (Kleberson was a World Cup winner and was £#%&!ed off almost immediately, Forlan was looking a bit sharper and then went to La Liga and tore it up)

Originally Posted by Ethers

Nani.

He had a very good first season
Scored some absolute bangers

The next two season were patchy before he had an excellent 2010/11 season

Luke Shaw might be the closest example for Sancho to follow
Disappointing first season and then a leg break the next season
Followed up by a miserable period under Jose

Up and down under Ole but he did win our player of the year award (somehow) and had a brilliant Euros and just had a very good World Cup and season under ETH
Think he’s now seen as one of the best left backs in Europe

Originally Posted by ryanMUFC

I’m pretty sure the famous Keane MUTV interview was weighing in on the likes of Fletcher. It makes you think how good some of the other players could have been if they got the patience Fletcher got (Kleberson was a World Cup winner and was £#%&!ed off almost immediately, Forlan was looking a bit sharper and then went to La Liga and tore it up)

I’m not sure it was ever going to happen for Forlan with United. He was laughably shit when he came on as a sub that opening game at Stamford Bridge which incidentally was Mourinhos first game and might have been Forlans last. Kleberson didn’t go on to do much post United. I take your point though.

Shaw is a shout.....