Best defender in the league

Class player! Will miss him when he's retired

My son said exactly the same thing, I must admit I feared the worst today, Evans, Casi and Erickson aren’t the quickest

It does make you think why did we ever sell him

comment by #1 House - (U17162)
posted 7 minutes ago
It does make you think why did we ever sell him
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He was struggling for a while when he left and I doubt many questioned selling him.

Hindsight is great but we probably should have brought him back instead of letting him go to Leicester.

comment by #1 House - (U17162)
posted 13 minutes ago
It does make you think why did we ever sell him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He was compared to Rio and vidic and at the time wasn't anywhere near as good as either. Often made pretty bad mistakes.
He improved when he left United and got even better at Leicester.
He's now at the end of his career but he hasn't really lost the talent he gained over the years.
Class player and class act.

comment by Ali - 🇪🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (U1192)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by #1 House - (U17162)
posted 13 minutes ago
It does make you think why did we ever sell him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He was compared to Rio and vidic and at the time wasn't anywhere near as good as either. Often made pretty bad mistakes.
He improved when he left United and got even better at Leicester.
He's now at the end of his career but he hasn't really lost the talent he gained over the years.
Class player and class act.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter what level you play at, you need to play games to improve. Evans was correct to leave

Idiots will never concede that the ONLY current defenders at the club that are genuinely suited for this league are the three that have been there the longest.

Not that means they are great, it's more that the others have clearly not been - except AWB, but that's another issue for another day.

Today, though, the club needs to respect the contributions of fernandes, Evans, Hojlund, eriksen, Onana and Garnacho. The rest were ....

This is why it makes me laugh when people state VVD is the best PL defender ever. Old man Evans is playing to the same level as him now and he was nowhere near Rio and Vidic back in the day. Nor Jones and Smalling come to think of it.

Jonny's a really solid PL defender and I'm glad we have him though. Even if the lack of top class forwards is making the job of CB much easier nowadays.

comment by Diafol Coch 77 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 JA606 Class Act (U2462)
posted 23 minutes ago
This is why it makes me laugh when people state VVD is the best PL defender ever. Old man Evans is playing to the same level as him now and he was nowhere near Rio and Vidic back in the day. Nor Jones and Smalling come to think of it.

Jonny's a really solid PL defender and I'm glad we have him though. Even if the lack of top class forwards is making the job of CB much easier nowadays.
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tbf, VVD is quite possibly the most overrated CB ever.

Absolutely bulletproof when it comes to criticising or even highlighting his many mistakes.

* many rare mistakes

We should no longer be surprised by Evans' assured performances, as they clearly stem from his vast experience. He no longer panics like he used to do during his first stint at Utd, the attributes have always been there, the calmness, good decision-making on a consistent basis and individual errors not so. He and De Ligt formed a very good partnership; communicating, organising and reading each other's positions well. Evans could really have a transformative impact on both De Ligt and Yoro as a player and I hope he stays at the club after retirement in a coaching capacity.

comment by Elvis (U7425)
posted 2 hours, 15 minutes ago
comment by Ali - 🇪🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (U1192)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by #1 House - (U17162)
posted 13 minutes ago
It does make you think why did we ever sell him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He was compared to Rio and vidic and at the time wasn't anywhere near as good as either. Often made pretty bad mistakes.
He improved when he left United and got even better at Leicester.
He's now at the end of his career but he hasn't really lost the talent he gained over the years.
Class player and class act.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter what level you play at, you need to play games to improve. Evans was correct to leave
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course but he was never going to displace Rio and vidic, he wasn't good enough at the time.

comment by Ali - 🇪🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (U1192)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Elvis (U7425)
posted 2 hours, 15 minutes ago
comment by Ali - 🇪🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (U1192)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by #1 House - (U17162)
posted 13 minutes ago
It does make you think why did we ever sell him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He was compared to Rio and vidic and at the time wasn't anywhere near as good as either. Often made pretty bad mistakes.
He improved when he left United and got even better at Leicester.
He's now at the end of his career but he hasn't really lost the talent he gained over the years.
Class player and class act.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter what level you play at, you need to play games to improve. Evans was correct to leave
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course but he was never going to displace Rio and vidic, he wasn't good enough at the time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rio & Vidic both left United before Evans.

Rio and Vidic had both gone when we sold Evans (for peanuts, might I add). We then went on to spend, I would imagine about £250m on CBs before bringing Evans back. And out of those, only Varane had ever been a better defender than Evans.

Regardless of hindsight, it was a horrific bit of business to let him go for what we did. Genuinely one of our worst of the past decade.

comment by -bloodred-
posted 2 minutes ago
Rio and Vidic had both gone when we sold Evans (for peanuts, might I add). We then went on to spend, I would imagine about £250m on CBs before bringing Evans back. And out of those, only Varane had ever been a better defender than Evans.

Regardless of hindsight, it was a horrific bit of business to let him go for what we did. Genuinely one of our worst of the past decade.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The biggest mistake we made, other than selling him, was not including a buy-back clause and triggering it sooner. It was an era of wastefulness and sporting cluelessness by Woodward, highlighted by letting one of our own go cheaply when keeping him and building a defence around him would have made more sense.

The thing is if we’d brought back Evans sooner many would have complained about it.

comment by Vengeance
posted 0 seconds ago
comment by -bloodred-
posted 2 minutes ago
Rio and Vidic had both gone when we sold Evans (for peanuts, might I add). We then went on to spend, I would imagine about £250m on CBs before bringing Evans back. And out of those, only Varane had ever been a better defender than Evans.

Regardless of hindsight, it was a horrific bit of business to let him go for what we did. Genuinely one of our worst of the past decade.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The biggest mistake we made, other than selling him, was not including a buy-back clause and triggering it sooner. It was an era of wastefulness and sporting cluelessness by Woodward, highlighted by letting one of our own go cheaply when keeping him and building a defence around him would have made more sense.


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His time away from United undoubtedly shaped the player we see today. The reduced spotlight and the pressure of competing with two of the greatest CBs in our history likely took a toll on him mentally, contributing to the individual errors he was prone to making. That aspect of his game diminished outside of United, so perhaps he needed that time away, but I still believe we should have brought him back much sooner.

comment by The Process (U20671)
posted 6 minutes ago
The thing is if we’d brought back Evans sooner many would have complained about it.
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No, "some" would have! Our fanbase is still afflicted by the same moaners who seek something new to whine about.