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Re-signing for a former club

On the Ball said:
Really struggling to understand your logic with that one. Can you explain in more detail why you think they disappointed?
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Crouch embodied our failure to replace Berbatov and especially that season (09-10) where our midfield dominated all comers whilst our strikeforce was totally inept. You know he only scored 12 in 73 for us as well.

Sheringham again was the embodiment of Hoddle's geriatric side, and a shadow of his former self.
 
Gutter Boy said:
Crouch embodied our failure to replace Berbatov and especially that season (09-10) where our midfield dominated all comers whilst our strikeforce was totally inept. You know he only scored 12 in 73 for us as well.

Sheringham again was the embodiment of Hoddle's geriatric side, and a shadow of his former self.
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Sheringham was brilliant in his first season back, and even in his second season matched Keane if you are only going by goals. And only going by goals is the wrong way to judge players like Sheringham or Crouch. They play alongside the goalscorers, or are there to bring the midfield into the game so the team scores from all over the pitch.

I am not suggesting for one moment that Crouch has more ability than Berbatov (and to judge him against Berbatov is extremely harsh, Berbatov is probably our fourth best forward of the last 35 years) but let us not forget that with Crouch as a first team regular we qualified for the Champion's League for the first time and then despite the extra pressure and rigour on the side from a Champion's League campaign we only just missed out on it for two seasons running.
 
Defoe has been an example of a successful return. 18 goals in a season. Last season he scored a good amount given that we opted for a big man up front as our main system and this year he has been one of our best players.

Can't really think of many that go back to a club and play so many games and still be playing to a good standard 4 years on.

The fact he was let go of in the first place just about sums up the Ramos / Comolli mess.
 
And yes Keane was a disaster. Never has there been such a rapid decline of a player. When you think about how well he was playing at 26, his career pretty much ended at 27 given that since then he has had to go to Scotland and America to get a game.

Wouldn't have predicted that Keane would go like that while Defoe is still with us, forcing his way into our team and the England team.
 
Dont really want to get drawn into defending Keane but he has been playing with a knee injury for 4/5 years similar to Kings just not as much fuss about it. That is why he has lost a bit and he is well aware of it but loves to play=D>
 
its an imagined relationship. way too simplistic to attribute player performance to whether they've had a previous stint in the club.
 
Routledge clearly had talent, but he lost playing time at a crucial stage in his development. If he hadn't got injured or if we hadn't also signed Lennon, it might have turned out differently. Likewise, if Routledge had stayed fit, would Lennon have developed the way he did?
 
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