Johnny Evans WBA player of the season

Funny that most of you lot wouldn't have made Evans a brew when he was here and, now it emerges he's not that bad a player after all, you've forgotten that and he should have stayed. We have some proper shit fans for getting on players' backs. Always felt very sorry for Nani when the fans at the stadium would audibly sigh every time he touched the ball. Rojo is shit though.
 
Evan wasn't very good and injury prone. Only problem is we replaced him with Rojo. But even Rojo would look good in a Pullis team.

Fletcher in his final season with us was awful.
 
We didn't replace Evans with Rojo. He was replaced by Blind.
 
Evans was a bag of nerves for us near the end. He's probably better than West Brom but he isn't a player we should have kept. We just didn't recruit well enough.
 
Jonny Evans would have been more to Mourinho's liking than Jones, Rojo or Blind.
I like Blind but the other two are not good enough.
Shame things didn't work out for him here. He's mostly to blame to be fair, but still a shame.
 
Jonny Evans would have been more to Mourinho's liking than Jones, Rojo or Blind.
I like Blind but the other two are not good enough.
Shame things didn't work out for him here. He's mostly to blame to be fair, but still a shame.
He was worse than Rojo in his final season though

The issue with him seemed to be mental and he just couldn't handle the step up.
 
He was worse than Rojo in his final season though

The issue with him seemed to be mental and he just couldn't handle the step up.
He could step up. Had some brilliant seasons for us. But he lost some form and was incredibly injury prone towards the end. It was the right decision to get rid, but he was a good defender for us, for the most part.
 
He was worse than Rojo in his final season though

The issue with him seemed to be mental and he just couldn't handle the step up.
Vangled. Louis wanted a ballplayer and he definitely isn't that. That MK Don's game though, abhorrent display. Anyone who wants to rinse him can just point to that night, what an awful display. After something like that it is very hard to claw back any respect.
 
Evans bottled it when he was required to step up. Even though he had been playing with Rio an Vidic before Smalling and Jones, not only he didn't have any leadership qualities, he defended worse than McNair who was playing his first senior season. He was half the player since SAF retired.
 
Jonny Evans would have been more to Mourinho's liking than Jones, Rojo or Blind.
I like Blind but the other two are not good enough.
Shame things didn't work out for him here. He's mostly to blame to be fair, but still a shame.

I disagree totally. Jose likes his brave heart physical defenders which is why he is happy to persist with Jones IMO. I don't see Jonny Evans being a Mourinho type player at all.

Furthermore Evans is now playing for a team with far less pressure on their shoulders. I tend to think that is why he looks so good.
 
He wasn't a strong enough character to handle the pressure at United. The relatively calmer waters of WBA allowed him to gain some confidence and thrive.
 
It's a shame we sold him - right now I'd put him on par with Smalling and above Rojo/Jones.

Also one of the most double footed players I've ever seen!
 
Another reason to realise that Van Gaal was an absolute moron...

How Rojo was thought to be a more effective option at CB I'll never know
 
Another reason to realise that Van Gaal was an absolute moron...

How Rojo was thought to be a more effective option at CB I'll never know

Because Evans was horrible that season to the point where he was our worst CB.
 
It's a shame we sold him - right now I'd put him on par with Smalling and above Rojo/Jones.

Also one of the most double footed players I've ever seen!

Smalling is better but Johnny is better than Jones and Blind (Rojo is dreadful). But Johnny had a nightmare last season here and the fact we haven't bought better does not mean Johnny should be here starting but maybe here as 3-4th choice at best.
 
Because Evans was horrible that season to the point where he was our worst CB.
Evans in his worst season never came close to Rojo last season

Also it was ridiculous to disregard the previous several seasons where Evans was very reliable - based on that previous season under Moyes who actually performed?

At worst Johnny was a very valuable backup CB
 
Evans in his worst season never came close to Rojo last season

Also it was ridiculous to disregard the previous several seasons where Evans was very reliable - based on that previous season under Moyes who actually performed?

At worst Johnny was a very valuable backup CB

He wasn't though that was the problem.

At worst he was constantly injured and a liability when he wasn't. Towards the end if he'd been at least a 'valuable backup' he'd still be here.

I'm happy he's doing well, but we don't need the revisionism about him; it was time for him to move on.
 
At worst he was constantly injured and a liability when he wasn't. Towards the end if he'd been at least a 'valuable backup' he'd still be here.
I think that is kind-of a 50/50, especially with LVG's lack of micro man management. But I think he was never going to be a backup player because that simply wasn't his style. He had to play and play regularly if he was going to be an effective part of the team. He was never in my opinion any good as a backup player. He'd always have spells of 3-5 games where he would be a bit all over the place before coming good.

