When Sir Alex called Evans “a real top
defender” last week, praising his development into a cornerstone of
United’s defense, it got me thinking about how topsy-turvy Evans’
relatively young career at Old Trafford has been. In fact, it wasn’t
that long ago that the mere mention of his name in the starting XI made
most United fans jittery.
During this period, most considered
Evans a lost cause, and fans wanted him out of the club. He is yet to
win over everyone and most of his brilliant performances continue to go
unnoticed, as the memory of how bad he was still remains.
But the funny
thing is, if one were to go back a year further; the very same fans
would have been raving about Evans and his immense talent. His fall from
the pedestal that the United fans had placed him on was almost
as meteoric as his rise to the top. Within a period of 4-5 months, Evans
was the scapegoat for everything that went wrong in a game. He could do
nothing right and his performances seemed to get worse with each game.
Unwanted by the fans, clearly lacking confidence, Evans was at a tipping
point in his career, a precarious stage where one wrong step and we’d
have seen him join the ranks of the ever burgeoning list of those who
couldn’t live up to their talent.
Evans’ rise began
right from his league debut against Chelsea, as he stepped in for a
suspended Vidic and put in a solid performance against a formidable
Chelsea team that was our main title challenger at the time. Following
the game, he just improved with every game and with Rio Ferdinand
struggling with back injuries, Evans stepped in and filled the void. His
stock was rising fast, and by next season, he was being hailed as the
“next big star” to emerge from the academy. Sir Alex had found a player
who was showing that he was ready to step up when needed.
What could have taken a player from being the trusted deputy and future star of the team to the lowest point of his career?
For me, it all
began almost exactly 3 years ago, when during a Champions League
knockout round match at the San Siro against AC Milan, Sir Alex gave
Jonny Evans a full blown hair dryer on the pitch after
some disastrous defending from the entire back four. Unluckily for
Evans, as Sir Alex later revealed, he happened to be the closest to the
gaffer at the time and Sir Alex let rip from the sidelines as Mike
Phelan had intervene and hold back Sir Alex.
Here’s a clip of the incident:
And not surprisingly Evans’s confidence took a blow, and he was not the same player after that.
Evans ended that
season with more indifferent performances and this poor run of form
continued into the next season, as Rio Ferdinand continued to struggle
with injuries and Evans was the cynosure of attention from the fans and
the media. Unfortunately the lack of confidence was obvious to see as he
made careless mistakes and looked a shadow of the talented youngster
who was predicted to be United’s rock at the back.
His disastrous
season reached a low point in our 4-0 defeat against West Ham in the
Carling Cup where his performance was so bad that he had to be taken off
after 70 minutes following a calamitous display at the back. From then
on, it was damage control as Sir Alex took Evans away from the spotlight
and Chris Smalling stepped in at the back.
It wasn’t almost
till the end of that season that Evans returned to action, as Sir Alex
eased him back into the 1st team. But the damage had been done, Evans
was now labelled a one-hit wonder, and a flash in the pan. Many had
already written him off, and he was a player who had failed to live up
to his potential. Fans wanted him out, while the media had forgotten
about his existence as they were busy writing about the next Manchester
United ‘”legend-in-the-making”, Chris Smalling.
But Sir Alex kept
his faith in Evans, and he, slowly but steadily, went about rebuilding
his reputation and resurrecting a career that many believed was no
longer destined for greatness. He returned a mentally stronger and
vastly superior defender. I don’t think anyone will deny the fact that
Evans has now become an integral part of our defense and is hardly the
player who got pushed around by the likes of Samba, Cahill, Zat Knight
and Hangeland. Evans still has a long way to go before he can be
mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Vidic and Ferdinand but if
his present performances are anything to go by, it’s all just a matter
of time.
I think what
happened with Evans is a perfect example of why you should not write
anyone off, just because they made a few errors, especially when it’s a
young player still learning his trade. Be it David de Gea, Alex Buttner
or Anderson, a little patience and faith in the players and the manager
from us can go a long way.
So the next time
you see any young player make a mistake or have a poor game, I think it
would be wiser to give them the benefit of doubt and trust Sir Alex’s
judgement of the player.