Going into the second season Van Gaal was explicit in wanting a left footed ball playing CB for the first team and considering that Blind played 50odd games at CB for the season I think it was probably time for Johnny to move on.

I am not sure if it can be entirely attributed to his general ability though. I think that is still a bit of a grey area, especially with Van Gaal's almost non-existent man management style in the frame.
 
Evans in his worst season never came close to Rojo last season

Also it was ridiculous to disregard the previous several seasons where Evans was very reliable - based on that previous season under Moyes who actually performed?

At worst Johnny was a very valuable backup CB

He was much worse. Firstly rojo barely played as a CB last season. He was mostly LB. secondly Evans was abysmal in 14/15. Even leaving aside the MK Dons game where he couldn't organise a defence or even defend to save his life. The Liverpool game where he was abysmal and the stand out moment was his backpass to sterling which thankfully fell to sterling whose finishing is equally poor. He was just as poor whenever he played and was bullied by opposition even at QPR. Based on that season he needed to goto non league. I don't even care about rojo but rojo wasn't
as bad last season

His previous seasons have no relevance. If previous seasons were to be taken into account, then I imagine you want Wayne Rooney to remain at United too?Firstly he was quite injury prone and even when fit, he seemed to decline once SAF left.

He is good at WBA because they don't have the ambition we have. Even if WBA lose 15 games it could still be a successful season for them whereas it could be a failure if we lose 5. Defending is clearly easier at WBA. Helped by the fact that pulis essentially puts 3 DMs CBs at fullbacks to help the defence
 
Vangled. Louis wanted a ballplayer and he definitely isn't that. That MK Don's game though, abhorrent display. Anyone who wants to rinse him can just point to that night, what an awful display. After something like that it is very hard to claw back any respect.

?

Everyone here was hyping up Evans as a ball playing CB.
 
I think that is kind-of a 50/50, especially with LVG's lack of micro man management. But I think he was never going to be a backup player because that simply wasn't his style. He had to play and play regularly if he was going to be an effective part of the team. He was never in my opinion any good as a backup player. He'd always have spells of 3-5 games where he would be a bit all over the place before coming good.

Going into the second season Van Gaal was explicit in wanting a left footed ball playing CB for the first team and considering that Blind played 50odd games at CB for the season I think it was probably time for Johnny to move on.

I am not sure if it can be entirely attributed to his general ability though. I think that is still a bit of a grey area, especially with Van Gaal's almost non-existent man management style in the frame.

I don't know if that was ever in question. I think this site got OTT with the wanking off of his ability on the ball, but he had it in him to be a top-4 centre-half.

Its whats between the ears that I doubted, in that respect moving out of the spotlight a bit has been good for him.
 
?

Everyone here was hyping up Evans as a ball playing CB.
Does that automatically make it the truth set in stone? Never rated his ball-playing ability myself.

I don't know if that was ever in question. I think this site got OTT with the wanking off of his ability on the ball, but he had it in him to be a top-4 centre-half.

Its whats between the ears that I doubted, in that respect moving out of the spotlight a bit has been good for him.
Do you mean on redcafe? Or at the club? The manager obviously punted him for a reason. I agree with you and personally think he is a center-half that plays as a genuine center-half, definitely having the ability.

Van Gaal specifically wanted a left footed ball playing CB to play in the 4-2-3-1 which was why we Blind playing there last season and Evans left the club. Taking the pressure off and returning to his pure ability of defending to defend whilst lowering the expectation to perform has done him a world of good and got him the plaudits. Nothing against him on that one.
 
Smalling is better but Johnny is better than Jones and Blind (Rojo is dreadful). But Johnny had a nightmare last season here and the fact we haven't bought better does not mean Johnny should be here starting but maybe here as 3-4th choice at best.

He did have a nightmare but so did a lot of other players that season. 3-5-2, 4-1-2-1-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 4-3-1-2... LvG tried hundreds of formations and strategies and the only players who came out of the season looking good (not including those 3-4 games vs Spurs/City/Liverpool were Young and De Gea.
 
I think it was unnecessary of us to sell him. I doubt his wages were sky high. Servant to the club and all. He always looked like a good ball player. It's so typical that these ex-talenst grow into their skin at a late stage of their career when their natural talent grows together with the maturity of an experienced player. Typical Manchester United business.
 
He looked just mentally shot under the pressure of being a United player. Was very good when he broke into our first team. But gradually got worse during his time and his last season was awful.
He was good on the ball, a player I always liked, but it was best for both parties to move on when they did.
 
He wasn't though that was the problem.

At worst he was constantly injured and a liability when he wasn't. Towards the end if he'd been at least a 'valuable backup' he'd still be here.

I'm happy he's doing well, but we don't need the revisionism about him; it was time for him to move on.
Happy to move on.....

He showed since his move his injury issues and form were temporary

He was much worse. Firstly rojo barely played as a CB last season. He was mostly LB. secondly Evans was abysmal in 14/15. Even leaving aside the MK Dons game where he couldn't organise a defence or even defend to save his life. The Liverpool game where he was abysmal and the stand out moment was his backpass to sterling which thankfully fell to sterling whose finishing is equally poor. He was just as poor whenever he played and was bullied by opposition even at QPR. Based on that season he needed to goto non league. I don't even care about rojo but rojo wasn't
as bad last season

His previous seasons have no relevance. If previous seasons were to be taken into account, then I imagine you want Wayne Rooney to remain at United too?Firstly he was quite injury prone and even when fit, he seemed to decline once SAF left.

He is good at WBA because they don't have the ambition we have. Even if WBA lose 15 games it could still be a successful season for them whereas it could be a failure if we lose 5. Defending is clearly easier at WBA. Helped by the fact that pulis essentially puts 3 DMs CBs at fullbacks to help the defence

That's just silly......the huge majority of players will go through periods of poor form or injury....you've cherrypicked a few incidents there....

If we were to review Rojo last season you'd struggle to find a game where he was defensively solid or didn't make some sort of cock up

If we sold players whenever form dipped or they experienced a series of injuries we'd have no-one at the club

Smalling poor since Christmas, Herrera poor most of the season, Schneiderlin poor almost all year, Schweinsteiger not fit, Carrick's form has dipped for long periods over the years, Rooney/Young/Fellaini/Memphis/Jones never fit/Rojo/Darmian for most of last season..... who else do you want to sell

Bottom line for me is that Evans showed for years he wasn't a world class defender but a good reliable backup....his fitness was certainly better than Jones for years and he's a much more natural defender than Blind....for me it was a mistake to sell him - the reason I originally mentioned Rojo is because this is where Van Gaal originally played him..... i think like Hernandez and Nani he was far too hasty to get rid.....

We can agree to disagree
 
He could step up. Had some brilliant seasons for us. But he lost some form and was incredibly injury prone towards the end. It was the right decision to get rid, but he was a good defender for us, for the most part.
I don't mean step up as in being a decent defender,but rather step up as the leader of the defense.

He just couldn't handle that .
 
Vangled. Louis wanted a ballplayer and he definitely isn't that. That MK Don's game though, abhorrent display. Anyone who wants to rinse him can just point to that night, what an awful display. After something like that it is very hard to claw back any respect.
Terrible perfomance and that perfomance might have stuck in Van Gaal's mind too.

Johnny also kept getting injured which didn't help his case either.
 
Some forgot how bad he was. I was furious, every time he played he was a nervous wrack and gifted chances left, right and center.

Evans was not good enough, Rojo isnt either. Get rid, we need better than the two of them.
 
That's just silly......the huge majority of players will go through periods of poor form or injury....you've cherrypicked a few incidents there....

If we were to review Rojo last season you'd struggle to find a game where he was defensively solid or didn't make some sort of cock up

If we sold players whenever form dipped or they experienced a series of injuries we'd have no-one at the club

Smalling poor since Christmas, Herrera poor most of the season, Schneiderlin poor almost all year, Schweinsteiger not fit, Carrick's form has dipped for long periods over the years, Rooney/Young/Fellaini/Memphis/Jones never fit/Rojo/Darmian for most of last season..... who else do you want to sell

Bottom line for me is that Evans showed for years he wasn't a world class defender but a good reliable backup....his fitness was certainly better than Jones for years and he's a much more natural defender than Blind....for me it was a mistake to sell him - the reason I originally mentioned Rojo is because this is where Van Gaal originally played him..... i think like Hernandez and Nani he was far too hasty to get rid.....

We can agree to disagree

Evans was horrible for the entirety of 14/15. Rojo was actually much better that season when he played as CB. And what Evans proved over the years was that he was often injured meaning he couldn't be called upon when required. That was the case under SAF, Moyes and Van Gaal too so it's not . So taking all that into consideration it was the right decision. Not hasty at all.

Blind last year was much much better than Evans at WBA too. Like I mentioned, The expectations are lower so Evans got the player of the year there. He had more defensive mistakes than blind ever did for us but the stakes are higher so it costs more. Playing well for WBA doesn't make him a good enough player for us. he earlier had the advantage of being young but he never progressed like Smalling did. Jones also has that age advantage right now but if he doesn't progress he will be sold just like Evans.

So in short selling him wasn't a bad decision. Even in hindsight
 
I am glad that they are finally playing to their level
 
He's hardly perfect but he's far greater than Merte and Gabriel. Knowing Wenger though he'll get him back into an injury prone mess.
 
He was a decent squad player for us I dont know why he gets so much hate on here. Id have him in my squad ahead of Rojo anyday.